Curator
PRIORITY: Not defined
 Curator |
Superiors: Head of Personnel
|
The Curator spends most of their time in the library printing out a lot of copies of The Lusty Xenomorph Maid or running around in their red suit and welding through walls of everywhere they have no access (i.e. everywhere). The library itself has a permanence to its contents from game to game on the servers -- all properly uploaded books can be downloaded in any other round.
This is more bane than blessing, since several titles that never should have seen the light of day are forever mingled in with literary classics shamelessly plagiarized from the internet, and also a lot of H.P. Lovecraft. Ba-zing!
Welcome to the exhibit!
Sadly, you will not go on cool adventures to obtain magical artifacts. You will be giving out books, on the rare occasion that someone requests a book. You will also occasionally have to replace the Chaplain's bible, after he beats one too many people with and is disarmed and the book spaced. The final area of your job is to upload new books to the archive. So, take your pen and paper, and write down some screenplays! Printing a few books is cool, but don't be a dick and print 100 copies of one. All it does is crash people that right-click that pile.
The Curator and his Library
First things first, stock your library with books that matter. At the start of the station, your bookshelves will be EMPTY! Your fellow crew members will not want to stay in a library that has no books. To fix this use the library's Check In/Out Computer's and use its function, "4. Connect to External Archive". Here is the main dish of your sum total of existence, to sort out in the mess of books, and find only the BEST. The books are not sorted, or sortable, and look to have no order what so ever. You will even find many books' copies in the archive. To retrieve the selected book, simply click ORDER, the Check-In/Out Computer's printer will hum as it produces a completely bound book. How did it do that?
The barcode scanner will be needed for checking books into the local library's computer. It has 4 settings, as follows:
Mode 0 : Scan book to local buffer. Mode 1 : Scan book to local buffer and set associated computer buffer to match. Mode 2 : Scan book to local buffer, attempt to check in scanned book. Mode 3 : Scan book to local buffer, attempt to add book to general inventory.
(*Note: Use the scanner on the computer, otherwise it won't work)
The library is not your workspace, but a home, to you and your books. Your books are like people in a 1960s bus, so keep your books segregated. Sort them on their labeled book-shelves: Religious, Fiction, Adult (read: erotic fanfics), Reference, and the back room's Forbidden Knowledge. You can use your bookbag, which works like a mining satchel or plant bag, to carry multiple books at once.
How To Add A Book To The Database
- Get Paper and a Pen.
- Write your love story about those Lusty Xenos on the paper.
- Take your story to the East Back of the library to the
Book Binder, and slap that epic story onto the binder. This will spit out your new award winning story. - Still have that pen? Good, you can sign your name, add more content, and even title it.
- This book is ready to be send though the Nanotrasen command! Ask the Curator to scan this book into the computer, using the File:Scanner.png Scanner.
- Once scanned, use the
Check In/Out Computer's 5th function, titled, "5. Upload New Title to Archive". - Here you can change the category, change the author once more, and view the title.
- After reviewing the book, and being ready to publish, use the "UPLOAD" command.
How To Add A Painting To The Database
Do you have an artistic soul? Did you look at the dozens of scrawled penises on the gallery wall and think: "Hey, I could do better than that"? Your prayers have been answered! Here is everything you need to know to ensure that your pixel art will be preserved in the /tg/station database until the sun explodes.
- Get a canvas. Some spawn in the library, but they can also be crafted from cloth.
- Get some crayons or a spraycan. Remember that with a spraycan, you can paint with all the colors of the RGB spectrum; a must have for any serious artist.
- While holding your tool of choice, left-click on the canvas to begin painting your masterpiece.
- Click "Finish" to finalize your painting, and give it a creative, thought-provoking title.
- Pick the "Collection" in which you want your painting to belong: Public, Secure, or Private. Note that not every station will have all three options. The collection you choose will affect where your painting will spawn. Public frames are usually the most numerous. Secure frames are usually behind glass. Private frames are located in the curator's office, or in a discreet location.
- Place the painting into one of the roundstart frames. If all the roundstart frames are occupied, you can remove a painting using wirecutters. Crafting your own painting frame and putting it on a wall won't save your painting.
- Ensure that your painting doesn't get removed from its frame before the shift ends.
- Voila! If your painting is in its frame at the end of the shift, it will be permanently saved to the database, and will have a chance of appearing the gallery in future rounds!
Note: As of the time of writing, there is no art gallery on IceboxStation. If you paint anything there, expect it to be lost when the round ends.
Adventuring
Do you think giving out books is boring? Does literally no one go to the library except for if they are seeking safety, commuting a crime or the station is being attacked by a Devil? Here you will learn about how to do fun shit and because no one cares about the library. (For more non-librarian librarian work check out the tips section)
The Heroic Beacon
Your loadout. This will decide your adventuring destiny:
- "First Man on the Moon - 1960's": Contains a spacesuit for aesthetic space exploration
- "Braveheart, the Scottish rebel - 1300's": Contains an awesome claymore, a kilt and wooden sandals.
- "Courageous Tomb Raider - 1930's": Contains the classic Indianan Jones treasure hunter outfit and a high quality whip, for intense maintenance exploration!
- "Carp Hunter, Wildlife Expert - 2506": Contains:
- A weaker version of the carp space suit
- Carp mask
- A hunting knife with a small bonus to butchering
- A bag of meat, to make friends (tame space carp)
Breaking News!
Behind the library desk is a handy newscaster to work with. Since the Curator is given a tape recorder and a camera with spare film, this allows you to keep the crew informed of station events, such as memorable performances by the clown, interviews with prominent people, murders or even writing smutty tabloid articles. Photos from your camera can be attached to the news articles you post. Alternatively, you could use your photocopier to copy your ass and attach the results to your news articles.
The newscaster can also print out up to 15 newspapers, and can be refilled by adding more paper. After that, you'll want to deliver the newspaper to frequently visited areas like the Medbay, Brig, and more.
Sanctuary
You have a little study with a bookshelf waiting to be filled with forbidden knowledge (read: pornography). In here, you should won't be safe from the Head of Security who didn't like your poetry readings. He can just ask the AI to open the door. When the lynch mob inevitably forms after you read aloud Woody's Got Wood, you can weld the door shut to buy yourself a precious few seconds before someone unwelds it, as the Head of Personnel will often storm the room, shoot you with an energy gun and hand you over to security officers. If he doesn't just laser you to death on the spot.
The Soapstone
You can use the soapstone that you start with in order to leave messages for others to read later. Your soapstone starts out with 3 charges that can be used to write on a floor or wall on the station. The messages will be saved and appear in future rounds until removed by a soapstone. No charges are required to erase messages, and erasing your own message will grant you an additional charge. The janitor starts out with an empty soapstone to erase your useful tips.
Languages
As an academic, you studied even the most obscure languages known in the universe. You can innately understand secret cultspeak, robotic beeping, drone chatter, and can even interpret xenomorph hissing. What is seriously puzzling is that you can also speak those languages, which supports the theory that Curators are just failed wizards.
Tips
- Curator system is much more robust than most people think:
- You can activate barcode scanner to switch modes.
- You can use it to add printed books to your library's "inventory", then use the check in/check out computer to actually give people books for specified amount of time, like a real library would.
- You can cut inventory slots in books with wirecutters.
- Your whip will instantly disarm anyone you hit with it.
- Many people don't visit the library because the literature is
trashpoorly curated. Try setting aside a special shelf with hand-picked books. Decorate, advertise and hold events to attract the attention of passerby! - You have Construction access so you can make a base and go to lavaland or renovate the Vacant Office. Try it out!
- Pry up wood tiles with a screwdriver or deconstruct tables with a wrench and fix all the rotting wood tiles in your library. Get those cobwebs cleared out, too!
- Your access to the Auxiliary Base Construction Area can provide you with meson scanners and a full toolbelt, along with a cargo headset.
- If you don't want to browse books through the amazing medium of the BYOND engine, you can explore the database they're all stored in. You will need a /tg/ forum account to access it. There's also a database for paintings!
- You are first and last line of defense against low-effort garbage as it attempts to enter the persistent database. Next time you leave your library, remember that. We are all counting on you.
Book'em Danno
This used to be one of the hardest jobs to be a Traitor as. It used to be a job where you had nothing but some books and your wits, but with some recent changes he now has robust armor and a unique weapon: THE WHIP. Security trying to tase you? Whip the gun out of their hands! Target is too loud? Whip them! You're too slow? Whip yourself! It's amazing.
However, don't downplay your weakness: piss all for access. And don't forget, you're about as suspicious as an assistant. Make sure to get your stealing (or killing) done, then hole up in your private study until the heat dies down. However, unlike assistants, your outfit is quite special, so people will easily recognize you everywhere unless you ditch it. Emagging the library computer causes it to spit out a tome, though you need to be a real cultist to read it. This can be used to confuse security, but you should be ready to get searched and brigged for some time.