Just a quick update. I wanted to step back a little to try to de-emphasize myself, but I've noticed a few of you are still playing around with my concerns and trying to give me feedback and advice for the Z-ARK concept, which I really appreciate but isn't strictly necessary anymore.
http://backstage.eve-inspiracy.com/index.php?topic=4912.0There's a quick and dirty updated character biography, which I'll try to expand upon in the future and have already written the intro to a short companion piece I'll post sometime in the future.
I felt that, even if AI fascinates me and that I truly believe I could make the Z-ARK not only work within the RP community here, but thrive, it might be disingenuous and off-putting to some members here even in an OOC context. I know I used to hate people who would either ignore or manipulate established lore for a setting to their own ends. This is not to say I'm now anti-AI in Eve, I still think Yuni and Synthia are filling rather fascinating niches in Summit and beyond, but my idea is a bit too derivative of sci-fi classics and a bit pretentious (inasmuch as I find Z-ARK fascinating because I'm super weird, and I get that not everyone is this way).
That being said, I fucking
hate retcons, and try to avoid them whenever I possibly can. So I hope my deus ex machina won't seem too contrived and that the new Zark will be, if not well received, than at least less confrontational. Honestly, forcing myself to think my way out of the box I'd forced myself into ended up making for a backstory that I am, in many ways, much more interested in exploring than Z-ARK's origins.
I still am not particularly looking forward to explaining this all to Stitcher IC, though. I can almost visualize his character's smug grin.