Tasks: Help Request Create An Article for the Star Army Chaplain Corps

[Wes]

In general the Star Army doesn't really spend a lot of time thinking about religion but the Star Army does think about morale and retention. As seen in recent funeral RP, a small chaplain corps exist in the Star Army that provides religious services to Star Army soldiers. I request a member to help by making a wiki article for it.

 

[Yuuki]

Here is a relevant orders post https://stararmy.com/roleplay-forum/threads/tae-tsuguka.71699/post-446784

So our ship has a shrine maiden, which I might imagine functions like a chaplain's assistant in the Army. Miko as a qualification might be nice too.

 

[Primitive Polygon]

Looked pretty far into the actual tools and ceremonies used by IRL shinto priests, and what is on the wiki here.

Having Miko as a secondary position makes sense, seeing as it is more like a part time job for girls in their late teens IRL. That's also probably all that a small vessel really needs. "Retaining the morality and dignity of Yamatai culture under duress". Also administers weddings under the captain's authority.

Larger fleets or wings might have a shared full-time priestess who manages a reliquary, deals with full vessel recoveries and major festivals/events. Likely has strong ties with samurai's equipment.

Retired from service nekos get the cushy temple jobs on major planets and tend to the actual populace.

I don't mind formalizing this article myself, if nobody else is willing.

 

[Wes]

Also, in a recent JP, @Cowboy mentioned they'd be interested in playing a Star Army Chaplain.

 

[raz]

Whoever ends up doing this should keep within canon perspective. As the opening post says, "doesn't really spend a lot of time thinking about religion." Culturally, religion that deifies entities is widely considered "illogical and childish." So while a chaplain corps would exist for the stated morale purposes to accommodate the (very) rare religious soldier, remember not to overstate things.

 

[Yuuki]

And the given the mention of Buddhism in that passage @raz linked, given Yamatai's cultural analog origins and martial culture would be Zen, because Nichiren and other parts of the Mahayana tradition are too "loud" and Bushido values, which come from the Zen tradition are celebrated. Theravada, besides less presence in Japan, also centers very heavily on samsara, and for synthoids who ST all the time, focusing on reincarnation like that is sort of out of character as well. Vajrayana wouldn't even come up.

 

[raz]

Well, if we're talking about real world analogues, SARP Shintoism is literally nothing like real life Shinto!

 

[Primitive Polygon]

The fact that they do actually have machine spirits of a sort, is what I think makes the most sense to relate to Shinto. They were also constructed for a specific purpose, and serve an immortal empress. These are unique things about their culture that can be used to culturally unite them...

*That said*, I am very wary myself about Yamatai soldiers turning into screaming zealots, or weirdos who use unseen ghostly Kami to act irrationally. There are war gods in Buddhism, too, believe it or not.

This is why I propose that the chief function of ritual in this kind of shamanism still existing in various levels, is purely as a self-actualisation thing.

A Miko *idolises* a Kami, serves a vessel's *spirit*, but the Megami and the Captain are still the *literal* embodiment of that excellence. It's about self-improvement, not arrogance or navel gazing.

Having something to cling to when half the ship has been eaten by alien monster-squids... It's worth having. Pride only works if you always win.

 

[Ametheliana]

I wouldn't want MEGAMI being Kami to be something that's always existed but rather something some people have taken to practicing YE 46. Not to be "I've been playing my MEGAMI a certain way for 7 years" but... I have! Being a Kami or having that as a possibility isn't something I would want to have been in the setting if it never came up in my RP, for example.

Also, since this is about chaplain... Is it all too necessary in a culture where most are ST'd and most are not religious? I'm considering MOS bloat.

 

[Yuuki]

Also how do Chaplains interact with Counselors? Maybe it's a POSITION for a Counselor.

Also the MEGAMI Kami thing is weird MCS/5XF culture stuff.

 

[Wes]

No, in the context of the Star Army:

• counselors are trained medical/psychology professionals in the Star Army Medical Corps
• chaplains are a subset of the caretaker corps who provide religious services for soldiers, for example Davonte Lyons was a Christian of some kind so we saw a First Fleet chaplain there for his funeral.

 

[Yuuki]

I couldn't help myself. First Church of Lewis Pasco when?

 

[raz]

I wouldn't want MEGAMI being Kami to be something that's always existed but rather something some people have taken to practicing YE 46. Not to be "I've been playing my MEGAMI a certain way for 7 years" but... I have! Being a Kami or having that as a possibility isn't something I would want to have been in the setting if it never came up in my RP, for example.

I agree, and this kind of goes off my first post in this thread about not expanding the scope of SARP religions via a military occupation. Again, SARP Shintoism isn't real life Shinto. Real life Shinto invests almost everything with a kami spirit. Yamataian Shintoism is almost exclusively focused on pseudo-ancestral Neko kami. Though there is mention of certain specific naturalistic or elemental kami in Yamataian Shintoism, it is still severely limited compared to real life Shinto.

MEGAMIs have never been considered part of Yamataian Shintoism. If that was what Immortal intended I think they'd have put it in the article. Instead, they focused specifically on these pseudo-ancestral kami detailed in the article.

 

[Primitive Polygon]

All of this is specifically up to the tolerances of the captain, at any rate. That feels like the best way of explaining the general presence within the culture and aesthetics of an individual ship.

Even if a captain is pure atheist and super combat oriented, they might still want a Miko around to deal with mushy stuff like weddings. If they are a hard ass that has been given a bunch of ex-NMX crew, it's also a good idea to have a cultural cheerleader.

The idea that everybody is just automatically obedient and super motivated battle after battle, is something that can immediately make writing feel shallow to me. I'd like to see some kind of effort for Yamatai to address that... Even if it canonically kind of a joke on some ships.

 

[Yuuki]

There's something inside me that kind of makes me not want that to be everywhere, and be a cultural quirk of certain circles of Motoyoshi-run ships in the 5XF

 

[Ametheliana]

I agree, Yuuki, especially because saying "a captain might not abide by this" when my captain absolutely would find this to be something she'd bring up makes it hard to imagine backdating it working.

I think a lot of what is being equated to what a Miko would need to be is already a caretaker. They were there to be a cheerleader and boost morale, but ultimately it didn't serve as a character that people felt was easy to play in a military setting.

The idea that everybody is just automatically obedient and super motivated battle after battle, is something that can immediately make writing feel shallow to me.

I... don't suffer this. I have a really diverse crew that aren't like this. We have low moments after battle that need to be talked out and times when characters are less than motivated and question that feeling with one another. I'd hate to talk about just my own ship, so I've also noted in Wes' ship that they avoid those moments by fighting for one another and being a tight knit group that also do the things I've talked about above. Not to be like "this is a non-issue" because I don't know how your RP is going, but I just find the organic bond of person to person contact and social RP after battles to fix this issue, if it were one.

Thing is, I think the Miko-type character is neat! I've drawn Miko a lot, they're one of my favorite motifs (especially once you start delving into the symbolism, tools, and rituals beyond white yukata red hakama!). But I think it's neat in its uniqueness and a sense of ubiquity would nullify that cherished aspect of it.

 

[Yuuki]

And the thing is, a miko is because there are shrines. That's why you have one, and not something else. And it's not full time, of course, it's technically an extra duty. Tae's real job, for example, is being a cadet at the end of school doing OJT and getting qualified as an SO, like a real miko goes to junior high or high school or college.

But miko I think are chaplain adjacent, of course. And I do see it as a position with a qualification, rather than a real occupation.

I kinda derailed it out of the gate with a chaplain adjacent thing. Chaplains, which I guess the topic really is, would be a full time job. And if there was a Shintō chaplain, it would be separate from them (although they would assist the chaplain)

 

[Wes]

I think it makes sense to have chaplain qualifications primarily for Star Army Caretakers who want to offer religious services to crew members on their ships, but also infantry folks might also be able to get certified in chaplain services so they could, in small units and small ships, be the one offering a sermon on Sunday or whatever. It would make sense to make an article for said qualifications - however my request is for an article for a small chaplains core that explains what it's for and how it works.

 

[Primitive Polygon]

Don't think anything needs to be retconned or backdated, if the whole thing is entirely optional and frequently disrespected as a matter of course. Apologies if anybody took the previous post as a snipe, too, because it really wasn't.

I'm merely trying to brainstorm the actual function this type of role would have in a militaristic future setting, because I think do think that a "cultural cheerleader" as a concept is actually something that Yamatai high command might think of. There is a whole slew of brain dominating bugs, cosmic horrors, and literal psionic soul-rending threats out there. Not to mention that mass-cloned nekovalkyrja might need a little help with feeling like glorified automata, built just to fight and die... Are Caretakers, and a guy saying a few nice words after your already gone, really enough to combat that?

No doubt your captain's speeches are grand, and brings the new recruits back from the brink of despair, but does every single Star Army vessel have the luxury of such a gifted orator at the helm?

It's an interesting thing to think about, at least.

 

[Ametheliana]

Yeah, I mean uh I did say that my captain would be into it so it would make it hard if it was backdated so that's good to know I guess.

Also I wasn't saying Hoshi gives grand speeches. I was just saying Wes and I do social RP and one on one RP to combat the concern you had. Every ship might not have a speech giver (which Hoshi is not) but they certainly should strive for the interconnectedness of leaning on one another.

A lot of religious people find more support in the community of the church rather than the teachings alone, so I think this even is a great thing to bring it back around to chaplains. You have a ship full of the support people often seek in religion right there in the crew : )

I don't want to derail the chaplain thing but I did want to clear up those misconceptions with what I said!