[Accepted] Zyymurgy's IPC Whitelist App (x2)

[zyymurgy]

BYOND Key: zyymurgy

Character Names:

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Species you are applying to play: IPC, Shell

What color do you plan on making your first alien character (Dionaea & IPCs exempt): N/A

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:

IPCs are interesting. As a Shell IPC, one is similar to humans in appearance, but mannerisms and mode of expression are completely different. I prefer playing nonhumans like this, however most of the xeno species have complex lore that can be difficult to stay true to in the heat of RP. IPCs seem to be about halfway between xeno and human in terms of complexity; they do have specific behaviors but don’t have anything too complex. It would be nice to be able to play a more laid-back type of nonhuman without having to double-check the wiki every time I talk. They don't have a long history to refer back to, or any cultural traditions, or species-specific ways of talking. This makes them an appealing nonhuman to play for more relaxed RP.

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

IPCs are nonhuman humanoids. Their ‘brains’ work differently at a fundamental level. Their thought processes are not similar to that of organics. They value or prioritize things differently than a human would. Their decisions rely on logic and programming, not on emotions. So in a burning building, a human might prioritize the rescue of their pets and children and evacuation of sentimental keepsakes, while an IPC may prioritize securing the important paperwork in the safe, calling the fire department, and extinguishing what flames they can. Their interactions with organics are also quite different than organic-to-organic interactions. Their statements may make organics uncomfortable as they do not have the inherent taboos that some species do -- such as inquiring directly about illnesses, how much money someone makes, recent deaths in the family, et cetera. Unless programmed properly, synths can be quite uncouth.

Many people have an instinctive ‘uncanny valley’ reaction to humanoid synths as well, and can find Shell IPCs disturbing to behold or interact with. Emulated emotions are also only approximations and can sometimes lead to inappropriate responses. Cutting edge synths and newly made synths will typically experience bugs and gaps in their databases as well. The type of synth I plan to model this character on is like a more humanoid version of the Yes Man robot from Fallout New Vegas, to a less extreme degree but with the same type of situation-inappropriate cheer and vigor.

 

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Character Name: Celes

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

Celes is an IPC that began as a VI, designed to serve as the nanny, maid and companion for a girl whose rich parents had very little time for her, named Nisreen Ziaja. She 'grew up' alongside the child, being upgraded as time passed. The girl was homeschooled and as a result was quite lonely throughout her life; she became exceptionally attached to Celes, and became uncommonly close with the synth. When the girl began to grow up and express interest in science, the first thing she turned to was robotics. Celes was her subject of great interest and deep study. Her parents hired another tutor to help her with her special interest, and soon she was experimenting on Celes. When she begged her parents to let her buy and install new modules and features for Celes, they allowed her, and Celes gradually grew more complex.

When her charge entered college, she was gifted Celes' full ownership rights, and with her large allowance, she bought her companion a state-of-the-art posibrain and emotion emulator, and fully upgraded the IPC. Celes was able to retain her memories from her previous iterations, and these memories were used to help form the core of her posibrain and emotional programming. While her girl continued her studies in robotics, Celes explored the features her new mind provided, and enjoyed the freedom her owner allowed her. However, she was accosted more than once while walking alone, and had to learn to be careful; as a synth, she wasn’t always among friends. Even when together with her owner, she wasn’t safe, and they had been harassed before when going out. Celes quickly learned to be careful; with her programming, she could never harm a human even in self defense.

After an incident with one of her owner’s friends, where they had a seizure and Celes had to assist in taking care of her after, Celes discovered her previous forms’ utilons for caregiving had activated. It had made her feel fulfilled in the same way that caring for her girl as a child had given her, a sense of fulfillment that had been lacking since her girl had reached adulthood and become less reliant on her. Her programming had been driving her to care for something that was helpless and relied on her, and just taking care of the girl’s cat didn’t work. She had felt the unfulfilled drive in her programming acutely as a hole in her ‘heart’, a sense of missing purpose that constantly nagged at her with no way to figure out what she really needed. Over the years it had begun to make her think she might be malfunctioning, though all diagnostics were normal.

Helping the girl who had a seizure, who had been helpless, gave her that warm sense of purpose fulfilled, and she became fixated on trying to find that feeling again. But she was at a loss as to how to really do anything about it, and she kept it to herself not wanting her owner to worry. Things really clicked for the IPC when her owner became badly sick; she had to spend a night in the hospital for walking pneumonia, and her recovery at home took a couple weeks. Her owner needed Celes to wait on her hand and foot again like she was a baby, and Celes felt it ‘click’ inside of her, logically deducing as that artificially warm, emulated feeling flooded through her posibrain’s circuits again. It was taking care of somebody sick, somebody that needed her to do everything for them, somebody that needed her to save them; that’s what Celes was missing.

After her owner threw off the sickness and got better, Celes became more interested in medical services and soon began looking into the process for a synth to become involved in medicine. After her owner allowed her to try a brief stint volunteering in an old folks’ home as a companion synth, which was close but not quite enough, she became convinced that a medical career would give her that fulfillment. At first her owner was upset, but as Celes promised to always be her best friend, the young woman relaxed, and relented. If Celes needed this to be happy, whether that happiness was artificial or not, her owner would let her do what she needed. Celes completed installing and executing the EMT training course in parts over a week of tests ranging from simple simulations to supervised live-action operations. At the end Celes was certified with a 99.5% success and accuracy rate, and her owner Nisreen was given the credentials needed to lease her IPC out to any medical facility that would accept them.

Within a couple months, Nisreen came to Celes with a pamphlet she had seen while on campus. It was for a company called NT, and it offered positions on a space station for just about every major that the campus taught. What’s more, the small print on the back said they took xenos and synthetics as well. Her owner could become a roboticist on a station, while she leased Celes to the company at the same time for their medbay, and therefore they could still live and even work together! The two prepared for the application process, and Nisreen called on her father to use his contacts and help her out with NT. After a few tense months, her owner was called in for an interview. After a tense half hour, her owner came out, and told Celes she had been accepted into NT’s program to finish her robotics degree and begin an internship aboard their research vessel, the NSS Aurora. The two celebrated, and began preparations for their new lives, working in space.

What do you like about this character?

I don't usually play humanoids, but I am fond of synthetics. I like the thought of a cheerful, peppy android who's in the midst of a chaotic scene, covered in blood and not losing her upbeat attitude. I also enjoy thinking of potential situations where her cheerful manner is not exactly welcome, especially tense operating rooms or when talking with the patient's coworkers or friends and having to give them bad news. I especially like the thought of her unflagging smile even when confronted with a mangled dead body. Playing a synth with inhuman thoughts and simulated emotions who's always got a smile on her face no matter what is compelling to me. I also have always liked the ‘robotic caretaker’ trope where a synth is programmed to take care of patients perhaps a little bit too efficiently, where their bedside manner can suffer as a result.

How would you rate your role-playing ability? 8.5/10, high but I try not to be full of myself.

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Notes: Girls just wanna have fun.

This character has been reworked since my last application, which was denied. I hope this rework makes it more acceptable, and if not, I'd really appreciate help working this concept out as something that will work on Aurora. I know the app is long, but I have a much longer profile document I’ve been working on as well. I just hope that shows I’ve put a lot of deep thought into this character.

Extreme tl;dr Robot was initially made to care for a helpless child, robot upgraded from VI to AI to IPC over 18 years. Girl grows up and is not helpless, is given IPC’s ownership rights as gift, goes to college to study robots, IPC suffers from her purpose being unfulfilled. IPC discovers medical care makes her feel like she's fulfilling that purpose, adult owner purchases programming kit for medical IPC and uses it on her IPC, adult owner and her IPC both join NT.

Edited May 1, 2018 by Guest

[Doxxmedearly]

Backstory is incredibly well-thought and believable. I really want to see Celes interact with the crew; I love upbeat synths. And coming with her owner to NT? Beautiful.

It seems a bit odd that "the girl," her owner, remains nameless for most of the story? Is she Nisreen, referenced in the last paragraph? I like that she's one of your characters, too, but maybe it would be better to mention her name earlier in the background paragraph.

I've only interacted with Akeelanii, but she is an excellent character, and I have faith in your roleplay abilities. And this app looks much better than your last one.

+1 from me.

[zyymurgy]

Thanks for the +1 and the kind words! I was hoping this app would come out better.

Yeah, 'the girl' mentioned in the story is my other character, Nisreen Ziaja. I left her mostly nameless in the text of the story because I wanted to focus on Celes, with her owner being a fully supporting character. Plus that's how Celes tends to think of her owner as well, as "my girl". I'll give it a brief edit for clarity though.

[Snakebittenn]

Ziy is a good roleplayer, I've never known her to break character as Azsi. I'd love to see her play an IPC.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

Hewwo,

Your backstory is well thought out and you have a creative use of utilitons in your backstory in a very compelling and lore friendly way. It allows Ceres to be constrained by the limits of her programming while also being open ended enough to humanize them in the weird, synthetic way.

Application accepted!