[Accepted] BygoneHero's Vaurca Loredev Application

Ckey/BYOND Username:Bygonehero

Position Being Applied For: Vaurca Loredev

Past Experiences/Knowledge:I've moderated paradise, and helped create the canon that Paradise station exists in.

Do you play Vaurca extensively? Why?I do. I play Vaurca more than any other species because they are so alien. While the tajara and unathi are aliens, they don't feel like aliens. Culturally, skrell are extremely similar to humans as well. As for Vaurca, they occupy an area that I feel makes them unsettling to human preconditions and presumptions and their culture and outlook on problems and civilisation makes them compelling to play as.

If you were chosen for Lore Developer, what would your plans be for Vaurca?

I would unify the work of Lord Fowl and Chev into a comprehensive whole, that is easily understandable and immutable. We need stability so that people can craft a story for their worlds and their characters. I believe the heart of the matter was the original vagueness of Fowls work, because it was so ambiguous it left much to be desired for anyone who wanted to expand a character's backstory, and to his credit Chev did a pretty good job. From both I believe a better and more comprehensive vision of the species can be forged.

I would highlight the inherent inhumanness of Vaurca in most if not all of my writing. They would see problems that plague a modern society differently, and their answers to those problems would be different. Where human and Vaurca viewpoints meet are sown the seeds of progress and conflict. The struggle of both sides to understand and cope with the other I believe highlights the cultural melting pot that Beisel is seemingly trying to be, and offers plenty of compelling story opportunities for players.We need to move beyond the Vaurca arrival to Tau Ceti space. I want to push Vaurca forward on these issues, and have them develop in tandem with other lore developers.

Would you embark on major or minor rewrites of Vaurca lore? If yes, why is your rewrite worth it?

I would develop the Vaurca canon to reflect their current state of affairs in Tau Ceti space.

I would unite Chev's and Lord Fowls work into a comprehensive whole that is easily understandable to anyone who uses the wiki.

I absolutely endorse this, Bygone has been a long-lasting player and is on frequently, and he knows more than most other players about Vaurca - and he even gave loads of suggestions to the other loredevs to help build his characters. Bygone knows how to communicate well and will likely say his opinion and take criticism. A+

Your platform looks alright but there's a few concerns I'm going to have to raise here. To put it bluntly, you've got a bit of a history when it comes to staff encounters, so there remains the possibility that should more encounters occur, it may be possible administrative may result in you being unable to play. Considering our recent incident with the previous lore developer, I feel it's necessary to bring this up.

There's also the fact you seem to play in bursts, which is fine since you're still an active fixture of our community. I bring this part up since I'm curious on the reasoning for these bursts. Is it obligations or simply losing/gaining interest every now and then? Something else perhaps?

Your platform looks alright but there's a few concerns I'm going to have to raise here. To put it bluntly, you've got a bit of a history when it comes to staff encounters, so there remains the possibility that should more encounters occur, it may be possible administrative may result in you being unable to play. Considering our recent incident with the previous lore developer, I feel it's necessary to bring this up.

I can attest that Bygone has improved on his attitude, the last time I saw him "blow up" was personal insults free and they just vented in deadchat before logging, and they've been cooperative and understanding when PM'd, compared to the first time we met.

There's also the fact you seem to play in bursts, which is fine since you're still an active fixture of our community. I bring this part up since I'm curious on the reasoning for these bursts. Is it obligations or simply losing/gaining interest every now and then? Something else perhaps?

Work mostly, Divinity 2 been vying for a lot of my free time but you are correct in that I've less free time than before.

Hello, hello! Thought I'd drop in here with an opinion or two.

Firstly regarding what Abo/Sharp said: You have had various run-ins with staff. But honestly I think Berry's right. You have improved on your attitude and from what I've seen, you're getting better at not venting on others when something goes wrong.

I can't say I play as my Vaurca that much, partly because of the ever shifting lore at the moment.. but I feel like your idea on merging Fowl and Chev's lore will create an interesting platform for vaurca players to settle on. That and I quite liked some of the expansions Chev proposed/put into the lore. Putting the best of the two together seems like a strong starting point.

I reckon you'd do well in this position. Your activity seems good and so you can keep in touch with IC ongoings when you do play, meaning you can really interact well with other Vaurca players that may adopt the lore you propose if you get accepted.

I think the only thing that could hold you back here is the salt you sometimes come up with when things happen ingame. Honestly if you keep going down the route of solving that I think all shall be well.

Best of luck!

Your platform looks alright but there's a few concerns I'm going to have to raise here. To put it bluntly, you've got a bit of a history when it comes to staff encounters, so there remains the possibility that should more encounters occur, it may be possible administrative may result in you being unable to play. Considering our recent incident with the previous lore developer, I feel it's necessary to bring this up.

If you could address this please.

Your platform looks alright but there's a few concerns I'm going to have to raise here. To put it bluntly, you've got a bit of a history when it comes to staff encounters, so there remains the possibility that should more encounters occur, it may be possible administrative may result in you being unable to play. Considering our recent incident with the previous lore developer, I feel it's necessary to bring this up.

 

If you could address this please.

I've conducted myself better I believe. I'm not familiar with what occurred with the last lore developer but I did bring your question up with Jackboots prior to the position opening again about this issue. I can assure you that no matter what happens to me, or what any person or persons may do, I will never have a problem with this server. I have consistently tried to make this server better according to how I believe it should be, and there's nothing anyone can do to change that. Whether or not I can play on the server is irrelevant to me. I may browbeat my opinion sometimes, but it is always in the vein of what I believe is best or right. I have taken steps to curb this tendency of mine and I believe I have been successful.

Going back to my platform, Let me show you how Vaurca societies are organized in my view.

The primary ideology of Vaurca is the cog-in-a-machine mentality taken to the extreme. The hive can be considered itself a large organism, and each Vaurca is a cell in this organism. Groups of cells form organs that perform a specific function in this Hive-body. The High Queen is responsible for birthing Lesser Queens and Bound Breeders, much of the actual population is produced by Lesser Queens that tailor their offspring for their specific purpose in the hive. This highlights that each Vaurca is its own separate entity, but are intrinsically linked to each other as part of the Hive-Body. Lesser Queens are where the political intrigue is spawned, as each wish to one day become the High Queen, and thus desire their brood to be seen as the most important. VR is a sort of neural network that each and every member of the Hive-body can access that allows them to communicate and share information and experiences. Entire histories and perceptions can be shared, and this is why many of the other species in the galaxy mistakenly label Vaurca a hive-mind.

I would unify the work of Lord Fowl and Chev into a comprehensive whole, that is easily understandable and immutable. We need stability so that people can craft a story for their worlds and their characters. I believe the heart of the matter was the original vagueness of Fowls work, because it was so ambiguous it left much to be desired for anyone who wanted to expand a character's backstory, and to his credit Chev did a pretty good job. From both I believe a better and more comprehensive vision of the species can be forged.

What aspects of both of these narrative visions would you combine? Which elements from these respective devs do you think must be adapted or even removed? Would Vaurca go back to having a more traditional hive structure? Will VR be once again the most important foundation of Vaurca society? Will the fate of Sedantis remain vague?

I would highlight the inherent inhumanness of Vaurca in most if not all of my writing. They would see problems that plague a modern society differently, and their answers to those problems would be different. Where human and Vaurca viewpoints meet are sown the seeds of progress and conflict. The struggle of both sides to understand and cope with the other I believe highlights the cultural melting pot that Beisel is seemingly trying to be, and offers plenty of compelling story opportunities for players.We need to move beyond the Vaurca arrival to Tau Ceti space. I want to push Vaurca forward on these issues, and have them develop in tandem with other lore developers.

I do see a lot of potential here. This conflict is the meat of the Vaurca's existence within Tau Ceti. Biesel is trying to be the idealized Star Trek society where all are accepted and can seek a future for themselves, but this optimistic hope so often crumbles before the cynical realities the system is faced with. How do you see the Vaurca reacting to their situation in Tau Ceti, and what is their ultimate goal? Is the end goal of the Vaurca in Tau Ceti to be left well enough alone and retreat into Virtual Reality? Do they care about the politics of the greater galaxy? Can they integrate with human society?

What aspects of both of these narrative visions would you combine? Which elements from these respective devs do you think must be adapted or even removed? Would Vaurca go back to having a more traditional hive structure? Will VR be once again the most important foundation of Vaurca society? Will the fate of Sedantis remain vague?

Much the the prehistory, as well as the timescales that Fowl produced will be unchanged. I believe it best captures the essence of the species, and despite from some details surrounding VR, it would be unchanged. Segwaying into VR, It has been described as a neural network, a paradise that's majesty would bring woe to Vaurca who cannot witness it for extended periods of time.

I would combine both Fowl and Chev's depictions of VR by making it A literal heaven, overseen by the High Queen. In life, the VR implants allow Vaurca to plug into VR for information, study and tastes of the promised paradise to be. Over time the neural sockets create a molecularly detailed brain scan of the unbound Vaurca it is implanted into.Upon death, in a ritualized recycling procedure the copy of the unbound Vaurca is moved onto the VR paradise forever before wiping the neural socket for future use. The physical wetware running this real heaven is the High Queen herself, as well as Cephalon's, (Vaurca who are mutated into biomechanical supercomputers from Chev's Lore) This means that every Vaurca who has died and could be recycled since the Great Evacuation would be present in some form within this VR heaven. Besides the High Queen and a few of the Lesser Queens, there will be few if any Vaurca alive or dead that know anything about the fate of Sedantis, I will purposefully keep this Vague on the wiki, but it has much to do with internal lore that I can divulge privately.

This approach cements the idea of a VR paradise, while also making it less vague.Because there are no bound Vaurca within this heaven, it also cements the idea that they are soulless. It also places the High Queen as a near deific being by Vaurca standards, Notice I said near deific, as this will come up on my next response.

I do see a lot of potential here. This conflict is the meat of the Vaurca's existence within Tau Ceti. Biesel is trying to be the idealized Star Trek society where all are accepted and can seek a future for themselves, but this optimistic hope so often crumbles before the cynical realities the system is faced with. How do you see the Vaurca reacting to their situation in Tau Ceti, and what is their ultimate goal? Is the end goal of the Vaurca in Tau Ceti to be left well enough alone and retreat into Virtual Reality? Do they care about the politics of the greater galaxy? Can they integrate with human society?

Because of the nature of the Great evacuation, and how I imagine a Vaurca Hive structure to be, ((Remember the Hive-body)) I believe that the average unbound Vaurca on Tau Ceti would be looking to their leaders, the Lesser Queens for guidance. The yearning to escape into heaven, after 2000 years of existing within it by Fowl's timescale creates this want to return to it, yet the reality of the situation is that this is impossible for the Zo'ra hive. Imagine, to live 2000 years without the concept of pain, of starvation, or suffering. On top of all this, The Lesser Queens are grasping against each other for resources, to do what they feel is best for the Hive, and between all of them, like the central spoke to a great wheel is the High Queen. Bringing all of them together, with each Lesser Queen vying for the High Queen's attention, and approval upon how to proceed. For each Lesser Queen knows that the a High Queen does not rule forever, and only one of them can replace the High Queen when the time does come. Some Lesser Queens may desire to escape into the Arkship and return to the cold darkness of space, some may wish to work to integrate themselves within human society, all of them have agendas, but all coincide with their vision for what they believe is best for the hive, and what the High Queen would approve of.

Dreadfully tired right now but I need to get this out. You know, I really need to go through this more indepth, and I will address all of your points more in-depth later, but for now I would like to give a quick response. Overall opinion? I really like what you're planning. I really enjoy your ideas for Virtual Reality feeling a bit more grounded, and more of an actual perfect paradise, a perfect paradise that they are being forced to move away from, and the conflicts this causes in their culture and society. I enjoy the idea that all Queen's have their own idea on how they can help the Hive, and not all of them involve the same goals. I would highly enjoy fleshing out well-known Vaurca characters. (Likely Queens) For both Zo'ra and the K'lax hives.

Generally, overall, I really like the mindset that I feel like I am reading from you about the species, and I feel this is truly a good stepping point to expand upon them more, what else would I like to see? Well, not sure, honestly i'm curious about most things, the augmentations, caste systems, biology, technology, inter-hive relations, perhaps a bit of sprinkled mystery here and there as well, to keep it interesting of course. Do you plan on changing any lore that would in turn affect gameplay? Other applicants for one wanted to change the breathing/k'ois mechanics, etc. Curious if you had any thoughts.

Let's see, I suppose that's most of my general thoughts, I honestly have a lot to say and speak about with Vaurca, I genuinely love the species, and I want to see them rise to prominence and interest among the playerbase once more, and a nice, interesting lore, is a good place to start if you ask me. Able to push through changes, rewrites, and make it a much more fulfilling race to roleplay and talk about with, and to actually play. I hope if you gain loredev you make it a point to communicate and speak with other Vaurca players, considering we are low on players, but with this mindset, and as long as you remain open to criticism, then I see no problem with this.

Anyways, from one buggo to another buggo. +1

Do you plan on changing any lore that would in turn affect gameplay? Other applicants for one wanted to change the breathing/k'ois mechanics, etc. Curious if you had any thoughts.

 

I was asked this very question earlier privately, and will tell you the same thing I told them. I believe from a strictly gameplay perspective, Phoron breathing is a gimmick, but it's a gimmick that people love to love and love to hate. Remember, Even though it doesn't make sense scientifically, that not everything in the lore needs to be 100% scientifically accurate. That being said, I've thought of a few ways to justify it, and of other ways that we can implement a third gas. Remember that Phoron is an accessory to the Vaurca-Human relations, and any talks involving both species cohabitation will involve Phoron in some way.

But to answer your question if I would change it? I would, but only after polling other lore developers as well as the whitelist. I don't believe in changing a polarized topic on a whim, especially one that has far ranging implications not just for the Vaurca species, but any species that they interact with.

I've thought of a creating another separate species in the species selection for Bounds of any type. I believe that being bound or unbound should impart benefits and adverse conditions that other Vaurca do not experience. A reduced toxin damage threshold, higher EMP damage for example, but this is a tertiary concern, as my primary focus is building the wiki and base lore to a stable and easily understandable state so as to allow character development and creation. My secondary objective is to advance the Vaurca political sphere beyond the arrival politics for all hives, as well as developing arcs alongside other lore devs, primarily unathi and human.

Application accepted!