[Accepted] Aptare's Skrell Whitelist Application

[Aptare]

BYOND Key: Aptare

Character Names:Neil Langford

Species you are applying to play: Skrell

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

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

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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: I have many reasons why I'd like to play this race, and why I think I'd enjoy it. My first reason is that I've always enjoyed medicine and science of the sort, and I feel that Skrells match up with my logical thinking and interests. It also gives me an opportunity to invest more into my IC personality, making it more akin to my own, making it easier to play as. I generally think that this would be the best race for me because it conforms to many of my personality traits, as well as my interests. It even has it's own form of language that's more efficient. It's everything I could ever ask for!

Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: Well, playing a Skrell is quite different than playing a Human. As a Skrell, you are upheld to higher standards, as well as a general honor code and logic. I also enjoy Skrell quite a bit over Human because as a Skrell you are able to express your emotions better, as evident in the lore. The underlying ability and method of displaying emotion of a Skrell is amazing, and something that no Human could understand or comprehend fully, especially since they can't hear some of the frequency's Skrell's use when they speak.

 

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Character Name: Heshi-Regluk Jrugl

Please provide a short backstory for this character, approximately 2 paragraphs

Heshi-Regluk Jrugl was born on April 12th, 2380 on Qerrbalak, also known as Jargon IV, to an unknown person. Heshi-Regluk Jrugl was found shipped to a small orphanage with nothing but a tattered blanket. He was cared for by the orphanage caretaker until he was 18, when he was released from the orphanage's care. Upon his release, Heshi-Regluk Jrugl immediately sought a stable job. A week later he was hired as a genetics assistant for a small genetics research company, where he generally just assisted the geneticists in their work. It is here where he got his interest in the sciences, especially the medical sciences. He soon met another geneticist who worked at the company who had a connection with a professor at Aloise University of Medical Sciences, and the geneticist agreed to setup a interview for him at the university, as long as Heshi-Regluk Jrugl gave him 3000 credits a year for 10 years.

After managing to get a scholarship at the university and paying off his debt to the geneticist, Heshi-Regluk Jrugl graduated from the Aloise University of Medical Sciences with a PhD in Genetics and a Master's in Clinical Pathology in 2420. Heshi-Regluk Jrugl immediately sought employment with Nanotrasen after graduation, as the employee benefits and high quality stations were quite enticing to him, not to mention he sought after a place for a fresh start. Nanotrasen eventually employed him in 2421, where he managed to gain a large understanding of genetics, and how it can help both of their races. During the period of 2421-2460, Heshi-Regluk Jrugl wildly advanced his knowledge of genetics, and managed to fit in quite a time to indulge in his religion, focusing quite a bit on astronomy and the study of stars in his free-time. He always found himself entranced by the cosmos, wanting to know more about it, and his place in it. It is 2460 and Heshi-Regluk Jrugl has been employed as a part-time Virologist, part-time Geneticist. He hopes that this proves a fruitful endeavor that can help him forward scientific research for both the human race and the Skrell race.

What do you like about this character? I enjoy this character because he has been through hardships, and has several aspects of my own personality ingrained in him. He has been through a lot, and spent a great deal of time honing his craft, even resulting to a momentary unhonorable action in his youth in order to further his academic success. I also enjoy the ingrainment of his scientific knowledge and prestigious background, making him a well-sought and loyal employee for Nanotrasen.

How would you rate your role-playing ability? On a scale from 1-10, I'd rate my roleplaying ability at a 7 or 8. I've been roleplaying on and off for many years, but I don't qualify myself as a roleplay genius or expert. I still have the occassional slip-ups.

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Notes:

Edited March 11, 2018 by Guest

[Guest Menown]

Skrell didn't have contact with humanity until 2413 so already your story is on a faulty timeline.

[Aptare]

Oh, thanks for catching that error. I'll fix it as soon as possible.

[Aptare]

Okay, fixed that error. Many thanks for pointing it out. All feedback is welcome.

[Muncorn]

Reading this app, I'd gotten my hopes up mildly as I read your initial answers. You show fairly obvious interest in the species, and even note a personal reason for enjoying their culture and way of communication. I'm was afraid at first that this would just be another "Me but an alien" sort of character/self-insert type thing, and then I read the character description and those fears were worsened.

People going through immense hardships is not unrealistic, nor is it a bad trait to have in a character, but every single point in this story strikes me as; "This character had it hard, and every time it got worse". Every single hardship leads into another revelation or another thing to go wrong, there is no gap, no twist, no normalisation, and we end up with just another character that's just; "Oh no, my childhood was quite bad, boohoo". I'd normally gloss it over a little as it seems he would be about 80 or so by the time you'd be playing him, and those bad times ended when the character was half his life ago. However, those latter fourty years take up about 10% of the backstory, and show full well it is not your focus with this character.

I'm rambling, so I'll wrap up. This character is a stereotype; "Shit's happened" character that everybody has done at some point, and I know full well I have as well. Getting to the point you can make a character for yourself and know it's normal, and it's boring, is the point you're able to make good characters.

I want to see that change, and maybe you'll disagree on my motif of making normal characters, maybe nobody will agree with me. But even so, it's a good first step to get away from mister hardknock-warble.

Before I end, I do want to point out something that caught my eye the moment I saw the text on my screen. Heshi-Regluk Jrugl is an interesting name, as all three parts of it are taken from somewhere, either intentionally or no. Heshi is a noted persons in skrell history, and very similar to Heshyu. Regluk is a place on Jargon, which is a fine addition in its own right, and Jrugl is; obviously; taken from the Grand Chancillor. The name itself is fine, but from what I can see it's not overly creative.

[Aptare]

Thanks for giving me feedback. I do want to say the hardship part wasn't what I was going for. The depression segment was added after the original post in order to try to give him more personality. My aim was to create a exceptional Skrell with his whole life ahead of him, so I could try to develop his character fully into the future and add more to his background. I do understand my mistake now, and will probably remove the depression section. I had read a few other good whitelist apps for Skrell, and I noticed all of them seemed to have a deep personality, so I tried to replicate it here with hardship. In all truth, I'm not sure how to give the character full personality without writing a 3 page document showing his entire life. Though, I could be wrong. I am often critical of my own work, especially when compared with someone else's. I'm going to be thinking of better ways to improve his personality, but honestly I feel it's best that the personality develops after the character is made, simply so the character will develop as naturally as possible based on his surrounding stimuli. That's just how I feel about it though. Thanks for giving feedback, and I'll take it to heart.

[Aptare]

Oh and also, [mention]Muncorn[/mention] , that name choice was intentional. I wasn't sure the format to use for a Skrell, so I decided to use important people and places from Skrell lore.

[Guest Menown]

You've played Neil as several different jobs since I first saw him. I'd recommend you make new characters, as we frown upon job-hopping, which is likely to be emphasized if you make a skrell.

[Aptare]

Ah, wasn’t sure if that was frowned upon. I’ll begin making multiple characters for other jobs, if they interest me.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

Hello,

I'm sorry for the delay in this application. In the future please PM me if your application sits for longer than 4 days without feedback. Repeatedly, if necessary. I really do not mind.

Your application shows earnest desire but there are existential problems with it. Muncorn touched on a bit of it. The rather downer early history of being an orphan is completely breezed over in how it impacts the rest of his life. He just sorta emerges from the orphanage as a fully prepared scientist. Did he get a degree in the orphanage? How did his time in the orphanage prepare him for life? How does his passion for the cosmos tie into his passion for biology? Did he find any comparison between genetics and astrology or astronomy? Does he take the desire to know more about the cosmo give him the drive to learn more about himself and the place of life in the cosmos that he's fascinated by?

What was his dishonorable behavior in his childhood? Being an orphan? What aspect of the Skrell's lore makes you feel that they look down on orphans, especially next to the fact that they value life so highly due to their rampant sterility problem?

Why did he include -Regluk in his name if he wasn't born in the city? The dash represents a sense of respect - you like something SO much that you name yourself after it. What happened that made him choose these additions?

[mention]Aptare[/mention]

[Aptare]

I'll try to answer your questions fully. I wasn't meaning to have it so he emerged from it as a prepared scientist. I gave him a job as a "genetics assistant", which I tried to liken to a dental assistant irl in the sense that you don't need much prerequisite for it, and it gives you some experience. He didn't get a degree in the orphanage, which was shown later, but I understand why that was tied in with the last one. I do agree with you in the sense that I might have glossed the orphanage over a bit too much. I'll try to elaborate on the "How did his time in the orphanage prepare him for life?". Well, he got a general education, as well as their version of high school, and he got a good amount of knowledge from the caretaker about how to survive in the real world, and learned even more of the world from the geneticist he assisted whom formed into a mentor of sorts for him. "How does his passion for the cosmos tie into his passion for biology?". Honestly, it doesn't. It was picked up from his caretaker, and it helps explain why he sought a job with Nanotrasen on a space station. I believe he might have found a bit of a link between genetics and astronomy, yes, though the story put so far doesn't show it. Some of his interest towards astronomy and going to the space station was studying how DNA is changed by being in space. (Such an example has actually been shown irl recently when a astronaut returned from space with different DNA.) I do believe the desire to know more of the cosmos does motivate him quite a bit and helps him in his studies to learn more about everything in the universe, though mainly with the building blocks of the body. The dishonorable behavior wasn't meant to signify childhood, though I can see how it can be said to be. I meant youth as in his 20's/30's, since that's fairly young in regards to the lifespan of the species. The dishonorable action was the bargain between him and the geneticist, and he put aside the corrupt favors part in order to further his academia. This question has answered the sterility question, I believe. The Regluk section was to show his respect for "The First Incident". As a scientist, he has greatly deliberated on the point of AIs, and while he doesn't enjoy AI's, he tolerates them, barely. He still respects greatly those who created AI, and respects and admires the ingenuity and dedication of those who managed to create intelligence, albeit artificial.

I hope this has answered your questions fully and properly. Thank you for the questions, they have actually given me more insight into the character and helped me personalize it further to my enjoyment.

[mention]Senpai Jackboot[/mention]

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

Thank you for your edits. They create a more cohesive timeline of events and motivations. Application accepted! Sorry for the delay.