Imperial Navy Ranks & Ratings

[Hans_vermeylen]

I posted my take at IN officers ranks on here a couple of years ago. At last I've found the free time to expand the set...

Spacehands, POs, CPOs, Command CPOs, WOs, Midshipmen, Midshipmen Officers, Officers, Admirals... Here they are!

Feel free to comment... In particular, I'm looking for ideas for ratings devices. In the same line, I intend to make Colonial Navies variant replacing the sunburst by a device specific to each subsector (e.g. a crown or unicorn for Regina) so I'm looking for ideas of symbols linked to subsectors...

 

[flykiller]

well, I'd like to see something that doesn't follow the u.s. navy's insignia so closely. what it would be, there's no way of "knowing". I'd suggest that the officer insignia would be simliar to those that were used by Terra, but that the enlisted and highest admiralty insignia might very well be ancient vilani.

 

[Uxi]

Looks good. IMTU, I did something similar, except I also made the rank tables unique per Domain (so there was one Grand Admiral per Domain, etc: Grand Admiral of the Domain of Deneb, Grand Admiral of the Domain of Illelish, etc). Thus, it was more similar to your Colonial ideal.

The major exception was that individualized heraldy played a bigger role and outside of standardized symbols (the Domain symbol being used as if it was the star on WWII and Korean War era US vehicles) and individual rank emblems were instead plays on the heraldy of the subregion nobility (subsector usually, but sometimes also individually powerful worlds). The Sunburst itself was used very rarely excepting those that served the Emperor (Imperium) directly, and even then in a general sense else they would be using the personal heraldry of the Emperor's own personal standard in normal usage.

 

[Hans_vermeylen]

I did something similar, except I also made the rank tables unique per Domain (so there was one Grand Admiral per Domain, etc: Grand Admiral of the Domain of Deneb, Grand Admiral of the Domain of Illelish, etc).

The major exception was that individualized heraldy played a bigger role and outside of standardized symbols (the Domain symbol being used as if it was the star on WWII and Korean War era US vehicles) and individual rank emblems were instead plays on the heraldy of the subregion nobility (subsector usually, but sometimes also individually powerful worlds).

Nice! Could I see those? As I said I'm particulary interested in sector/subsector specific symbols...

 

[Hans_vermeylen]

I'd suggest that the officer insignia would be simliar to those that were used by Terra, but that the enlisted and highest admiralty insignia might very well be ancient vilani.

In all sources I could locate (i.e. HG, GT, Grand Fleet), the rank names of the Imperial Navy are directly inspired by Terran (US) one: so it seemed only logical to me that the insignia would follow. Beside, as the Vilani Empire has been beaten by the Terran Confederation, it make sense that military organization was one of the first thing changed by the Terrans. Many other aspect of Vilani culture might have (and did) survive the Ramshackle Empire, but IMHO the military is the domain where Terran culture would be the most dominant.

Anyway, that's my point of view (remember the name of my site: IMTU). Yours is as good as mine.

 

[aramis]

MT Canon lists 1-3 small imperial stars (o1-o3)
then 1-3 large imperial stars
then 1-5 5-point stars.

Enlisted ranks come in two semi-canonical varieties for imperial marines:
Inverted Chevrons & rockers
Dots on a square
(See TD15)

Here's my take on the Dots pattern (E2-E9)

+---------+ +---------+ +---------+ +---------+ 
|    O    | |    O    | |    O    | |    O    | 
|         | |         | | O     O | | O     O | 
|         | |    O    | |         | |    O    | 
+---------+ +---------+ +---------+ +---------+ 
+---------+ +---------+ +---------+ +---------+ 
|    O    | |    O    | | O  O  O | | O  O  O | 
| O     O | | O  O  O | | O     O | | O  O  O | 
| O     O | | O     O | | O     O | | O     O | 
+---------+ +---------+ +---------+ +---------+

 

[Hemdian]

Feel free to comment... In particular, I'm looking for ideas for ratings devices. In the same line, I intend to make Colonial Navies variant replacing the sunburst by a device specific to each subsector (e.g. a crown or unicorn for Regina) so I'm looking for ideas of symbols linked to subsectors...

Very nautical. IMTU I went more for a Star Trek style collar badges (except for the Zhodani admirals, who carry a sort of scepter thing). See here, here, and here. (Yes, I know it doesn't follow the MT canon, and I know the red looks too Star Trek-ish for some even though the uniform is more B5...) What I don't have is the colonial navy ranks, so I look forward to see what you do.

Another style to consider was the over-the-sholder style used in the film Event Horizon.

Regards PLST