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[Declined] ClearThoughts' Diona Loredev Application


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Ckey/BYOND Username: ClearThoughts


Position Being Applied For (coder, mapper, spriter): Diona


Past Experiences/Knowledge: For lore? I've been roleplaying for over a decade now, been on Aurora for about a year and a half, and have a general love for realistic sci-fi such as SS13, Star Citizen, Elite:Dangerous, Star Trek, etc. I was definitely infatuated from a young age with space and extraterrestrial environments.


Examples of Past Work:

My discord has a list of my characters, as does any application for species whitelists that I've made. I have every whitelist now except for Tajaran and Vaurca. While I don't have much on hand in the way of written paragraphs, I can give some information on one of the characters I had made by the name of James Beckett (HoS).

Full Name: James Michael Beckett


Age:47


Current Place of Employment: NanoTrasen - N.S.S. Exodus, Corporate Security Department


Past Employment/Experience: Early records show employment of a cargo-shuttle repair facility. Name of company redacted. Shifted after receiving degree to anti-narcotics agencies, numbered at three.

K.E.L.: Kullen Extravehicular Logistics

A low-key agency that specialized in keeping track of drug-cartels and shipments, assisting customs in cracking down on interstellar drug trade. Subject Beckett quit after one year's service due to inability to 'sit quietly behind a desk pressing buttons while the drugs kept moving'.

M.R.C.: Midstar Reposession Company:

Low-listed repo and refurbishing company that repo'd and collected druglords' ships and stations once they were arrested. Subject worked as repo-agent. During a 'bad pick', subject had received ballistic trauma to left shoulder from a smuggler's firearm. After such event, subject stayed for two months to receive medical care before resigning from his post. Subject worked total of three years at this company.

Seven month Hiatus

L.A.N.G.: Lin-song Anti-Narcotics Group

Despite the name's suggestion, this group consisted of a well-funded set of agents grouped together by a syndicate-corporation to 'hunt down and destroy enemies of the interstellar legal system'. Widely known as a corporation hit-squad, this successful group demolished gang after gang of drug-dealers, smugglers and marauders. Group was disbanded by court-order as vigilantes. Subject worked here for four years before the group was disbanded.

Security/Medical Records: Reported two counts of assault

Rumored murder, suspect of closed court case. Subject found non-guilty of murder charges.

Victim of murder-charge was a close friend and coworker during subject's time at MRC

Weapon Proficiencies include all standard and special NT assigned gear.

Former service in the NT Emergency Response Team, achieved the rank of L/Tpr before abruptly resigning to a security post aboard the Aurora II. Reason for resignment is unknown.


Species: Human Male


Education & Degree: co-degree of 5 year study of Interstellar Law and Criminal Psychology


Home Planet/Station/Ship/Other: Homeworld: Sasuro III.

Climate: Ice World.

Description: Nicknamed the diamond of the sun from the industry it had copped up. Since the climate may have been just creeping 273K at its equator, incurring a constant freeze and momentary thaw all year round, industrial corporations settled this world with large fabricators, venting the heat efficiently into the air to cool their vast factories. Environment is breathable, though wildlife is quite hostile to humanoid creatures and thrives only around the rocky coastline near the equator.


Tell us about yourself: "Well..What do you want to know?...Ah. All of it. Right. Well,my mother was a stay-home wife, taking care of my brother and I. My brother died of a strong blizzard, catching some illness from it that we . . Hyperthermic reaction to the soot and the snow.. Eh? Oh. It's your body's hypothalamus reacting too violently to your atmosphere. Kills you with internal heat. My father was a worker in the fabricators. Kept them running. Produced mining equipment for a nearby asteroid field. Steady work, as i'm told. When my brother died, my mother became depressed and took to drugs and stimulants to keep her going. My father didn't know about this until she tried to take her own life. When he found out, he begged her to stop. She divorced him, blaming him for my brother's death. *Sighing* I don't feel right talking about that. Sorry. . . .Subject change? Right. Later in life I took up a job repairing ships. Old junks and barges that barely had a reason to float in space anymore, but I fixed them as well as i could. Learned quite a few tricks there, but nothing to make a career out of. Pretty much used the job to get my schooling paid off..Partying? Are you kidding me? I tried it once. Once. Some dipstick Tajaraness slipped me a chem and i lost sight for a few days. All I know? I remember her and I getting into a fight. That's about it. Are we done? No? Alright. After I got done with schooling, I'd guess that's the point in my life where I decided i'd had enough. Drugs aren't a salvation. They don't 'bring out the spiritual side'. They're a way for people to gain control over other people, no matter how you look at it. Fought my way through application after application and found myself enlisted in a few agencies targeting drug-dealers and users. I think the stars are better places because of it."

 

 

Preferred Mode of Communication (Skype, Steam, etc.): Discord ( Testopringo#9976 )


Additional Comments: What would I do for the diona? I'd like to expand on the amount of clusters and origins that the diona currently have. I don't feel as though there's enough information to make a solid character other than "huggy peaceful tree". It'd be interesting to reinforce the species-wide suspicion that other races have of them. Mechanically? I think diona are pretty solid as is, but technically when in space, they should be fine as they can collect radiation and starlight to survive, without the need for a flashlight. A flashlight is only really needed indoors where they are cut off from both the cosmic rads and the starlight. The notation "Weakness to fire" doesn't make any godforsaken sense either, as these creatures thrive orbiting stars. They're exposed to thousands of degrees of heat and can replicate from the mass intake of energy. A simple welder-fire incident shouldn't even harm them by the current lore standards. As for the rest of the colossi, I'd like to introduce a few more diona satellites, and provide some more lore on the "Dead Planet", hoping to make it a viable character base for anyone looking to make a shambling bush originating from the dead world. As for how diona "travel" through space to populate new areas, I'd like to add the scroll compression idea. scroll-compressor-o.gif It'd make a lot of sense that this would be the most organic method of travel, unless we start delving into how "diona are actually bluespace" in terms of how they move about. It'd come down to that whenever a colossus nears a cloud of gas, whether it be a star's exosphere, a nebula, a gas giant or other source of gas, it would use groups of nymphs to pocket this gas, compress it, and eject it from the rear, effectively "pushing" itself with a jetstream of gas behind it to navigate. This can mean a variety of things:

1. Colossi travel. We could even have an event in which a colossus nears Tau Ceti and begins to drift near the Aurora II, prompting more research into diona physiology, sociology, and biology, as well as a possible threat of a reoccurance "Organic Craft Incident" should no craft be on standby with technology to interact with the colossus or Shell.

2. Reverse-Vaurca. Diona could very possibly leak oxygen, having compressed it inside of them. This could work as a game mechanic, making them moving atmospheric processors, however adding the necessity for oxygen to thrive would make most of their existence useless, but a fun concept nonetheless.

3. Tracking Colossi. Skrell have an adoration for Dionaea, having been the discoverers of the species, as well as the first to make contact with them. Each new Shell is brought to conversation by the Skrell, and it would make sense that for the compressor propulsion to work, it would leave trails of residual gas from their propulsion. The Skrell could very well track these "snail trails" to find new colossi much like "warp trails" in many other science fiction lorebases.

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How are colossi supposed to travel any meaningful amount of distance in space with just gas propulsion? Do you want to expand on dionaea forms in general?

 

Colossi are referred to as the size of (at the time) interstellar ships, and being durable enough to retain structure while exposed to the upper atmosphere of stars and the lower atmosphere of gas giants, should be quite well able to contain enough gas and apply pressure to the gas in an exertion to create thrust. This thrust wouldn't get them off any 1.0G planet, but it can certainly get them to interstellar drift. I guess the largest area that I'd like to expand on is their travel itself, perhaps why I'm so centered on it. Figuring out how they travel can create quite a bit of lore for dionaea gestalt origin. Knowing where your character came from, where that colossi drifted from, and what (initial) contact that larger form had with the other races can create a basis of culture for the player to rely on.

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Guest Marlon Phoenix

You come to me and say "I want Diona to travel by farting in space" and you expect me to continue to take this application seriously? You are 100% correct.


There are also additional areas in which I feel have merit.


Diona filtering gasses to produce oxygen is very interesting. They don't necessarily need it to survive - oxygen is a waste gas. It's the carbon dioxide of plants. It would be interesting if they were walking scrubbers. Diona are masses of nymphs rather than true plants - how is this justified with them being squishy fleshbags?


You also focus on the greater background of the diona - the collossi are interesting, but I am also interested in what sort of vision you have for how all of this translates to diona on station. What sort of role do you see diona being put in? How should the crew generally 'see' diona crew members? If they filter gasses into oxygen it reinforces their utility and makes them more 'likable'. Should they remain likable? Why or why not?

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Diona filtering gasses to produce oxygen is very interesting. They don't necessarily need it to survive - oxygen is a waste gas. It's the carbon dioxide of plants. It would be interesting if they were walking scrubbers. Diona are masses of nymphs rather than true plants - how is this justified with them being squishy fleshbags?

 

Well, the idea sprung from the mechanic that they do in fact "Eat" as nymphs, consuming blood, veggies, food, literally anything that scrambles across their path (mice) to eventually produce other nymphs and form a gestalt. This is core proof and reinforcement of the fact that dionaea don't just feed off of "radiation and light", which would both take forever and not allow them to "grow" in any meaningful rate, which has to lead to these individual nymphs intaking some sort of matter to produce more nymphs. Their extra-atmospheric orbits would have to seek out some form of dust, gas, or radical particles to consume and turn into usable nymph-matter. Filtering gas via being a walking scrubber would make them both super valuable on station (Not that engineering doesn't love them enough already), but would give an extra incentive to play the plant people. For the relation of plants to diona, they're.. Well, they aren't plants, nor animals. Under normal classification, they don't fall under any, but their appearance would lean towards plant-like, or even fungal. I'd like to change their physiology to better reflect this, and show that they share something much in common with earth sharks: apex. They've reached their evolutionary peak. There is no predator (known) that would threaten diona, nor a reason for them to change their bodies at all. They already are "perfect" for their environment.

 

You also focus on the greater background of the diona - the collossi are interesting, but I am also interested in what sort of vision you have for how all of this translates to diona on station. What sort of role do you see diona being put in? How should the crew generally 'see' diona crew members? If they filter gasses into oxygen it reinforces their utility and makes them more 'likable'. Should they remain likable? Why or why not?

Relating back to the colossi, I'd like to provide two notes:

1. Colossi regularly jettison "rogue" nymphs that don't add to the chorus of voices. The nymphs that, for whatever reason, do not agree with the majority of the colossus and do not work to help the colossus in any way are jettisoned. Diona are not known for cannibalism (eating nymphs doesn't count, since its technically "stacking" nymphs.), but there is a clear notation that they are capable of consuming other sentient beings (see: Weirun Tup), rather, their bodies. I don't see why it wouldn't be a good idea that gestalts are actually collectives of "rogue" nymphs which could symbolize that their gestalt is not a collective of nymphs that represented the qualities of nymphs from a certain colossus, but in fact the inversion of those qualities, because if the nymphs were truly at home and in synch with their greater gestalt, why would they ever leave?

2. Nymph harvesting/poaching. NT has nymph pod seeds. This is known. It is also known that NT grows nymphs and researches them, claiming ownership as long as they remain in nymph form (non-gestalt). This can play into a hand of "NT is acquiring diona for labor work as they are cheap and can be fed on nothing more than radiation and light to survive. Strap a headlight to one and throw it a mop, bam, a cheap janitor." The colossi-born gestalts, however, will hold a moan of resentment of NT for this. A quirk of personality that they do not appreciate NT abusing the eon-long replication cycles of colossi and gestalt alike to produce more nymphs, and attempting to turn their species into cattle, self-preservation standing up and throwing its chair onto the stage.


As for likability.. That's difficult. Diona aren't HR. They never have been, and I wouldn't want them to be. They aren't exactly kind, nor malevolent. They're just...biological computers? That's the way I think of them, anyhow. The enigmatic personalities of the diona have always been difficult to roleplay in a "Diverse" manner that wouldn't breach the image of a shambling, slow-talking image of a seven foot tree-fungus-root-animal-critter monster that wanders through the halls chanting in some dialect only my grandmother's fern could decipher. While i'm all for increasing the diversity of their playability, I would have to put a foot down and say that they aren't dogs nor cats, they're sentient, ancient stellar creatures with a purpose unknown to anyone outside of a diona, and most of the time not even the diona itself. And upon that note, I will have to brainstorm a bit to expand on their "purpose", but to answer your question: People like the tree-people, even if they aren't very likable.. . Hard to answer, but the answer is in there. I'd definitely say that they're Valuable as a better descriptive for their role on the station than "likable".

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Clear is great and is much better at formatting and words than me, a+

 

Thankya!

 

A minor thing on my end. Can you clarify your activity? Seems very erratic to me, like you'd play for a bit, disappear and then play again. Rinse and repeat.

That's alright. These past few months have been really hectic to me RL, so my desire to play games in general has been diminishing. My place on Aurora has resided in Discord for a while now, with most of my (SS13 at least) roleplay taking present in discord PMs, but if attendance is an issue, I do not at all mind taking extra time to divert to playing a few more rounds, as now I have the ability to do so.

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Guest Marlon Phoenix

Activity has become a much more important factor of an aspirant developer's ability to get hired. Activity remains the #1 cited reason of lore developer retirement.


A revolving door developer position is an issue we are taking harder steps to avoid from now on. In the past I have always attempted to place good faith in aspirants saying they will be more active once they are hired. I've had a 50/50 success rate, but with the recent developments it's become harder for me to justify the gamble.


I've spoken with other members of my team and Sharp; who I have been working closely with to better manage my team and who has better tools than I do in monitoring an aspirants' activity and documented behavior. Your sporadic behavior has been the primary source of concern.


In the past this wouldn't be a major mark against you, but with our new standards there needs to be documented proof of server activity. This requirement isn't as strict as non-specialized lore developers, but for a species maintainer we need to be positive that you'll be able to play or observe enough to be involved and monitor the playerbase you are responsible for overseeing.


I am going to have to decline this application on the basis of insufficient activity and NOT because of a lack of faith in your skill as a possible developer. I hope that you remain involved in the diona race and keep this position in mind if it opens in the (admittedly hopefully distant) future.

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