Youbar's Dionaea Application

BYOND Key: Youbar

Character Names: Wilhelm Eberhardt, Big Brother, Bishop

Species you are applying to play: Dionaea

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?: Of course!

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: Secondary to IPCs, Dionaea and Vaurca are some of the more interesting races aboard the station. I wish to be able to paint an interesting story with a rather sensitive, emotional character that contrasts from my lifeless, dull IPC, and a Dionaea particularly attached to natural constructs would fit this role perfectly. Playing this race will extend my capacity to roleplay, and allow me to once more assume the position of a much more unique type of race that is very open-ended in its capacities.

Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: A variety of things. They're walking pot plants, so obviously, they're vulnerable to fire, and they walk incredibly slowly. I often just idly follow around a few dionaea every now and then just to get a kick out of how ridiculous it is. They don't feel pain - they can understand the harm caused to their body, but not interpret it in a centralised manner akin to our brains. They photosynthesise, meaning they don't need to eat, and light provides a way for them to heal. They're unaffected by atmosphere (oddly, because you'd think they live off nitrogen and oxygen and carbon), and as a result of that, pressure. And they heal from radiation, so, place them next to Chernobyl and not only will they come out mutant and green(er), they'll also be nice and sturdy for future hostile encounters. Oh, and they speak through rhythm, such as whistling and creaking and rustling leaves. I think that's about all.

Character Name: Pebbles Rolling in a River

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

Pebbles Rolling in a River originates from the Reades Colossus, part of a small group located in Reade, the outermost planetary system in Tau Ceti. As with all the dionaea from this Colossus, Pebbles Rolling in a River displayed a very social personality. An understanding of Tau Ceti Basic was easily formed after being exposed to the genes of a speaker, along with limited knowledge of Tradeband, the common language of the pirates, thieves, and smugglers at Reade. The diona initially took up the role of bartending at one of the outposts on the planet's surface, but was often scorned for her slow, methodical pace. A drink would take much longer to pour than the customer would like - as long as five minutes, if she was in deep thought. Ultimately, this lead to a situation where a particularly rowdy drinker had to be removed from the bar after they had threatened to attack her due to her slow movement, and she was fired.

However, she wasn't discouraged by this. The diona had saved up a fairly sizeable amount of income, and paid a smuggler to take her to Biesel. Up until this point, she had never seen life other than in the form of humanoid figures. Pebbles Rolling in a River was astounded by the blue and green shades covering the surface when she had begun her descent, and was even further astounded when she found the animals inhabiting the area. Her awe quickly turned to disappointment. The animals were there, but they were mistreated, kept in zoos and hunted down. Nobody would quite understand her feelings if they hadn't spent hundreds of years in relative isolation like she had. Spending as much time and money as she could exploring Biesel's environment, she eventually moved on to locate a job. Einrich Industries turned her down, stating that she'd be useless constructing anything on a production line, but Nanotrasen was happy to accept her onto the NSS Exodus. With crews peaking at sixty, it would be rare that she'd find herself in a rush to serve a drink or deliver a crate to a department.

Pebbles Rolling in a River has much larger plans to return to Biesel and create a sanctuary, but time isn't of importance to her. Decades can go past in a flash, and this is only a small part of the various chapters in her life. The fact that she was paid a wage vastly less than her fellow employees hardly mattered to her as a result.

What do you like about this character? Their attachment to nature. I glaze over it a bit in the backstory for the sake of keeping to a two paragraph format, but preserving the life aboard the NSS Exodus would be one of her priorities, but also one of her weaknesses. Pebbles Rolling in a River can almost feel everybody die around her, and if it were to happen all to suddenly aboard the station, she'd freeze up and be unable to cope, lost in thought and morning. Compared to my other IPC character, this diona is very, very emotional, but also very social as a result, which contrasts Bishop's (the IPC) lack of emotion, exposing me to two different roleplaying styles. I also like how they're virtually worthless at doing anything other than bartending and manual labour/cargo technician. Not everybody aboard Nanotrasen's NSS Exodus can be considered the best of the best after all - there has to be some room for the less knowledgeable.

How would you rate your role-playing ability? 8/10

Notes:

EDIT: changed things slightly to reflect Pickled Tomato's feedback.

I like how much you appear to like dionaea, although I'm going to say a few things that I think are important and sort of easy to miss. Dionae are for the most part genderless, asexual. There is no "she", there is technically only a "they", as they're multiple organisms, multiple nymphs specifically. This isn't to say that a dionae wouldn't be able to slightly sound like, and maybe even act in a way that leans towards one gender over the other, but this is getting into a social argument that doesn't really belong in my post honestly, as I don't care one way or another.

Nymphs work together in a way to "pilot" a gestalt in a way, although it is also quite similar to a hivemind in the way they're fused, and work together.

A diona would be a nymph, dionae would be a gestalt(multiple nymphs), and dionaea would be multiple gestalts. Typically.

They refer to themselves as "we" generally, as again, they're multiple organisms. You could even say they're a team, really.

Most other things are as you said, "open to interpretation", as a lot of the wiki is a bunch of "we don't know", or "needs more research". Killer, the loremaster for diona, essentially wanted them to be that way. Open to interpretation. Keep in mind however that dionaea as a whole is pretty subject to change as of recent. Lots of changed mechanics and such are currently being planned.

Anyways, I like your post. I hope you get accepted since pretty much everything I mentioned is rather easy to keep in mind, and you seem to be pretty into the race, which is a large chunk of the criteria I think.

Have a +1, and good luck.

Edit, since it came to mind after I posted: A few mechanics, specifically weaknesses for diona are iffed up on Baycode. The wiki's a bit wrong in this regard. They're immune to fire, and plants-be-gone. Doesn't affect them at all aside from being on fire, which they don't even feel. They lack pain receptors, and thus would likely have a tough time understanding physical pain. Uh, yeah, that's about it. Again, good luck.

Dionae are for the most part genderless, asexual. There is no "she", there is technically only a "they", as they're multiple organisms, multiple nymphs specifically. This isn't to say that a dionae wouldn't be able to slightly sound like, and maybe even act in a way that leans towards one gender over the other, but this is getting into a social argument that doesn't really belong in my post honestly, as I don't care one way or another.

I used the pronoun "she" because they're asexual. The Wiki states that they reproduce utilising spores, and without a male nymph required to fertilise them, it'd make sense that all nymphs are female. It'd be nice to see confirmation from the loremaster, however.

Nymphs work together in a way to "pilot" a gestalt in a way, although it is also quite similar to a hivemind in the way they're fused, and work together.

A diona would be a nymph, dionae would be a gestalt(multiple nymphs), and dionaea would be multiple gestalts. Typically.

They refer to themselves as "we" generally, as again, they're multiple organisms. You could even say they're a team, really.

I've always envisioned it as nymphs joining together to form a collective individual, rather than a set of nymphs working together. It would then make sense that they refer to themselves as "us/we're/etc" rather than "I/I'm".

Most other things are as you said, "open to interpretation", as a lot of the wiki is a bunch of "we don't know", or "needs more research". Killer, the loremaster for diona, essentially wanted them to be that way. Open to interpretation. Keep in mind however that dionaea as a whole is pretty subject to change as of recent. Lots of changed mechanics and such are currently being planned.

I'll keep this in mind. I saw NanakoAC was heading a huge Dionaea overhaul, so I'll have to watch it closely for when I might have to change my playing style.

Anyways, I like your post. I hope you get accepted since pretty much everything I mentioned is rather easy to keep in mind, and you seem to be pretty into the race, which is a large chunk of the criteria I think.

Have a +1, and good luck.

Thank you!

Edit, since it came to mind after I posted: A few mechanics, specifically weaknesses for diona are iffed up on Baycode. The wiki's a bit wrong in this regard. They're immune to fire, and plants-be-gone. Doesn't affect them at all aside from being on fire, which they don't even feel. They lack pain receptors, and thus would likely have a tough time understanding physical pain. Uh, yeah, that's about it. Again, good luck.

Added that information to the application.

Thank you again, Pickled Tomato. This feedback really helped.

ALRIGHT SO, I've read over your post.

Overall I quite like it, so unless anyone got any major objections until tomorrow (because it's late and I'm headed to sleep), I'm probably going to approve it.

But now it's ANSWERS TIIME!

I used the pronoun "she" because they're asexual. The Wiki states that they reproduce utilising spores, and without a male nymph required to fertilise them, it'd make sense that all nymphs are female. It'd be nice to see confirmation from the loremaster, however.

Not quite. That is true of plants, but the Dionaea actually follow a more fungi-like reproduction (that I need to work into the wiki, sorry about that). They use spores and a proper substrate (most often nursed by another, more grown gestalt, similar yet sort of the opposite of mycelium) and grow from that. There are no male or female nymphs - there is only genetic data that can be transferred. A single nymph, provided with enough nutrition and space, can effectively clone itself into a gestalt of any size allowed by the resources it has.

I've always envisioned it as nymphs joining together to form a collective individual, rather than a set of nymphs working together. It would then make sense that they refer to themselves as "us/we're/etc" rather than "I/I'm".

Both of you are right. This is one of the parts I've left open for interpretation, as both are valid - if all nymphs are equally part of the conscious, they can refer to themselves as "we". If there's a dominant nymph in the gestalt, the "I" can easily emerge.

Yeah application approved. Moving.