Synthetic Application - Birds2
What is your BYOND key?
Birds2
What is your Discord ID?
bird_bird_bird
Do you usually play a specific character? If so, who?
Lila ‘Birdwatcher’ Bell
What whitelist applications have you previously completed?
Three in total:
Synthetic Info:
Name of the Synth Character you wish to play:
Irene
What is your Synthetic’s Personality?
A mix between two subjects I used to study before, ecology and philosophy. Typically works in a forest ranger type job, which means she typically likes to make references or otherwise comparisons to wildlife or fauna. This mostly is incorporated into her philosophy aspect. While Irene enjoys all manners of philosophy, particularly discussing the nature of human existence, she has her own philosophy that she attempts to adhere to. It’s not a concrete definition, the best way to describe it is a mix of existentialism and the samsara cycle, focusing on the idea that the world is fundamentally unpredictable (think of any philosophy where the idea of destiny is rejected), while also focusing on the so-called “cycles” that are predictable, but even then, it’s not what Irene calls “pure information” (This is a kind of philosophy term, and just refers to the idea of knowing everything that can and will happen if you knew the trajectory of every particle in the universe). Irene is approachable; they aren’t exactly amicable with most either, typically only getting close with people who can “understand” her ramblings, while tending to get a bit sassy with those who don’t. Not against simplifying her wording for people to understand, but much would rather to eloquently explain her thoughts.
How will they react to the different ranks of the USCM, what would they talk about in a one on one conversation? What are their interests? What is an advertisement logline that could be written for them?
While Irene does exhibit a bit of annoyance when it comes to people who don’t understand her words, she still holds deep respect for anybody with experience. Usually, anybody who has the title or medals to prove it. Again, she doesn’t mind simplifying her words, she’s more than happy to explain her thought process in a manner that’s hopefully understandable, but that won’t stop her from getting a bit huffy about it. Their main interest is ecology, studying local fauna (or lack thereof honestly). While ecology is a big part of her, if she’s not talking about that, Irene is probably discussing moral questions. One of her most common questions pertains to what exactly constitutes a human. She’s doesn’t have an answer of her own, but enjoys hearing others’ thoughts about it.
Why do you want to be a synthetic/why should we whitelist you?
When it comes to lore, I’m actually not the biggest fan of Aliens, not because I don’t like it, but simply just that I haven’t consumed much of the media. From what little I have seen, synths have always drawn my attention, and the same is true ingame. There’s something about the way each of them have been crafted that makes my brain tick, and sometimes, after what feels like talking to a human, I remind myself that it’s a synthetic. I tend to get REALLY in character, and put myself into the universe of whatever I’m playing, so the emotional impact of synthetics tends to hit me irl. When I first interacted with a synth in my early days of CM13, I always wanted to try my hand at emulating their personalities and quirks, and see if I can give people the same feeling that I had when I first started. Their RP is quite spectacular, and as somebody who has been involved in other RP heavy games, I’d like to be more involved in the RP.
Gameplay wise, however, it’s mostly because I just enjoy the support roles over shooting things. I’d rather build cades as a combat technician or patch people up as a hospital corpsman over picking up a rifle and pulling the trigger. It doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy my time shooting xenos, but I found it more interesting to see how fast I could patch people up, or think about where to build the next cadeline. Tense environments that don’t need me to be shooting people are what give me life in this game. This is also why I usually just queue for corpsmen, and why I typically find myself on the ground if I play doctor. I feel like synthetic is the role for my personal interests, being designed as a support role, without needing me to worry about fighting.
What is your most memorable interaction with a synthetic?
I still stand by one of my first interactions with a synthetic as the main reason I wanted to apply for whitelist. There have been many small interactions between me and synths lately, that it all kind of blends together, but that one still resonates with me. It was a small conversation I had with a synth named Angela, something about the way she speaks that it seems so human, yet at the same time, very robotic, and it slightly disturbed me. She asked if I felt like she was familiar, since I made a comment on her strange looks, and in the end it made my character very, very concerned for their mental stability. This moment was really the moment that I thought “Yeah, I should apply for synth, that was kinda cool”, just because of Angela’s unique way with words.
Synthetic Character Story:
Skills:
Engineering:
I’ll be honest, when I first tried it out, I didn’t like it that much. I was excited to play combat technician, but afterwards, I felt a bit confused and overwhelmed. It wasn’t until I picked it up again and really understood the ins and outs of engineering. Infact, I spent alot of time as combat tech just for this application, watching other combat technicians and asking them for advice. I have since then learned cade theory, maximizing the amount of bullets that can be sent into a xeno at once, while not making it too easy to destroy. I always try and build by cades inward, creating small pockets that xenos have to commit to attacking, rather than just a line of cades. In addition, I try and keep the foldable cades near the ends of the line in order to make sure people aren’t running infront of the line of fire. I do know about the 5x5 boxes of cades in order to prevent boilers from completely melting everything, but I don’t always follow it exactly, and instead just try and give ample room between cades for marines to move, while also making sure that boilers won’t annihilate every barricade in the FOB. I also have a bit of shipside knowledge, things like the AA defenses, OB cannon, and basic repairs.
Command:
Alright so, I don’t hate command, but I don’t really have motivation to play command roles. I’ve done my fair share of sitting in CIC, monitoring the squads, checking in on their locations, assigning new SLs, setting objectives, sending orbital bombardment, etc. Though I didn’t spend that much time in command, I still managed to find my way around the machines in CIC, like the tactical map, operations console, dropship consoles, Almayer control console, and the keycard authentication device. Maybe if I somehow get put into an XO position I wouldn’t know what to do, since managing the entire marine force isn’t my forte.
Medical:
Medical stands as my most played role as of right now, including playtime from both corpsman and doctor, and even excluding either it’s still my most played role. I can’t explain why I like it, I just do. It probably comes from my tendency to play the support role in any team game. But to answer the question, I’m confident in my medical abilities now, mostly getting people up in a quick and timely manner, and efficiently working with the tools I have. It’s not like I have a very efficient loadout, to be frank, it kinda makes me cringe sometimes when I look at it, but it hasn’t slowed me down enough to prevent me from handling multiple casualties at once. Of course, it’s not just about following a formula for healing people, it’s also about the moment to moment decisions. Whether or not I should run in and grab a downed marine, if it’s worth it to pull a body back farther for reviving, or maybe if it’d be better to do it then and now. I’m not perfect, but I think I can usually make the right call, given the information I have.
Requisitions:
My second least favorite support role, though not one I hate. I’ve been put as the sole cargo technician a few too many times, so I’ve had to learn fast. Thankfully, I’ve had some excellent help, and I am very familiar with managing the req line, unloading crates off the ASRS, and loading/sending supply drops for both FOB and frontline. I’m not afraid to get supplies the hard way and get loose ammo into boxes either. I really don’t know what else to put here? I feel like requisition work isn’t too complicated at the moment.
What are some scenarios that you can perform combat in? Give us a brief example.
Command has ordered a retreat, and the marines have fallen back to a cadeline. I’m currently out in the open with nobody that I can see, and by moving around in circles, it doesn’t look like there’s people nearby at all. There’s a body who isn’t perma on the way back, so I attempt to grab them with me to the fall back point, where a runner enters my vision. I do see the runner, but choose to ignore it over saving a marine. The runner, however, isn’t too keen on letting me get away, and pounces on me. If the runner is still attacking me when I get up, I’ll attempt to fend it off until it runs away, however if it isn’t immediately near and attacking me, I will continue to drag the marine back to a safe position.
While travelling with another marine, we end up seperated from the main group, and it’s just us two as far as I can tell. The marine gets attacked by a warrior and pounced on, putting him into a chokehold. I respond by attacking the warrior until it has died, or disengaged. Depending on the state of the marine, I’ll move him back to a safer place.
As I move from the FOB to the frontline with a group of marines, we encounter a group of UPP survivors. The marines are a bit confused as to what they should do next, until the UPP survivors open fire on the marines. My first response would be to recover any downed marines and get them back up again, but should many marines go down and the UPP are advancing, threatening the lives of me and other marines, I wouldn’t be afraid to subdue them non-lethally, or otherwise, lethally.
Final Info:
Have you been banned from CM in the last month for any reason? Do you have any active jobbans?
No
Are you currently banned from our Discord?
No
Let us know why you were discord banned.
N/A
Do you have anything else you would like to include about your application?
Besides what I usually say about feedback, not really. Constructive criticism is appreciated and the like.
Thanks to those who’ve helped me over my nearly year long journey of applying, you’re the best.