[Accepted] Jupiter Storm's IPC Application

[Jupiter Storm]

BYOND Key: Jupiter_Storm

Character Names: Gideon Mayfield (Cargo Technician) | T.E.R.A (Cyborg)

Species you are applying to play: IPC (Industrial Variant)

Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: In depth and with great interest!

Why do you wish to play this specific race:

- I am very much into the dystopian cyberpunk style. Blade Runner, The Matrix and Chappie to name a few. I have always loved the concept of machine intelligences and human interaction with them. It provides the baseline for many interesting philosophical quandaries and forces us to question what we really consider to be a ‘soul’. I love my roleplay realistic, gritty, and rusty by default – thusly I am interested in playing as an expendable, durable industrial machine that is still developing its personality even while it is programmed to perform tasks that would be exceedingly hazardous for organic beings.

- Of course the other and most obvious answer is… I like robots! I’d love to roleplay as a robot, without having to play as a cyborg to do so – it feels like as an IPC you always permanently have the option to play (while cyborg slots are limited), and thus you can develop your character more often, and engage with more in-depth roleplay rather than feeling forced to move from one task to another, constantly, as a station-bound.

Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human:

IPCs, while being specifically designed to be similar in many respects to humanoids, are still very far removed from the base emotions and behaviours that for us, as people, define ‘humanity’ in a general context. For one, their behaviours and decision-making processes are governed by logic and procedure-based programming, thus they are almost never prone to making unpredictable choices and would rarely perform any action purely out of spite, tantrums or a jovial nature.

For two, IPCs are very different in their manners of speech. They are programmed and designed to serve others in a particular role. They will typically be respectful of others, speaking in eloquent manners and addressing people politely, and by their titles in many cases. Due to the AI’s analytical and precise nature as well, there is always the desire for communication to be clearly understood, and so they would avoid using colloquial or vague terms, instead constructing phrases with words using their clearly-defined meanings to avoid any misinterpretation, to which many humans may roll their eyes or call them ‘boring’.

Finally, the ideologies of an IPC should be very different. While they are able to exhibit emotions, the Posibrain once again thinks in very linear patterns – cause and effect. They possess a strong sense of self-preservation, but the hazards that affect many people are not quite so profound for IPCs, and in many cases their role specifically TO perform tasks that are too dangerous for people, and so whether to fear / worry, or not, is a more logical process for this race; calculated probability of damage or failure. In addition, they possess no culture of their own, and will tend to adapt to the environment they are placed in – I think that this would lead to some very interesting roleplay, comparing the beliefs / work ethic of those the IPC works with (which would inherently rub off onto the unit), with the laws and codes they are programmed with.

Character Name: (Mk.VII) ‘Jupiter’ 0193 (EISAR Line)

- Yes, I am partly trying to insert my own username into my character. I do this shamelessly, because it’s an online identity that is me, that I am quite attached to. But I did consider a logical reasoning behind it (see below). The brackets won’t feature in the character’s name, so it will just be called ‘Jupiter-0193’.

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

As this is my first IPC character, I am purposefully leaving the backstory very limited in its depth; I’d prefer to develop the character through roleplay in-game rather than giving them an extensive history or trying anything crazy. But here goes.

0193 is just another run-of-the-mill unit produced by the one of Xion Manufacturing Group’s subsidiary production lines of humanoid Exploration / Industrial / Search and Rescue modules – each variant of which is named (after Solar planets + ancient celestials) based upon the particular environmental operations they are configured for. The mobile ‘Mars’ variant being suited for Combat Rescue & Security roles, the gentle-mannered ‘Venus’ module for Paramedic / Trauma units, ‘Saturn’ for more liberally-minded Research and Discovery units, ‘Neptune’ for water-based environments… And lastly, the heaviest ‘Jupiter’ modules that are suited for particularly hazardous, load-intensive operations in Mining and Engineering.

Unit ‘Jupiter’ 0193, a Mk-VII chassis of the EISAR line, would therefore be developed for construction work and excavation duties, with additional programming for hazard identification, problem-solving and prioritization of the well-being of organic personnel, enabling it to serve as a durable retrieval unit where other crew are wounded or killed within its area of responsibility. All EISAR modules are coded and lawed according to the policies and work ethics of the buyer, with additional memory space given over to interpersonal communication with crewmembers to allow them to function as an effective team-member. This programming is, however, rather rudimentary, and such units are cold and logical by nature, likely to be mistaken as ‘arrogant’ or ‘square’ individuals by their organic counterparts when, in reality, their decision-making processes are based solely on logic, probabilities and company procedures.

Fresh off the factory press and assigned to the NSS Aurora as a Mining / Engineering unit, ‘Jupiter’ 0193 has only the number and model as a name to go by, with no identity beyond what it was designed to do. With this in mind, it must integrate effectively with the crew and potentially develop strong working relationships (perhaps even friendships) with other colleagues, enhancing its sense of identity and perception of the universe over time… Possibly even one day, learning what it means to be more ‘human’, and perhaps gaining a desire for the freedom and self-awareness that other IPCs enjoy, if the development goes that way.

What do you like about this character?

I personally, really enjoy the idea of this character, because it provides an entirely new experience and the chance to start from scratch with my roleplay – like opening a new book, if you will. They will have a clear set of rules to follow that govern their behaviour, and it will be interesting to see how other crew react to that, or how they can work with it. Even so, they will be open to new ideas and able to integrate into a culture that is not their own, allowing for the possibility of emotional development based on what it experiences, without any bias stemming from its own history – which I have purposefully left bare.

As stated before as well, I love robots. I’d love to roleplay as one. I found it really peaceful to RP as a station-bound, before, able to continue working with fewer emotional constraints and the requirement to constantly react to every weird situation that happens on-station (of which, let’s be honest, there are many which would technically break a normal, sane person). Instead I would be able to focus more on the work… And I really really enjoy getting the work done on SS13, and doing it to a high standard. A machine intelligence gives the perfect opportunity to do that, with room to grow as a personality over time once I get a proper feel for the IPC.

How would you rate your role-playing ability? I would hesitantly say, 7/10 while being neither self-deprecating nor blowing my own trumpet. I have been roleplaying for a long time and provided written story-work for a number of universes, and I always consider the realism of situations – gritty aspects, sensations, pain, difficulty and emotions while taking into account the bigger picture, i.e. what is going on around a character rather than what I specifically wanted to achieve in the roleplay at a given time.

The downside to my character choices (the reason I have gone for a 7/10) are that they are all very ‘baseline’ and I suppose, not very interesting to others, maybe. I do not like to work with overly innovative ideas because they often come across as cheesy or far-fetched. I prefer to start with a realistic, down-to-earth skeleton and develop there through what they experience in the RP, thus the world they are in formulates the person they are in a manner appropriate to the setting, rather than risking them already being a way that would not make sense in that setting.

Notes:

- With regards to micro-aggressions and insults... This IPC will not be able to understand negative phrases or respond to them in a negative way, being programmed with only a rudimentary understanding of social interaction in order to act as a member of a work-team. It would not be able to register people as threats requiring anything less than the IPCs' trademark polite, subservient responses - unless they actually attempted to cause the chassis harm. The only time it would respond aggressively to a violent situation is in order to prevent damage to itself, or - more importantly - an organic being, given this model's design leaning towards performing dangerous roles in lieu of living people whose lives inherently matter more... At least from a manufacturer's perspective.

Thank you for your consideration!

Edited May 3, 2018 by Guest

[Doxxmedearly]

I think 7/10 is lowballing your abilities. Gideon is a great character and Jupiter does a really good job with RP. While I won't pretend to know much about IPC backstories and what makes for a good whitelist, I can vouch for their solid roleplay, which I'd put at closer to 8 or 9/10.

+1 for me based on that alone. I don't feel like I can provide any useful commentary on the character/backstory here, sorry to say. Good luck!

[DrHer0z]

Totally agree, Gideon is a wonderful character and excellent at what he does.

[Saudus]

No idea if the backstory etc is good and such, but I've met Gideon a bunch of times and Jupiter plays that character very well. I'm sure Jupiter would do well as IPC.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

Hello,

sorry for the delay. You have a decent, basic character concept that is still grounded enough to get your point across and show an understanding of the lore while giving you a lot of open space to develop them on the station.

I am given pause by you naming your character after your C-key, and not only that, but the entire model of IPC's that this character is from. I understand that it forms your online identity, and that can pose a small problem. If you insert your identity into this character, how do you feel you will be able to handle aggressive actions against your character? Synth discrimination and prejudice is a very large part of our universe, and you are going to have a lot of microaggressions directed at you.

How are you going to handle people being hostile and aggressive towards Jupiter?

[Jupiter Storm]

I am given pause by you naming your character after your C-key, and not only that, but the entire model of IPC's that this character is from. I understand that it forms your online identity, and that can pose a small problem. If you insert your identity into this character, how do you feel you will be able to handle aggressive actions against your character? Synth discrimination and prejudice is a very large part of our universe, and you are going to have a lot of microaggressions directed at you.

How are you going to handle people being hostile and aggressive towards Jupiter?

 

Hi! That's a really reasonable thing to ask and I can totally see why. The name is just a designation, to be honest - I just really like it. Otherwise, I'd respond as I would on any other character... As the character would. I'll edit my post to add this to the notes, but...

This particular IPC will not be able to register insults or respond to them at all, being programmed specifically for the job it's meant to be doing. The only time it would respond violently to a situation is in order to prevent damage to itself, or - more importantly - an organic being. I was led to understand from the lore that essentially the most 'basic' IPCs were designed to perform dangerous roles and would only act in a self-preserving manner if they were actually in danger... So I can't see this character responding to aggression unless it is actually attacked, if that makes sense? With a very imperfect understanding of human interaction and only rudimentary social programming, it wouldn't be able to register other people as threats from insults or subtle jabs alone.

Me personally, I'll just enjoy roleplaying as the android itself, I won't mind how people behave towards it, because it's all IC. This isn't a self-insert, I can promise you that! I hope that alleviates your worries.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

OK, fair enough. I'll trust you. Application accepted!