11 janvier 2008
My first take at Zhodani ranks...
Caution! This is a prototype, an alpha version, work in progress...
Whatever you call it, know that this isn't definitive as I'm not
entirely happy with them myself... That's also why they're black, gray
and white: I haven't set for a given color scheme yet!
The rationae behind the drawings:
Some informations I gathered about the Zhodani military:
If their ranks name is of any indication, the Zhos have a traditional clear cut between enlisteds ('protl' suffix) and officers ('stibr' suffix). Given the casted nature of their society, this makes sense
The cut between generals/admirals and 'regular' officers seems less clear, if existent at all...
- The use of the same suffixes for both army and navy might hint at a joinish kind of organisation with similar rank devices for both corps
- 'The combat armor's distinct clamshell helmet appearance may evoke Dark Age Zhdant war-helms used by the early psionic nobility, wich were often designed to suggest Chirper heads.' This sentence (GT:AR1) might be interpreted as some link between 'Chirper' and 'warrior' in the Zhodani mind
- The Droyn coyn symbol for 'warrior' is a kind of chevron, while the symbol for 'leader' is some kind of six points star
- The Zhodany army at last has a very mathematical structure: officer of 20, of 50, of 100, 200, 500...
The design I ended up with:
For officers: six pointed stars on a field of vertical lines
The number of lines indicate the scope of the unit commanded by the officer: 1 line = tens, 2 lines = hundreds, 3 lines = thousands, 4 lines = tens of thousands and a big block = millions
The number of stars further narrows the size of the unit commanded: e.g. 2 stars = 2 hundreds/thousands/...
For the NCOs: pretty much the same with thiner lines and chevrons instead of stars...
Waiting Officer, officer of 20, officer of 50,
officer of 100, officer of 200 and officer of 500.
Officer of 1000, officer of 2000, officer of 5000,
officer of 10000 and officer of millions.
Leader of 10, leader of 20, leader of 50,
leader of 100 and leader of 1000.
At the end of the day, I've got a 'not alien enough' feeling... The whole system looks a lot like the Soviet system; but then, aren't the Zhos the Russians of Traveller?
Meet the Flammarions
Caution: this post might contain real world information!
- Nicolas Camille Flammarion (February 26, 1842 – June 3, 1925) was a French astronomer and author. He was usually credited as Camille Flammarion.
- The woman behind the great man: his second wife, Gabrielle Renaudot-Flammarion (1876 –October 31, 1962) was also an astronomer. She worked at the observatory at Juvisy-sur-Orge, France, and was General Secretary of the Société Astronomique de France.
- Camille's brother, Ernest Flammarion (1846-1936) founder of the Flammarion publishing house.
More about them, but in French: Camille, Ernest and the group... Gabrielle isn't worth an entry on the French Wikipedia!
Real world crest of the Flammarion family
Gendarmerie Marquisale de Flammarion/ Flammarion Marquisal Gendarmerie
Officers ranks for the GMF/FMG, an oversized company of military police serving as both the Marquise de Flammarion huscarles and one of Flammarion law enforment agencies.
Sous-lieutenant, lieutenant, capitaine,
commandant, lieutenant-colonel et colonel.
10 janvier 2008
And one from TRU (The Real Universe)
A real company, from the the real world, but this one is too good to pass on.
IMTU, this company based on Flammarion (SM0930) is owned for the biggest part by the Marquise de Flammarion. While active in many sectors of the Flammarion (small) market (including notably real estate, where it enjoys monopoly) the group is only marginally known outside Flammarion as one of the only provider of real paper books (a luxury item more meant to be exposed than read in the nearly paperless Traveller universe).
Brand names from MTU
- The Azzamiin Group was born as a part of a character background
written for one of CDR Fransen campaign. The whole thing being heavily
inspired by the X-Wing Alliance computer game background. IMTU, the
Azzamiin family lives in Glisten (altough they're from Geonee ancestry)
and runs a small corporate empire called the Azzamiin Group (first
logo) operating mainly in rimward part of the Marches. The group is
devided in two major branches:
- The first one including the Azzamiin Resorts, Azzamiin Hotels and Azzamiin Lines subsidiaries (all sharing the first logo) targets the upper sergment of travellers and offers exclusive resorts in exotic locations, luxury business hotels near major starports nexi and matching passengers transport (i.e. First Class only).
- The second one based around Twin Suns Motels, Twin Suns Diners and Twin Suns Lines (all sharing the second logo) targets the opposite end of the travellers spectrum and offers low cost and no frill accommodations and dining in most starports of some importance together with matching passengers transport (i.e. Economy Class only).
- The Spinward Superstore (third logo) and sister company Real Imperial Superstore (fourth logo) are major groceries chains respectively operating spinward and trailward of the Claw. Inspired by the Atlantic Superstore I shop to every other day in Halifax, NS (there is Traveller everywhere!) and its sister brand Real Canadian Superstore.
- The last one (inspired by a major dislexyc american bank) is a
major bank of MTU with a branch in virtually any major system (sector
and subsector capitals, high population worlds, class A starports...)
of the Imperium.
28 octobre 2007
IISS Knife
No self-respecting scout would go anywhere without one of those...
21 octobre 2007
Imperial Navy Ranks & Ratings
Can't wait to post those ones... At last, the whole set of naval ranks & ratings. Full write up to come.
- Spacehands: spacehand recruit (no insignia), spacehand apprentice, spacehand
- Petty Officers: petty officer 3rd, 2nd and 1st class (I'm still working on the ratings; here, for the sake of example, Electrician Mate)
- Chief Petty Officers: CPO, senior CPO, master CPO
- Command Chief Petty Officers: Command MCPO, Fleet/Force MCPO, MCPO of the Navy
- Warrant Officers: WO-1/CWO-2, CWO-3, CWO-4, CWO-5
- Midshipmen: 4/C, 3/C, 2/C, 1/C
- Officers: ensign, lieutenant (junior grade), lieutenant, lieutenant-commander, commander, captain
- Admirals: rear admiral (lower half), rear admiral (upper half), vice admiral, admiral, fleet admiral, sector admiral, grand admiral
15 octobre 2007
Travel classes
IMTU, the three canon classes (low, middle, high) are replaced by a (slightly) more developed system:
Staterooms come in three flavors:
First Class costs 3500 Cr per jump (regardless of jump number) and gets you 8 dTon of living space (about 4 of those are your actual stateroom, the rest being used for lounge, gangways...) This is a luxurious way of traveling, with matching service, used by noble, managers and wealthy people, roughly comparable to real world airplanes First Class.
Business Class costs 1750 Cr per jump and gets you 4 dTon of living space (2dTon actual stateroom). It's the equivalent of a OTU stateroom and the way most people travel (e.g. businessmen, public servants and military people on a mission, tourists). It's roughly equivalent to real world airplanes Economy Class.
Economy Class costs 875 Cr per jump and gets you 2 dTon of living space (1dTon actual stateroom). It gets really cramped and service is minimal (think disposable sheets and towels, reheated food and drinks in extra). This class (used by students, families on paid holidays and other people with just enough money to avoid cold sleep) is the equivalent of real world low cost carriers.
Note that all staterooms can be shared (effectively reducing the per person price by half) either with someone you know and travel with or with another random passenger (not all lines allow for the later).
Better staterooms are sometimes offered. This is usually only seen on large liners proposing a couple of prestigious suites in addition to their First Class staterooms. The exact size and configuration (and price) of those suites vary a lot from line to line (even a given ship can have several suites of various size and prices). One thing common to most of those suits is a private lounge (although the guests of a suite usually retain access to the First Class lounge should they enjoy a bit of social interaction).
Unlike in the OTU, staterooms are build for a certain class and cannot be upgraded by providing better food and bigger smiles... Upgrading (or downgrading) a stateroom is possible but require removing (adding) bulkhead and refurnishing the newly made space. Most small starships only have one type of stateroom, lacking the space needed to provide the different level of service matching each class. Larger starships generally have either both First and Business or Economy only, only a few line have experimented with three classes ships, with very moderate success.
Actual class designation vary a great deal between lines: Standard, Basic, Essential, Ivory, Silver, Gold, Noble, Premium, Elite, Prestige are some of the designations encountered. Note that a single designation can be used for different class depending on the line: a given line could provide Business and First under the names Silver and Gold while an other provide exactly the same under the names Gold and Platinum. To add to the confusion, low cost lines providing Economy only often give them impressing designation trying to avoid a low comfort reputation. In the same logic, cold sleep passages are often given idyllic names (e.g. Dream Class), trying to make the prospect of being shipped in a freezer a bit less gritty.
14 octobre 2007
The Traveller Webring
IMTU is now member of the Traveller Webring!