[Declined] Lord Fowl Skrell Dev App

I personally find Bauser l bringing up such a subjective incident like that in such a manner to be...unfavorable. This is about Fowl being a lore dev.

If anything, you've only proved that he's knowledgeable to the game's mechanics.

While I'm personally keen on staff being professional when it's needed, I'm also pretty keen on certain members of the community getting their just desserts when they say something to a deliberately ignorant degree and don't apologize for their posturing when they clearly know very little on the subject they're talking about. It doesn't matter if it comes from a staff member or just a player, when someone acts that way they should be called on it in a point-by-point fashion.

It's important members of the community have an entry-level education regarding issues they want to talk about before they attempt to engage someone with far more expertise on the matter.

What does a Skrell Warble sound like to you? Since its an emote, does it give a facial expression? What does warbling mean or, why do Skrell warble about things?

What does a Skrell Warble sound like to you? Since its an emote, does it give a facial expression? What does warbling mean or, why do Skrell warble about things?

 

Warbling is just what warbling is - a short songlike utterance of constantly shifting notes, like a birdsong.It does not convey any particular facial expression, and has no specific meaning. It's like sighing for humans - it can convey many emotions, but is typically some sort of exasperation.

I've been undecided about this for a little while, but figure I might as well chip in.

To start, I agree that there's no reason to continue debating the Bauser-Fowl debate here from Discord, since it's literally just sitting in the Discord. (A useful starting point is "from: noodle_buster#1934 Then why do you dislike their mechanics so much?" ) Feel free to scroll up from there to make sure nothing happened earlier, and then read as you will and come to your own conclusions about what both parties said.

To keep this short, I don't think I've ever seen anyone complain about the loreteam - not the lore itself, but the lore team - for any reason other than refusing to listen to the player-base or dismissing most criticism outright. Whether or not they do that is subjective and not the point, it's just the only thing about the team itself I really see complained about.

I have firsthand seen you respond to criticism, whether justified or not and even when not directed at you, by making jokes, memes, and essentially just making fun of the other party. I've also seen you respond to criticism with well thought out and genuine responses, but responses like that haven't been a one-off thing, either. I doubt I need to specify why I think this would worsen the problem stated earlier.

Inspired by the muses and some ideas I had regarding on why the Federation navy is so uniquely effective, and with some free spare time, I wrote an article concerning it; https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cmUpbIphIJtKYOrFYhaxUQ-18InU4Bcbe6S6sq6HKmE/edit?usp=sharing

Notably, it is not in an essay format and reads more like a wiki article, and is indeed patterned off of currently existing naval wiki articles.

All right. So I finally picked up my feet and decided to read everyone’s apps. Yup. Fowl, you get to be first, because you applied (I mean, not counting Schev) first. Three pages of posts and three essays. I write as I read and will edit appropriately if any question or concern is answered in the posts prior to this. I admit, I had to take breaks, so if I missed something, direct me.

I completely agree with your three pillars. Culture, History, and current events are what make a species to me, too. How they interconnect is what should make a species fun to explore and to roleplay.

Onto your first essay, “The Last Days of Glorsh”

First off, giving "It" the capital "I", gave me actual shivers. I had to take a step back for a few minutes because I had never thought of It that way. Glorsh has always been “Yeah, Glorsh, you know. AI singularity, absorbed all the other AIs, killed a lot of Skrell, and then vanished. Hooow did it vanish? Up to you.” But giving it that… that It in the eyes of all the Skrell, in them trying to explain to others that it wasn’t so simple… Jesus.

Your three major rebellion factions interest me. Not going to lie, a lot of Skrell lore that we have glazes right past things like this; did Skrell just accept Glorsh or did they find ways to fight back? The answer up to now has been “Well, both, I guess. Up to you.” What you have here is solid. And I noticed: not entirely clear-cut.

“According to current philosophies, it is believed that the dissentious behavior of the People’s Alliance actively impeded the more organized resistance elements of Those of the Old Glory, perhaps even prolonging the Glorsh Rebellion.”

This implies… maybe they did, maybe they didn’t. Some Skrell might say, maybe they just don’t want people thinking anti globalism is good. And that would work, because, look, you see! In the past! It didn’t do anything good for us, did it? That’s a damn good way to push a monoculture, particularly for a species that depends and weighs its past so heavily.

And the end! Those fucking Glorsh Sympathizers! How dare they take Kal’lo away from us! That’d be like Washington keeling over at the Battle of Yorktown, like what the hell. There’s still so much work to do.

Definitely entertaining, and I’m glad to read it. I love history, just in general. It’s great to see the little influences the past has on the present. This essay gives more life to the time of Glorsh and how it even impacts today. Best rebellion happens to have pulled out on top in the government, eh? Kal’lo, still the capital, now with a real history attached to it.

Onto the second one, “Another Day in Paradise”

THANK YOU. One of—if not THE—biggest glaze-over in the lore in my eyes is how the fuck do we support a culture of doctors and scientists if we don’t like AI? Who does the cleaning? Who does the farming? Who does the mining? SOMEONE has to do the fucking job. Sure, C’thur are coming in now, but we’ve had a few hundred years of holding ourselves up. HOW!? Alright, calming down, actually looking into the content of it now.

The main problem I’m finding is how does this work, Skrellpower-wise. Skrell aren’t exactly the proliferous species they once were. How do you explain that so many Skrell are needed to run their machines? Basically, does the math work out that so many Skrell can be in charge of the machines that are that numerous and complex for each settlement even out into the frontier?

Now the addendum essay, “In the Pipe”

I was on Discord when you mentioned you were writing this one. I’ve honestly never had very much interest in the subject. But it’s extremely important, culturally. This is the Jargon Federation Navy we’re talking about.

… Submerged in water to help with the G-forces.

I would never have thought of anything like that. Using a species’ natural abilities and molding the lore around that in such a way that physics checks out. A Human could never use this tactic. A Tajaran could never use this tactic. Vaurca could sure try, but no telling how well it would really work. Only Skrell can do this efficiently. And it sets them apart.

So this is what you present to us. It’s pretty great. I can see all of my characters sliding in to pockets you’re opening up and explanations you’re making without much (if any) alteration. And that’s important. A character is their background and culture, and if we went with big changes, it would throw off some characters. You’re taking the framework and digging deeper, and that’s what we need.

Now, I don’t really know Fowl. I can’t comment on his personality. All in all, when I go to a lore dev, I go armed with questions. If Fowl is going to politely answer these questions, then I, as a player, won’t have an issue. Whether Fowl can work with a team, is going to have to be the decision of the team, and I won’t overstep there.

But I like this applicant and what they’re bringing in.

Now. As I’m fond of asking strange questions, little trifles that wouldn’t usually be present in the lore, I will ask you your weird question:

“How does Skrell reproduction work? Are we talking full genitalia on both sides? Does the female get fertilized and then lay the eggs (a la squid) and lay them beneath her tentacles or does she lay the eggs and the sperm gets added after (a la frogs)? Are Skrell too “modern” for that and use incubators now?”

...

The main problem I’m finding is how does this work, Skrellpower-wise. Skrell aren’t exactly the proliferous species they once were. How do you explain that so many Skrell are needed to run their machines? Basically, does the math work out that so many Skrell can be in charge of the machines that are that numerous and complex for each settlement even out into the frontier?

...

Now. As I’m fond of asking strange questions, little trifles that wouldn’t usually be present in the lore, I will ask you your weird question:

“How does Skrell reproduction work? Are we talking full genitalia on both sides? Does the female get fertilized and then lay the eggs (a la squid) and lay them beneath her tentacles or does she lay the eggs and the sperm gets added after (a la frogs)? Are Skrell too “modern” for that and use incubators now?”

 

In regards to your first question, the math of it is that ultimately the current society can sustain itself thanks to the Skrellian penchant for efficiency assisted by their calculative drive and their robust automation. Unlike many human organizations, while Skrell may have a heavy bureaucracy it's a highly efficient one. But that's not to say the state of affairs is stable. The declining Skrell population has created many problems with this system - the Federation, once mighty and expansive, is in decline. The core systems are well maintained, but the frontier systems - especially those that are not full fledged members of the Federation yet, do not enjoy the same luxury. But as a whole, the point of the system is to maximize the effect of a few Skrell - relatively few Skrell can successfully operate the infrastructure of a fairly large area.

In regards to your second question, I've always imagined that Skrell practice amplexus, like frogs and toads. Regardless, their reproduction is via external methods - the female releases eggs, and the male releases the fertilizer. The process takes a while (In frogs amplexus can last for days), and instead of being the passionate and private affair that it is in human society, Skrellian intercourse is highly ceremonial - they might even have fertilizing parties (Especially now when fertilization is so rare). Incubators would probably be used instead of incubating eggs beneath the head-tails in modern society, considering that all Skrell lead rather busy lives.

I've come to a decision.

Your essay was nothing short of fantastic and the vision you had for skrell was nothing short of excellent. Unfortunately, I cannot ignore the constant and sustained barrage of complaints regarding your behavior from both members of the lore team and the community. While I am willing to believe and envision a team where you were able to get along with everyone, I wasn't really able to convince anyone else about this. The ideas and input you had about skrell lore were fantastic, and I hope the incoming skrell developer will take your feedback into consideration.

You can lock my lore-dev app, but you can never lock my freedom.

#RESIST. DOWN, with this sort of thing.