Crashlanded

[RedEve]

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

What I am looking for here is a scenario where a ship belonging to a technologically advanced race crashes on a planet where the native humanoids are at a very different stage of their cultural and scientific development.
Think Star Trek visiting a bronze-age level world.

Only the ship in question (and its culture) has no such thing as a prime directive, so they would have little concerns about harming the natural development of a primitive culture and instead use their technology and weapons to make themselves the new emperors and demi-gods of their new home-world.

Since I am already GM another group game, I would not want to start this up without the help of at least one co-GM.
I also won't ask for people to create character sheets as long as I'm not sure there is even enough interest for this.

The two type of characters we would need are the crewmembers of the crashed ship and the people belonging to the "primitive" culture.

[xPeachyPuff]

I would be interested in this (: Possibly playing a native woman. I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to co-GM for you though, as I have no experience in running a group game what so ever. Sorry Red D:

-xSRx

[mrsjaz]

Interesting idea RedEve.

So will there be any conflicts and hostility between the two groups? Will the natives be magic users? Or will the superior weapons of the crewmembers totally dominate anything the natives have/use. Anyway I do like the idea, and also that the crew would have no qualms in subjugating the natives, so they would become the slaves, sex slaves, and praise and worship their new "Gods". I do hope you get some more interest in this.  :-)   

[RedEve]

Interesting idea RedEve.

So will there be any conflicts and hostility between the two groups? Will the natives be magic users? Or will the superior weapons of the crewmembers totally dominate anything the natives have/use. Anyway I do like the idea, and also that the crew would have no qualms in subjugating the natives, so they would become the slaves, sex slaves, and praise and worship their new "Gods". I do hope you get some more interest in this.  :-)   

There would be no magic involved, basically the humanoids would be at the level of a late Bronze age/early Iron age human culture.
The crew's weapons would dwarf anything the indigenous people have.
And yes, the crew would just take what they want without any shame.

[Caehlim]

Very interesting idea.

There might even be the prospect of conflict amongst the crew-members, since they are the only ones who can oppose one another.

Are you thinking that the crew and the natives would both be human/humanoid? (i.e. star trek aliens) or would one or both of them be stranger creatures?

[RedEve]

Very interesting idea.

There might even be the prospect of conflict amongst the crew-members, since they are the only ones who can oppose one another.

Are you thinking that the crew and the natives would both be human/humanoid? (i.e. star trek aliens) or would one or both of them be stranger creatures?

Both races are humanoids.

[Caehlim]

I definitely find the concept intriguing, I've always loved the idea of different technology levels interacting.

Would it be set immediately post-crash, making first contact?

[SargentToughie]

hmm... Seems pretty neat.

Bookmarked and lurking. ;)

[MagicalPen]

It depends on the technology of the space-faring people. I imagine they don't use bullets if they can travel through space.

I quite like the idea of being worshiped like a God though - color me interested.

[RedEve]

I definitely find the concept intriguing, I've always loved the idea of different technology levels interacting.

Would it be set immediately post-crash, making first contact?

The idea would be to make first contact part of the game, yes.
There might even be a small minority of the crew that feels conflicted about subjugating the indigenous population, so there is room for some internal conflict amongst the crewmembers as well.

[RedEve]

Seems like it has possibilities, almost seems like a time travel thing advanced humans going back to the bronze kinda thing.
Be interesting to think about what limits the crashed ship has, having a pistol in the bronze age would get you a certain amount of "respect" when you shot the first person trying to attack you, but if you've only got 6 bullets what happens when the 7th person comes after you?

Of course if all the natives looked like this, that wouldn't hurt either

The weapons at the disposal of the crewmembers would go far beyond a fire-arm.
They would also have shield technology that makes the local race's primitive weapons all but useless.

[Peripherie]

 No experience in GMing but I would be very interested in joining the group!

[MagicalPen]

As I have experience, I could be co-gm.

[Jassara Sunn]

Hmm, I'm interested as well, if you dont mind a character that posts at a slightly slow rate due to reallity. Basically three days a week?

[xPeachyPuff]

I think that's a pretty reasonable posting rate Jassara. I, myself, would probably only get to post 5 days a week, possibly one or two posts a day depending on muse and real life.

Looking any everyone else s comments though, I have to wonder how the RP will turn out. I was very much inspired by the very light Avatar vibe I was getting from this RP at the beginning, but I'm not sure if that's exactly how it will be played. (I was thinking more along the line of romance and story and a mix of group domination rather than smut and domination of one group or the other.) I see it as the Natives would be quite hostile towards the new comers, but that they would either be willing to learn their ways or would think they were superior and try to dominate the natives. That is only my opinion, however.

I will defiantly keep my eye on this thread and am still extremely interested. (: But I thought I'd just throw out some concerns now rather then not speaking up at all. (I hope you don't think I'm moaning or anything, just wanted to say what I was thinking.)

-xSRx

[RedEve]

There would be disagreement amongst the crew about how the indigenous people should be treated.
Some might deem them no more than a commodity that they can use and abuse indiscriminately.
Others might see them merely as slaves or free labor, meaning that they would demand obedience but would not kill them off without good reason.
And perhaps another group feels guilt and disgust at the way their crew-mates are treating the locals.

[RedEve]

Okay, for reasons of simplicity I would suggest that both the crewmembers and the indigenous race are very similar in appearance.
Both look like normal humans.

[Miroque]

I might be intrested to join aswell. Witch ever party has less people, as just by reading this, I got ideas on both sides. (bookmarked and lurking)

[RedEve]

I wasn't worried about the exact level of tech the crash-ees have, just assuming that it would be limited in some way. So in the same way a firearm would need bullets, energy weapons would need batteries to run them, while the batteries could be recharged there would still have to be a fuel source to generate that energy. Stuff would wear out and the raw materials and processing needed to make replacements wouldn't be available.

Right, but with no interstellar travel to drain it, the ship's own power source could last much longer than it otherwise would have.

[SargentToughie]

Alright, after having lurked for a little bit and listened to how things are starting to develop, I'm happy to say that I'm totally on board with the idea behind this RP, so I'm in.

[Prince Truhan]

I'm interested in playing in this

[RedEve]

The downed ship would be called the "Neriglissar". The communications and propulsion systems would be irreparably damaged, but most of the other systems would still remain operational after the crash.
So the ship would serve them as a base of operations. I would put the number of survivors of the crash at around 80, just to give them a compliment that is large enough for them to realistically impose their will upon the natives.

[RedEve]

So a USS Defiant sized ship where everyone survives the crash or a USS Voyager sized ship where only half the crew survive   ;D

I would say their full complement would be around 100 crew-members, with around one in five perishing in the crash.

[RedEve]

The indigenous people would have a technology level similar to Roma in the first century AD.
The environment would be a temperate jungle with large and small cities scattered across the planet's surface.
The ship will have crashed relatively closely to one of the larger settlements (I would say around 200K population).

[Caehlim]

Is this game going to be more sexually based or more story-focused? (or rather what sort of ratio between the two would we be looking at).

[RedEve]

Is this game going to be more sexually based or more story-focused? (or rather what sort of ratio between the two would we be looking at).

I would say more story-focused with some smut thrown in as spice. :P

[Caehlim]

I'm intrigued by the story, but checking people's on/offs I don't think it'll match my orientation for any smut scenes.

I may have to pass on this one. Good luck though, it certainly seems a cool idea.

[Miroque]

200K in 1centcury AD was insanely large town (in european scale) Only Rome was near that (100K Romans and 350K slaves/outsiders). And Rome was taxing far and wide, for food. So, with 200K population center, it would need social/military structure to uphold its food consumption. Just my 0.02€ of the matter.

[RedEve]

200K in 1centcury AD was insanely large town (in european scale) Only Rome was near that (100K Romans and 350K slaves/outsiders). And Rome was taxing far and wide, for food. So, with 200K population center, it would need social/military structure to uphold its food consumption. Just my 0.02€ of the matter.

I believe the city of Rome had a population closer to 1 million at that time.
It dropped back to the numbers you are citing around the fifth century AD (coinciding with the fall of the Western Roman Empire).

But the rest of your point is correct, a city that size would have a sizable sphere of influence and power in the surrounding area.

The primitive society will not be patriarchal, which means that female characters will be able to hold positions of real power.

The societal structure would be feudal, with a king-figure at the top, assisted and advised by a council of noblemen and women.

[Miroque]

at the height of Rome´s power, Rome had 3.5milj people but I thought the boom was at second century.. but could be wrong there.

[Frelance]

I am interested in this game. I can play on either side not sure which one I want to play more at the moment.


With avatar being mentioned. Are there going to be some areas that have disturbances that to not allow the crews tech to work properly?

[RabbitJanitor]

Definitely Interested. I'd like to play one of the crew. I was also wondering about human-sub races? There's a sub-race in a system game that has humans that have adapted to a water world for generations. They can hold their breath much longer, have slightly webbed fingers and feet, and have a more pudgy look to them. Over all they'd still be Humans, just a little more adaptive for water.

[RedEve]

CS for crewmembers:

Code Select Expand

[float=right][img padding=15][/img][/float]
[b]Name:[/b]
[b]Age:[/b]
[b]Rank: [/b][i]Commander/Lieutenant Commander/Lieutenant/Crewman (The captain will not be a PC but will be NPCed by me. The role of the Commander will be pivotal, please PM me if you are interested in that role)[/i]
[b]Role on the ship:[/b] (Basically what your characters area of expertise was on the ship. Could be engineering, command, medical, ...)
[b]Biography: [/b]

CS for the Kamari (the indigenous people).

Code Select Expand

[float=right][img padding=15][/img][/float]
[b]Name:[/b]
[b]Age:[/b]
[b]Societal position: [/b] Nobleman, commoner, servant, peasant, craftsman, ...
[b]Biography: [/b]

The Kamari are ruled by a Kahji, which is the equivalent of a King or an Emperor. He or she shares power with the Hazaij, a council of 12.
This council consists of noblemen and women who are elected in the role for six year terms. There are no general elections, only the nobility gets to decide who they assign to the council.

[Peripherie]

RedEve -

Are you open for people to start creating/posting a character sheet? And if so, are we doing so in this thread?

[RedEve]

The game is open for character creation.

I prefer the CS to be sent to my PM inbox.

[Frelance]

What kind of ship was of? I mean research, scout, civilian transport.

[RedEve]

What kind of ship was of? I mean research, scout, civilian transport.

A military vessel patrolling the border worlds. The idea will be that they somehow got sucked into a wormhole that brought them even further away from their home colonies.

[Chrystal]

Interested...

Do you still need a co-GM?

[RedEve]

Interested...

Do you still need a co-GM?

I very much do. :)

[RedEve]

The NPC profile for the captain:

Name: Samuel Kaufman
Age: 60
Rank: Captain of the Neriglissar
Role on the ship: Senior officer on board the ship
Biography: Samuel is a life-long Galaxy corps officer. Both his father and grandfather were also starship captains. Samuel himself swiftly climbed the ranks and was awarded his first own command at the age of 35. Known as a man who is efficient but a bit rough around the edges, he tends to get the difficult and dirty missions other officers might frown at. Samuel has no qualms about doing whatever it takes to complete the mission, which makes him both a respected and feared commander. He is strict but fair to the men and women under his command, but has no hesitation in carrying out the capital punishment for those who disobey his orders.

[Chrystal]

The Kamari... (Damn, that sounds totally like fried squid rings!)

Please could we have some info regarding their language, and more importantly, their names? Are they guttural, fricative, tuneful, or like humans, do they have a large number of languages, and thus a large number of naming systems?

Are there any major biological differences?

Also, ages... see, here's a thing: On Mars, you come of age when you're 9. On Earth, that's 18. On Venus it's 28. On Mercury, you would be 74...!

But the fact is that the individual concerned has been alive for the exact same length of time.

I don't know how much detail you want to go into with this, but never mind the socio-political aspects of an individual's life span, you also have geopolitical aspects and biological aspects.

So, basically, what we need to know is:

How long do they live, on average, what is the oldest they can live to, what is considered mature, and at what age do they become adults?

[RedEve]

For the same of simplicity, I chose to make the indigenous people identical in physiology to humans. :)
So their life course would mirror the human equivalent.

The different city-states have their own languages and culture, though they all find themselves at roughly the same technological level.

[Deathnote]

So is this going to be under NC Human or NC Exotic?

[Chrystal]

Human, I would imagine...

We are assuming, then, an earth-type world with about the same sidereal and diurnal periods? Can we at least have two moons? *giggles*

[Peripherie]

Ooo... two moons, could be some interesting tidal potential.

RedEve - I have some more questions to help me make my background of my crew member. I hope you don't mind. :)

Is there a central planet that this crew came from or some general planetary system information? If it is Earth, how far into the future are we talking?

Also, your NPC captain CS mentioned Galaxy Corps? Is that the name of the military faction the ship is flying under?

[Deathnote]

By the way, how many of each rank are on board?  I'm assuming that there's only one Captain and one Commander.  Sorry, I'm not all that familiar with shows about starships.  I've only watched Andromeda and Firefly and the ships on those shows have a relatively small crew.

[Chrystal]

It depends on the technology of the space-faring people. I imagine they don't use bullets if they can travel through space.

I quite like the idea of being worshiped like a God though - color me interested.

*snorts in amusement*

And why wouldn't people who can fly through space still use bullets? Lets face it, if you fire a bullet at someone clad in nice shiny metal armour, the bullet generally goes through the metal (if it's light enough to wear it's also pretty thin) and on into the person wearing it....

However, fire a beam of coherent light at that same person and what happens? (Hint - shine a torch at a mirror and look at the wall behind you!)

Lasers look good on sci-fi films because sci-fi film makers don't give their soldiers shiny metal armour, and it's all H.G. Well's fault!

Sorry, I have a bee in my bonnet about laser guns. The most efficient form of energy to kill another living creature is still kinetic energy!

Seems like it has possibilities, almost seems like a time travel thing advanced humans going back to the bronze kinda thing.
Be interesting to think about what limits the crashed ship has, having a pistol in the bronze age would get you a certain amount of "respect" when you shot the first person trying to attack you, but if you've only got 6 bullets what happens when the 7th person comes after you?

Of course if all the natives looked like this, that wouldn't hurt either

Six bullets when the seventh person comes after you...

Please take a look at the battle of Isandlwana, in which a badly led British army, armed with breach-loading single shot rifles capable of firing something like five rounds a minute were defeated by a better led Zulu army, armed with spears and leather shields!

What you do, having fired your sixth shot, is either reload as quickly as you can (the invention of the clip was designed to make this easier - with some revolvers it is possible to remove the empty cylinder and replace it with a loaded one in a relatively short time), run as fast as you can, or pick up the gun that your fallen comrade has just dropped that still has bullets in it!



So, Eve...

You say there will be conflict amongst the crew regarding how to treat the natives.

I would imagine that there would also be an equal level of conflict amongst the natives, ranging from "The gods walk among us" to "They are just men like us and should be put to death for blasphemy!"

Rome in the 1st century, hmm? That's actually steel age, not bronze.

Character sheet will be otw in a few...

[Prince Truhan]

Six bullets when the seventh person comes after you...

Please take a look at the battle of Isandlwana, in which a badly led British army, armed with breach-loading single shot rifles capable of firing something like five rounds a minute were defeated by a better led Zulu army, armed with spears and leather shields!

What you do, having fired your sixth shot, is either reload as quickly as you can (the invention of the clip was designed to make this easier - with some revolvers it is possible to remove the empty cylinder and replace it with a loaded one in a relatively short time), run as fast as you can, or pick up the gun that your fallen comrade has just dropped that still has bullets in it!

There is also the connecticut yankee's way, when he was facing all of the knights at once, he claimed he was doing magic, after killing almost 12 with his revolvers the rest decided charging at him wasn't such a good idea

[RedEve]

Human, I would imagine...

We are assuming, then, an earth-type world with about the same sidereal and diurnal periods? Can we at least have two moons? *giggles*

We can have three if you like. And two suns. :P

[Chrystal]

That only works if your primitives aren't suicidal, desperate, or convinced that it is better to die in battle than to live as slaves....

Or convinced that you are going to kill them anyway!

A proud people will charge machine guns (or plasma turrets if you prefer) armed with bone knives rather than submit and if they keep on comming, sooner or later, Little Big Horn!

[RedEve]

Is there a central planet that this crew came from or some general planetary system information? If it is Earth, how far into the future are we talking?

Also, your NPC captain CS mentioned Galaxy Corps? Is that the name of the military faction the ship is flying under?

There is no Earth, I see this taking place in an entirely alternative universe. The humans in this setting have colonized dozens of worlds in several systems.

In this universe, everything has been privatized and only a handful of super-companies still exist. Galaxy Corps is the one responsible for defense and exploration of the known (and unknown) universe.

In short, see it as a huge mercenary outfit that has made a conventional army obsolete.

[Deathnote]

Okay, so... you can't actually be drafted into the Galaxy Corps, then?  (">_<)

[RedEve]

Chrystal: there will conflict amongst the Kamari as well as the shipwrecked crew.

But the opinions will likely not be limited to either seeing the newcomers as deities or viewing them as merely mortal invaders.

Some might realize they are not supernatural beings, but acknowledge the fact that their weapons are so superior, any open conflict would mean suicide.

Others might try - foolishly or not - to form alliances with the newcomers to better their own standing and power.

[RedEve]

Okay, so... you can't actually be drafted into the Galaxy Corps, then?  (">_<)

There is no draft, but you can apply just like any other job.

[xPeachyPuff]

I'll try and get a CS to you soon RedEve. Sorry about the wait.

-xSRx

[SargentToughie]

Yeah, same here. Though all this talk about technological and historical mumbo jumbo is making my head hurt. It's not THAT complicated of a setting, guys. XD

[Chrystal]

Chrystal: there will conflict amongst the Kamari as well as the shipwrecked crew.

But the opinions will likely not be limited to either seeing the newcomers as deities or viewing them as merely mortal invaders.

Some might realize they are not supernatural beings, but acknowledge the fact that their weapons are so superior, any open conflict would mean suicide.

Others might try - foolishly or not - to form alliances with the newcomers to better their own standing and power.

Mmhmm...

I did say ranging from ... to ...!

I think that having characters who are convinced that the newcomers are gods and characters who are convinced they are mortals, and EVERYTHING in between, makes for an interesting cultural upheaval.

Name: Noori Hamala
Age: 19
Societal position: craftswoman
Biography: Noori is the daughter of a nobleman and a peasant. As such, she has noble blood, but can never claim her birthright as she is illegitimate. She has bettered herself, however, by gaining a position as a virgin servant of the Second Sun Goddess Phago, who brings good health and prosperity to all. However as a temple servant she has very quickly come to realise that the gods and goddesses do not, in  fact, trouble themselves with the lives of Kamari and the acts put on for worshippers are mostly artifice.

She is really interested in the fact that, while the priestesses maintain the status quo, the priests study things. Noori is very bright - too bright for her own good, and has nearly been caught several times in the Priests' study, reading their scrolls and learning about the world.



A thought:

Human is the name of our species, our planet is called "Earth" and we refer to each other as man and woman.

So: Kamari is the name of the species. The planet would actually be called "Earth" by the Kamari and perhaps they refer to each other as Kama and Kami?

[RedEve]

A thought:

Human is the name of our species, our planet is called "Earth" and we refer to each other as man and woman.

So: Kamari is the name of the species. The planet would actually be called "Earth" by the Kamari and perhaps they refer to each other as Kama and Kami?

Sounds good. :)

[Frelance]

Yeah, same here. Though all this talk about technological and historical mumbo jumbo is making my head hurt. It's not THAT complicated of a setting, guys. XD

Its not that is a complicated setting. Its the fact that its an alien setting and having these details planned out makes it easier for everyone to be on the same page. This way we do not have people thinking we are using tech close to star trek when the other half of the people are thinking firefly.

Anyways I enjoy having a vivid picture of the setting painted before we begin.

Three moons and a binary star system sounds fun to me. We can work that into the crash of the ship.

[RedEve]

They could have a belief system based upon their celestial bodies.

Two major deities associated with their twin stars:
Nazhotar & Phago

Three minor deities associated with their three moons:
Ognysth, Phataubo & Rammehab

[Chrystal]

Its not that is a complicated setting. Its the fact that its an alien setting and having these details planned out makes it easier for everyone to be on the same page. This way we do not have people thinking we are using tech close to star trek when the other half of the people are thinking firefly.

Anyways I enjoy having a vivid picture of the setting painted before we begin.

Three moons and a binary star system sounds fun to me. We can work that into the crash of the ship.

Precicely...

If we were talking about a specific era on Earth there would be no issue, but with an alien culture, set around the 1st century AD tech level, we have several.

Saltpeter was known to the Chinese by the mid-1st century AD and there is strong evidence of the use of saltpeter and sulfur in various largely medicinal combinations.[16] A Chinese alchemical text dated 492 noted saltpeter burnt with a purple flame, providing a practical and reliable means of distinguishing it from other inorganic salts, thus enabling alchemists to evaluate and compare purification techniques; the earliest Latin accounts of saltpeter purification are dated after 1200.[17]

The first mention of a mixture resembling gunpowder appeared in Taishang Shengzu Danjing Mijue by Qing Xuzi (c. 808); it describes mixing six parts sulfur to six parts saltpeter to one part birthwort herb (which would provide carbon).[18]

So, first century AD technology COULD include gunpowder. All it would require is a slight variation in the time and place...

Worth pointing out that the Romans invented concrete.

The Chinese used gunpowder for fireworks long before it was used for weapons, but that was accidental. If the Chinese had been more warlike in the 9th century, they may have discovered firearms first and wthe world would be a very different place!

Just saying, is all....

They could have a belief system based upon their celestial bodies.

Two major deities associated with their twin stars:
Nazhotar & Phago

Three minor deities associated with their three moons:
Ognysth, Phataubo & Rammehab

I shall edit my profile to match that...

[Siereis]

Well this RP certainly looks interesting!  If you still have room for another female character (looks like you already have a slight imbalance in genders), mind if I join in?  Since it looks like character sheets are being sent to Red Eve, which 'faction' needs more members at this point?  (IE, are we in need of natives or aliens?)

[Frelance]

Worth pointing out that the Romans invented concrete.

Ya I found that point to be a very interesting fact especially since we are still in the concrete age even though we say we are in the information age.


@RedEve: I am going to put more into my profiles now that there is more information.

[Chrystal]

Well this RP certainly looks interesting!  If you still have room for another female character (looks like you already have a slight imbalance in genders), mind if I join in?  Since it looks like character sheets are being sent to Red Eye, which 'faction' needs more members at this point?  (IE, are we in need of natives or aliens?)

Worth baring in mind that some of us girls actually bat for the other team, so to speak...

[Siereis]

Worth baring in mind that some of us girls actually bat for the other team, so to speak...

Well certainly no objections on that!  I'll start working up some character ideas and hopefully will send them to RedEve a little later tonight.

[RedEve]

RedEye? Well it is getting late here...  ;D

[xPeachyPuff]

Sent in my CS.

-xSRx

[Chrystal]

RedEye? Well it is getting late here...  ;D

*snerk* What have you been drinking, Evie? Your eyes are all red!



Sorry....

@Siereis, Sorry hun. I have a weird sense of humour and clearly Eve does too. And as she said ist is getting kinda late over here....

Hmmm.

Methinks someone is on the same side of the pond as I am!

[Peripherie]

Sent in my CS as well.

[SargentToughie]

Hey Eve, would it be cool if I made a character for each side? As somebody who enjoys Dom and Sub in equal doses, that would be pretty cool for me.

[Chrystal]

Hmm... wondering that myself, although it rather depends on how many of each side there are. Ideally we need more subs than dom(me)s, so the subs can be passed around between the dommes and made to do things to each other...

[Peripherie]

I would say more story-focused with some smut thrown in as spice. :P

*hears all the D/S talk*

Are we still thinking this is the focus of the game? I certainly don't mind a little "spice" but I tend to not really fall into either the "d" or "s" category.

[Chrystal]

Heh...

I certainly wasn't thinking the D/S element would be the overall influence. If it were, I probably wouldn't have made a submissive character! I was hoping that there might actually be some mystery element to the whole thing. Not wanting to pre-emp the GM, but something like the invading aliens getting treated as gods initially and then slowly the normal people realising that the aliens are actually just people too, and maybe plotting their down-fall, just in time for the invaders' reinforcements to show up...

[Frelance]

Heh...

I certainly wasn't thinking the D/S element would be the overall influence. If it were, I probably wouldn't have made a submissive character! I was hoping that there might actually be some mystery element to the whole thing. Not wanting to pre-emp the GM, but something like the invading aliens getting treated as gods initially and then slowly the normal people realising that the aliens are actually just people too, and maybe plotting their down-fall, just in time for the invaders' reinforcements to show up...

Reminds me of Stargate haha.

[Chrystal]

Reminds me of Stargate haha.

But in reverse!

[Frelance]

haha, ya.

I am enjoying toying with the idea of only a few mega corperations running things. It will be interesting to see how that style of control effects the way the crew decided to apart to this new world.

[RedEve]

Heh...

I certainly wasn't thinking the D/S element would be the overall influence. If it were, I probably wouldn't have made a submissive character! I was hoping that there might actually be some mystery element to the whole thing. Not wanting to pre-emp the GM, but something like the invading aliens getting treated as gods initially and then slowly the normal people realising that the aliens are actually just people too, and maybe plotting their down-fall, just in time for the invaders' reinforcements to show up...

There will be no reinforcements, that is key to the game.
Basically the crashed crew only has each other and their superior technology to fall back on.

[Frelance]

The handful of corporations, can we assume that each one controls one of two base resource or service? With  Galaxy Corps controlling defense and exploration while the other another controls agriculture, one for services and productions and so on.

[RedEve]

The handful of corporations, can we assume that each one controls one of two base resource or service? With  Galaxy Corps controlling defense and exploration while the other another controls agriculture, one for services and productions and so on.

Yes, that is what I more or less had in mind.

[SargentToughie]

You never answered my questions about having multiple characters.

[Frelance]

Yes, that is what I more or less had in mind.

Sweet, that sounds like it can be a great breeding ground for a dystopian settings on some of the worlds and it works perfectly for what I have in mind for my character.

[Chrystal]

You never answered my questions about having multiple characters.

Submit both characters to RedEve and see what she says?

If you submit them in the same post, there can be no confusion!

There is one big drawback to having two characters in the same RP - interaction with yourself. Either you have to allow for the possibility that your two characters will come in contact with each other, or you need to have a really good reason why they don't!

On the D/S side of things, I can see a very interesting conflict arising - and I'm tempted to create another Kamari character to make the point:

The kamari are at the sort of tech level that Rome was at in the first century AD, which means they are a slave culture. Seriously, I cannot see a world like that being a world of submissives! Some of the Kamari will be dominant!

Equally, human nature being what it is, and military hierarchy being what it is, there may well be submissives among the humans, who aren't going to suddenly turn dominant just because they are on a technologically inferior world...

Eve, babe, watch out for a human char sheet from me in a bit! *giggles*

[RedEve]

You never answered my questions about having multiple characters.

Send me the character concepts.

[Chrystal]

And here's my human...just for contrast...

Name: Alison Jones
Age: 23
Rank: Crewman.
Role on the ship: Ship's cook (hence the white uniform)
Biography: Alison always loved cooking, even from an early age, but on her home world there was very little call for a professional cook. She applied to the Galaxy Corps, for a role of ships cook and was amazed to be accepted.

Alison is not a weak person, but she has very little self esteem. She is at the bottom of the ladder of the ship's hierarchy and likely to stay there. Fortunately for her she is a very good cook and can make the most amazing dishes out of the most basic ingredients. When asked how she does it, she just shrugs and smiles shyly.

She is shy and reserved, and is a lesbian, which is the one thing she will stand up for herself over, other than her galley. In her galley or kitchen, she is Queen and even the Captain must defer to her while she is cooking, she will not tolerate people sneaking tastes and has on more than one occasion come close to chopping a finger off, even with officers who try it!

In her galley, everything is kept in it's place at all times, and she always knows where everything is. This contrasts totally with her cabin, which is total chaos, and reflects the contrast between her private and public selves.

[RedEve]

Name: Jacqueline “Jack” Moreau
Age: 30
Rank: 1st Sergeant of the Neriglissar’s Marines squad
Role on the ship: Jacqueline is a member of the small ground warfare unit that is embedded amongst the starship crew. They provide security for first contact situations, carry out covert sabotage missions when necessary and generally provide support in her capacity as the on-board expert on small unit tactics.
Biography: Jacqueline joined Galaxy Corps out of necessity as they were the only company hiring on her colony, so beggars could not be choosers. Had she not joined up with them, her alternative ‘career choices’ would have been either selling her body or distributing the most popular local drug, Dreamsugar. Having seen the misery that both choices had heaped upon people close to her, she jumped at the opportunity to do whatever job Galaxy Corps might have for her. Their standardized aptitude tests identified her as a prime candidate for a command position. After six months of basic training, she enrolled in their infantry Officer program. Another 18 months later, she got her first command in the field. For the next decade, “Jack” served on half a dozen different ships and fought in battles and skirmishes in nearly 30 different planets and moons. She has ‘enjoyed’ three bonuses for injuries sustained during conflict. Her being reassigned to the Neriglissar was a punishment of sorts after an operation she lead went terribly wrong. Not only was the mission objective not carried out, she had lost nearly her entire squad in the process. Only her spotless record up to that point stopped her from being fired on the spot. Instead she was demoted to Sergeant and put on Kaufman’s ship; his mission patrolling the rim worlds meant that any further embarrassment she might cause would happen on some backwater world, with no risk of the news leaking back to the core colonies.

[Frelance]

RedEve do you know what movie that shot of Jack is from?

[RedEve]

RedEve do you know what movie that shot of Jack is from?

She is the female lead in the upcoming Die Hard movie.

[Frelance]

She is the female lead in the upcoming Die Hard movie.

Alright thanks :)

[Prince Truhan]

Name: Iago Herald

Age: 40

Rank: Commander

Role on the ship: Second in command aboard the ship

Biography: Iago started his military career as young as he could, all he wished for back then was to leave his house and achieve things for himself. As soon as he was in the Galaxy Corps he found himself despising authority, not because he minded so much being told what to do, but more because he felt he should be the one giving the orders. He is smart enough to keep such thoughts to himself knowing they would only give him trouble.

He has risen in the ranks, even if too slowly for his taste, he does his best to do a good job, mostly because he is always craving a higher position and knows he isn't there yet. His aptitude tests are ambivalent because they show his drive, smarts and ambition, however they also raise some of his mental issues.

He has participated in several missions some successful and some failed, and as a consequence has seen several areas of space, still the universe is too big for anyone to consider they know a lot about it. He has a small scar on the left side of his neck caused by a bullet during a skirmish.

He keeps hidden that in one of the few missions he was allowed to lead, he let some of his men die in order to complete his objective. The company didn't ask much, the mission was successful and grunts are cheap, however most people would have an issue serving under such a man.

He hopes that being second in command at the Neriglissar is the last assignment he has to carry out before being the one in command of at least in the ship he is in.

[Chrystal]

*giggles* Always the bridesmaid, never the bride, hey, Truhan?

You were born to be second in command material...

*hugs* Just teasing!

[Prince Truhan]

*hugs back*

Oh, I know you are teasing.

I could never be in charge in Mars

[Deathnote]

Name: Rick 'Rocky' Yang

Age: 25

Rank: Lieutenant Commander

Role on the ship: Operations Officer / Assistant Engineer (also a Hacker)

Biography: Before joining the Galaxy Corps, Rick was a well-known hacker who caused all kinds of mayhem.  Well... "Rocky" was a well-known hacker, anyway.  No one actually knew Rocky's real name or face until the day he was caught by Galaxy Corps' tech-security experts.  They confronted him about his past criminal activities, especially the ones involving vandalism of Galaxy Corps' main HQ.  Instead of having him arrested, they decided to make use of his abilities.  After being given the opportunity to do so, Rocky took cyberwarfare to a whole new level.  He always took sadistic pleasure in being able to take complete control over enemy ships and rendering them helpless.  He has no problems following orders as long as he gets to have his usual bit of fun.  He was eventually able to rise up to his current rank.  During the course of his military career, he was hit hard with an explosion caused by enemy torpedoes.  As a result, he lost his right arm and his left eye, which were replaced with cybernetic hardware.  He had essentially become a cyborg.

[RedEve]

Please give a warm welcome to our co-GM, Chrystal! :)

[Chrystal]

*takes a bow*

Thank you thank you.

*Holds up hand* I do solomly swear to fulfill the duties of etc etc ... Drinks are on me...

*produces various bottles*

[Prince Truhan]

*takes a bottle*

[MagicalPen]

I was going to create a Marine...a Captain in fact...but don't want to tread on any toes.

RedEves profile has her as leading the Marines on board, but only as a LT...I would think at least a Captain would be involved?

If having a Captain of the Marines won't work, let me know and i'll do something else.

[Prince Truhan]

The captain is the npc Redeve posted before this one

[RabbitJanitor]

I think me and Frelance have the engineering department under control.

[Frelance]

I think me and Frelance have the engineering department under control.

Ya I am just adding a bit more detail to the CSs RedEve has already seen but I have to agree with RabbitJanitor.

[Deathnote]

Hmm... maybe I should just remove that "Assistant Engineer" part from my character's role, then.  Unless you don't think it matters all that much, since he's supposed to primarily be the Operations Officer anyway.  I was thinking that he'd be knowledgeable enough about Engineering to be an extra pair of hands for the Engineering team, if necessary.

[Frelance]

Hmm... maybe I should just remove that "Assistant Engineer" part from my character's role, then.  Unless you don't think it matters all that much, since he's supposed to primarily be the Operations Officer anyway.  I was thinking that he'd be knowledgeable enough about Engineering to be an extra pair of hands for the Engineering team, if necessary.

I would keep it in there. I am sure your character will be needed after the crash and your character is already made so there is no reason to change him now.

[RedEve]

I was going to create a Marine...a Captain in fact...but don't want to tread on any toes.

RedEves profile has her as leading the Marines on board, but only as a LT...I would think at least a Captain would be involved?

If having a Captain of the Marines won't work, let me know and i'll do something else.

I'm not deadbent on having her being the marines' leader, I could demote her to Sergeant and make your character the unit commander.

*edit* And it's done. 

[xPeachyPuff]

Here's my character! (: Hope people like her~

-xSRx

Name: Ashenee Winoa.

Age: 20.

Societal position: Hunter’s Daughter.

Biography: Ashenee’s mother died giving birth to her which meant that her father had to bring her up alone. She was brought up in a small settling which only made it harder on the man in some circumstances, while in others, it's helped him out alot. Because it was such a small group, everyone seemed to know one another; he had a lot of help from his villagers and the women were especially encouraging. Her father managed his craft well for the village and brought food in for his people, occasionally giving extra to the women who helped with his daughter; it was easy to hunt where they lived as they were on the outskirts of the jungle. As she grew, he began teaching her his tricks of the trade and she began mastering her abilities as a huntstrass. She hated it when she was younger, the blood and killing, but things became easier as she aged; it was easy to understand why she needed to do what her father had done for many years. She now lives alone, having moved from her small village after her father passed away. Ashenee now lives in a much larger city and has learned to skin the things she hunts well enough to sell them at the market to sustain her living conditions. She is handy with a spear and knives and could be considered one of the more deadly women in the city; though they aren't few and far between.

[Frelance]

Here is my approved character.

Name: Telnor Sider
Age: 25
Rank: Crewman
Role on the ship: Engineer
Biography: Telnor is a Junior engineer was assigned to the ship right out of his training. He had left behind an agricultural home world that supplied much of the food for its home system. He left home to see the universe not wanting to spend his life on a single world growing food for others to eat while he struggled to keep machinery running with whatever he was able to pull off of scrapped equipment. The Agro Corp has kept cutting the budget for the planet as it tried to improve its profits and by the time Telnor was fourteen Argo Corp had found that it was able to maximize its profits by sending junked industrial equipment to the planet and let Telnor and the engineers pull them apart looking for any useful parts. What was left was sold off to be melted down and used for something else. At least that was what his father had told him.

Going into engineering was not something he had ever questioned. His father and grandfather had been engineers and when it was noticed that he had a natural talent for it his father would bring him to work when he could to teach him. The work he enjoyed but he got bored and frustrated with the planet so as soon as he had graduated he applied to Galaxy Corp seeing as how they were hiring and he knew if he wanted excitement they were the ones to work for. Since he had graduated in the top ten percentile of his class he was not surprised to get hired quite quickly.

He was assigned to the Neriglissar for his first tour of duty and has only been on since it last made port not long before. Most of his time has been spent learning the ships systems so he had not met most of the crew.

[Chrystal]

I was going to create a Marine...a Captain in fact...but don't want to tread on any toes.

RedEves profile has her as leading the Marines on board, but only as a LT...I would think at least a Captain would be involved?

If having a Captain of the Marines won't work, let me know and i'll do something else.

Bit of Navy lore here...

There can only ever be ONE captain on a ship. The naval rank of Captain is the highest commissioned rank below flag officer status and is the highest rank that will ever command a ship. Naval officers of all ranks from Lieutenant up can command a vessel, and when in command of that vessel are referred to by all personel aboard as "Captain", even by those of senior rank.

When it comes to the safety of the vessel, even the Admiral Of The Fleet must take orders from a Lieutenant if the Lieutenant is the Captain of the ship the Admiral happens to be on.

If a Naval Captain is on board a ship commanded by someone else, the officer of rank Captain is bumped up a rank and is referred to as Commodore - the lowest flag rank.

If an army or marine Captain is on board a vessel, they are always refereed to as "Major", again bumping them up one rank.

To save confusion, I would suggest, however, using Naval rankings for the marine complement? So the sergeant would actually be a Chief Petty Officer, and a Captain would, surprise surprise, be a Lieutenant!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:United_States_uniformed_services_comparative_ranks

[Prince Truhan]

For practical matters though remember that "A Sergeant in motion outranks a Lieutenant who doesn't know what's going on." and "An ordnance technician at a dead run outranks everybody"

[RedEve]

I'm confused now.  ;D

But I'm okay with any rank that might be appropriate for Jack. So which is it?

[Chrystal]

ROTFLMBCAO!

Very true, sir!

Armed forces are run by the senior NCOs. your NCO has been in the army/navy/air force for years, while the officer directly above him in rank has just graduated from the Military Academy.

It is a very foolish Subaltern who does not issue the orders "suggested" to him by his NCO.

But equally it is a foolish NCO who blindly obeys the orders of a subaltern. or worse yet, tries to countermand those orders. Far better to gain the officer's ear and make suggestions...

[Chrystal]

... except thier doctor  :P

That depends on whether the doctor is in an armoured bunker or not.....

Point being, if you see someone who deals with things that go BOOM running that way very fast, you would be well advised to run that way very fast too!

[MagicalPen]

I was under the Impression that Marines on board a ship are the equivalent of Army Personnel on a Ship. The Ship has its crew and the 'commander' of that crew is the Captain of the ship, and no one ever outranks him. A Marine detachment pulling security, or being transported could therefore have a Captain-rank on board, but does not outrank the Captain of the ship. The Marines CO would (essentially) be a 2nd-in-Command in a lot of hostile situations while on board the ship, but would be the CO in charge of the show once offloaded from said Ship (as the Ship Commanders sphere of influence does not exceed the boundaries of the ship).

Or, in this case, is the Captain of the Marines also the Commander of the Ship? 

[RabbitJanitor]

It also helps that a Naval Captain is the Army equivalent to a Major.

An Army Captain is equal to a Naval Lieutenant

A ship needs more officers then the ground pounders do.

[RedEve]

Look, I'm no expert on military ranks, so I am willing to agree upon whatever works.
But for that to happen, you people will need to reach a consensus?  :-X

[Deathnote]

To understand a starship's ranking system, I just look at a bunch of show's cast list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Irresponsible_Captain_Tylor_characters
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series#Cast
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation#Cast
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_Deep_Space_Nine#Cast

Of course, for some of them, I had to click the character's name in order to learn their ranks.

So, what I've gathered so far is that the rank of Captain and being the Captain of the ship isn't necessarily the same thing.  I've confirmed this by checking out Lieutenent Commander, which is the lowest rank (I think) you can be before you can be the Captain of a ship.  The Captain of the Ship is called the Commanding Officer.  The second-in-command is either called the "First Officer" or the "Executive Officer".  Prince Truhan's character's role on the ship would therefore officially be "Executive Officer".  It might be possible to have a second player with the rank of Commander, but there can only be one "Executive Officer".

Please note the cast list for Irresponsible Captain Tylor, specifically the part about how the marines are led by First Lt. Andressen and Master Sergeant Cryborne.  These are marine ranks that are safely below the naval rank of Lieutenent.  Although... it is possible that the creators mixed up the marine and naval ranks a bit... >_>

Then again, Kira Nerys from Deep Space Nine is from the military and retains her military rank while acting as the First/Executive Officer of Deep Space Nine.  I'm assuming the same thing's happening for the marine squad aboard the Neriglissar.

My thoughts: Give Jack any marine rank of 1st Lieutenent or below.  This is just high enough to command a platoon of 16-40 marines or second-in-charge of a company of 70-250 marines.  Anyone who wishes to be in charge of the marines just need a naval rank of Lieutenent or above (or a marine rank of Captain or above) and they automatically outrank Jack.  A marine rank of Captain is high enough to command a company of 70-250 marines (they can also be in second-in-charge of a battalion... but I doubt there's nearly enough people on board).  Also, anyone who wishes to use a marine rank should specify that they're using a marine rank in their character sheet.

[RabbitJanitor]

That sounds good and all, just remember that Commanding Officer and Executive Officer are Positions on the ship and not ranks. My character (not up yet) is a Lieutenant, but is the ships chef engineer. It sorta gets confusing when they get the marine ranks mixed in there, because you have ground lieutenants saluting ensigns.  So Jack could still be a Captain, but still be out ranked by the Commanding Officer, who's a higher ranking captain.

Also, Lieutenant Commander is not the lowest. (Forgive me if I'm getting you wrong.) To use a Star Trek next gen example: When Captain Picard and Commander Riker are a way, Lieutenant Commander Data is the one in charge of the ship. Its the rank between Commander and Lieutenant. Its entirely possible that a Lieutenant be given command of a ship, though its usually a small ship, maybe a Systems patrol boat or something of the like.

Naval                                 Army

Admiral                              General
Captain                             Colonel
Commander                      Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant Commander    Major
1st Lieutenant                  Captain
2nd Lieutenant                 1st Lieutenant
Ensign                              2nd Lieutenant

This is an example. I agree with Deathnote in saying 1st Lieutenant is the best way to go for 40 or so troops.

[RedEve]

I should remind you all that this is a completely fictional ship that has no real relation with Earth as we know it.

So any command structure would fit, be it completely fictional or not.

So I just need you all to agree upon something and stick to it.

Or otherwise I will come up with a command structure of my own... And you won't like the titles I will choose.  ;D

[MagicalPen]

I think I'm going to go ahead and make the CO of the Marine contingent a Captain.

[Prince Truhan]

It seems that everyone is favoring what they are familiar with, it is natural, I know I would have an easier time adjusting if we just use the structure of schlock mercenary.

Anyway Redeve has stated that she really doesn't care how we call the ranks, so I believe the easiest way to go is defer to Chrystal, she is after all the co-gm and is familiar with ranks.

[Chrystal]

The only reason I made the suggestion I did is that if the Marine CO is rank Captain, it means everyone will refer to him as Major. Would it not therefore be easier to just make him a Major?

However, I believe it also should be worth pointing out that on a ship with 100 or so people on board, only about 20 of those would be marines...

20 soldiers is actually a short platoon. A platoon would be commanded by a first or second lieutenant, with a warrant officer (senior sergeant) in support

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_organization#Armies

For a Captain or Major to be in command you would need a Company, which is two to eight platoons and a minimum of 80 soldiers!

Unless, of course, the ship is mostly automated and only 20 of those on board are the Navy personnel, with the remaining 80 being the marines?

I'm not trying to make things complicated, honest, I'm trying tto make them simpler.

@ Deathnote: This is not the startrek universe. If it was, I wouldn't be playing!

[RedEve]

The only reason I made the suggestion I did is that if the Marine CO is rank Captain, it means everyone will refer to him as Major. Would it not therefore be easier to just make him a Major?

However, I believe it also should be worth pointing out that on a ship with 100 or so people on board, only about 20 of those would be marines...

20 soldiers is actually a short platoon. A platoon would be commanded by a first or second lieutenant, with a warrant officer (senior sergeant) in support

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_organization#Armies

For a Captain or Major to be in command you would need a Company, which is two to eight platoons and a minimum of 80 soldiers!

Unless, of course, the ship is mostly automated and only 20 of those on board are the Navy personnel, with the remaining 80 being the marines?

I'm not trying to make things complicated, honest, I'm trying tto make them simpler.

@ Deathnote: This is not the startrek universe. If it was, I wouldn't be playing!

The numbers you are mentioning are - I assume - based on real-life human units.
But there is no reason why we should conform to reality. This is after all a sci-fi game set in a completely alternate universe.
So if we want to make it a 80-20 distribution in favor of Navy personnel, why shouldn't we?

[Frelance]

The numbers you are mentioning are - I assume - based on real-life human units.
But there is no reason why we should conform to reality. This is after all a sci-fi game set in a completely alternate universe.
So if we want to make it a 80-20 distribution in favor of Navy personnel, why shouldn't we?

80-20 in favor of Navy personnel sounds good to me. That will give the Marines more to do since they could want to train some of the crew so that they can better defend themselves.

[Chrystal]

No reason whatever...

I'm just pointing out that "form follows function".

If you have twenty men in a unit, they are not commanded by a general, unless they are all colonels. And you wouldn't have a front-line fighting unit composed of all colonels!

The only exception - the only time you come across a military unit where the lowest rank is an officer, is in an aviation unit, where all the members are pilots! Now, this does bring to mind an excellent but sadly "Foxed" TV series called "Space: Above And Beyond" in which a squadron of Space Marine pilots often fought on the ground as an elite unit. The lowest ranked member of the squad was a 2nd lieutenant, I think.

If the marine contingent on the ship is something like that, then it works to have them all as officers, with a senior officer in command.

If we have 18 enlisted men and a sergeant, it doesn't make logical sense for them to be commanded by a senior officer, who should be commanding a much larger unit!

My other suggestion is to create a totally new rank structure, the way the USSR did in the 1920s.

So, instead of calling him Lieutenant, Captain, Major or whatever, we call him Platoon Leader.

[Deathnote]

No reason whatever...

I'm just pointing out that "form follows function".

If you have twenty men in a unit, they are not commanded by a general, unless they are all colonels. And you wouldn't have a front-line fighting unit composed of all colonels!

The only exception - the only time you come across a military unit where the lowest rank is an officer, is in an aviation unit, where all the members are pilots! Now, this does bring to mind an excellent but sadly "Foxed" TV series called "Space: Above And Beyond" in which a squadron of Space Marine pilots often fought on the ground as an elite unit. The lowest ranked member of the squad was a 2nd lieutenant, I think.

If the marine contingent on the ship is something like that, then it works to have them all as officers, with a senior officer in command.

If we have 18 enlisted men and a sergeant, it doesn't make logical sense for them to be commanded by a senior officer, who should be commanding a much larger unit!

My other suggestion is to create a totally new rank structure, the way the USSR did in the 1920s.

So, instead of calling him Lieutenant, Captain, Major or whatever, we call him Platoon Leader.

Speaking of Platoon Leader, I looked it up on Wikipedia while clicking around in the Command Hierachy page.  According to that page, a Captain can be in charge of a platoon if it's special enough.  It's entirely possible that the Neglissar marines form a Special Forces platoon.  Either that it was it given the designation of "Special Forces" as in excuse to put a Captain in charge of it.  :p

Anyways, yeah... I agree that we should call whoever's in charge of the marines "Platoon Leader" while Jack can be the "Platoon Sergeant".  That seems simple enough.  ^_^

[Prince Truhan]

Well there would be 20 when the other 80 die in a horrible crash (if I didn't misunderstood how this goes)

The other consideration I would have is that they are mercenaries, it might be me but I think telling people Captain whatever and his people are heading over to deal with things sounds more impressive than platoon leader.

Then again, as I was typing this people started agreeing, so disregard everything I said and just tell me what my character is :P

[Chrystal]

I would say their full complement would be around 100 crew-members, with around one in five perishing in the crash.

So 20 die in the crash leaving 80 survivors.... Of those, around 16 would be the surviving marines.

[Prince Truhan]

Oops, guess I should have more faith in our pilot :P

[Frelance]

The only exception - the only time you come across a military unit where the lowest rank is an officer, is in an aviation unit, where all the members are pilots! Now, this does bring to mind an excellent but sadly "Foxed" TV series called "Space: Above And Beyond" in which a squadron of Space Marine pilots often fought on the ground as an elite unit. The lowest ranked member of the squad was a 2nd lieutenant, I think.

Space: Above and Beyond. That was a good show, I have gotten a few friends to watch it just wish it was still running.

[Deathnote]

@Chrystal Do you think we can have the marines be a Special Operations Team?  I keep trying to find more information about it, but so far all I know about it is that a Marines Special Operations Team consists of 15 people, which I think we can bring up to 20 for the purposes of this game.  Do you know anything about its structure?  Now that I've starting reading up on it, I've become way too curious and really want to know more.  :p

Edit: Nevermind, found it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organization_of_the_United_States_Marine_Corps#Marine_Special_Operations_Command

So based off of that, the marines team can consist of:
4 fire teams = 16 marines (bumped up from 3 fire teams to justify the existence of a platoon sergeant / assistant team leader*)
1 radio operator
1 navy corpsman
1 assistant team leader* (Jack)
1 team leader (Magical Pen's character)

(4 fire teams x 4 marines) + 1 radio operator + 1 navy corpsman + 1 team sergeant + 1 team leader = 20 marines

*Assistant Team Leader can be a made-up position for the purposes of this game.

Does that sound right to you?  We can always say that an entire fire team of 4 marines was lost in the crash.  ^_^

[RedEve]

I never meant for the focus to be so much on military ranks.
For me this game is about a clash of cultures, each of them at a very different stage of their technological development.
How the military ranks are organized for one of them won't matter either way for the drama or narrative.

[Prince Truhan]

Part of me was wondering if the natives would start having a political discussion about their regime...

[MagicalPen]

Yeah, I'm going to back out. People are getting way to strict about the Ranks etc. This is Fantasy/Science Fiction. You don't have to abide by the rules because there are none - its Science FICTION.

[RedEve]

I guess I can go back and re-edit Jack's profile once again then...

[RabbitJanitor]

I'm good with whatever. I didn't mean to start a debate on the topic.

[RedEve]

This discussion would have made some sense if this game was supposed to be set on (future) earth, but is it not...

So can the people who care about such things decide upon a single system and inform the rest of us?

[Chrystal]

Right.

First of all, I apologise to those I have bored to tears with this. I didn't intend this to become a full blown discussion on Military ranks, I have simply been trying to keep some sense of reality.

Eve, dear, this is the point at which you, as GM, need to step in and make a decision that we will all then abide by?

[Deathnote]

I'd like to apologize too.  I was having a bit too much fun looking up military ranks and organization and got a little carried away.

[RedEve]

I don't have enough knowledge of military ranks to assign a single system that would make sense, which is why I asked one of our resident experts to just assign each character an appropriate rank.

I honestly don't care much what qualifier will precede Jack's name.

But I'm not the right person to create a system that will satisfy people who know a lot more about it than me.

[RedEve]

So what rank should the marines use?
Does this make Jack a Staff Sergeant?

[RedEve]

I've created the OOC and Character threads:
https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=165869.0
https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=165870.0

Those of you who have a CS that is approved and completely sorted out can move it into the character thread already.

[RedEve]

All officers use the same ranks, (although marines would probably skip midshipman), NCO's use different title's for the same rank depending on the branch.
Staff Sergeant would be a senior NCO lots of experience, and if there is only a small group of marines on board probably the highest ranked marine NCO so sounds about right for Jack.

I see, so that rank assumes she has another person above her who is the highest in command amongst the marines?

[RedEve]

Okay, I'll just make her a staff sergeant and say that the Lieutenant died in the crash.

[Frelance]

Sounds like a good idea to me. I am sure quite a few key people would have died in the crash.

[Chrystal]

YAY.

(Are you sure you don't want Mia as co-GM?) *chuckles*

Here is a question though...

20% of the crew died in the crash. usually for every fatality in a crash there are at least two serious injuries? Is the ships medical technology sufficiently advanced that even something like loosing a limb is not a major problem and we assume all survivors are pretty much physically intact (or will be after receiving treatment) or do we work it that all the more seriously injured are NPCs?

And are we allowed to have our characters suffer minor injuries?

On that note I will go post my two... :)

[RedEve]

It would make sense if at least some of the PCs suffered injuries.

The medical technology is far enough advanced to replace limbs.

I'd suggest for reasons of convenience to limit all of the seriously wounded to NPCs, unless someone desperately wants to use his character's injury as a plot point or complication.

[Chrystal]

It would make sense if at least some of the PCs suffered injuries.

The medical technology is far enough advanced to replace limbs.

I'd suggest for reasons of convenience to limit all of the seriously wounded to NPCs, unless someone desperately wants to use his character's injury as a plot point or complication.

Hmmm....

And who worries about medical technology when the ship's doctor looks that hot? *chuckles*

I'm now considering having a serious injury just to get treated... ;)

[RedEve]

Our game has since started.
https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=165951.0

We could use some more characters though, preferably male natives.

[Chrystal]

Aww, what about us female ones? *flutters eyelashes*

[RabbitJanitor]

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

Name: Emile Jeffries
Age: 32
Rank: Lieutenant
Role on the ship: Chief Engineer
Biography: Emile is more of a leader then an Engineer. His track record shows his aptitude to tilt towards marine training and administration over a wrench and impact gun. However he is not without knowledge of how a ship runs. He can manage the crap out of a crew and keep up with the lingo used by his fancy engineers. He doesn't hide this weakness, he lets his subordinates complement it. With that being said, his career in an engine room was tacked on training. His original regiment had him going towards something like a battle field forward observer or a communications officer. His training regiment was switched dramatically after a divorce and a sudden urge to take to the stars for the long term. He had a few years worth of experience working on gravity vehicles in his youth, but this course pushed his skills to the max. The course was accelerated to two years as opposed to the normal five year course. His grades were passing grades and he was posted to The Neriglissar before he completed his training. He still has a year left of training before he's considered an Engineer by any standard. Emile came from a small family witch he cut ties to in order to join the military, and he was glad to leave them behind. He's been known to get mad lucky when problem solving. His crew mates call it dumb luck, he says they're educated guesses.

(Little character confusion, but I'm in now.)

[Chrystal]

Hey Rabbit.

Please could you post the character sheet to this thread: https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=165870.0

Thanks

[Peripherie]

To RedEye/rest of the players - 

Love the idea but I'm backing out. I just don't think I have the time to post consistently.

Y'all have fun!
Peri.

[Chrystal]

Sorry to loose you, honey.

If you change your mind, you know where we are!

[Azuredee]

Interested in another joining?

I thought of playing as a different tribe as I imagine the world would consist of different peoples.
I thought that perhaps a more aggressive and savage tribe would be... fun?
I could play both male and female characters. My primary character would be female but I could do both if male natives are needed.

Just an idea.. the tribe I had in mind is one I had sitting on the back burner. They have their own set of beliefs and customs. Though, I would prefer them to speak a language the tech-savvy bunch don't know. But that could be difficult in a roleplay..

Anyways, let me know. :)

[Chrystal]

Hi Azuredee.

I'm not absolutely certain about this, and would probably like RedEve to confirm it, but she did specify that the natives are at the Roman Empire stage of development. Now, I don't really want to turn this into an Earth History lesson, but the Roman Republic basically kept expanding, conquering the less technologically advanced ones, and making treaties with the more advanced ones until they, too, could be conquered...

I doubt if there would be a more primitive society living that close to the technically advanced one, unless they were effectively enslaved by the more advanced one.

Eve, GM's ruling, please?

[RedEve]

I agree with Chrystal, any more primitive race would need to be living at a large enough distance from The City, which would make interactions with the crashed crew rather difficult.
So it does not really fit into the parameters of this game.

[Montagne]

I'm considering playing a marine officer. I need to think a little before making a decision but this looks very fun.

[Montagne]

Don't start the whole marine debate again!!!!!
I think it had been decided that there was only one marine officer on board and that they were a little bit dead.

woah *waves hands* calm down, I must have missed that bit. an NCO it is.

[RedEve]

The Lt. is very much dead, making Jack the one in charge of the marines.

[Chrystal]

Just to let folks know, Eve has a busy weekend ahead, so I'm temporarily in charge.

Please PM character sheets to me, for the time being.