Re: [4th AASP] OOC Thread
Kevyn said:
A thought occurred to me just now while I was working on my post. Couldn't/shouldn't Bruce and Linzer be brought up on charges for that incident? I mean, the chain of events is literally: Bruce attacks Sergei unprovoked. Ice attempts to come to the aid of her fellow Marine, when Linzer attempts to stop her. Bruce easily beats Sergei down, showing that intervention was nessissary, and when Ice took steps to be able to get past Linzer to help her fellow Marine, none of them lethal, Linzer attempted to choke her to death. That seems like a pretty clear recipe for a nice relaxing stay in the brig to me.
Granted, I don't really know much about Nepleslian military justice or the culture of Marines, but that does seem like rather a lot to let slide. If Sergei had attacked, or Linzer stopped short of actual attempted murder then I'd be singing a different tune. But that whole series of events did go pretty far.
Also, if that was typical ID-SOL behavior, do they seem less like Ideal Soldiers and more like walking discipline problems/ticking time bombs to anyone else?
Your concept of "Ideal Soldier" and Nepleslia's concept probably don't match. Military professionalism is icing on the cake. Battlefield competence and lethality take precedence over everything else.
Nothing in Nepleslia is typical. Postmen carry high powered pistols. Gunfights in the streets are daily occurrences in most planets. Don't think of Nepleslia as some sort of shiny utopia. It's more like Mega-City One from Judge Dredd. Grimy, crime-ridden but populated by a lot of decent people who have no problems using words or guns to solve problems. Major difference is that we've got a government that functions, has lots of big guns, and isn't as undermanned as the Judges because there's a lot of national pride, even amongst the criminals.
Violence is a daily thing in the military, real and Nepleslian. Having spoken to one ex-military guy, during one week, his platoon got into over a dozen fistfights either with themselves or locals. Sure you could bring charges up on them. Do you? These are the same people who you will have to trust your back to at some point in the RP.
Butch didn't kill Sergei, didn't incapacitate him in anyway. It was, physically and biologically, a fair fight. The only problem is that, for a Marine, Sergei plain sucked. Sergei and Butch could have thrown the same heavy punches. You read my post with an analysis, I hope.
Have you thought about why Linzer kept Francis from intervening? Francis, more than Ice, would have been able to decide the fight. He kept Ice from intervening for two reasons. First, Linzer could see that Butch was not pulling his punches. A single hit could land Ice in medical. His intervention prevented that. Ice did not realize it since she wasn't around to listen to Linzer and Francis' conversation. Second, it is not polite manners in Nepleslian society to interrupt a good old-fashioned one on one fist fight. Not honorable. You would be interrupting a "fair" (in the physical sense) fight and making it unfair. Thereby, neither ID-SOL could claim any sort of pride knowing that they could not go man to man. Sergei probably wouldn't follow it. Butch would. Linzer prevented you from insulting the most dangerous man in the room.
Linzer didn't finish strangling Ice due to Butch's own intervention. So, in the end, everyone's had their fun (Butch got to beat someone up, everyone got to test their skills, except Francis). If Ice wants to lodge a formal complaint, she is free to do so but, as always, the consequences are yours to bear.
In this plot, I let players dig their graves. Unless they are making a role play mechanical mistake or misunderstanding something, I don't really intervene. If you want to walk into a carefully laid ambush or forget to post a crucial detail like how your character is taking cover, I'm not going to stop you.
Short answer: Yes, legally, you can bring them up on charges. There'll be consequences for you to bear.
With regards as to "typical ID-SOL" that depends on numerous things such as upbringing and training. Linzer, as a hybrid born and raised by two parents, would be very different from Butch who was tank-bred and born as an adult, then trained for war. You will notice that Linzer got mad when he was struck in a vulnerable area. Butch never lost control; he was boastful and arrogant but was the perfect fighter. Even Hardman, you can see the anger on the surface but there's nuance. He hates the three Jiyuuian women but his entire squad has extended the "We're a squad and you don't mess with one of us without messing with all of us" philosophy to them. By Hardman's orders, they have, no matter how grudgingly, accepted that the Jiyuuians, despite their foreign origins, are their immediate community. In combat, all six of them will have to depend on each other. Just as their squad will have to depend on others.
Typical and average aren't words that belong to the members 4th Fleet. It, more than any other Fleet in Nepleslia, is the opposite.