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Military forces of the Free Worlds Council (F.W.C.):

Index:

Introduction

Military Breakdown

F.W.C. Army

F.W.C. Navy

F.W.C. Marines

Military Ranks

Military Rules & Regulations

Mages & Psionics in the Military

F.W.C. Military Fleets

The Future

Introduction:

Unlike the military forces of the larger and better organized, the Free Worlds Council is not as heavily organized a military and is very diverse. This military is the only thing protecting the Free Worlds Council from the Kreeghor empire and often has to fight against overwhelming odds. For this reason, the only thing that is important is for the military is to be successful. The military is broken into three different branches. These are the Army, Space Fleet, and Marine Corp and are primarily controlled by the navy. The Free Worlds militaries also often have several mercenary companies serving with the military and this can often comprise up 30% of the available military forces. Most of the information listed here is for the full time military and does not include specific mercenary outfits.

Military Breakdown:

The breakdown of members of the Free Worlds Council military is very similar to that of the civilian population of the planets of the Free Worlds Council but there is virtually no Kreeghor serving in the military. There is a strong general hatred of Kreeghor in the military. Because the need for all people to fight, a large percentage of the people serving in the military are female.

F.W.C. Army:

The Army’s only assigned role is ground combat but due to the fact that numbers of marines is severely limited they will sometimes be assigned starship marine roles as well. The bulk of troops assigned to stations are taken from the army because marines are needed for assault roles. There is not a specific pattern of assignment and they are assigned as needed. The army is the least organized of the military forces and often includes a large number of people just recruited into the military. These include simple planetary folk and individual mercenaries. This does not include recruited mercenary units although they are often integrated into larger army units. The result of all this is that sometimes the army will bump against the other branches, specifically the marines, due to its disorganization. Fighter pilots are no part of the army and are under control of the navy although the army does have a branch of assault shuttle pilots.

Enlistment: There are two general forms of enlistment. Some soldiers are simply recruited for a battle or a campaign. About half of the army is manned by this means. A short term soldier may choose to extend their term into a longer service as well. Standard enlistment for longer term soldiers is for two Terran years and they may enlist multiple times as they wish. About 55% of Army Personnel are killed in combat which often makes for rapid promotions in ranks. Officers will often start as enlisted and one of the most senior officers actually started as a short term farmer that was recruited for one campaign. Only the most serious crimes will cause a member of the Army, officer or enlisted, to be booted from the army. These include treason, murder, rape, and similar crimes and normally they will receive the death penalty.

O.C.C.: Unlike most militaries, there is little breakdown between the O.C.C. of officers and enlisted army troops. About 50% are made of vagabond and other primarily non military O.C.C.s that have been recruited for a short term. These are taught some general military training as listed below either when recruited or in their childhood. Basically, the whole population of the Free Worlds Council has these skills.

Radio: Basic (+5%)

Running

Climbing

Hand to Hand: Basic

W.P. Energy Rifle

The remaining troops are those serving for longer terms and fall into a mix of different O.C.C. About 60% of them are of the Freedom Fighter O.C.C., about 15% of the longer term people are defected Imperial Legionnaires, and 10% are CAF troopers that have left the CAF for a variety of reasons. The rest is a vast mix of low percentages including some CAF fleet officers, Pirate O.C.C., Headhunter O.C.C., and most other general military O.C.C.s.

Equipment: Varies widely based on what is available at the time. A set of body armor and 2 energy rifles/pistols plus whatever else is available. Naruni and Kreeghor equipment is among the most common weapons that are available.

Uniforms: The Free Worlds Council does have uniforms but they are so rarely issued that you will see few army personnel ever wearing them. This is simply because uniforms is one of the least important items as far as manufacturing with weapons and armor being far more important. The general result is that most enlisted and junior enlisted will be seen in normal clothing with a patch representing the F.W.C. military and rank marks sewed on the collar or sleeve as appropriate. For the few, mostly senior officers, that actually have uniforms, it is a simple dark green jumpsuit with the rank marking on the collar and sleeve.

F.W.C. Navy:

The navy is far better organized than the army but many from better organized militaries, such as a CAF Fleet Officer, would still considered the Navy to be in a constant state of anarchy. The Navy crews all starships in service and most operational and technical positions on the various space stations. Like the armies assignments, there is no official rotational period and a crew member can find himself just about anywhere at any time. The Navy will take mercenaries as well but the mercenaries must sign up as ship crews and are treated as normal ship crews unlike mercenaries fitted into the army troops in which they are just put in catch as you can in roles. There are two exceptions to this. The first is mercenary fleet and ships. These ships or fleets are simply assigned where needed but are expected to fit into the role they are assigned and follow commands. The second are fighter pilots. The Free Worlds Council navy is glad to get any fighters and fighter pilots that they can. These pilots are simply fitted in where needed. In some cases, a squadron might be half Navy pilots and the other half mercenaries. About 15% of the fleet at any one time is filled will mercenary ships and 30% of the fighter pilots are mercenaries. Navy, non mercenary, fighter pilots start as enlist but if they survive, making officer is quick and relatively easy due to the high rate of losses. Fighters are a very large portion of the Free Worlds navy.

Enlistment: The enlistment for navy personnel is longer than it for army soldiers. This is simply because the skills require longer to learn and after training, the navy does not wish to get rid of them. Enlistment in the F.W.C. Navy is for four Terran years. About 45% of Navy Personnel are killed in fleet actions which often makes for rapid promotion in ranks. Fighter pilots have a 75% fatality. This number rivals that of the marines. Fleet crew members may enlist for as long as they wish. Most officers start as enlisted except those from other militaries. An officer or senior enlisted from another military are often given an officer rank on entering F.W.C. Navy. Only the most serious crimes will cause a member of the Navy, officer or enlisted, to be booted. These include treason, murder, rape, and similar crimes and normally they will receive the death penalty. The navy will remove only the most extreme discipline problems from service.

O.C.C.: Unlike most militaries, there is little breakdown between the O.C.C. of officers and enlisted Navy personnel. 65% of the Navy are the Spacer O.C.C. These are both civilian spacers recruited and crew member trained by the Navy. Most training is On the Job Training. The remainder come from a huge number of different O.C.C.s including CAF Troopers, CAF Fleet Officers, Pirates, Operators, and Smugglers. 25% of fighter pilots in service with the Navy are Turbo Jockeys with the rest being from a huge number of different O.C.C.s. If the O.C.C. does not include the skills as O.C.C. skills, the character will get the following skills:

Radio: Basic (+5%)

Running

Climbing

Hand to Hand: Basic

W.P. Energy Rifle

The Free Worlds Council is attempting to form a better training system for personnel. When the academy is completed, the Free Worlds Council should be producing fleet personnel that are the equivalent of CAF fleet officers.

Equipment: Varies widely based on what is available at the time. A set of light body armor and one energy rifles/pistols plus whatever else is available. Naruni and Kreeghor equipment is among the most common weapons that are available.

Uniforms: The Free Worlds Council does have uniforms but they are so rarely issued that you will see few navy personnel ever wearing them. This is simply because uniforms is one of the least important items as far as manufacturing. Weapons and armor are much more important. The general result is that most enlisted and junior enlisted will be seen in normal clothing with a patch representing the FWC military and rank marks sewed on the collar or sleeve as appropriate. For the few, mostly senior officers, that actually have uniforms, it is a simple dark blue jumpsuit with the rank marking on the collar and sleeve.

F.W.C. Marines:

The Marines are only 10% of the size of Army yet over 60% of all non ship to ship combats (Fleet actions) are done by the marines. The marines are surprising disciplined when they are compared to both the Army and the Navy. This is the main factor that allows the marines to work as well as they do. They are often expected to fight against overwhelming odds. The Marines do not take short term troops, like the army, but a fair amount of the marines are people recruited from other militaries and seasoned soldiers from the Army. The marines do not take mercenaries into their ranks without them becoming part of the marines but the marines will work side by side with mercenary units. While the navy is the only group that operates fighters, the Free Worlds Council leaders are considering starting a Marine Fighter group but this is undecided as of yet. The marines do wish to have one formed so they have fighter pilots independent of the Navy. The marines presently do have some assault shuttle pilots.

Enlistment: The enlistment for the Marines is longer than that for the army and equal to that for the Navy. This is simply because once trained, the Marines wish to hold onto their soldiers. Enlistment in the F.W.C. Marines is for four Terran years. About 80% of Marine Personnel are killed in combat which often makes for very rapid promotion in ranks. Marine officers will often start as enlisted Marines and there is no training specifically for officers. Even people from other services will normally start as enlisted. While discipline problems have to be fairly severe for a Marine to be kicked out of service, discipline is much better kept than in the other two branches. The problem is that if a marine is a good soldier then it will be attempted to keep him in service even if the marine has committed a serious crime that would get him booted out of the other services.

O.C.C.: Unlike most militaries, there is little breakdown between the O.C.C. of officers and enlisted Marine personnel. 55% of the Marines are the Freedom Fighter O.C.C. The other most common O.C.C. vary much more widely. About 15% of the total are defected Imperial Legionnaires, and 10% are CAF troopers that have left the CAF for a variety of reasons. The rest is a vast mix including some CAF fleet officers, Galactic Tracer O.C.C., Special Forces O.C.C., Headhunter O.C.C., and other general military O.C.C.s.

Equipment: Varies widely based on what is available at the time. A set of body armor (Naruni Camouflage for special missions and elite units) Naruni Plasma Cartridge Rifle, and two energy rifles/pistols plus whatever else is available. Naruni and Kreeghor equipment is among the most common weapons that are available

Uniforms: Most marines actually do have uniforms. This is because it is expected for marines to use part of their pay to have uniforms made. This is not from command but from the the other soldiers themselves. They see it as marking them as different from the other branches. The Uniform is simple black jumpsuits with officers uniforms having gold stripes down the sides of the uniform. The rank marking are on the collar and the sleeves of the uniform.

Military Ranks:

The military rank system of the Free Worlds Council Militaries is much simpler than that for the Consortium Armed Forces and has little relationship to that of the Trans-Galactic Empire. This is due to the fact that military ranks stand for specific positions more than anything else and there is little political infighting within the military. The ranks of the TGE were dropped simply because the Free Worlds Council Militaries thought that the titles were far too brutal and to distance themselves from the Kreeghor.

Officers: A enlisted person can become an officer by exemplary duty and service or by battlefield promotion (most often). Most mustangs (term for officers that came from being enlisted) will start at Lieutenant or its equivalent in the other branches and have no limit to the rank that can be gained. Senior officer ranks are as much positions as they are ranks so they are very rare. For example, a commodore is in charge of a battlegroup.

Enlisted: Senor enlisted (above Sergeant) ranks are very uncommon and the bulk of the troops are made up of privates and ratings.

Military Rules & Regulation:

The most important note to remember is that if it does not affect military service, it is likely that the military will not care. Items like the cleanliness of uniforms often is not very important and even vices like gambling, prostitution, and drugs are often overlooked. There is some work being done to change this but at the moment military rules and regulations are in many cases non-existent.

Military Law: Only very serious offences will be punished and non judicial punishment does not exist in any normal form. Some commanders will have crew/troops give unofficial punishment and it is often inflicted by troops on their own initiative as well. These punishments are most common in the Marines and least often in the Navy. This style of punishment is also sometimes used against the officers as well by the enlisted which makes the punishment very two edged. For serious offences, the normal means is a court martial. The court martial is by three officers or senior enlisted with a simple majority need for a verdict. These judges must be senior to the person tried but that is the only requirement for a trial. Treason and Desertion are very serious crimes and most often a individual convicted will get a death sentence.

Military Protocol: Military Protocol is almost humorous. In some areas, the Trans-Galactic Empires protocols are used in some cases, CAF protocols are used in others, in others it is a mishmash of all sorts, and it seems in some cases as none at all. Some officers that come from planets with nobles expect to be addressed by noble titles and some people do not like using any titles. This is of course why in most cases disrespect is a minor (at best) infraction. With female officers, they can be addresses as eiether sir or ma’am and it usually falls to the officers choice with a large amount of slack given for troops and rating using the reverse. Members of other militaries with noble titles are addressed by the titles in official meetings between the militaries. The attempt is to treat male, female, human, or not human as equals but it is rare when it completely works out that way. This of course does not include the strong prejudice against the Kreeghor. If a Kreeghor was to join the military, they would likely be the target of both mistrust and abuse.

Religion: Religion matters very little in most cases but the militaries are still careful in some respects. In cases it has been know for soldiers with religions similar to modern fundamentalism to be working beside those that worship deities like Aphrodite. This has caused serious problems in the past and the militaries are now careful about that. People who are from religion that practice demon worshiping are not allowed in service. Even people who do not allow medical treatment are allowed in the military but it is likely that before treatment the records of that will be lost and they will get medical treatment anyway if it is available. People from religions of peace often consider service important and will service in non combat medical roles.

Sexual Contact: The Free Worlds Council are among the most lax as far as sexual contact and are more lax than the C.A.F. There is no discrimination for same sex contact or interspecies contact. There is also no rules against sexual relationships between officers and enlisted. There are even some cases where the commanding officer and the executive officers of ships have sexual relationships. This has caused many incidents of discrimination but as long as the units operate relatively normally it is not cared about.

Mage & Psionics in the Military:

The Free Worlds Council military is glad to get any Mages or Individuals with Psionic Abilities. While some commanders may be prejudiced, the need is simply too great to worry very much about this. Individuals with Major and Minor Psionics fall into standard Military O.C.C.s. To create a mage (Ley Line Walker, Mystic, Battlemage, ect.) or a Master Psionic (Mind Melter, Burster, ect.) use the O.C.C. but add standard Phase World background skills and add the following additional skills for Military Training.

Radio: Basic (+5%)

Running

Climbing

Hand to Hand: Basic

W.P. Energy Rifle

F.W.C. Military Fleets:

The Free World Fleet is constructed from ships collected from everywhere that they can be found. Some are Kreeghor ships that were captured, others are ships purchased from the Black Market. The Free Worlds Council has few shipyards and these yards are mostly used to keep existing ships in service and have little time for new construction. The most complete shipyard is in orbit around the planet of New Hope. At any one given time, there are about 20% more ships operating with the Free World Council military. These are mostly mercenary ships. There is a rumor that they will be soon receiving numerous reinforcements from a secret source. Most fighters in the Free World Council are Flying Fang fighters. These were either captured or manufactured by their own fighter facilities that were captured from the Kreeghor.

Note: An adventure idea is to have a group of players try to raid and get some of the large number of Hunter class destroyers in the Trans-Galactic Empire that the Kreeghor decommissioned when they took over the Wolfen fleets

Carriers:

Battleships / Dreadnoughts:

Cruisers:

Frigates/Destroyers:

Minesweepers:

Assault Forces:

Fleet Auxiliaries:

The Future:

If the Free Worlds Council can find covert aid in the form of starships, it is likely that the Free World Council can find a measure of security. There are several groups that a Game Master can use for this. If groups from Robotech or Macross are in the Three Galaxies, then they can be a source. As well, it is strongly suggested in the Phase World book that The C.A.F. is giving covert aid to the Free Worlds Council.

If the Free Worlds Council survives and is able find a measure of stability, it is likely that they will become better organized and in a similar form to the Consortium Armed Forces although this may be long in coming because the Free World Council military works and the leadership may be very unwilling to change what works.

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Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

Copyright © 1999, 2011, & 2015, Kitsune. All rights reserved.

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