Floran Lisps & Glitch Speech: Optional Y/N?

snowflakes gonna snowflake

 

Apex talk like this.
"I literally don't exist. Someone make an apex character, PLEASE."

 

Mhmm, I always assumed the lisp was cultural because they're used to producing different sounds on an everyday basis in their original language. I actually imagine florans being able to do a wider range of sounds than humans, y'know, hisses and stuff. My floran character occasionally has the lisp, has it when he talks to other florans but I thought it could be dropped if they tried. I might use it 100% of the time again.

 

I thought same too.

 

For as far as I understand, the floran and glitch talk are common, yet completely optional if you have a good reason. A common glitch will always talk the way the NPC glitches do, but if they were programmed by a good programmer, or if something else happened to their programming, they can just talk like a normal person. A floran born in a floran family will just talk the normal floran ssspeach, but if they grew up with a different race, they'll most likely not have this problem.

Now let's make things even better, and put a floran child in a glitch family. Not only would they have a lack of lisps, they would also start to talk just like glitches are supposed to talk! A floran glitch!

 

I've always assumed the Glitch emotives, based on what I've read about the species, were vocal, not written.

Their origin is due to the fact that their voices cannot replicate emotions naturally. Think the stereotypical "I am a robot. Beep boop," voice, and that's the Glitch. The thing here is that apparently it's subconscious - the Glitch don't know they're signaling their emotions/intentions before they speak, which means it's a purely vocal thing. They wouldn't write "Annoyance. So and so said yaddah yaddah" if they posted on StarNet. Rather, it would just be "So and so said yaddah yaddah," without the emotional cue.

My reason for believing this is that apparently there's a codex entry out there in which some decidedly non-Glitch travelers stumble upon a Glitch village and humorously mimic their way of speaking... but the Glitch just look at them like they're crazy. If the Glitch were aware of their speech patterns, they wouldn't have looked at them like they were insane.

And on the COMPLETELY OPPOSITE FLIP SIDE TO COUNTERACT EVERYTHING I JUST FREAKING SAID:

The Glitch could be unaware of the emotive cues simply because they aren't self-aware. The Glitch those travelers encountered were still part of the hivemind, after all. It's all but implied through the lore that when the Glitch obtain self-awareness and break away from the hivemind, they unlock all the buried information that, as robots, they simply never lost. This information apparently includes everything from their species' origins to complex scientific jargon even the Apex haven't discovered yet. Obviously, recognition of their unique vocal patterns would be included in that gained information.

I'd imagine, therefore, that that would be a valid IC reason for some Glitch to remove the emotive cues. They've become aware of what they were and how they used them, and altered their programming to A) simply not be required to use them anymore or B) enhanced their underdeveloped speech boxes to the point that they can accurately replicate emotion in speech, thereby rendering the use of the emotive cues moot.

TL;DR apparently glitch are op as fuck. Damn robots.

 

Glitch player examine text still uses emotion cues.

 

Which, in my humblest of opinions, doesn't provide enough insight to either prove or disprove the subconscious theory. On the one hand it could mean that it's still subconscious even after gaining self-awareness, as I'm sure otherwise the Glitch wouldn't say "Bored. A light" or whatever. But on the other hand the Glitch could very well be aware that he/she is using the cues, even while thinking, and either doesn't care enough to upgrade his/her vocal box/processor/whatever controls that aspect, or simply doesn't have the means to.

Honestly, it seems like this is one of those vague lore questions where we simply don't have enough information to provide a reasonable answer. All we can do is speculate based on single-page codex entries and our own preferences. Anything short of a Glitch decidedly saying "Statement. I am aware I announce my emotions or intent before I speak," won't provide us with concrete answers. I just outlined a possible IC solution for some Glitch players to remove the cues, without it being god-moddy/because-I-said-so.

And on that note: wtb lore-based quests, Chucklefish pls.

 

There is no evidence that suggests Glitch are capable of controlling their subconscious any more than a human can choose to stop beating their heart.

 

I know it's pretty much a derrail but it would be horrible if we could. Maybe we would accidentally choose not beating our heart because of thinking on it. You know, that stuff is kept away from our control for a reason.

 

Ya'know, it always makes me scratch my head when people take these unique races, with their quirks, and to try and make them more "special" they just make them more generic. The the bulk of people play these "not your normal X" characters, it becomes the norm. Florans more so then any other race being the biggest offender of this.

 

He's a normal Floran...
BUT HE HAS A LOVE FOR HYLOTL POTTERY.
UNIQUE CHARACTER.
BEST CHARACTER.

 

the "floran who isn't like his kind" has become such a stereotype on the server that there might be more of that than regular florans

 

That's right, and I'm guilty of that.
When I made that char I didn't knew there were so many unusual florans running around.

 

Aww yis. A Glitch lore thread. (Partially.) Fantastic.

Alright, with regards to Glitch statements of intent. M-Bot is right on the money with his deduction that they are not commonly used in text. Examples can be found all over the place, from pretty much every entry of the Steel Casebook (all written by Hewlett Deckard, an Outcasted Glitch bounty hunter) to actual notes and fliers written by Hive Glitch, such as this note to all Hive guards in a village. In the former case, you can combine it with transcripts from the Steel Casebook - such as this one - to really cement the idea that Glitch generally use the statement of intent in speech, but generally do not in text. Hewlett Deckard's works are a great resource for this because of how extensive his codex entries are, and his unique position as an outcasted Glitch moving in and out hive societies. You'll see this time and time again.

The really interesting question is, of course, why is the statement of intent used? The two most plausible theories have also been stated by M-Bot: It could be to compensate for a lack of typical emotional expression, or it could be a subconscious thing. There's evidence for both.

Now, personally, I always have a really hard time with this one. S'one of the few aspects of Glitch lore that kind of makes me scratch my head. If it isn't entirely subconscious, then it is, at the very least, a very clear cultural standard amongst the Glitch. It's something that everyone does, all the time, no questions asked. It's just a basic means of communication. Now, the only thing to ask yourself is whether or not this is due to it being a subconscious action, or just a cultural standard. The only evidence I can think of for it is that, for one, even non-hive Glitch use it commonly. (See also, the earlier-linked transcript.) However, the question is whether or not it's an intentional or unintentional choice, and arguments can be made for either. It does, however, prove that it's not restricted to hive-mind Glitch.

This is the best I've got, though: Unless it was just an oversight on Chucklefish's part (entirely possible, but a variable we don't want to worry about for this), this codex entry here is the best example I can think of of a Glitch breaking the statement-of-intent rule of speech. In this case, it's a Glitch that's newly severed from their hive, and is clearly independent. However, there's actually two possibilities for the quote in that codex lacking statement-of-intent (barring Chucklefish forgetting to type it):

1: The new Outcast chose not to use it, or forgot to, proving that Glitch can avoid such.

Or, 2: It really is a subconscious thing that nobody notices and Deckard forgot to put it down.

There's a problem with 2, though. The earlier mentioned transcripts did include statement-of-intent in their writing. So, either Deckard (/Chucklefish) is an unreliable transcriber/narrator, or it's something that he's consciously aware of and chooses to use when needed.

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Now, all argument aside, I go with the latter with a dash of the former. I personally always play it that the Glitch statement-of-intent is an inherent part of their culture to make up for both their lack of traditional expression, and for the sake of increased efficiency with the hive as a whole. (They are all about efficiency, and communication is a part of that.) I imagine it becomes subconscious with time. However, I also believe that at the very least, Outcasted Glitch are able to suppress it and simply speak without it if they choose to. They may choose to do so to fit in better with the galactic community as a whole, or to set themselves apart from their peers. Who knows.

But, either way, it explains all of the codex entries well, and also explains, in-character, the tendency for PC Glitch to forget to use it in their writing. (Which is saddening; people really should use it more. It's fun and easy to get the hang of after a few days.)

 

To be fair, "The floran that isn't like his kind" is pretty much the whole opening canon reason behind your floran character existing when you start the game... But that has nothing to do with the RP anyway, so blah.

And about the glitch speech thing, it makes perfect sense that they speak that way subconsciously... BUT. I doubt that they're unaware of it. It's kinda hard to just ignore words that come out of your mouth, even if you didn't realize you were saying them. Also, they'd hear other glitch speak the same way. They'd be used to hearing people say "Aroused. Hey baby.". SO this codex about some non-glitch adventurers mimicking glitch-talk and being considered "crazy" by the glitch doesn't make sense. I'm sure the glitch /know/ about their speech quirk, as we humans are aware of our hearts beating.