Playing with Aliens

More brainstorming, input is welcome.

Officer Ranks
O1 - Ensign
O2 - Lieutenant
O3 - Centurian
O4 - Major
O5 - Commander
O6 - Colonel
O7 - Tribune
O8 - Legate (Junior Grade)
O9 - Legate (Senior Grade)
O10 - Legate General

I don't have an O10 rank, but I think I would move Legate General to O10 if somebody could come up with something better for O8 or O9 (something better than a Tribune, and I'll bump the other two up). I'm considering Dux, but it's too close to "duke" and "ducks" for my general comfort.

Enlisted Ranks
E1 - Recruit/Legionnaire (upon completion of basic training, the Recruit is given the title Legionnaire)
E2 - Legionnaire (promotion to E2 Legionnaire is automatic after one year if the Legionnaire hasn't already earned promo)
E3 - Legionnaire, First Class
E4 - Corporal
E5 - Sergeant
E6 - Staff Sergeant
E7 - First Sergeant
E8 - Master Sergeant
E9 - Sergeant Major

The Terran Legion has one Sergeant Major who is considered the "highest ranking Sergeant Major" in the Legion. This post carries the title "Primus Pilus." Unlike other, similar ranks/titles in the militaries of the world (i.e. Sgt. Major of the Army or Sgt. Major of the Marine Corps), Primus Pilus is not a politically-driven appointment that looks good on a sergeant's resume. The Primus Pilus is expected to be a battlefield-tested noncom who should have been promoted to an officer rank, but was too blue collar to want the job. While the Primus Pilus is not expected to be an Achilles-level super soldier, he or she should be fully capable of putting boot to ass, literally, of any other Legionnaire.

Similarly, the First Sergeant of a combat line company can be nicknamed "the First Spear" or "Spear". This title is to be reserved for only First Sergeants who have proven themselves in battle. The first sergeant of an administrative company wouldn't be called "Spear", and a real Spear would likely beat him severely if he did.

(Spoiler alert: Master Sergeant Monroe is NOT the Primus Pilus. He wasn't wily enough to avoid receiving a commission.)

I haven't given it any thought until this very second, but I'm thinking the real life version of Trystan Vann is probably the Pilus Primus, or will be by the time our heroes hit the battlefield.

Let me have a think on it...I think your E ranks are fine.

For some reason I keep thinking about Consuls/proconsuls and Praetoria.

I know your going for a more Roman style and naming system, but what about Commandant as a rank? If Legate General isn't to your taste.

Consider adding in Cohort (You could even make a joke out of it) Since that was the name of a Roman unit.

I realize this is rather like...[description removed as it was rather gross]...but I'm just tossing in ideas as they occur to me. You did ask for input.

Edited to Add:

Pericula ludus (Danger is my pleasure) One of the mottos in the FFL

Actually, I used "Legate General" instead of "Commandant" in the scene I was writing. The Legion is heavily influenced by all the former Marines who've signed up. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Agreed that the enlisted ranks are fine. Not sure about mixing English and Roman titles for the officers though...

The enlisted ranks are perfect - a good mix of english and latin that seems to roll off the tounge easy. Of the officer ranks, only optio stands out. Centurian is a word in english (as well as latin), so it makes sense. Optio doesn't have the same obvious parallels.

Two thoughts on this: First is to make the O-1 grade Lt. Junior Grade and O-2 full blown LT. That's what the Corps does. Second is to just make it 2nd LT and LT. Third option is to ignore me

For the record, I know what optio is, but I don't think it has the place in a more modern army that it had in the roman legions, mostly due to how they were chosen. Centurian instead of Captain makes sense (especially with the return of the Century), as does Legate and Legate general.

Praetorians would be a specific post - analogous to the embassy guards of the Marine Corps, or the ones protecting the White House and other government buildings. Consuls would be political in nature, as are prefects.

An alternative I've seen to the O1 2nd LT & the O2 1st LT is to call O1 Ensign & O2 Lieutenant. I just wanted to be a little different. Little side note: "Ensign" is from the medieval French version of "signifier" the Roman lieutenant who carried the standard of the Legion.

They carried the battle flags aka ensigns

Greaves: ocrea. Seemed a bit odd that Vaan referred to each piece of armor by its Latin name except those.

Vann referred to them as greaves because wikipedia called them greaves. Now, he won't.

Hey, Tom, I was going through some earlier pages in this thread, and the pictures that you posted are now telling me that only an admin can view them.

So, it's not just you.

ETA: I just checked the other thread, and a link you posted there is saying the same thing. It might have something to do with the moving of forums around on the board.

Oddly enough (or maybe "thanks Olivia") I can now see the pics and links that I previously couldn't.

I tried to post earlier saying i fixed it, but I guess the post is lost in Cyberspace.

Now, I can see Tom's pix. Thank you, Olivia!

WIP 009 wrote:

It’s tough to teach an old dog new tricks, but the Makers have told me that Reset makes out brains young again, too,

Should be our.

I loved the action in WIP 010. Good stuff. One thing to keep in mind is to not get TOO stuck on the technical discussion. I mean it's part of what you do and that's awesome, just try to keep it short like you have and not drawn out or beaten into the head too much.

I liked the wake up scene.

FYI there is still a spot where they are referred to as greves. I think it's the second time they are mentioned.

I have no idea what show you are referring to....no cable.

American Guns on Discovery. Rich and Rene Wyatt run a store called Gunsmoke. The first season was all about the neat guns they build and a little bit about their supportive family dynamic. Season two amped the drama up a notch by emphasizing the strains on the relationships between the gunsmiths in the basement and between father and son over the son's future as an engraver and future owner/operator of the business. Still, the primary emphasis was on the neat guns.

I like it because the drama is less intense than it is on Sons of Guns, which got really, extra crunchy dramatic at the end of the last season when Vince walked out of Red Jacket, but that's another show on the same network, and if the story had been set in Baton Rouge instead of Denver, that might be where Colton would have gone for his six-shooters.

I see said the blind man as he picked up his hammer and saw.

Still trudging through A Princess of Mars btw. Good, but I don't really have a ton of fun reading time at the moment.

Good thing, then, that it was written in an episodic manner to be read in chunks. ;-)

Query: if the squad's been living together for (what seems to them) to be over a month, in a fully co-ed facility, shouldn't the novelty of seeing each other in the all-together have worn of by then?

I thought about that, but their avatars are like 3D animated cartoons, not their real selves. I also figure, they had all convinced themselves, subconsciously, that it wasn't real. So, when he saw her for real, he had a reaction.

Besides, think Starbuck, naked, doing cartwheels and jumping jacks. Yeah, I bet that would get your blood pumping.

With Boomers. Lots of Boomers.

Actually, I think boomers is what Colton was trying to avoid by having everybody get dressed.

Also: if the Super Duper Pistol is $2500, and he's getting $825 for his trade ins, then that would leave $1675 rather than $1650. And $4175 for a pair of them. (Or you could have the gunsmith agree to Colton's $850 offer and leave the balances the way they are.)

Damn you, Math! Bane of my Existence!