[Accepted] Meltharas' Unathi Whitelist Application

[Meltharas]

BYOND Key: Meltharas

Character Names: Luna Darkowski - Tajara Doctor, Zaeed Al-Hakar - Tajara Engineer, Malika Alfarsi - Tajara Security Officer/CSI, Lucero Corogan - Human Roboticist, Jessica Robinson - Human Miner/Cargo tech.

Species you are applying to play: Unathi

What color do you plan on making your first alien character (Dionaea & IPCs exempt): Red.

Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Yes.

---

---

Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions in a paragraph format. One paragraph minimum per question

Why do you wish to play this specific race: Like when I applied for Tajara, I enjoy variety in characters. I may have many characters of similar roles, but I love the different aspects each race can bring to things. When I first played SS13 on /TG stations, I used to love the lizardpeople, as they were called, as they were the only option for alien races at the time. I also enjoy the work put into them and would love to help add to the number of other interesting Unathi I have met.

Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: First and foremost, they have a hiss that accents their S's and even some X sounds. Second, they are slightly more resistant to heat while gaining a weakness to cold due to being cold blooded. They are also stronger than most humans, able to knock down and claw their enemies. On top of this, they are able to sprint fast for shorter periods of time. Finally, their diet is different. they are the only race able to eat space carp and spiders while not being able to drink alcohol that isn't made from butanol, and they only get nutrients from meat. Mechanics aside, Unathi have a strong code of honor that holds Loyalty, Courage, and Mercy as ideal qualities. Though this mostly applies to soldiers, even the common folk are raised to be honest, loyal, and respectful. They must always be referred to and refer to themselves by their last name unless the one they are speaking to is someone they trust deeply or is a superior. Body language is also very important to express emotion, more than just what words are used. Also, Unathi women are not traditionally able to hold much power and are often discouraged from reading and writing. If an Unathi has become dishonored, they are labelled as "Guwan" and are exiled from their clan. Such individuals are not treated as equals and are seen as criminals.

 

---

---

Character Name: Ssirkano Kressk

Please provide a short backstory for this character, approximately 2 paragraphs Ssirkano Kressk was born 35 years ago, able to remember a time before contact with humans...a contact that changed his world and his life in more ways than he cares to count. Born as one of three siblings of his clutch, he was the second to hatch after his "older" brother and his "younger sister. His family lived on Mogues, in the city of Teht on the shores of the Moghresian sea, where Kressk often found himself helping his family earn a decent living as a fisher. He was content with his youth, happy to let his brother boast on how he would be a mighty warrior when he came of age while his sister learned how to be a good wife and mother. Unfortunately, this wasn't to last.

When first contact occured, lines were drawn in the sand between many families. The Kressk family had remained loyal to the Izweski Hegemony, a decision agreed upon by all members of the family. When he was 13, everything changed when the Contact War broke out. Ssirkano and his brother took up training to fight, as they were still 5 years away from adulthood but wanted to be ready to defend their family honorably. By the time they came of age, both he and his brother enlisted to fight in the later stages of the war. Before it ended, a bomb had caught his platoon by surprise and cost Ssirkano both his arms, his eyes, and one of his legs. Though he survived the ordeal, his brother was not so lucky.

For his service in the line of duty, Ssirkano was given access to cybernetic replacements so that he could continue to live as normal a life as he could. At first he hated what he had become, hated everything he had lost, but soon that hatred turned to curiosity as he sought to understand the new limbs. That curiosity turned into admiration, and soon after he applied to and joined the Mars University to learn how to create and improve such intricate and wonderful devices. He applied himself hard to his studies, eventually earning his Masters in Robotics and a job with Nanotrasen. He intends to continue growing his knowledge so that he can apply his work to help the warriors of the Sinta, learning his way around mechs and cybernetic augmentations alike.

What do you like about this character? I enjoy the turnaround in his life. He started as a fisher, then a soldier, and then continued to aspire to something greater even when he had lost so much of his own body. He still holds true to the ideals of honor and won't run from a fight, but he has honed his mind as much as his body through determination.

How would you rate your role-playing ability? I am a seasoned Roleplayer, with over a decade of experience in multiple games, computer and tabletop.

---

---

Notes:

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

Hello! I usually wait for a bit on applications but there is a rather large issue that I would like to address. You identify a lot of what makes Unathi different from humanity, and I do like the character that you are presenting and how their clan dealt with the Contact War. While your character has a clear tragedy (losing his limbs) that give him a new lease on life (building new limbs), it completely ignores one of the most important pillars of the Unathi species: Their faith.

https://wiki.aurorastation.org/index.php?title=Unathi_Religion

Unathi take their beliefs very seriously, and one of the big doctrines of their two dominant faiths - Sk'akh and Th'akh - is that robotic limbs are bad. A lot of Th'akh feel that prosthetic limbs can maim your soul. Of course they are very decentralized and you can always write in a shaman that gives whatever moral lesson you want your unathi to take on.

Sk'akh also feel that prosthetics are unnatural, and don't want people wearing them.

Both faiths typically view the soul as the ACTUAL person, and in general more important to take care of than our physical bodies.

Choosing to make so much of his body synthetic would, in the eyes of many Unathi, be tantamount of amputating his soul. If nothing else he would get some harrumphs and not have an easy time just transitioning to it. How does he reconcile his decision with his faith? How does his clan? Did the backlash form a big reason for him to leave to work in Tau Ceti? Choosing to give your Unathi robotic limbs is a major character choice and it really should be given more focus.

[Meltharas]

A very good point. Th'akh shamans vary on this point greatly. I had thought on it but didn't want to seem too long winded. The destruction of his true self is what would have landed him into hating what he had become, recalling what some Shaman had said about it. Listening to a shaman who was a bit more lenient is what got him into looking at his limbs as tools that sustain him and allow his soul to continue to contribute to his current life a bit longer. His focus in robotics is using his fascination for the machines to improve life for others, even if he isn't likely to augment someone else in favor of making mechs and soulless machines to serve. I hope that cleared up this issue, I just felt the idea of his body being so injured would be a good story point since it is overcoming a hardship.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

Hello! Sorry for the delay.

Try to not be worried about a long winded backstory when applying for an application unless the details are filler. Ask yourself: is this important for the character's growth? Does this justify his current motivations?

The clarification you provided turned out to be important, because the influence of a shaman who taught him these lessons is what I needed to confirm you understood the implications of prosthetic limbs and synthetics in general from a unathi perspective.

Application accepted!