Roleplaying a Military Officer
From FiranMUX
Contents |
Overview
The aim of this article is to provide an aide and guideline for officers in the Firan Military, primarily republic though applicable also to clan militaries. The goal is not to dictate or lecture on a certain way of playing the characters, because one thing we do not want or need are automatons. Firans are as varied as people in real life and that needs to be captured. Military vocations are one of the most demanding occupations in the real world and in Firan they are no less so. Add to this the complexity of trying to make ‘fun’ in a job that is controversial by definition. Killing. That is not the focus of this writing, but it is a necessity of playing a military character especially an officer. You are treading on a subject that has created some of the world’s most renowned heroes, and most tragic villains. Understand that it is a touchy subject, and enjoy writing a story on that backdrop.
The structure broken down into four sections. There are two major considerations in becoming a military officer on a game like Firan. Primarily there is a the complex aIn-Character (IC) role that you must fulfill, that your character is either striving to achieve or has achieved, and secondly there is a very necessary Out-Of-Character (OOC) requirement. Under each of these there is, the ‘benefits’ and the ‘requirements’.
IC Aspects
IC Benefits
This is I feel the most straightforward. You are in a position of authority, this has many benefits. You are in the world of Firan, a leader. You have men and women that are responsible for carrying out your orders. This extends into many fields, you can conduct and arrange their training, their duties, their schedules and so on. You have the authority to recommend them for promotions, give them new titles, and transfer them to other units. In short you control on a military scale, their lives.
Not only do you control this you have some social influence on that group outside of the military (at your own peril). It isn’t common, but this gives you a group of characters who might owe you favors, look to you for advice, and take you out boozing and whoring, or any other such things involved in Firan life. It also provides you in a sense with a social network, often a good place to look for possible spouses for relatives, sponsors, and sponsorees.
Socially you also get to be one of the ‘cool’ people. You are very likely a veteran, or at least a highly trained individual. You very likely have some very decent combat stats, as well as some good other stats. More importantly, even if your stats aren’t extremely high, people may perceive you as rather skilled because of your occupation, and even if they don’t, you only need one underling who is very good and tell them to handle any fights you pick.
IC Requirements
Again, this is fairly non-controversial. You have the requirements of being a leader. When your underlings have a problem or screw up you have a problem, or screwed up. You have to see to the needs of your underlings, such as training. You have to spend a certain amount of your IC time checking up on them. Icly your character has been spending time arranging training, duties, and schedules. These are all significant time commitments in the IC Firan Life, at least unless you hire an aide.
Beyond this, there is also a way in which you must comport yourself. This is often one of the trickiest things to grasp when playing a military officer. Whether you are part of the military in Real Life (RL) or have never done a day of service, you do not automatically know how the Firan Military is. The Firan Military is not even necessarily historically accurate to any given time period or military force in human history. However, the basics are this. You have been given basic soldiering training. You know how to fight, on foot, or on griffon, or on horse. Probably a bit of each, you can handle a weapon probably a sword, spear, staves, Javelins, or bow, probably a mix of those.
You, as a character, have also probably seen combat. THIS is one of the most interesting subjects. In Real Life, we have seen many examples that being trained for combat, and having seen combat are distinctly different. More importantly we have seen that people who have been repeatedly subjected to the stress of life endangering combat are different than those who have not. What we cannot say, is how someone will react, or how they will change, because most people react and change differently.
Beyond the basic time requirements, you are required to ‘lead’ people. Leading is not something that tends to happen overnight. While people might and should obey you, trust must be built up for a real functioning unit. For people this can come in different ways, anthropologists may claim that trust primarily is earned through a sense of ‘mutual vulnerability’. In other words, do things together that force you to rely on each other, drinking and whoring are good examples, where people rely on others to not mention the embarrassing stories to just anyone. Another example of this is the trial by fire, the bond created by your life relying on another person is often a very deep one. But, these are not the only ways to form a relationship, there are many different relationships enjoyed by officers. Find the method of leadership that your character would enjoy, and employ it ICly. If your character does not have a method of leadership then either they should NOT be in a position of leadership Icly, or they must go through the often painstaking process of learning one, which can be a wonderful and interesting experience in its own.
IC Summary
To summarize the IC aspect of an Officer’s life, we can only make the barest generalizations. You have two main duties, paperwork, and leading. There are of course other duties that many officers partake in, cross-training, research, lecturese, and in depth training. The basics however are to prepare your underlings for battle, see to their training, their assignments, and earn their trust. In the IC realm of Firan you are getting payed to do this, discharge your duties, comport yourself as an officer, and train those under you to take your position and to fight the Shamibelians.
OOC Aspects
OOC Benefits
The OOC realm is where leadership becomes sticky. Again, however the major benefit is that you are a leader. You have slightly more control over the Firan world, you have slightly more opportunities for what you can do and what you can get away with, because of that authority. The OOC benefits include not having to listen and be stepped on as many people, and the freedom to do what you want a little more. The OOC benefits do not seem like much, but the little freedom and ability you have goes a long way. Everyone wants to be the boss, and that’s the benefit of being in your position.
OOC Requirements
This is one of the touchier subjects. At the end of the day this is a game. So why should we have requirements if it’s just a game everyone should do what lets them have fun? Well there’s the tricky part, how can everyone have fun? We are not in a game where everyone can do what they want. We have limitations, some of them are self imposed, and others are imposed by the Wizards. Whatever reasons the fact of the matter is, only a certain number of people can be in positions of authority. This means that we have to have something that distinguishes those ‘higher’ positions from the lower ones. One of these ways is by placing restrictions on those who get the ‘benefits’ of a higher rank.
Under OOC requirements I would like to make some requirements that are semi-IC. These are the ones that are more fun but also sometimes troublesome. There is an OOC/IC crossover in some requirements, most noticeably time. You have to spend some of your OOC time handling IC details. These include being online to respond to messages, responding to @mails, handling organization details, like military/list, getting armor, doing armor appraisals, armor repairs, or other duties your rank may require. This could be from OOC/IC meetings, to just being online to approve transfers, or requests for informations. This is the OOC equivalent to the IC paperwork. This is the dull stuff, but it has to be done, and this is the direct requirement if you want the benefit of ‘controlling’ people’s lives.
The other requirement is purely OOC, in that you have certain requirements on what you do. This affects how you act (later discussed in acting an officer), but also contains who you RP with, and who you hang out with. No one can force you to RP with your subordinates. But part of the IC actions was learning to lead your people, OOCly you need to be at least willing if not able to provide that for them. This does not mean RP’ing with all of them every day, or every week or every month. It DOES mean you should be in contact with them every month, or week or day. Keep up with them through @mails or messengers. Understand what their goals are IC and OOCly, and help them achieve it, because if you do they will undoubtedly help you achieve your OOC and IC goals.
Acting an Officer
This is probably one of the most difficult tasks. Partly this has to do with the OOC side of playing a character with many restrictions, the other side is trying to play an IC character that has had an experience set that is not at all the same as ours. Each character takes their time in military and combat differently, but there are some things that must be understood, so that we are all on the same page on what we need to do as officers, and what we are expected to do as officers.
The War. This is possibly the single most important facet of a military officer character. It has touched them in hundreds of ways. It is what they have been trained and are being paid to fend off. They have been chosen to fight the war somehow, pilots, infantry, armorers, healers, farriers, logistics, trainers, etc, the various groups have various skill sets that are put to use to protect the Republic from foes Internal and External, particularly the Shamibelians. In a very real sense your character probably feels some sense of frustration or fatalism, because it does not appear to be a war that can be won. It is a war that claims many thousands of lives each year. That being said, your character has very likely chosen to do this. The reasons are myriad, it is their duty, they’ve been legally required to do it, they need the money, or they just have no other trait and trade. For whatever their reason, they have some form of determination or drive, that pushes them to do something that most of us would consider ‘heroic’ that is they place their lives between others and danger. This will very likely give the character a certain skeptical view of things, especially of people full of their own glory.
The Republic. This applies less so to clan military folks, but still is something to consider. It has been noted, by some people that no matter what century, or what military force, there is one talent every soldier has had, from legionnaire, to modern rifleman. That talent is complaining. Members of the Republic Military, have agreed to on some level give their lives for the republic. As discussed this can be for any one of a myriad of reasons, this often gives rise to the question of, “Is it worth it?” That being said, I would consider a line from Saving Private Ryan, “Griping goes one way, up, only up, never down.”
Officers of the military, depending on their character and their personality, may and often do question the actions and judgments of their seniors and their superiors, however, all of them should understand and realize, that doing so in front of junior members of the military and often civilians, is something that embarrasses them all to do. It is subversive and can possibly bring you up on various military charges, including treason and/or mutiny. What an officer might say in the trust of a spouse, other military peer, in the comfort of the officer’s lounge, or to their superior in private, will almost always be radically different from what they would say in public.
Soldiers are not automatons, they are expected to have judgments, and differences of opinions, but one of the requirements of being an officer is the ability to hold off your questioning until a time where it can appropriately be addressed. In the field in front of junior officers and sentry’s is NOT the appropriate place or time.
Summary
In lastly, I want to repeat what I said at the beginning. These are not mandatory rules. These are guidelines to consider for you as a player, who is taking up a military character. They are also, guidelines for an insight into your character. Most of our characters are not perfect. They may not be good at restraining their judgment in public, or at staying on their subordinates for training. They may not be good at inducing their subordinates to trust them. They may rely on authoritarian leadership, or they may be too much of a ‘buddy buddy’ with their subordinates and find it difficult to lead them. That is the fun and joy of our characters. However, these are ideas to help you flesh out and understand where your character may want to be working on, or what he may be expected to do. Its okay to fail, the wisest person is the one who has failed the most.
It is important, to strive to be fair to everyone, your superiors and subordinates. If OOCly you are not good at some of these things, ask for help, your subordinates or peers or superiors are often glad to give advice, or very likely will make allowances to assist you if you ask for help. They however, cannot read minds, and if your character is ICly weak in a field there is no need to hide it OOCly, let your subordinates know that your character is gruff and distant, so they understand your character. Even if you don’t spend day in and day out with them OOCly they can still act like they’ve ICly been around you for their duties. Lastly, good luck.
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