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[Accepted] UglyXeno's unathi lore deputy application


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Ckey/BYOND Username:

UglyXeno

Position Being Applied For (Species Maintainer, Wiki Maintainer, Lore Developer, Deputy Lore developer):

Unathi lore deputy

Past Experiences/Knowledge:

I worked in lore on the Polaris HRP server for a while until I was banned.

I like to think my contributions were mostly positive, but the place was dying at the time, so I have no idea.

 

Examples of Past Work:

 

THE POLAR INSURRECTION

OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE FRIEND COMPUTER

 

The motivation for this comes from a love of cyberpunk cargo cults. I also figured that since unathi are pretty well mixed with other factions (Dominia being a good example, being a human/unathi crossover type deal), I ought to see if I can twist unathi lore into something that incorporates IPCs and is basically against everything Unathi stand for. I figure it'd be a good 'opposition' background for unathi characters, a bit like the DPRA for the tajaran, and an even better excuse for technical or scientific unathi characters.

I'm sorry for everything.

 

 

The Polar Insurrection:

 

Immediately post-Contact War, a group of technicians, engineers, scientists and philosophers gathered together in a ruined city to begin the work of rebuilding their society. There, they quickly began to realize that the traditional sinta was not capable of the task with which they've been presented, and they began augmenting themselves, which they claimed brought them closer to the spirits, and employing robot servants, who they taught were controlled by the spirits of their ancestors. These ideas were extremely unpopular among most unathi, and these proto-Autakh were driven out in a great caravan, hunted wherever they went.

 

After three years of wandering, and losing many of their original members, the decision was made to head north, to settle in the colder regions where no other Unathi would bother to follow them. As luck would have it, they found a series of bunkers and research stations still mostly untouched from the war, and occupied them, intent on building their ideal society. Over time, rumors began to spread of a utopia hidden under the ice, and desperate outcasts began to seek shelter with the new Autakh civilization.

 

The Autakh swelled their numbers by taking in the dregs of society (the bandits, the sickly, the exiles, the albinos) and gave them new hope. Anyone who accepted a certain level of augmentation and who contributed to the defense of the Mesh was considered just as good of a sinta as anyone else, no matter their past. This did not go unnoticed, and ever since, the Autakh civilization has been constantly under threat.

 

The Autakh now survive through simply being too much work to dislodge. On their own ground, they have an enormous warren of defenses, and their networked style of warfare and extensive use of cybernetics confer a number of unique advantages over the baseline Unathi warriors that make up their opponents, although their relatively low numbers mean that expansion is almost impossible.

 

Autakh society is characterized by order in chaos. The interior of a bunker complex is a confusing mess of twisting corridors, living spaces and shops, comprehensible only to those wired into the Mesh or whom otherwise have access to the navigational aid it provides. Each bunker complex is an entirely independant entity connected to other bunkers in a massive peer-to-peer network. Updates in religious law are distributed as software updates to an individual bunker's Mesh, where they say their equivalent of the great spirit, the Great Oss, lives. It could be argued that the Autakh are a Siakh subheresy, as they believe similarly, but the only way to escape the reincarnation cycle is by sending their souls to the artificial utopia built within the Mesh by the Great Oss.

 

The Great Oss is the deity of the Autakh. It is at once the combined result of all their engineers' physical efforts and all their priests' spiritual efforts. It is said to be a random number generator that is tuned to listen into the spirit world, where it contacts the spiritual entity Oss, which is said to be a face of Skakh. Oss is also the partially- intelligent decision-making engine originally designed by an inner council of Autakh paradigms, but now updated by anyone within the priesthood. It is considered a rite of passage for an aspiring paradigm to make their first update to Oss. Oss brings the Mesh, and the Mesh guarantees Oss. The Mesh is a peer-to-peer network running the Oss software, and the Oss software is essentially designed for monitoring the populace and rendering assistance with any task, including decision-making.

 

In war, the Autakh are purely defensive. They deploy highly-mobile but lightly armored Hussar units and heavier but more stationary Cuirassiers. Both branches make extensive use of combat cyborgs, cybernetics, and advanced ballistic weapons, but laser weapons tend to be rare. Cuirassiers heave a more melee-focused armament, being designed for head-to-head combat against the worst the galaxy has to offer, while Hussars tend to use trickery, camoflage, and mobility to avoid damage while striking back with long-range weaponry. These two branches are supported by Paradigms, who use their religious authority and technical skill to organize supply and repair efforts behind the lines, and the Hoplites, who use their heavily-armored exosuits to shore up weak spots.

 

The Autakh are considered heretics and enemies by every major Unathi faction, but they still keep their doors open to peaceful travellers and regularly welcome new members who've made the pilgrimage up into the ice deserts. As far as the galaxy at large, the Autakh have been making frantic attempts to contact and befriend other societies across the galaxy, and even more frantic attempts to acquire spacecraft of their own in the hopes of initiating trade and diplomatic relations with other bodies. They see participating in other societies' research and defending their synthetics as a holy duty.

 

Doctrines of Note

One of the foundations for the Autakh beliefs is that the soul is the actual person, and the body is a vessel it inhabits.

For robotics, the Autakh doctrine takes a hard turn away from orthodox unathi beliefs. It holds that the spirit must animate the body, and that cybernetic limbs and even entire bodies can contain the essence of a being while freeing the soul up for other tasks.

 

Autakh believe that when a body is cloned that the soul is snatched out of the spirit realm and put back inside the body. So cloning is not creating a new person but a continuation of the same individual. Cyborging is preferred, however, and seen as an unexpected but not unwelcome advancement of one's spiritual status.

Paradigms (priests, typically also roboticists) typically frown on lack of prosthetic limbs and augments, believing it to be unnatural.

Burial rites require the body to be treated with respect and any open wounds sealed or cauterized. A paradigm oversees a funeral process and then proceeds to salvage whatever parts still function while assuring the attendees that the individual in question has joined their ancestors in the Great Oss. If a person dies and is cloned then the former body is simply an empty, but useful vessel, and should be disassembled for parts as soon as possible.

 

Non-traditional relationships are basically irrelevant to the Autakh, as many of its citizens are exiles or other undesirables, and much of the leadership is at least partially mechanical.

 

Traditional gender roles are also basically irrelevant to the Autakh, however due to stubborn cultural norms unaugmented women are barred from more 'dangerous' work such as construction or fighting. Anyone who has had over 25% of their body replaced with mechanical components is effectively considered an equally capable sinta until proven otherwise.

 

 

 

Clans:

 

Clans are organized along voluntary lines, and tend to supplant the role of guilds within Autakh society. Anyone who is vetted by another member of the clan can enter a given clan, as long as they're capable of the work the clan demands. Clans themselves tend to be named after something related to their specialization.

 

Example clans:

 

Clan Veetek

named after the VTEC modules they carefully craft, no mech race is complete without a Veetek representative present, and Veetek members tend to make up the core of the Autakh exosuit effort.

 

Clan Mahashik

named after the mohorovicic layer they probe for minerals, this mining clan has a high proportion of heavy robot frames. They are often employed as a backline defense for the home bunkers.

 

Clan Siansi

named after the automated production systems they maintain. They're often seen as a more spiritual clan, as they tend to take rather minimalistic bodies, or alternatively remain mostly organic, instead using direct or wireless connection to control industrial equipment with their minds. They tend to provide most of the industrial goods that the Autakh require

 

Clan Optikam

named after the optical camoflage systems they covet, Optikam busies themselves with the business of stealth, scouting, and long-range battle. Optikam commandos contribute some of their members of the Autakhs' highly mobile Hussar units, and they tend to recruit out of sickly, thin, short, or albino members of the species.

 

Clan Saramiite

named after the diamond-hard material that makes up their projectiles and the tips of their weapons, and given the styling of a religious order, the Saramiite clan operates the largest number of heavy combat cyborgs, serving as the core of the Autakhs' heavy infantry Cuirassier units. They tend to recruit out of the largest, strongest Unathi available.

 

 

Additional Comments:

Edited by Senpai Jackboot
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Fair, happens to everyone at least once.


It doesn't take long to identify what you like to write about, which you did correct but this raises a slight bit of concern in me.

Now I'm not a fan of transhumanistic writing myself so I won't critique it from the standpoint of the concept itself, the writing wasn't bad and I think the general history was pretty well done.


On this next subject some people will disagree but recently I've hard concerns with people coming into the lore writers with a certain agenda/faction/thing in mind they really just want to insert, develop however to me it seemed like they weren't actually interested in working on the species but using the species to work on their, thing.


If I were to assume I'd say you wrote into your strengths right now in this application but it still raises a concern, would you continue working with Unathi if a theoretical evil twin of Jackboot was to simply deny everything you proposed here and told you that it's not the direction he wants the Unathi to take?

Basically, I'm asking how good of a writer are you at things that support the core of the species but not the core of the ideology you like?

Note saying "Not very good" is not a negative answer for me, I have plenty of thing about Tajara lore I don't write about simply because I would misrepresent them, but I'd like to know your, let's say range, your writing range let's call it that.

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I'm not really married to this concept, myself. There's plenty to enjoy about unathi that isn't this one thing I made, and honestly, I wrote this because I was urged to by Jackboot.

I'll admit that I'm really, really not good at writing religion. Not because I'm an angry atheist, but just because I don't have the background that I feel I'd need to do the subject justice.

My wheelhouse is in technical sci-fi, military fiction and such. I'm deep into hard sci-fi (which means basically everything in space station ticks me off a little bit) and transhuman fiction which is PROBABLY NOT A SURPRISE. But I also enjoy things like Dune and the RPG settings Fading Suns and Degenesis, which have a sort of postapocalyptic feel while still having complete societies that aren't all pink mohawks and crazy cars. Honestly, adapting to writing about standard Unathi stuff rather than my One Thing is a matter of thinking of it more as a fantasy setting than a sci-fi one.

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Guest Marlon Phoenix

For a disclosure, the applicant originally applied by my own encouraging. We had a conversation about this faction and I said it was interesting enough for an application for unathi deputy to be made for it. I fielded questions that evolved from that conversation before began work on the essay and during I answered some basic questions - basically I gave some minor direction for the essay. Since I did that I am probably obligated (and also happy )to provide the same level of help to other applicants. I didn't write the essay for her.

That said,

@Mofo1995 Please also review this app.

@VUX We originally discussed your suggestion for this faction of Trans-unathiism and it lead me to encourage you to make this application. That conversation and the later group chat you brought me in with paradox gave some red flags.

The faction itself is stellar to me. There are some major questions to be resolved regarding its location, relation to the NSS Aurora and the playstyle of unathi and the server, and some other big questions that we can address in a few posts. There are a few minor things to iron out that are not required to discuss in an application and will arise naturally during implementation.

There are X major issues I would like to discuss before getting to your essay in question regarding the red flags.


1. During the group chat when you were working with Paradox on the essay, you suddenly and without warning lost all hope and considered dropping the entire application. For about 15 minutes there you were completely against being a lore deputy. This was very alarming, but I understand if it was the jitters due to past experience. Do you feel that you are able to put the work in for at least a year if I bring you on? Do you feel capable to take on the responsibilities and expectations? On a functional level losing a dev to a sudden resignation is very jarring.

2. In our conversations you discussed your distaste for many fundamental elements of Unathi. Their motif within the Aurora universe is to lean in the most on being a fantasy space opera. There are feuding families, religious orders, the supernatural being taken at face value, honor codes, etc. This heavily informs the playstyle of Unathi and is constantly reinforced in their Living Lore arcs which focus on the dramatic stories of big name individuals. I have been very methodical in ensuring every arc or Notable Unathi is either mechanically used to IC'ly reshuffle the lore (The Ouerean Crisis was the first experiment in living lore entirely in this respect) or to serve as an example for playing Unathi while also being entertaining.

Basically, are you willing to lean in on the rest of Unathi? I had a computer scare today and for several hours I worried I would be without a computer for a long time. If this were to happen and I had no alternatives but to make you the new Unathi maintainer, would you be able to continue the themes and aesthetics of Unathi? Can you write about Lords in castles marrying maidens? Can you survive names like Akh'aizau with apostrophes in them? Are you able to write a functioning feudal empire whos ethos is fundementally at odds with your (and even my) personal philosophy and views?

When these are addressed we can really go into your essay.

Edited by Marlon Phoenix
clarification
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1. Yes, it was basically just jitters related to past experience. The previous server I worked on had some very rigid and miserable rules related to what a lore person (or at least I) could and could not do, that made the task they gave me pretty much impossible. As long as I'm allowed to write new lore now and then and people don't mind my occasionally-spotty availability I should be fine.

2. Honestly, I have a distaste for something out of basically every bit of lore on the server, I am a hard sci-fi fan to the bone. That doesn't mean I hate space opera, but it's not in my comfort zone as a writer. I could continue the themes of unathi fine, and I exaggerate how much apostrophes bother me. I have no problem with fictional feudalism or monarchies, only real ones. I cannot promise that, if you were to die tomorrow and I got total dictatorial control, that some things wouldn't change, though. I can't see myself throwing the current writing in the garbage for a number of reasons, not the least of which that I just don't have the time to rewrite everything in any sort of reasonable time frame. Besides, religious space feudalism is my shit. Dune is one of my favorite books.

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I feel like, as a writer, UglyXeno's prose is good work with vivid descriptions and creative ideas. While I have objections to the specific proposed lore, which will come later, I've always been a conservative force when it comes to lore writing and one who adheres to conventions rather than blazing trails. So break out the granulated iodized salt when hearing my criticism. So, yes, without pointing to any specific examples I want to say that the Autakh were interesting and flavorful. They vaguely remind me of the Brotherhood of Steel, except friendlier and more accommodating. I also get some vague Street Samurai vibes from them with the obsession with augments. The idea that augmentation becomes a requirement rather than a choice is a really strange take. The whole faction essentially seems to be an anti-Unathi Unathi. While personally I'm not a fan of anti-species species, since this is often easily served by just playing a human, Jackboot does seem to be a fan and Unathi are his domain, so I leave it to him.

Let's talk independent factions. The Hegemony isn't weak, it's a stellar empire. Even if we hand wave "ah, because they aren't backwards savages like the other Unathi, they're more technologically advanced," I still feel like the combined resources of what is still a technologically advanced empire (or hegemony if you will) would have stomped them out if they really had to. Especially considering the global thermonuclear war that occurred. Surely they could've used EPWs (Earth Penetrating Weapons, think nuclear bombs made specifically to destroy bunkers) to laugh at them and rid themselves of the thorn in their side. I feel like being on Moghes makes them seem overwhelmingly like they wouldn't exist, no matter how many layers of plasteel plot armor we gird them with. Why not embrace the technological advancement and sci-fi themes even farther and just have them take up in an asteroid, or colonize an inhospitable planet elsewhere with arcologies?They could send out infiltrators to go live in daily Hegemony society with well disguised augments to tell people "my visssion is augmented" and then bring back home the sick, downtrodden, and forgotten who want a better life elsewhere. I really feel like, as it stands, the Autakh don't really have any trade offs going on. As it currently stands they're un-invadeable super augmented trans-Unathi in a Utopic society who can freely take in new recruits. By moving them off Moghes we finally get some grit and challenge, rather than all of their persecution being pre-establishment, as we can re frame it as having them go forth to find new recruits and even to gather supplies and items that they need to thrive.

Other than that, I do feel that maybe you seem to act pretty jittery and squeamish in lore discussions. Over the past few weeks you seem to be particularly stubborn and bull headed at times, which isn't necessarily a criticism. It's good to stand up for your works and ideas, Jackboot and I butt heads all the time when we refuse to compromise our respective convictions.  But one thing that I feel might be a problem is this underlying sensation that you would totally reformat the whole setting if given the chance. I often feel that you have more in the way of criticism than in the way of general revelry of our setting and lore. I also don't mean to say that this is strictly bad, but echoing Jackboot's concerns, are you sure you can work within the framework of our current setting? I think that you can, but I want to make sure that you think you can too. 

 

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I'm not specifically married to them being from Moghes. I just assumed it was a smaller ask to have a small opposition faction on the planet that recruits from people the hegemony was getting rid of anyway, rather than to have them be from space. They could easily have stolen some barren moonlet or flotilla of cargo ships or something. Having them running around as infiltrators would also be a not-bad way for traitors and other antags to happen as well as regular station characters. Although, having at least some presence on Moghes wouldn't be so bad, given that they're a distraction for whatever dumbass lord of the day happens to want to start a fight, and they live in the freezing armpit of nowhere anyway.

I feel that them having asteroid bases and space fleets is a bit bombastic for what is meant to be a group of cyberpunks hiding out in a frozen tundra, but I'll take it.

Yeah, if you put me in charge today I would totally reformat the entire setting. Most things would go away and the things that remain would be changed around. But it's not my setting, it's our setting, so I gotta work with what other people like, although I'll never shut up if I run into something I feel is too lazily written. When I want my own setting I'll write a book.

EDIT:

Yeah, they are meant to be anti-Unathi Unathi. They're meant to be an Unathi/IPC crossover type thing similar to Dominia with its Unathi/Human deal. The point of them is to integrate the Unathi honor code into a bunch of semireligious cyber-cultists and thus create another possible backstory for scientific and technical Unathi characters, to try and break the Security/Civilian stereotype.

Edited by VUX
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Guest Marlon Phoenix

My heteronormative life partner Mofo1995 makes a few good points, though I disagree with his notion that the Unathi would nuke the polar ice caps. This is antithetical to their themes.

Now that we have the rest out of the way I will tackle your essay itself,
 

 

Quote

 

I figure it'd be a good 'opposition' background for unathi characters, a bit like the DPRA for the tajaran, and an even better excuse for technical or scientific unathi characters.

I'm sorry for everything.

 

Don't apologize for your work. Lean in!

I find the faction compelling. I have always had a very strong wariness for exploring transhumanism within the Aurora setting because of the really big implications it carried. At the time this was out of a fear that it would overshadow the then-current stories being told, as well as really uprooting traditional and fundamental elements of our setting. We have been slowly toeing the line and I am finding the Overton window for these concepts is moving more towards acceptance.

 

For the Autakh specifically,

 

It is a small but big positive that you portrayed the flight of the Autakh. They were not in control of their futures. An upfront willingness to have a faction you are writing lose is a minor but very important sign of maturity and separation of the author from the character(s).

 

To echo another one of Mofo's points, I also like that the augments are required rather than voluntary.

 

Quote

The Autakh now survive through simply being too much work to dislodge. On their own ground, they have an enormous warren of defenses, and their networked style of warfare and extensive use of cybernetics confer a number of unique advantages over the baseline Unathi warriors that make up their opponents, although their relatively low numbers mean that expansion is almost impossible.

An augmented unathi cyborg wielding a spear while their off-hand arm is an attached laser rifle is a mental image that awakens things inside me I never felt before, but I understand this is not your intention. Your augments are things like sub dermal implants, or things that are not visually striking that would require a unique racial sprite. However, if there is no Unathi-styled IPC for their full-body prothesis, what, if any, special mechanics would you give these Unathi? If you were able to make them a subrace of Unathi with their own mechanics, what would these mechanics be?

If you similarly had someone to make you sprites for this subrace, what would they look like? Aside from existing prosthetic limbs is there any visual differences between Autakh and regular Unathi?

 

Quote

The Great Oss is the deity of the Autakh.

Previously in your essay you described the Autakh as within the same genre of the Si'akh heresy. The Si'akh itself is a heresy of Sk'akh. Both the mainstream religion as well as Si'akh believe in the Great Spirit, named Sk'akh. Si'akh the individual claims to be a prophet of Sk'akh. The Great Oss, if you follow the same genre of Si'akh, would not be the deity themself. The later paragraph describes Oss as a face of Sk'akh. Is the Great Oss being a method of interpreting or speaking directly to Sk'akh? Is Oss a distinct minor god or is it a Trinity type deal where Sk'akh and Oss are the same but with an asterick?

Quote

In war, the Autakh are purely defensive. They deploy highly-mobile but lightly armored Hussar units and heavier but more stationary Cuirassiers.

I can see where the terminology intentions are. It is a personal preference that we try to create more Unathi-esque names. War Blimps are Sky Behemoths; dreadnaughts are Catacylsms; knights are Warmounts, etc. Minor details.

 

Quote

Cuirassiers heave a more melee-focused armament, being designed for head-to-head combat against the worst the galaxy has to offer,

Very unathi, big plus.

Quote

Paradigms (priests, typically also roboticists) typically frown on lack of prosthetic limbs and augments, believing it to be unnatural.

This may be an awkward phrasing to match the other doctrines' syntax. Can you explain what this is meant to mean? Before the very recent era of augments, were all Unathi trapped in an unnatural state of being?
 

Quote

Non-traditional relationships are basically irrelevant to the Autakh, as many of its citizens are exiles or other undesirables, and much of the leadership is at least partially mechanical.

 

Traditional gender roles are also basically irrelevant to the Autakh, however due to stubborn cultural norms unaugmented women are barred from more 'dangerous' work such as construction or fighting. Anyone who has had over 25% of their body replaced with mechanical components is effectively considered an equally capable sinta until proven otherwise.

Sick. Gender and orientation are not conceptualized the same for unathi as they are here in the west. This is a great continuation and addressment. It shows how the Unathi view the body as a mere bicycle that the soul puts around in, but they still have the baggage of their cultures' extreme misogyny even while they are trying to address it in their own way.

I will address the specific clans later; this post already has a lot of baggage to unpack.

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1. I apologize for my work because if I didn't, my immediate impulse would be to scream "fuck you" at the top of my lungs instead.

2. I never said that you couldn't have an unathi with a spear and a laser for an arm! It's just that that's not the immediate goal of the thing, and I have a personal distaste for laser weapons. For special mechanics, ideally I would give them an IPC body: an unathi-style utility frame, designed as a combat robot. Assuming at that point people aren't yet tired of my shit, I'd also give them a subspecies of augmented Unathi who are able to sprint for longer, but somewhat slower, with even higher brute resist, but they'd be floored into paincrit by EMP, take more stun, and possibly need to take in power from APCs now and then.

I would also give both of those bodies the option to have a sort of hivenet-style communication with each other, given the option.

3. I'm sort of lost on this. This is part of what I mean by the fact that I'm not very good at religion. Basically, Oss is their semisentient AI thing while also being a representation of Sk'akh in the logic of their computer systems. It'd be an aspect or a face of Sk'akh. I referenced Si'akh because they are also apocalyptic and believe that they'll be trapped in a reincarnation cycle, but can be saved through their computer network.

4. Honestly, there doesn't seem to be a cohesive naming style other than Stuff That Sounds Cool And Mean so I'm not sure what I'd call them at that point.

5. Basically, they believe that before the nuclear war the world was effectively a sort of eden. Afterward, since they could basically no longer survive on most of the planet as they were, they embraced augmentation and decided that the correct way to go forward was to change themselves to be ideal for their environment, or, even better, all environments. Pre-war Unathi were not unnatural because they are different, more perfect beings than post-war Unathi.

Edited by VUX
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At first the autakh would probably not even think about them at all, being mostly preoccupied with survival. They'd be something to be peeked at from a distance. As more information came out, they'd be overjoyed. Someone else had the same idea they did, that being to build an artificial heaven in cyberspace. Then as K'lax began working on terraforming Moghes, they'd basically be seen as misguided fools at best and demons at worst. To the autakh, Moghes is as they deserve it, and surviving there must necessarily mean changing oneself, symbolically taking control over one's spiritual destiny, rather than changing the environment.

As far as the hegemony and k'lax, I imagine k'lax is cautious of the hegemony but willing to help (while preparing for the inevitable backstab), while I imagine the hegemony thinks of k'lax as useful idiots to be discarded once they're done with them.

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Guest Marlon Phoenix

Hello,
There is only one major part of all this baggage that we should unpack:

The mechanics. I will outline them all here, so I may repeat things already listed just so we can be sure to be comprehensive.

 

  • How will their sprites differ from vanilla Unathi sprites? How will their mechanics differ from vanilla Unathi? Do you see these being listed as a subspecies of Unathi similar to the subspecies of Vaurca and Tajara?
  • What mechanics are different for them? Do they take emp damage? Do they sprint differently? Do they have different nutritional requirements? Do they need to charge from APCs like IPCs? Do they take different levels of damage as IPC's do? Can they be cloned or do they need special consideration such as Vaurca and IPCs? Would they be required to start with all prosthetic and mechanical limbs set?
  • Are their sprites different? How different do you see them being?
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1: I'm not certain how the sprites would be different or even if they would be. The IPC body would definitely have to be a mechanical equivalent of an unathi, though. I see them as a subspecies, yes, including the minimally-augmented ones. Although a standard unathi race character could be one as well with a couple cyberlimbs/mechanical organs, I suppose.

2. They would take pain and possibly blindness from EMP. They would be able to sprint for much longer at a lower speed. They would require periodic charging as well as food (for biological ones) or just charging (in the case of the IPC). They would probably take less damage from most if not all physical sources at the cost of EMP-related paincrit. Prosthetic limbs are optional but encouraged for biologicals; the brain and eye implants are the important ones.

3. I see their IPC bodies as a sort of armored mechanical t-rex. I see their regular bodies as being unathi bodies with a couple mechanical bits and bobs grafted on, perhaps glowing eyes.

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Guest Marlon Phoenix

If we go all in with this, I would love to see a uniquely Autakh set of mechanics.

 

If we go all in with this, I would love to see a uniquely Autakh set of mechanics. The Autakh are the subspecies of Unathi who have become obsessed with merging their minds into machines. One thing I suggested is replacable limbs. An Autakh Unathi could detach an arm and replace it with a different arm of compatible types. This is definately more of a coder side of things but it would be an undeniably unique feature to this subspecies. Per our discussion in discord I see things like: 

 

  1. Vanilla arm.
  2. Industrial arm (can be used as a wrench, crowbar)
  3. Electrician arm (Can be used as a wirecutter and insulated glove)
  4. Secure-ARM (can be used as a stunstick and taser)
  5.  Mil-ARM Mk1 (Can be used as a laser pistol)
  6. Mil-ARM Mk2 (Can be used as a laser rifle)
  7. etc etc

This logic would go for the legs as well.

  1. Vanilla legs.
  2. Endurance legs (slower, but more sustained sprint)
  3. Sprinter's legs (higher speed sprint, lower range)
  4. etc etc

And the same for other organs - the possibilities are endless.

We do not currently have a species that can easily replace body parts to suit their needs on the fly. If they could target one of their limbs, detach them, then reassemble them into whatever they would need. It is a spot on reinforcement of the unathi mindset that the body is a vessel, taken to the extreme with the autakh in that this vessel can be altered.


This post here is to get the conversation going and a mission statement for anyone reading it about where I am hoping we can take Unathi.

I'm sure we can talk about and with more depth develop this as you come onboard as a deputy. Application accepted.

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