8swelgern247's Protean Application

[Helianthus]

Discord name: Sagebrush#7260

Byond ckey: 8swelgern247

Characters you currently play: Rokhua Vezzou, Wallace Pournelle, Kharram Nemai, Tabori Brunner, Tekkasi Sesuaa, Morgana Scarborough.

Job/Races you are applying for: Protean

Name of the character you intend to be using: Kharram Nemai, I wish to give this character the abilities I had already written for him before having access to the protean species.

In the case of applying for a species, give us a brief summary of your character's backstory. This should give us an idea that you understand the lore of the species:

Another perfect sphere rolled off the assembly line and dropped like so many before it into a suspension field, lasers wash red light over the marble sized orb thusly writing the core's code at the sub atomic level, moving silicon atoms into place one by one. Their task complete, the core would be bathed in harsh ultraviolet light. More silicon, this time taking the form of raw silica sand, and water is poured out of a vent above. Coalescing and taking on the form of an amorphous blob of minute, white crystals attempt to push themselves away from the core, as if the quasi-sentient ball of glass were trying to take its first steps. The absorption of energy and assimilation of minor components completed, the blob was dropped unceremoniously a low flying craft and left to fend for itself.

Alone and acting solely on its programing, the mound of sand began its task, absorbing more and more sand until it could function as a sort of replicator for organic compounds. Water was scarce in the desert it now called home, forcing the blob to send tendrils of controlled nanites down into an aquifer for a sustained supply. Whenever seeds were blown over its surface it would attempt to replicate the genetic sequence and produce seedlings to help it trap more water in stable holding vessels. After some time had passed an oasis had formed around the blob's core, a veritable lush garden in the desert, offering a respite to the hardened denizens of the wind swept wastes.

Humans rarely journeyed deep enough into the desert to see such a sight, in fact it was a wounded sand cat that first drew the core's attention. Many creatures had come and gone over the course of the blob's life but none so wounded, so near death as the weak, frail kitten that languidly lapped at the pool's edge. Something in the core's programing identified the fading pulse of life from the tiny thing, and when the inevitable was drawing near, the core sent itself and a portion of its nanites out over the sand cat. Scanning its brainwaves and writing its genetic code to memory the sand invaded the body of the creature and merged with it, machines small enough to mimic even the finest hair had become one with and at the same time replaced the frail body. Was the sand cat still itself, was the core's influence enough to overwrite the thing's basic instincts? Hardly, but it would have a definite advantage over its peers.

Later still after a life spent hunting, eating, mating and sleeping, truly the ideal for a cat, a human actually stumbled upon the very same oasis and again, was passed the point of recovery. A young man, parched, cracked lips, red raw eyes and a drawn in chest made him look as though he were ancient. To have found something so precious he fell to his knees and poured the life giving substance upon himself, his force spent, however, simply lied there with his head submerged. Having watched the scene unfold from a rocky perch, the semi-sentient sand cat leapt from his vantage point and, taking in some raw silica first, repeated the process once more. This time would prove more challenging, a human's mind no matter how dull is far, far more complex than that of an animal. Some of the man's memories were lost, and some supplanted with visions of the blob's own past. When he finally awoke it was on two wobbly legs the man now stood, a vague understanding of the place he'd been exiled from pulled a sense of discontentment from him.

Realizing that he had become more than what he had been, the fuzzy triangular ears atop his head and the tail jutting from above his posterior reminders of who he really was, not a human, not a cat and certainly not of this world, he journeyed away from his home. Long did he wander the desert, never growing beleaguered by the sun's rays but pining for water now and again, eventually he found his way to civilization, and hid his true nature from the eyes of humans.

Over time the loss of nanites, from either being wounded or becoming submerged fully in water with a swift current, would strip the man who was not a man who called himself Kharram of portions of his memories made since the fusion of his core with the sand cat and the one who bore his face. But time moves on, ever marching forward and he would simply follow, attempting to live as best he could in a world not his own.


Summarize the species. As evidence that you've looked into it: Proteans are swarms of nanites that act in concert with one another so that they function as a gestalt being. Their creators, either benign or indifferent, are likely privy to technology that far surpasses even that which is found on NanoTrasen's advanced research outposts. Simply put they are something like a less threatening form of gray goo that does not seek to end all organic life.

What do you expect to happen if you use this race/job to violate any of the server rules?: I expect to, if nothing else, be banned from using white listed species, but I assure you that I would never do something to get myself banned from a server I actually like.

[AvaricePleonexia]

I don't really get the story. Is this just so you can play a Protean with cat ears and a cat tail? That's fine.

I wish to give this character the abilities I had already written for him before having access to the protean species.

What does this mean? What abilities?

Over time the loss of nanites, from either being wounded or becoming submerged fully in water with a swift current, would strip the man who was not a man who called himself Kharram of portions of his memories made since the fusion of his core with the sand cat and the one who bore his face. But time moves on, ever marching forward and he would simply follow, attempting to live as best he could in a world not his own.

Is this character a Protean, or, a creation from a Protean? Reason this matters is due to it being the latter, why make this whitelist application at all? If it's the former, then, how can a Protean not have nanites, if, nanites are what Proteans are?

Giving this another read over, I'm still not completely sure if you're just saying this character is the Protean, but, had taken on the form of these two dying creatures.

Scanning its brainwaves and writing its genetic code to memory the sand invaded the body of the creature and merged with it, machines small enough to mimic even the finest hair had become one with and at the same time replaced the frail body. Was the sand cat still itself, was the core's influence enough to overwrite the thing's basic instincts? Hardly, but it would have a definite advantage over its peers.

This time would prove more challenging, a human's mind no matter how dull is far, far more complex than that of an animal. Some of the man's memories were lost, and some supplanted with visions of the blob's own past. When he finally awoke it was on two wobbly legs the man now stood, a vague understanding of the place he'd been exiled from pulled a sense of discontentment from him.

And,

Realizing that he had become more than what he had been, the fuzzy triangular ears atop his head and the tail jutting from above his posterior reminders of who he really was, not a human, not a cat and certainly not of this world, he journeyed away from his home. Long did he wander the desert, never growing beleaguered by the sun's rays but pining for water now and again, eventually he found his way to civilization, and hid his true nature from the eyes of humans.

So, the Protean took over the body of the cat. Cool. The section about the man seemed to indicate that he had lived, and, had gained the memories of the silicone ball. Okay.

However, the next paragraph over would suggest the exact opposite, and, that the blob had stolen the man's body? Really confusing, and, the morphing into forms a Protean has seen/interacted with - THAT makes sense. However, Proteans stealing bodies? Not so much. Stealing identities, sure. You played the pro-noun game with this one, and, I'm not too happy about that; makes this story really hard to follow when there are TWO hes, and, you don't do much to discriminate between them. The cat section was cut, clear and simple; you did that one alright.

In the end though, if you can explain to me what these extra abilities you mentioned before might be, then I might be willing to give this my support simply due to the effort you put in upfront.

[Helianthus]

I don't really get the story. Is this just so you can play a Protean with cat ears and a cat tail? That's fine.

Essentially yes, perhaps a bit much for a sandy catboy.

What does this mean? What abilities?

The inability to feel pain, the lack of a need for oxygen, being without a circulatory system, the ability to shift into a semi-cohesive blob and move through vents (though I seriously doubt I will be vent crawling often if ever and yes I do know that if I were to vent crawl into a restricted department or a locked dorm that it could easily be grounds for a ban).

Is this character a Protean, or, a creation from a Protean? Reason this matters is due to it being the latter, why make this whitelist application at all? If it's the former, then, how can a Protean not have nanites, if, nanites are what Proteans are?

The character was a quasi-sentient swarm of nanites with a quartz crystal memory core created an ambiguous amount of time ago by an alien species performing experiments on the deserts of earth. While at first it was designed to create an oasis it eventually became sentient and took a humanoid shape, a Protean as defined by the rather scant lore. If this goes against the written lore of Proteans then I will try to work up something else.

So, the Protean took over the body of the cat. Cool. The section about the man seemed to indicate that he had lived, and, had gained the memories of the silicone ball. Okay.

The cat died as did the human, the protean swarm simply copied their form completely and drained them of their water once they had passed, the quartz crystal orb acts as a device to store memory with limited rewrite functions. I sort of glossed over the desiccation of the corpses as it could be seen as malicious.

However, the next paragraph over would suggest the exact opposite, and, that the blob had stolen the man's body? Really confusing, and, the morphing into forms a Protean has seen/interacted with - THAT makes sense. However, Proteans stealing bodies? Not so much. Stealing identities, sure. You played the pro-noun game with this one, and, I'm not too happy about that; makes this story really hard to follow when there are TWO hes, and, you don't do much to discriminate between them. The cat section was cut, clear and simple; you did that one alright.

I'll admit that this was something of a rough draft and I really should have proof read it. I had thought about the cat section for a far longer time than the human one. The swarm stole the forms and scanned the brainwaves of both. The core stores functional data (replication, shape retention, energy management and so on.) whereas the nanites themselves store what we would call memories. The loss of masses of nanites (and gradual regeneration) brings about a kind of amnesia with events, names and places misremembered. Although I may have been iffy in regards to gender I will hence refer to Kharram Nemai as a male because that is what sex both the sand cat and human were, the blend of the two being his default form.

In the end though, if you can explain to me what these extra abilities you mentioned before might be, then I might be willing to give this my support simply due to the effort you put in upfront.

I did not have anything else in mind besides the abilities Proteans have by default mechanically. In private role play I would be using the "ability" to shape shift, most likely changing his form from a feminine one to a more masculine one and vice versa, this would not be done in public.

[AvaricePleonexia]

Oh, if the abilities you had in mind were just the normal Protean ones... well, that's what you're getting for having this whitelist lmao. Anywhosits, thanks for the clarification. This one has my support.

[Helianthus]

Wonderful. Thank you very much. Now I must wait for approval from a second role play admin, correct?

[HazelBailey]

Even shapeshifting is something that Proteans can just... Do. I see no reason to deny this one. +1 from sqrlmin

[Kered]

You clearly seem to have a fair degree of willingness to remain within the server and to avoid punishment, and have put a fair amount of effort into this application, as well as being polite and accepting criticism of your work. The abilities, as stated, are ones proteans naturally have, so this has my support.

[Helianthus]

Thank you very much for the support. I have a question in regards to using the vent crawl ability. Should the station suffer a blackout and I am without a crowbar or other means of opening a powerless door would I be abusing a whitelisted species by moving through the vents in order to free myself and possibly others?