#but if THEY'RE being treated as disposable thats another story

[severalowls]

I'm waterboarding the CEO's post because this corporate-speak "talent density" shit is what makes any tech sector worker's stomach churn.

I don't think there can be any doubt that Automattic is profit-first silicon valley nightmare company like any other, and the CEO claiming there will be No Layoffs but cheerfully fostering the kind of on-edge high-turnaround tech company culture that will shitcan anybody who threatens high-efficiency "talent density".

New parents (especially mothers), the even slightly disabled, people experiencing the natural ups and downs of life outside of Just Work. I'm thankful there are even minimal laws protecting these people because otherwise ph*tomatt and his cohort would eat them alive.

"The best open web tech team" for who? Certainly not the people in it?

This sent me to glassdoor where the general vibe from employees is that things have been great, but the CEO's attitude towards them is making people crazy. If they've fostered an internal culture that works, where they enjoy working there and the people they work with, and then photo "Elon Musk Had The Right Idea" matt starts dreamily talking about "small, talent dense teams" I think I'd go insane.

Disclaimer: this is not a personal attack on the CEO or his management team. This is a criticism of conditions in the industry they define every day. Which sucks.

[dwcmarshalarts]

hey dwc! or is marshal ok? second ask ive sent you want but wanted to learn about it in your one piece i recall in the background seeing a UN blue armband with white cross which is your stand-in for the red cross which is pretty neat more recently you make an improved rank system however there was one issue i noticed, in that piece with the armband i recognised that the soldiers (enlisted) had different rank badges (in another older piece too) and was wondering if you could share a similair explainer for those too! officers granted are cool but its always neat to hear more about the military proletariat that make up the 99%, especially when they're the critical backbone like sgt's, and was wondering how you approached warrant officers if you went with a more american or british style (fellow worldbuilder here for a more cold-war era setting with some retro-futuristic undertones: not throwing shade but hearing about the enlisted is pretty cool, especially since i wanna know how the poor enlisted sailors, marines, soldiers & airmen get treated within the confines of the icc's military) additionally: in one of your other pieces for a comission i rememeber some destinctly british styled uniforms and was wondering if those were one-offs for that comission or those were the "space british" in the westminster area of the icc

being of (nominally) british origin / brought up in a country that uses the same rank insignia i've always had a soft spot for it and like to hear about our shared representation across space thats normally overlooked for more american influences i intend to ask in the future so prepare yourself for 8 trillion character long asks :ppp hope your having a good day <3

Many questions, but good ones nonetheless. Thanks, to start off with, your attentiveness to detail and dedication to following along enough to notice these things! Let's break it down one by one.

What about the rank system?

I'm presuming you mentioned this:

These are indeed enlisted, non-commissioned officer ranks. They also appear in similar, but different concept here:

As my story focuses on mainly commissioned ranks, I haven't really had much time to do/focus on the enlisted as much, as they (so far at least) have only had occasional appearances. Whenever I get to the meat of Season 2 and 3, they'll be featured more prominently.

That said, I haven't really nailed down the Enlisted rank system as much. Though I'm working with a friend to formalize it!

What about the Warrant Officers?

So, funny story. Years ago when I was much younger, I was obsessed with Civil War History. Still am, though maybe not to the same degree. I learned the command structure of commissioned ranks through reading the Orders of Battle and whatnot. To my surprise, that order has largely remained the same to this day, down to the insignia per rank. That's the springboard I jumped off when I set about assembling the ICC's Armed Forces, Ground Forces in particular.

The thing is, I'd overlooked Warrant Officers- since their institution was entirely predated by the 1860s by a whole 30-something years. As a result, I haven't really thought about where they would be. In my head, a lot of the specialist jobs held by them though would be taken by lower ranked Commissioned Officers (Junior or Senior Lt's.) But it'd make sense if they were around as well.

In any case, I have a clear idea for where we could see them pop up in Xever's story.

Treatment of the Enlisteds

The Interstellar Cooperation Circuit isn't the Galactic Empire. The I.C.C. is indeed geo/stellarpolitically predatory, but it generally treats soldiers within its ranks *fairly* alright, and not as disposable pawns like the Imperial Military/Stormtrooper Corps/(insert evil empire troopers from x sci fi series here). Mileage varies between the branches though.

Ground Forces I don't have any exact numbers, but the Ground Forces would by far be the largest branch in the Circuit military. The name "Ground Forces" would seem to imply they'd be analogous to modern "Armies." While they're largely inspired by that, and you'd be able to trace their in-universe lineage to them, they actually handle plenty more than just literal ground operations. The official name of Ground Forces is "Terrestrial Operations," which refers to any military action taken on a planet's surface. While this does predominantly consists of traditional, ground-based combat, this also does include terrestrial/surface navy and planet-specific air power components. Ground Forces's mission is long-term accomplishment of the Circuit's Foreign Policy objectives and spearhead of most terrestrial missions.

That all said, that means they have the most severe case of logistical sprawl. On the books, the Circuit has rules and regulations that protect individual servicemen from harsh treatment, unethical conduct, etc. The basics. But, especially for units in further off parts of the ICC reach, supplies can be short.

On top of all of this, Ground Forces are expected to handle a myriad of different climates, environments, and exposure to various degrees of colonization, urban development, etc.

There'd be no simple answer to how Ground Forces enlisteds are treated, as inner-system bases closer to the Circuit core would be better off than outposts in the peripheries, etc.

ICC Navy The ICC Navy, in sharp contrast to the Ground Forces, is proportionally better funded, better equipped, and frequently paraded.

Originally having started off as a glorified Merchant Marine, the ICC Navy eventually take from domestic Naval forces and became a formalized Military Branch some time in the 23rd century.

Since protection of Interstellar Trade and the power of keeping commercial lines open, as well as inter-system border security and Circuit defense was what allowed for Ground Forces to operate at all, the Navy became increasingly crucial. Life aboard the Circuit's fleets was, by comparison to the barracks on dingy outposts, a little bit more bearable. For Naval personnel, they didn't have to worry about the rocking of traditional, terrestrial boats, nor did they have to worry about favorable weather conditions. Their equipment didn't break down as easily, and outside of the rare, pre-war battery exchanges, any fighting that was done by the Navy was handled by the Naval Marine- which were significantly better equipped and trained than the Ground Forces, largely due to their much smaller size and specialized focuses.

Before the Second Galactic War in 2365, the ICC Navy expected such little, major combat that higher ranking officers frequently attended work in their dress uniforms instead of combat fatigues, as the job was largely more management than direct operations.

The Voidfarers The runt of the litter and the most recently added branch to the ICC's military, the Voidfarers are the ICC"s dedicated, independent starfighter corps. To separate them from Navy starfighters, the Voidfarers have "permanent" bases on planets or orbital stations, and their mission is less to engage in any potential heavy combat (unless directed to support Naval operations), and more to plug in the gaps not covered between the obligations of Ground Forces and Navy, such as protection of trade routes where sending a large naval vessel wouldn't make sense, or providing air support where Ground Forces may be lacking. As such, the Voidfarers have the least amount of resources, but are designed to function without too much support outside of hardware maintenance. Voidfarer units are usually quite small, and sparsely positioned, so a large part of the Voidfarer identity is how rare they are compared to the bigger two branches.

Day to day life for Voidfarers can comfortably be considered mundane- for even disparate/far off postings, action is seldom had.

Commonwealth of New Westminster

The British-inspired military uniforms you might be thinking of, while used in a commission, are indeed in-universe designs.

The history here is that the CNW was an area of space largely settled by Commonwealth Nations (predominantly the UK) during early space colonization in the 20th and 21st Century. Instead of steadily forging their own identity like Greksil (the crucial ICC Founding Member), they more closely followed their Old Earth institutions and still regarded the reigning monarch as their Head of State. During the First Galactic War between Old Earth and her colonies against Greksil and her allies, the CNW sat out, and when the war was over, served as the refuge for an escaping Royal Family when order on Old Earth began to collapse.

Ever since then, the CNW has been on a largely independent streak- partaking in interstellar deals while still refusing to kowtow. When the ICC was formed, they waited a couple decades to join, and would only do so on the conditions that they maintained a high degree of autonomy, including their own separate currency and military while also helping train and organize the nascent Circuit Armed Forces.

Hope that clarifies some things!

[acreaturecalledgreed]

Would it be weird to have a main character in a story that eats pretty much exclusively humans? They're not human themselves, and anything else they can eat is too rare to rely on. I'm just not sure how to keep them likable when they've straight-up murdered people to consume their flesh

i mean thats a tricky matter of what you’re going for

you can make a character a murderous cannibal and still have them be likeable

lad russo (while not a cannibal) from baccano spends almost all of his screen time committing mass murder and cackling like nobodies business and he is a TREASURE and a delight of a character

but he’s eons away from being a morally good character/person

its very hard to make a character come across as good when they  consume another sapient being on the regular to survive, even if they themselves are not human

if your character has a humanish way of thinking or morals, its very hard to see them as a good person in this context. having to eat human meat is one thing, having to kill humans to get it is another. depending on the story’s setting, there are ways they can get that meat without killing someone. someone who chooses to kill when they have other options, simply because its easier, does not come across as a good individual.

(this is why many of the ghouls in tokyo ghoul -at least in the amount i read of it- piss me the holy hell off. b/c being given and option b/t murder and alternative methods, many of them still choose murder, and the narrative treats them as good and kind despite this.)

you could make your character be so inhuman that they have a way of thinking/morality that is completely incomparable to humans, it makes a bit more sense for them to read as “good” while still being, well, a homicidal maneater. id compare this to, idk, Moro from princess mononoke

(who we know blatantly from her own mouth has eaten humans, though she does not do so exclusively, and while she isnt a Heroic character per say, you can’t really call her Evil or Bad anymore than you can most of the characters in that film and she’s certainly very likeable)

the problem THERE is that if you frame it wrong, it can come across as a very heartless mindset of “humans are disposable”, which will always make your story take on a very cynical, “humans are cattle and unimportant/inherently bad/weak” tone, which is irritating, overdone and frankly depressing and frustrating (ex: THE VAST MAJORITY OF VAMPIRE FICTION WHICH IS WHY I DETEST MOST VAMPIRE FICTION ALKFKLDFSDF)

you could also have your character eat some humans without issue but still like, be fond of, or appreciate other humans, which can avoid the “humans are cattle” trope and also give you the chance to explore the very clear cognitive dissonance your character is dealing with (”these humans are my friends and they’re different than the humans i eat haha b/c i try not think about the humans i eat haha”)

you could go the route of your character only consuming humans when they lose control as well, which usually involves a lot of guilt, angst, and self loathing, but at least makes your character very sympathetic

theres not really any right or wrong way to do it and it all boils down to your person preference, and how you set the stage, tone, narrative, etc

NOW if you’re just worried about your character being likeable but you dont give a rats ass about them being a good person, you dont gotta worry about it haha

im not sure how coherent this was so feel free to ask me to clarify anything if you need me too