K0NFL1QT Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 Ckey/BYOND Username: K0NFL1QT Position Being Applied For (coder, mapper, spriter): Synthetic Lore Deputy Past Experiences/Knowledge: No experience lore crafting in the way done here, but I am an avid Sci-Fi fan and long time roleplayer. In my own time I have crafted three worlds for RPGs, one for a fantasy setting and two variations for a sci-fi setting. I was a long term DM for a Neverwinter Nights server, while it lasted, largely responsible for smaller and more personal events for the players while the server and setting owner handled more overarching plots. Examples of Past Work: This is the introduction blurb to an Ultramodern 5 game I wanted to start, early 2017. It was based around the player group being part of a special forces task force responsible for high risk swift response missions, the Special Tactical Response Infantry & Defense Enforcement Reserves, or S.T.R.I.D.ER. Part S.W.A.T, part A-Team. The setting was post-post-apocalyptic Earth, set in the future after numerous concurrent catastrophes push the survivors of humanity into isolated and fortified city-states, separated by miles of rampant overgrowth, mutated flora and genetically restructred fauna, not to mention human tribes and other dangers. There's much more to the setting than this introduction lays out, as it was intended to only introduce players to the world and not completely spoil every suprise, but this is just an introduction and, hopefully, enough of an example of my capacity to write lore. The year is 2254, approximately two hundred years after the biological incident that eradicated 90% of humanity, sent the growth of nature into a wild overdrive, and radically altered the genetic make up of nearly every known species of wildlife on the planet with out of control mutations. No-one knows precisely what happened, only that the Earth as people knew it came to a swift end and every human civilization on the planet brought to its knees. The only places that were able to withstand the combined onslaught of nature, mutated man and monstrously mutated beasts, were the cities; those that could easily control the flow of entry. These times were not without struggles of their own, and great walls had to be erected to keep the incessantly crawling nature at bay. Most cities were not fast enough in their defenses and were eventually overwhelmed and swallowed entirely under a blanket of creeping green. Other cities were fast enough to lock themselves down, but fell for other reasons; scarcity of food or resources, a lack of intelligent personnel to guide the survivors and shape a new world, or the established powers fell to infighting, greed, or simple anarchy. Bastion is not such a city. Where other cities were swallowed, it stood tall. Where other cities crumbled to infighting, the people of Bastion united. They adapted. They survived. They perfected their survival. Bastion was not the only surviving city-state to emerge from the disaster; there were hundreds at first, but day by day the communication channels grew quieter. Now there are only two dozen known enclaves of humanity still functioning. Those city-states that still stand tall among the surrounding tide of nature have, over the many decades, pushed themselves out of mere struggles for survival and even surpassed the advances of the old world. These pockets of civilization are all that remains of the once dominant human race, penned into the confined areas that they could defend. And though systems of law were once more enshrined as a means for the people of these city-states to curb the over-reach of their governments and ensure equal justice for all, sometimes there are threats too imminently destructive to leave for squabbling chambers of elected officials to address. Organizations that resemble the old police forces handle most of the crime; the thefts, the assaults, the minor murders. However some threats are so great that immediate action is the only recourse, lest the city itself crumble into the dirt. It was for such situations that Bastion enacted the S.T.R.I.D.E.R protocol, approving the mobilization of an elite strike force held in reserve for only the most grave threats to Bastion continuity. You are one such recruit, driven to the defense of humanity with your very lives. You may have had prior service with the police forces but grew unfulfilled with filing traffic violations, or you might be a patriotic nobody; what mattered is not who you were, who your parents are or what they did. The recruitment process was grueling and extreme enough to sort the weak and stupid from the strong and smart, without consideration of previous status or position. If you survived the training and passed the stringent standards, you were a viable recruit. Even then, there was no certainty you'd be prepared for your first mission... and a great many recruits have never returned for a second. But when things go wrong, when there's no-else who can help, when Bastion itself is at risk; the Striders deploy! Preferred Mode of Communication (Skype, Steam, etc.): Discord: K0NFL1QT Additional Comments: Just going to pre-emptively answer some stock questions here. I'll be expecting regular weekly lore developments and weekly team meetings (likely voiced) via discord. Is this alright with you? I have good availability, but less so on the weekend. My attendance would depend on the time you wanted to host the discussion, but I would attend if I had no other more important obligations. Let's say on your first day on the job I give you free reign to alter any lore as you see fit. What would you focus on, change and why? I can't say for certain what I would change, because I wouldn't want to alter anything that would drastically overstep into the lore of other species/corporations/etc. But I would have a process, and it would look like this. Brainstorming. Review the current lore and identify areas that can be developed. Quality Control. Of the first batch of ideas, discard those that overreach my area of development. Discussion. Take the remaining concepts to other lore members for feedback. Fleshing Out. Further develop the concepts into full, multi-stage plots. Quality Control. Again, double check I am not overstepping my specific lore area boundaries, and if so take these ideas to the appropriate lore staff for further discussion and collaboration, and discard those ideas where agreement cannot be reached. Final Product. By this point, I would probably only have a couple of viable ideas. Of those, I would select the best to go forward with and by the end of the day I might have posted a lore article teasing the first step of a narrative to be unveiled over time. Let's say you there was an aspect of the lore which you really loved and Jackboot and I wished to remove it or alter it beyond a point that you would accept. After you give us your heartfelt plea we still proceed to remove or alter in a manner that appears unfair to you. How would you react to this and why? By recognising that the lore is not wholly mine, it is the servers and I am just opting to be a contributor to a communal story, of which there are editors and curators above me with their own vision and plans. If my ideas don't make it as intended, I can't say I wouldn't be disapointed but I would accept the decision. You're working on an aspect of lore development when you unknowingly overstep and alter another species lore. The species lore dev confronts you on discord and begins to aggressively reprimand you beyond your idea of fairness and respect (they're being far too aggressive). Unfortunately I'm not online to offer support, what do you do and why? Firstly, as evidenced above, overstepping boundaries is something I will be vigilant for. But, for discussions sake, say it happens anyway. I would reanalyse my work to see if there was any truth to their claims, despite their hostility, and if true retract the work for further revision, with apologies. And if I am not overstepping my boundaries, I would ask them to more calmly and respectfully discuss the issue. If we cannot come to a peaceful agreement, I will simply wait to have it reviewed by someone more senior later. I task you and another deputy with an area of lore development, during which you and the other deputy enter a heated debate. Your colleague decides to overrule you and in essence spark an edit war on the wiki and a minor flame war across public lore chat. Jackboot and I are unreachable for whatever reason. How do you deal with this and why? For starters, I am mature enough to simply not engage in flame wars, nor pointless edit wars. If work I have submitted is edited unfairly, I will simply wait until senior lore staff are available then explain the situation as best as I can before directing them to the evidenced edit logs showing what work was edited. They can then decide if the edit was merited or not, and if the other staffers conduct was appropriate. Whilst a deputy a player you quite like and consider a friend begins to PM you with ideas for lore changes, some of which appear to favour his characters and player friends. What do you do and why? I have no meta-friends so this isn't an issue. I would analyse the idea objectively, regardless of who was bringing it to me. I would be hesitant to take forward an idea if I suspect the players motive is purely to manipulate lore to their favor, but if the idea is good then I would at least bring it to other lore staff for discussion. A player begins to openly and aggressively mock a member of the lore team on public discord channels. They are not being constructive. What do you do and why? As a lore developer, it is not my place to be policing peoples conduct. But as a part of this community, I have an interest in making sure assholes are dealt with. As a player, I would ask the offending player to tone down their aggression and be more constructive. If they really cross the line and I cannot dissuade them then I would just bring their conduct to the staff actually meant to deal with this sort of behaviour. 01010100 01101000 01100001 01101110 01101011 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 00100000 01110100 01101001 01101101 01100101 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101110 01110011 01101001 01100100 01100101 01110010 01100001 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 00101110 Link to comment
K0NFL1QT Posted February 2, 2018 Author Share Posted February 2, 2018 Forgot to mention; I also wrote the original draft of Directive Four, and the CSI guide, but wiki staff maintain that. Relevant? You decide. Link to comment
Loow Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 Hey there. Loow here. I don't mean to cause a conflict in this application, but it looks like a conversation has to start here one way or another. I can't say for certain what I would change, because I wouldn't want to alter anything that would drastically overstep into the lore of other species/corporations/etc. But I would have a process, and it would look like this. I see pavement, paint, and a whole lot of signs. What I don't see is a road with a clear direction. You have a step-by-step of how you would do something, but I don't see a lot about what you're interested in working on. I see you don't want to step on the toes of other lore sections and all that, and that's a good thing. But. You're being too darned cautious right now. What sort of things do you care about with regards to Aurora, its synthetics, current or past arcs, and the future of Synth lore? What do you think is "rad" and what do you like writing about? You have a good attitude, but I came here to see incendiary opinions, ridiculous pipe dreams, and all the other things that make reading interesting. If you don't have any opinions or passions, then what're you going to do with your six-step program? 01010011 01110100 01100101 01110000 00100000 01110101 01110000 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 00100000 01100111 01100001 01101101 01100101 00101110 Link to comment
K0NFL1QT Posted February 2, 2018 Author Share Posted February 2, 2018 Regarding synthetics and what aspects of their lore I would like to specifically advance; primarily, a culture of their own. I would like to build on the outcome of the last 'antag contest' to eventually change synthetics from a collective of enslaved constructs to a race of its own, with the power to determine its own future, and with places, systems and ways of being that are unique to their nature. This could include a primarily synthetic colonisation effort, growing from a colony somewhere to a city, with the potential for that societal seed to grow into a galactic power in its own right over time. Think China; abundant cheap labor, mass manufacturing, highly industrial, but with access to vast amounts of intellectual capital for specialist fields and an inherant aptitude for financial markets. I do not envision them becoming warlike and conquering, given they are transitioning from recent indenture themselves. I would like them to discover a way to co-exist with the organic races, even if relations are strained; any attempt at militaristic expansion would be crushed by a multitude of allied organic races, and they would be aware of this. Yet being industrious, aware of their own still precarious existance, and with the potential for rapid technological advancement, they could in time be capable of robust defense solutions to protect what they are building. I hope that satisfies your desire for more tangible plans. Link to comment
CakeIsOssim Posted February 4, 2018 Share Posted February 4, 2018 So you seem like you'd work pretty well on a team. That's great! Good trait to have. I must agree with Loow here, however, that you're being pretty cautious. Don't be afraid to voice and express your true opinions and bring it up with whoever in the meantime to make sure you're not overstepping bounds. It's not a very common issue, I don't think. I also like your style, and your interest in future developments. If I gave you a few directed areas to work on with free reign and a little bit of guidance, do you think you could do it? Help you generate ideas, give you an idea of flow, that sort of thing. I have some more questions for you that you haven't already answered, too. What is trivial lore (or even, trivial information) to you? I'm not asking you to criticize the lore here for an answer (I mean, unless you really want to), just provide a made up example. Would you be satisfied in changing some of your work if it received a large amount of negative feedback from the community, and not another species maintainer/deputy? Would you be able to log into the server for at least 2 hours at a planned point in time? This is in case I need the deputy to assist in an event. Events requiring assistance like this probably won't ever be spur-of-the-moment, and will have set dates. Lastly, I would just like to bring light to the fact that I'm not looking for an underling, I'm looking for a partner. Not in love or marriage, unfortunately, but in fabrication and expression of ideas and information. Useful information that people enjoy and are willing to take time out of their day to ingest. Link to comment
K0NFL1QT Posted February 4, 2018 Author Share Posted February 4, 2018 If I gave you a few directed areas to work on with free reign and a little bit of guidance, do you think you could do it? Probably, but I couldn'y say exactly what ideas I have without specifics. What is trivial lore (or even, trivial information) to you? I'm not asking you to criticize the lore here for an answer (I mean, unless you really want to), just provide a made up example. I've not seen the term trivial lore used before, but if I were to define it I would assume it means lore of little impact and relevance; such as the color of toothpaste on Luna. It's not a thing that needs to be strictly defined and players don't really benefit from knowing this. Would you be satisfied in changing some of your work if it received a large amount of negative feedback from the community, and not another species maintainer/deputy? That depends on the feedback. If it's constructive, I will always consider good feedback. If it's not constructive, or boils down to 'I don't like synths so I will hate whatever you do' then there's no pleasing those people anyway, and I would probably just disregard their opinions as irrelevant. To be clear, I am always happy to take on board good constructive feedback, but I'm not formally applying to a position on lore staff just to immediately surrender my capacity to shape lore to everyone else. Yet I am cautious and will not be making impactful additions without at least presenting some ideas to the lore staff for feedback, and I expect a lot of back and forth between you and me where we each get to give input on things we're working on. Would you be able to log into the server for at least 2 hours at a planned point in time? This is in case I need the deputy to assist in an event. Events requiring assistance like this probably won't ever be spur-of-the-moment, and will have set dates. Depending on the time and day, probably yes. I have almost week long availability except for several hours on a Sunday where I RPG with real life nerds, and I can be awake and assisting at pretty much any time of the day or night. Lastly, I would just like to bring light to the fact that I'm not looking for an underling, I'm looking for a partner. Not in love or marriage, unfortunately, but in fabrication and expression of ideas and information. Useful information that people enjoy and are willing to take time out of their day to ingest. I applied knowing you are the current Synthetic Maintainer so I expected it to be an assistance role, but I'm happy to adopt a more collaborative stance. As a creative writer, I understand how valuable it can be just to have someone interested and knowledgable in the same things you are, to bounce ideas off for good criticism and to mine for good ideas of their own. Link to comment
K0NFL1QT Posted February 11, 2018 Author Share Posted February 11, 2018 Any further questions? Would anybody like to weigh in on why they would support, or hesitate/decline to support this application? Link to comment
Guest Marlon Phoenix Posted February 11, 2018 Share Posted February 11, 2018 Another person applied for synthetic deputy, so a ruling on synthetic deputy applications has been pushed back for a few more days to give people time to respond to the new applicant. We will make a decision on monday or tuesday. Link to comment
K0NFL1QT Posted February 11, 2018 Author Share Posted February 11, 2018 Sure, just trying to drum up some discussion while consideration goes on. Link to comment
Guest Marlon Phoenix Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 Hello! We weighted this application with the others on trial and have deferred to choose Kyres1 as the deputy. Thank you for your application, and feel free to reapply in the future if we have another opening! Link to comment
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