[Accepted] Aboshehab/Sharp Dionae Whitelist application

BYOND Key: Aboshehab

Character Names:

Primary Characters: Raymond Hawkins, Weirup Vi’lees, Khaled Al-Bastaki, Aisha Al-Meer, Rashid Al-Mansori, Mike Knight, Greatness Mk1/2

Secondary Characters: Taylor Hale, John Doe, Decurio, Fatima Al-Nahyan, Ali Al-Neyadi, Aviul-Fedas Qelik'Weirun, Needle, Ahmad Al-Meer, Ghoasim-Edirne Qe’liis, Grimul Simuki, HELPER - 002, Kark’zir Sirvikya

Species you are applying to play: Dionae

What color do you plan on making your first alien character (Dionaea & IPCs exempt): Dionae, so exempt

Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Yes.

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: While the other species in one way or another can be related to Humans, I find that Dionae to be the only truly alien species out there, possibly barring the Vaurca, it’s just that to me Dionae are still magnitudes more different. Their novelty has made them my most recent interest in the lore and I believe I will find them enjoyable.

Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: I touched about how alien they were previously, but I’ll expand. They are a collective and individualistic all at once. The higher forms are essentially a single intertwined entity composed of multiple nymphs. They speak with a single voice, thing with a single thought, act with a single action, they are a collective. Yet with saying that, they can still be an individual, which can be seen when you have the workers split off. They can get their own experiences, and act on “their own”. There is no waste to them, as can be inferred from the third discovery, everything around them can be used one way or another in a pragmatic sense.

Though I admit my understand on their biology is a tad lacking, though it’s more of a personal thing. What I can understand or infer is their relation to biomass and sunlights, as things important to their growth and survival. There are some more fringe examples such as radiation and electrical feeding, while not a staple for Dionae, is still something they can use, with the former actually being extremely beneficial to them. They can absorb genetic samples which allows them to attain knowledge from it, this is primarily seen in-game via how Nymphs learn languages, since without them sampling other people's genetic samples, they’ll be stuck on the standard language called rootsong.

There’s also the aspect of the unknown, it leaves a lot to theorize and assume, lots to speculate. They aren’t a set culture where Humans in this setting can relate to Earth, or Skrell to Jargon. The only thing cited as universal for the Dionae is how they are named and their language, but other than that, they could be exceptionally similar or far from the same. I could go on but I think this suffices. I’ll be happy to bring more to the table or expand on it if prompted.

Character Name: That Which Brings Life

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

That Which Brings Life, originally a few pods purchased to sate a Craterview's farmers curiosity. They would be grown and cultivated, with the farmer observing them and recording his thoughts, a simple experiment for him at the time. Having prepared for this as best as he can, they would grow over a period of two days, with the nymphs coming to life shortly after the other, no more than an hour in between. The farmer wanting to go further doesn’t simply stop there, having them caged but taken care of, he goes on to research about these curious creatures, originally pests in his eyes, his understanding of them would grow. He acquires the necessary items to a cost to himself, but one he manages to hold, providing them with the necessary samples so they could communicate.

Time would go on, where they would feed and grow until their joining, their becoming of a gestalt, referred to as a worker by the more educated, these nymphs he’s had akin to tamed farm animals, is now a person. Referring to themselves as That Which Brings Life, in part to their environment of bringing, that of farming and bringing life to the greens that surrounded them. They would assist the farmer and his family farm or conduct menial tasks. But like every story, nothing is ever so bright, the truth is, the family was having issues economically, acquiring loans to keep their house, their trade and their livelihood from going under. That Which Brings Life now more or less a part of the family, would go on to use what it has learned in hopes of providing the financial assistance to those that have in essence brought birth to them, cultivated them and ensured their well being. This would eventually lead them to the NSS Aurora, a contracted worker bringing funds in support to their family.

What do you like about this character? I think that would be the simplistic design of them. They are essentially a farmer, they aren’t some war veteran escaping him, they aren’t some human seeking a better life from the frontier. It’s a Dionae, grown on farmlands, using what it has learned to help those that essentially gave birth to them. The name is also something I fancy, the life it brings being the plants it grows.

How would you rate your role-playing ability? I dislike these questions generally, I prefer to let the commentator make these rating. I guess I’d give myself a 7/10 at the maximum. My faults generally come from English being my second language, so grammatical and spelling mistakes, especially on the fly can occur. I’ve been trying to be more verbose but in a good way along with more emphasis on emoting, in attempts to bring my characters more to life as opposed to the click and drag mentality. Not really sure if I'm either being too humble here or exaggerating my ability to roleplay, I leave that to those that wish to judge my application.

Notes:

Under suggestion, I've changed the name of the Dionae to "That Which Brings Life" from the original being "Thou That Brings Life"

I've played with a bunch of Abo's characters before. And his RP has been very good, in all honesty. I think he's underestimating himself by giving himself a 7/10 on roleplaying.

Either way, it's a definite +1 from me. His characters are nice, and have a lot of depth. I have only had good interactions with Abo thus far, so I don't have any complaints.

I can't comment on the understanding of lore because I don't really know diona lore, but I find the backstory interesting. I would like to play with that character.

Aboshehab is an amazing roleplayer, to be honest. All his characters feel like they could be real people, and they are all interesting in very different ways. A 7/10 is an understatement. I don't really have more to say. Seriously, this dude is a pro.

+1

I love the backstory, something about farming always appeases me. I would love to see That Which Brings Life manning the garden. In fact it would probably encourage me to play my garden IPC more since they have similar backstories. Plus some dionae are just fun to be around and I'm sure Abo being who he is will make this one interesting.

As for rating roleplay, I absolutely despise doing that on a number system. I prefer saying someone is good or bad at roleplay and how they can improve. Abo is absolutely on the good side. Sadly though I've only ever been able to interact with Raymond Hawkins a few times, so I don't personally know how good he is at playing non-command roles. Still I am confident in his ability as a roleplayer and as a person to make this work.

Abobo went from Bob Cool tier characters to well thought and developed characters like his captain Raymond Hawkins.

But making interesting character's isn't the best trait about aboshehab; He always has the round's best interest in mind, he will either give some leeway or be more strict depending on what benefits the round's narrative.

I also like the character's story, although you made the farmer fucking around sound more scientific than it probably was, and the dionae's personality is pretty vague, all they showed was gratitude, will this be a main theme for the character? I like the idea of simple peasant dionae, but I think the character story is a bit lacking, maybe add more in their recruitment process, and when did they get the qualifications to work? I doubt being a farm boy is enough to get you hired, some official qualification course and how it went for them could be an interesting addition.

Tl;Dr he is ok I guess 9/10

+1

I also like the character's story, although you made the farmer fucking around sound more scientific than it probably was, and the dionae's personality is pretty vague, all they showed was gratitude, will this be a main theme for the character? I like the idea of simple peasant dionae, but I think the character story is a bit lacking, maybe add more in their recruitment process, and when did they get the qualifications to work? I doubt being a farm boy is enough to get you hired, some official qualification course and how it went for them could be an interesting addition.

 

You could say their central term is gratitude. This Dionea with an affinity to the living, from tending to plants, farm animals or keeping his caretakers livelihood going, which in this instance is money. I guess I could add a bit about the process but to me it feels like filler, pointing out things that don't really need to be said. I don't really believe it's much of a stretch to assume a Dionae could acquire the necessary knowledge either by studying or experience to get the necessary qualifications based on the wiki, specifically the latter.

Qualifications: Bachelors degree in applicable field, or pass (75%+) Horticulture Test.

although you made the farmer fucking around sound more scientific than it probably was

I was aiming for the middle really. Compared to the optimal growing period of a pod to how much it took for this farmer, it gives an indication that yes he did put some effort and research into it but it was far from a highly competent endeavor conducted on their own.

Sharp's just an all-around good RP'er, good player, and good staff member. All my experiences with his characters have been fluid and made sense for the respective characters. He operates entirely within the confines of each characters abilities and knowledge and yet never ceases to provide an amazing experience for the players/characters he commands, assists or just talks to. I think he'd do well in expanding into the race of Tree-mans. I don't know much about the lore or if his character makes sense based on that, but I can vouch for his ability to RP.

+1

Has bwoinked too many people for not knowing the lore to not know it himself. +1

In seriousness (though that wasn't entirely unserious), he definitely has a firm handle on the server lore and plenty of skill and experience in roleplaying to be given the whitelist. All of his character that I've interacted with are well-played and believable, and I have no reason to doubt that this would carry over to Dionae characters.

That I can see, there's nothing that I dislike about this app, the concept of a Dionae being grown on some Frontier farm planet facing economical problems, seems incredibly plausible. I especially liked that Abosh mentioned the other Nymphs that would make up the Dionae, instead of leaving it as a single one that magically grew to 5 (Admittedly, you can do that ingame, though.) which gives the Dionae a more solid origin. If I have any criticism, it would be what has already been said, you can't really learn much about the Nymphs' personalities with this backstory. That said, I would trust Abosh to not make an unrealistic Dionae personality that wouldn't fit ingame. So, i'll +1.

Also, your knowledge of their biology is more than enough to play one AFAIK, so long as you understand that they are mostly individual under the Law, IIRC, and not individual in the actual sense, as a Gestalt. If i'm wrong about that, correct me tho.

That I can see, there's nothing that I dislike about this app, the concept of a Dionae being grown on some Frontier farm planet facing economical problems, seems incredibly plausible.

That actually brings up a point. While I do find it plausible, I think their economical hardship would make it hard to make the jump from frontier to Biesel. I had it originally thought that the farm was from a rural area on Biesel, perhaps near craterview. I'll modify the story to reflect this.

Application accepted, enjoy being a farm-grown tree.