[ERF] Space Loonies: Organization

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Insano-Man
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[ERF] Space Loonies: Organization Sept 19, 2018 1:29:39 GMT -5

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Post by Insano-Man on Sept 19, 2018 1:29:39 GMT -5

This topic is a child of the Space Loonies article directory.

ALL MIXED UP
Though not quite as xenophobic as the Loonies on the ground, the Space Loonies most often prefer to segregate their fleets based on species. Mixed-species fleets are relatively uncommon - and most are made up of humans and whoever else was convenient at the time of the fleet's formation. This results primarily from the Loonies' original concerns with mixed-species staff. There are only a scarce handful of species in Space Looney employ that can eat the same food, use the same medicine, or even breathe the same air as eachother. As a result, greater diversity comes with a greater strain on the already-encumbered logistics of any given fleet.

Some alien species are specifically barred from operating in Space Looney fleets due to major incompatibilities in psyche or biology. The paleworlders, for example, are rarely employed due to their aggressively-territorial behavior around other species. The sorassan are excluded due to the electromagnetic interference their bodies produce - which often prevents them from working on or around spacecraft entirely. Sapient pseudocrustaceans are considered security risks due to their extremely fast birth rate and limited social intellect. Species placed in this category that are already affiliated with the Loonies are often forced to form mono-species fleets or establish themselves planetside.

While Space Loonies of different fleets hold no official superiority over one another, they regularly intermingle. As a result, temporary command agreements are commonplace between cooperating fleets or those operating within close proximity. Similar agreements may be established over resource collection in order to better distribute specific resources between fleets. When willing - and the Looney fleet is substantially better-equipped - the same cooperation may even be extended to unaffiliated ships or fleets.

New fleets and flotillas are created by way of breaking up older, more successful fleets into smaller groups. This is often planned through close coordination of multiple fleets to ensure the best possible survival odds for the new fleets. This splintering action is intended to ensure as much independent coverage of Set's orbit as possible. Smaller, more numerous fleets ensure a better distribution of ships at potentially-important locations. In addition, it improves distribution of Set's precious orbital resources, which further improves growth.

The Space Loonies do not maintain any central command structure between fleets, but many participate in the Joint Orbital Defense Council, or "J-CON Alpha". The vast majority of fleets and flotillas acknowledge the authority of the related Joint Orbital Defense Command, or "J-COM Bravo". Both entities are dedicated to maintaining security between independent stations, Space Looney fleets, and any potential off-world arrivals from Set's current system. This includes repulsing invaders who see Set and its inhabitants as a threat. While the Council and Command have limited ability to enforce their authority and are often bound to restrict it unless explicitly requested to act, few fleets ignore the few orders given out.

The Defense Council does not have any fixed location; it exists solely as an agreement between the administrators serving on it and is conducted exclusively through available communications methods. Fleet administrators are elected to the council by the council itself. In emergencies, councilors may be appointed by popular vote from available fleets. Meetings are typically arranged following major, orbit-wide emergencies or occurrences, such as wormhole transits, the creation of a new fleet, or the loss of a fleet to hostile action. For the Space Loonies, the Defense Council is also their central means of diplomatic contact with off-world powers, and its word is binding during these encounters.

The Defense Command is centralized on a mobile command center appointed by the Defense Council. This command center is usually the command vessel of the largest Space Looney fleet in operation at the time. In conjunction with the administrators of the command center's fleet, a central command staff is appointed from willing, reputed administrators across the Space Loonies as a whole. Once established, the Defense Command's center of operations is permanent until otherwise ordered to relocate to a new ship. To date, no Space Looney fleet has rejected the opportunity to host the Defense Command.

The Space Loonies utilize a similar command hierarchy to the Loonies on Set. They are organized from the ground up as a military force with a local command structure. Many incorrectly assume that the Space Loonies use a naval naming scheme for their ranks. In truth, they are rarely different from the Loonies below them, right down to colonels leading larger ships and administrators orchestrating the fleet as a whole. Many fleets often bestow specific naval ranks as honorary titles or job descriptions, however, and the rank of captain commands a more notable level of esteem compared to those on the ground.

In keeping with their similarities to their predecessors, the Space Loonies are organized into multiple branches of discipline underneath senior officers acting as fleet-wide administrators. In many cases, administrators are often the leaders of the ship they reside aboard, which itself is often purposed towards the administrator's specific discipline. Unique to the Space Loonies are the captain councils, which are formed from the captains of each ship in the fleet that does not have an administrator at its head. Captain councils serve as an intermediate command structure to assist in delegation of tasks. The councils also enable better representation of individual ships in their respective fleets by giving them a direct link to the administrative council - which, in larger fleets, could potentially preside over tens of thousands of subordinates.

Unlike planetside Loonies, administrators and higher-level officers are rarely expected to hold an understanding of the "Big Lie", the Loonies' mysterious and little-known secret. Many fleets are entirely unaware of its existence. As with virtually everything surrounding the Big Lie, the reason for this departure from protocol is unknown. Furthermore, any impact from this knowledge seems entirely absent; fleets that know of the Big Lie have few differences from similar fleets that do not.

Last Edit: Sept 24, 2018 8:18:57 GMT -5 by Saebelorn

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Insano-Man
Administrator

I could not have asked for more, but more time.

Posts: 810

[ERF] Space Loonies: Organization Sept 19, 2018 1:30:22 GMT -5

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Post by Insano-Man on Sept 19, 2018 1:30:22 GMT -5

ROLES
The Space Loonies maintain all the same roles and disciplines as their landed counterparts. These roles, however, are often heavily-modified to suit the requirements of ship-to-ship fighting and salvage work. Similar distinctions are made between active combat personnel, inactive combat personnel, and non-combat personnel. Inactive combat personnel share a relative plurality with non-combat personnel on most ships, but this often depends heavily on a ship's size and role.

Active combat personnel are those assigned tasks that place them directly in harm's way, such as on boarding parties or as part of combat repair teams. Inactive combat personnel are those available for assignment to a combat-related task, but who are not currently mobilized or equipped for it. Non-combat personnel are those who are never expected to leave their ship during hazardous situations. Depending on a ship's role in its fleet, non-combat personnel may be absorbed into the pool of inactive combat personnel, leaving the vessel entirely devoid of non-combatants.

Conversely, the Space Loonies hold an additional distinction for non-combat personnel. Many species present in Space Looney fleets are believed to be extinct elsewhere. As a result, their survival depends entirely on the Space Loonies, and they are therefore encumbered with significant civilian populations. As a result, many non-combat personnel in Looney fleets are recognized as full non-combatants with no obligation to defend their home ships. They are likewise granted special immunity from some military-oriented training programs. Practice with special-case non-combatants varies - as does sentiment regarding them.

In place of miners, Space Loonies often refer to their resource-collection branch as salvagers. This stems from their primary sources of raw resources; wrecks, derelicts, and debris fields. Unlike Looney miners, Space Looney salvagers do not command a particular degree of respect within their own fleets. In fact, salvagers are often command disdain outside the Space Loonies, particularly by their grounded counterparts. Equipment and uniform colors for salvagers are typically bright white or yellow for better visibility against a black or darkly-lit background.

A common feature of Space Looney ships is the exclusion of either their salvager branch or engineering branch. Salvager expertise often revolves around engineering as much as it does mining. As a result, Looney fleets may forgo a dedicated engineering branch - or a dedicated salvaging branch - in favor of additional training for the remainder. Even those that maintain dedicated engineering branches often blend the two together by necessity. Crew size has a strong effect on this practice; smaller ships merge the two branches more often, while larger ships are more likely to retain their distinction.
In contrast to salvagers, engineers are the primary support staff of any given Space Looney ship. Be it environmental service technicians or central reactor supervisors, engineers handle the day-to-day operations of their home spacecraft and the industrial demands of the ship. As expansion often necessitates the construction of a new ship entirely, Space Looney engineers are often shipwrights as much as they are systems specialists. They are tasked with designing and constructing virtually every ship in the Looney fleet. Consequently, they are often the architects of new Space Looney fleets. Engineer uniforms are a curiosity in the Space Loonies; many ships have a chosen color, often painted on their hulls in some way. Engineers are typically clad in a color opposite to it for best visibility, such as teal on red-colored ships or yellow on blue-colored ships.

Engineers in Space Looney fleets are often expected to handle multiple related disciplines. In example, communications specialists are typically expected to be skilled programmers, electricians, and navigators. As a result, engineers with specific expertise are not given entirely different uniforms, but instead given arm bands or other identifiers to set them apart. Many engineers are also given removable outer layers for their pressure suits that are camouflaged against the hull of their own ship. These additional layers are intended for emergency repairs during live combat, where engineers working outside the ship may be targeted by hostile ships or boarders.
Hydroponics staff are closely-aligned with the agricultural staff of planetside Loonies. They are those aboard a ship that are tasked with ensuring a steady supply of food from either a hydroponics lab, as per their name, or from the craft's bioreactors. In addition, they are typically charged with ensuring environmental stability inside their ship. Their inter-related disciplines typically require them to cooperate closely with engineering and medical staff. As a result of their key role and limited significance in combat, the vast majority of hydroponics personnel are permanent non-combatants. Hydroponics staff are usually issued green uniforms, but are often allowed to carry out their daily affairs in casual clothes.

Though not technically members of the hydroponics staff, civilians aboard Space Looney ships are often given hydroponics uniforms. This is due in large part to the relatively limited purview of hydroponics staff members, who are often expected only to be in areas with loose access restrictions. Practice on Looney ships regarding civilian uniforms regularly deviates from this standard. Some may not require civilians to wear uniforms at all. In general, larger ships often place less restrictions on their civilian complement, while smaller ships are more prone towards stringent regulations.

In smaller or more specialized craft, a ship's hydroponics staff may be eliminated entirely. In these cases, the burdens of producing food and managing the ship's environmental systems are shifted to the medical and engineering teams, respectively. While this is often times a necessity when a ship's population cannot support the additional role, deliberate practice is uncommon. This is further compounded by the relatively independent nature of food in a fleet. Only the smallest of ships are allowed to source their food from other vessels. This means that, no matter the condition of a craft's hydroponics branch, there must always be someone cultivating the ship's food stores.
Medical personnel are among the best-trained staff of the Space Looney fleets. The demands of multi-species ships ensure that most are required to have an in-depth understanding of multiple forms of physiologies that may not be remotely similar to their own. Often times, the training process for medical staff simply never ends; they remain in studies on other species for the duration of their lives or careers. Medical personnel aboard Space Looney ships are usually clad in white with additional, multi-spectrum identifiers on their clothes to assist species that do not see the human-visible spectrum of light. Further, medical personnel are often required to wear full pressure suits while on-duty regardless of the environment. This measure is meant as an additional safeguard against possible contamination during medical treatment, which is of even greater concern on multi-species ships.
Marines are the Loonies charged with the defense of their ship against boarders and boarding hostile vessels. In the case of unknown wrecks or derelicts, marines are often sent well before any salvage team is prepared, and they often remain alongside the team until the operation has concluded. This further extends to emergency repairs on their own craft, where marines are expected to protect engineers during their work. During planetside landings, the marines are the only personnel allowed to leave the ship outside of emergencies and special exceptions. In Space Looney culture, the marines command a significant degree of respect and prestige, thanks much to their key roles in securing their interests on and off Set. Marines are typically outfitted with black uniforms, but their equipment and pressure suits are camouflaged to their own ship's hull colors.
Security personnel handle internal affairs aboard their ship, including network administration and policing. Similar to medical personnel, security staff on a ship are required to commit to significantly more training than other disciplines due to the Space Loonies' multi-species nature. Cultural education, alien languages, and proper approaches in dealing with unruly or violent members of other species are all considerations under their jurisdiction. In addition to their role as keepers of the peace, gunners and gunnery officers are predominantly drawn from security personnel. Security aboard Looney ships are often issued red uniforms.
Science teams encompass both dedicated research staff and various communications, sensors, and navigations specialists. On most ships, the science team carries out little in the way of actual research. Many are left entirely untrained for the task due to a lack of appropriate equipment. As with their terrestrial cousins, the science teams of Space Looney ships are mostly permanent non-combat personnel. Uniforms for the science branch of ships are primarily blue, though teals or purples are not uncommon.