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Interest Check [Yamatai] The Crimson Levy

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Hello. I will be running a new plot about the Star Army.

THE CRIMSON LEVY: Despite the Kuvexian War's end and an absence of major military threats to the Yamatai Star Empire, the business of training new generations of Star Army leaders continues uninterrupted. The final quarter of the academic year has just started at the prestigious Star Army Academy of Military and Medical Sciences on planet Yamatai, with cadets from all classes converging once again upon the Tania-based campus. Shosa Ketsurui Aiko, a war hero and princess of the Star Empire's ruling clan, finds herself at SAAMMS for the spring, too — as an instructor rather than a student. Those handful of seniors enrolled in Ketsurui-shosa's special seminar on combat leadership are considered lucky among the corps of cadets for being granted the opportunity to hear the famous officer's war stories for college credit. But before they can graduate and receive their first assignments to the fleet, they must first survive Aiko's unorthodox curriculum.​

Don't let the pitch fool you, this story will involve starship combat more than classroom activities and detail events in the continuity of the Kuvexian War's aftermath in the Ketsurui Military Sector. Come along as a Shoi Kohosei from Yamatai's equivalent of the United States Naval Academy on a wild Star Army quest! Existing non-cadet characters are welcome, too, but I wanted to make the plot accessible and informative for new players (or simply new characters). We will be using a Yamataian warship soon enough, so any character can theoretically get involved. I've got Legion 777 at my disposal, too, so we can even take some Nepleslian Marines on exchange.

Characters Wanted:
- Up to 5 SAAMMS cadets
- Other Star Army soldiers of any rank

Plot rating:
The whole site is 18+ to join now, but the plot will generally be PG-13 as to be permitted for non-members to read and enjoy. No explicit sexual content will be involved with the plot; do that on your own time.
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To sign up:
Simply reply to this thread with a link to your existing character or a barebones concept snapshot of a new cadet character. I'll need...

Name:
Species:
Star Army Occupation:

Feel free to contact me via forum private message or on Discord if you have any questions. Posting will start once we have a few characters signed up.
 
Thanks for the interest, guys. We still need some more military cadets, though! I'll make an NPC one myself but don't want to have Aiko teaching a gaggle of NPC midshipmen; the thematic thrust is supposed to be "our sensei is hardcore and maybe a little crazy" not "Aiko gathers some old acquaintances for an adventure." (That second one comes later down the road ;)). So, in the spirit of getting people hyped about playing cadets, I'm going to take a paragraph or two to talk about SAAMMS.

The Star Army Academy of Military and Medical Sciences exists today as the amalgamation of two older schools: Educational Facility 1 and Educational Facility 2. Both were built by the biosciences corporation PNUgen decades ago. EF1, however, was given to the Star Army as a place to train new officers in four year undergraduate degree programs. EF2 remained a PNUgen facility until the company's disbandment, upon which it also came under Star Army control, and its program is a 16 year comprehensive educational program that begins training children at the age of 6 until they're 22.​
​
Today, both EF1 and EF2 are part of the combined SAAMMS. It's like how real life universities have multiple colleges on campus, such as commonly-found colleges of Letters & Science that stand simultaneously with colleges of Engineering.​
​
Those students who attend EF1's military sciences program are Star Army cadets ranked Shoi Kohosei and, according to the wiki, are generally "elite" students (whether socially or as a matter of personal ability). These students need political sponsorship to attend the school. EF1 is analogous to the United States Naval Academy. It has four year college degree programs to turn young adults into Star Army officers and, much like graduates of the USNA, these freshly-minted Shoi tend to be given the best pick of fleet assignments compared to other sources of commission.​
​
Contrast EF1 with Yamatai's other officer schools. Ketsurui Academy is a separate college that specializes in engineering and technical sciences education. Mayame Officer School is the equivalent of real life Officer Candidate School and trains prospective Star Army officers who already have college degrees. Kyoto War College is primarily known for its graduate-level courses in leadership and military sciences, but has more recently included undergraduate studies and correspondence education for in-service soldiers.​
​
Students who attend EF2 tend to have been students there for a large portion of their young lives. They were the best and brightest among Yamatai's youth who were selected to study in a tailored program from childhood to early adulthood. It's like going to a private school that encompasses a student's education from elementary to college level. After 12 years in their 16 year program, these students specialize in a specific biosciences field. Although this part isn't explicitly stated: those last four years could conceivably also include becoming a Star Army cadet alongside their EF1 classmates.​
​
That's basically just a summary of what the wiki page says with the information rearranged for explanation's sake. I hope it helps give a feel for our starting plot hook and the character of SAAMMS, both as a standalone institution and where it fits in to the larger scope of military officer education currently employed by the Star Army.

Everyone's welcome to play the characters they want, but I encourage players to consider making Shoi Kohosei in their final quarter of studies at EF1. Part of why I only asked for a name, species, and occupation was to make such things easy on everyone because those three things are all that's needed to jump off in Open RP.

I'll be writing some setup scenes while waiting for this interest check to run its course. It's usually nice to give the interest check thread about a week before setting off. I know Alex is champing at the bit to play Matsuvo so: don't worry, we won't linger a long time waiting for players who can get added after the plot's launch.
 
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Sacre is in a unique place, but she might be in this group as a simi-cadet. Oh the pains of being a Mustang.
 
Based on what the wiki says and Sacre's orders, I was running under the assumption that she is a student at EF2 and enrolled in a truncated program (since she doesn't need primary or secondary education included in the 16 year child-to-doctorate program). I've already thought of the methods by which to include Sacre and Matsuvo so no worries about trying to shoehorn something convincing. It'll all work out.

There are two scene-setting posts I'd like to get up as an introduction to the plot, which I should get to soon enough. The second one might simply lead into roleplay and be an appropriate thread for replies. We shall see. I might ask both you and Alex a few setup questions about your characters via DMs or Discord in the coming days.

If we don't get more played cadets beyond the GMNPC one I'm making, I'll try to whip up a few extra NPC ones for you three players to interact with and use in your posts.
 
I think I will throw Qin Chuntao at this for a little bit. Could be some special program between that OCS school to get live experience faster.
 
I encourage you to make a Shoi Kohosei in their final year at SAAMMS or modify Chuntao's WIP to such. We could theoretically take a full Shoi doctor, but it wouldn't be through any kind of special program; SAAMMS is the equivalent to the USNA and is culturally a cut above the other commissioning sources, and thus I couldn't see them realistically mixing. There is an easy route that'll get her in as-is, but she would be usurping Sacre's place as the character with the most medical experience — which is between you two as players more than anything.

If you'd like to discuss possibilities and maybe explain a little bit about Chuntao then feel free to contact me in private.
 
>If we don't get more played cadets beyond the GMNPC one I'm making, I'll try to whip up a few extra NPC ones for you three players to interact with and use in your posts.

If you want, I can make up another minor character to add in as well.
 
Hello Star Army!

This plot will be proceeding as the next YSS Kaiyo II mission. Not much has changed since the original pitch from the first post other than it's now a few years after the Kuvexian War's end instead of directly following it.

This is open to players who want to make senior cadets from SAAMMS. These characters are basically about to graduate and become full Shoi, so it's ultimately a pretty standard Star Army ship crew just with a special social circumstance.

There will be opportunities for existing characters to join the plot later (likely during the second thread), but I do not recommend this because you'll miss the fun opening act.

Posting expectations will be: to post within a week after checkpoint GM posts. This will be strictly enforced, but should be a fairly casual plot to keep up with. Extra posts might be made in quicker succession.

I will make two more setup/scene-setting posts after my initial post, after which participating players can begin to reply.
 
Hey, I know I expressed interest in the plot a few years back when it was first proposed. I just wanted to apologize for not making good on that, it's been a few years since the interest check and I'd forgotten about it since then. That aside, my schedule is a bit too full these days. Wish you and your players well with the plot though.
 
That's no problem, Alex. Thanks for making a note of it anyway. I wasn't really counting anyone from the initial interest check as still signed up, which is why I bumped the thread with a re-pitch.

Right now we've got Gunhand and Ametheliana.

I've posted my second setup post (as well as duplicated the news snippet as a news forum post), so just one more to go until anyone playing a cadet character can come along and participate. To reiterate what I said previously, later threads might provide an opportunity for existing characters to join in on the fun but I'd highly recommend making a new Shoi Kohosei from the Academy.
 
I know I'm excited to play my oldest sarp character as an academy cadet!!

Really enjoying your setup posts and what it feels like to be a player after all these years, thanks for GMing and taking on the responsibility of such!! I know this is going to be a really fun ride and I can't wait to strap in for it!!
 
Greetings Star Army fans!

We have stolen requisitioned an old retired ship for our adventure and are off to Hanako's World to give some hands-on learning to the next generation of Star Army officers. So if there is any interest out there to come along as a SAMMMS cadet it's getting to be that time to hop on. From here on out we're basically playing a normal Star Army ship doing some (ab)normal Star Army ship things. All you've got to do is make a character, read my third post in the thread, and then react.

Just as a note to people who cannot see the GM/FM board: Please do not start roleplays that involve Hanako's World. Much like Dana's Kodian Civil War, this is a developing plot that should not be interrupted. Thank you for being considerate and respectful.
 
Name: Aliset Koun
Species: Senti
Star Army Occupation: Star Army Navigator,

Aliset is a SAAMS student in starship command, and failed Military History last quarter, thus needs to make up credits and take retraining in that subject. She has participated in the Kodian Civil crisis, denounced Shurista as cowardly and neglecting of their own, and has flown multiple combat missions as a bomber pilot and as a helmswoman and navigator of a Plumeria 2E class starship. Up to now, she has been attending SAAMS remotely through telepresence, but will happily attend in person between Koun deployments.

She's looking for qualifications and training that would make her stand out as a strong candidate for starship command teams after her graduation, and has every intention of continuing constant training until either the Star Army runs out of training programs to send her to or she gains the prestige and merit to be hand selected by a captain and ship AI pair. She is also involved with the Star Army Research Administration as a test candidate for integration of Senti biology into Yamataian technology, such as telepathic abilities, ST, and telepathic systems integration.
 
SAAMMS is based on the United States Naval Academy, and thus does not offer correspondence courses nor offer programs any shorter than 4 years (or at least will be portrayed as such in this plot). Kyoto War College organizes the Star Army’s officer correspondence courses, so unfortunately Aiko’s class isn’t available for students outside of SAAMMS.

Prospective players can make a new Shoi Kohosei character for this phase of the plot. Cadet characters should be individuals who could have conceivably been enrolled at SAAMMS starting YE41, so species who weren’t yet part of the Yamatai Star Empire at that date are unlikely. Individuals who attend SAAMMS tend to be the best Yamataian society can offer and go through a rigorous selection process similar to the real world institution that inspires it.

Existing characters that cannot plausibly attend SAAMMS will have an opportunity to join during a later part of the mission.
 
I can post her recommendation order signed by Shosa Belmont and Senator Natus, but I understand. Have fun with this one. I'll continue to follow and hope that this little interaction was the worst part of your day.
 
Miko said:
Soon!

Click to expand...
Cool! You'll need to post them for approval, but just one quick note (that is tldr'd in green):

This plot is for Students at the Star Army Academy. Zelphon here is stated as attending the Kyoto War College, which does offer courses to enlisted soldiers transitioning into the officer ranks through their "Mustang School," as the wiki calls it, that exists alongside KWC's regular command officer courses. But that isn't correct for participation here. Her history is actually fine for attending KWC, but again, this plot's participants should be attendees of the Star Army Academy (SAAMMS) so it needs some tweaking.

For your edification and that of others who might be interested, SAAMMS midshipmen:
  • Are generally college aged individuals who enter the Academy near the age of majority and graduate after 4 years (enter near 20 Yamataian years old (18 irl) and graduate around 23-24 Yamataian years old with obvious thematic leeway for Nekovalkyrja and other specialized species).
    • Some prior service enlisted students are admitted, though they tend to still be young, so that part doesn't necessarily need to be changed from Zelphon's history unless you want to.
      • Their prior ranks would not be beyond any of the Hei ranks, because Heishos would be too old and be better suited to becoming an officer through KWC.
      • Prior enlisted who attend SAAMMS shouldn't be older than their 25th Yamataian birthday when their second semester/first year at school is complete.
  • Attend the college for 4 years straight. It is their Star Army assignment and missing even one semester in the sequence almost always leads to washing out.
  • Like the U.S. Naval Academy it is based on, it is a prestigious and selective institution that strictly enforces its standards, attendance, and decorum policies to maintain its reputation for excellence.
Character histories that don't fall within those guidelines don't make sense. None of this is really logged anywhere, but I've done my research on irl military academies so have based the requirements upon that to maintain rich flavor to the setting. Further information has already been posted several times in the thread if you want to read up.

tl;dr: Good news! Not much to switch around. All that really needs to be changed in this bio saying "the Star Army Academy" instead of "Kyoto War College" in the 4th history paragraph plus reducing her age slightly. At the 30 Yamataian years old you have her aged she's too old. She should be a maximum of 28 Yamataian years now, so born in YE 18 instead of YE 15 if the 4月 17 birthday holds. The fact that she has prior service is fine but she would only have a very brief 2.5 years as a soldier (which is perfect imo).
 
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