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    Proposed Vrusk Rank icons

    Version: 1.0
    Project: THE UPF
    File Name: Vrusk Rank V1.pdf
    File Size: 422.89 KB
    File Type: application/pdf
    Updated: June 3, 2011 - 6:22pm
    Submitted: jacobsar
    Downloads: 16
    Description:
    Starting to look at alien rank structures and the influence they may have on the UPF. Comments please.
    Comments:

    jedion357's picture
    jedion357
    June 3, 2011 - 7:07pm
    		Ok my impressions on this:
    the dragonfly and the yin yang like symbol are not working for me, yin yang is just to recognizable and as for the dragonfly, hard to explain why.

    the other 3 do
    The one on the cover of this document reminds me of the symbols used to represent the vrusk trade houses in the Dark Side of the Moon module- did you consult them for working this up?

    I'd almost say go with one of these to represent a militia or security org.
    For myself I'd like to see something simpler like Lt. bars which paired becomes capt. bars; just why did bars come to be the symbols for the first 3 officer ranks? No doubt the oak leaf symbolizes str. and the eagle looks down from above and gets stuff done so it fits a col. and star are the ultimate looke down from above.

    so what symbols would speek to the early hive vrusk? six pointed star? picking up the base 6 system of math and representing command of six squads, 2 siz pointed stars representing a captianish rank, the bug eye for the general who sees everything etc.
    I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!

    jacobsar's picture
    jacobsar
    June 3, 2011 - 7:27pm
    		 

    Hmm... good feedback.

    I got the symbol you ask about for some guys tattoo I liked, but I will look at the module to check.

    The bars on an American officers shoulders were a simple numeric representation. The Gold bar we use today is actually a representation of an empty epaulet. If you look at officers during the civil war era you will see the epaulets were all a base color. no bar for the lowest officer rank, then one bar then two. This is what i tried to reflect in the UPF ranks. I think the simpler shapes were as mush a monetary concern as anything. Generals could afford fancy embroidery. Could be wrong.

    I think stars are overdone, but I like the base 6 math Idea. I also like the "sees everything" idea. I will keep a lookout for simpler shapes to use for the lower ranks. The yn/yang thing looked like an alien gamete or egg, but I see your point.

    I will hold off one changing things until a few more people chime in... the more the merrier.

    Reasonable men adapt to the world around them; unreasonable men make the world adapt to them. The world is changed by unreasonable men.
    Edwin Louis Cole

    thespiritcoyote's picture
    thespiritcoyote
    June 4, 2011 - 5:16am

    My impressions are;
     I like the balanced symbol of mutual structural integrity; far left entwined tribal tattoo.
     I like the egg in a nest moving off in a series of defined swarms; a more chaotic tribal, may need simplified.
     I like the Structured Orb, works for a high rank like Adm. or Gen. Equiv.; upper right, needs to be simplified.
     I like the Vruskan Eagle, what more can I say; Center Bottom Dragonfly, it looks out with authority.
     I like the idea of the 'Larvae of Balance' and 'Paired Sovereignty'; might be better as a nobilis honorum (a well-known, famous, person given a rank of honour; the kind of rank a Tradehouse Conglomerate might entitle to the President of the Board. Perhaps a step down from a fons honorum rank, perhaps equal.)

    Cool Anyway, that's what I saw when I looked it over. Very usable ideas, might need a little work to look pretty. Wink

      One often overlooked idea for modern ranks in fiction; in the last few centuries, the thought has been that Ranks should be easily recognizable to their own people, but not quickly noticed or understood to an opposing military.
      Just a thought, it isn't and hasn't been a universal influence on ranks, and can be overlooked.

    Oh humans!! Innocent We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".
    ~ anymoose, somewhere on the net...

    so...
    if you square a square it becomes a cube...
    if you square a cube does it become an octoid?