shylarah

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

@The Angry Goat They are? Ooh, neat~ Yeah, they often sound similar, even identical, depending on the word and the person. Choir means I pay a lot more attention to Ts, at least some of the time. ^.^;;

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

A friend suggests that maybe we should consider who's in charge of the warband. Since...y'know. In a fight there's not time to discuss it. and there'd need to be a second, at the least.

I can see why, but I also figure we've trained long enough that we work as a group more or less automatically. So...I guess I could go either way on this? Or at least I'm undecided.

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

posting again instead of editing because...hehe. ^.^;; I hate when folks edit stuff and I don't know so I don't read the new stuff.

Initiates or Trainees are probably pregrad Inquisitors. Initiate if Acolyte is a training position, otherwise it should be used for the church and trainee should be used for the Inquisition.

Bishop is a skill position. perhaps a middle skill rank could be ...iunno, deacon? I like that. ^.^;;

Inquisitorial Command/Officer ranks:

-top guy. Just one.
Lord High Inquisitor? Supreme General? Commander in Chief? probably something along the lines of the latter two, since technically they have command of the secular army too, if they want it.

-second rank, only a few
High Inquisitor

might be a couple other ranks in here, depends on what Love wants.

lowest officer ranks:
Master Inquisitor
Knight Master Inquisitor
Knight Inquisitor

(functions like lieutenant, lieutenant commander, and commander)

Teachers are probably taken from these three ranks. Maybe just the knights and knight masters. Might be exceptions.

Knight cadets are under all these.
Then the Knight candidates -- the ones being watched for promotion. Might eliminate one of these two, but it's up to Love.

Then the INquisitors. Most of them are...just plain Inquisitors. It looks like a warband might be assigned a member of one of the command ranks to go with them on missions, but they don't necessarily need one.

There are divisions among the inquisitors, mostly by fighting skill.
Primary Grade is the best
Secondary Grade is ...well, second
Tertiary Grade is the lowest.

Junior (untried) Inquisitors, like our characters, are the lowest graduated rank. They may fall into primary-tertiary grades, but they are somewhat lower than full inquisitors.

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

@CollectorOfMyst I've heard differently, since the wife of a knight is a lady. And some fantasy novels use Lady as the title of a female knight, instead of Dame (and I actually like that better, even though the wife of a lord is also a lady. But whatever)

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

Initiates or Trainees are probably pregrad Inquisitors. Initiate if Acolyte is a training position, otherwise it should be used for the church and trainee should be used for the Inquisition.

Bishop is a skill position. perhaps a middle skill rank could be ...iunno, deacon? I like that. ^.^;;

Inquisitorial Command/Officer ranks:

-top guy. Just one.
Lord High Inquisitor? Supreme General? Commander in Chief? probably something along the lines of the latter two, since technically they have command of the secular army too, if they want it.

-second rank, only a few
High Inquisitor

other ranks:
Master Inquisitor
Knight Master Inquisitor
Knight Inquisitor\

(functions like lieutenant, lieutenant commander, and commander)

Teachers are probably taken from these three ranks. Maybe just the knights and knight masters.

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

@CollectorOfMyst haa, I was thinking about saying something similar.

It's **latter (though the way some people say it...)

@Lovejoy the ranks seem pretty good. And I imagine the inquisition has its own ranks. Creid I thknk would not be /just/ an Inquisitor, even if there are multiple ranks by that name and differentiated by class.

I figure that it's a combination of seniority, command skill, tactical/strategic skill, and fighting prowess (both physical and etheric) that determine one's rank in the Inquisition. The default rank of graduates is Inquisitor. Maybe there's a slightly lower rank that is made of the recently graduated Inquisitors, and they move to the basic rank after x time has passed or a successful mission or whatever. Within the "inquisitor" ranks, they might be further divided by fighting strength, since their warbands would generally indicate seniority. This is your private first class, private second class, etc -- though I really suggest using something other than "class", since the groups are literally made of classes of students. It seems confusing.

Command and tactics/strategy is the key skill for higher ranks beyond a simple Inquisitor. So in theory a guy that's not so good at fighting (compared to the other Inquisitors, obviously) might still achieve a decent rank if he's sufficiently clever or charismatic. Those being considered for ranking up beyond inquisitor could be officer candidates. The ranks beyond Inquisitor are collectively called officers. Officer cadets (maybe Knight Cadets?) are newly appointed, and move out of the cadet rank in a similar fashion to junior Inquisitors becoming full inquisitors.

Our teachers would be officers of some sort. I lean towards the knight rank just because. I think the very top rank would be something like "Lord/Lady High Inquisitor" or something, leaving High Inquisitor the next rank down. might be lord/lady inquisitors in there. and then Knight Inquisitor is the most basic command rank. Master Inquisitor would work too.

Forms of address would be ...not sure what to do abuot the top fellow, but High Mother/Father [name], Lord Father/Lady Mother [name], and then...also not sure what to do about knights. oh, right, Dame. Sir/Dame [name] (I guess the father/mother part gets dropped? eh).

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

@Draken This is true, actually. I did think of contacts, but...

I think perhaps if it was necessary to change eye colors to go undercover, methods might be developed. Necessity is the mother of invention, and all that. This is actually part of why I disliked every group having a different eye color, but if you get enough interracial couples eventually it should stop mattering so much. 'Cept Omestrians because Omestrians are weird.

As an aside, I love this group. <3 We discuss the best stuff.

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

@CollectorOfMyst ooh...hm. Man that throws a wrench in things. But no, I mean...how often do you notice the color of people's eyes? It's actually not that hard to miss. I personally verynrarely notice. And they could get a varyan with eyes more or less the right color...I figure there's a bit of a range, and varyan eyes are not specifically anything. Also there's tsaraens there, and possibly even omestrians.

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

@The Angry Goat I mean, Darya is Allen Walker from D.Gray-man, so. I'm more amused that his last name is Tahno's voice actor. Besides, Tahno showed up in like...two? Three eps? Not that many.

And I very much feel @Lovejoy's despair in the search for the perfect character image. This is why I love being able to draw a bit, and having amazing arty friends. <3

Speaking of, no pressure, but is there any intention to draw more of the team? I'm trying to draw Rodion but...MALE FACES. Men in general. Also their hair. X.x I may just move to the rest of the gals.

I like Primus.

acolyte and initiate...I always forget which one sounds like it should be above the other.

Where do standard inquisitors rank in comparison the the nonmilitant church, and the secular army? Can we come up with a rank comparison for the two armies? I imagine the Inquisition ranks are slightly higher than the similarly named secular rank, but I'd like to see how they fit in with the civilian portion of the church.

It's intriguing that Omestris was thoroughly obliterated and Lanostre was not...but I guess Lord Varya (or the priests representing him!) have more use for strong warriors than they do for clever and independently-minded people. Also I'm guessing Omestris didn't surrender, so.

I do wonder why the other countries didn't band together. At the very least, T'saraen and Omestris...or maybe they did...or figured their odds were better this way....hmmm....

I imagine unauthorized incursions into Lanostre probably happened every now and again, hindered by the fact that they needed someone with ether control for an aegis to get there. The Church only started sending officially sanctioned (but quiet) feelers out in the decade or so leading up to the war. Before that, it was all entirely covert, with deniability.

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

@Lovejoy Aleksander is interesting. Another old one -- T'sarae fell before Omestris, didn't it? Since they didn't fight, and just...surrendered? Actually, that makes it really interesting that a T'saraen priest survived -- Ziotea will need to ask him about that. *adds it to the list of questions she wants to explore when Love has time*

It's interesting that he didn't clash so much with the less militant (or less religious) branches of the church during the centuries of peace before the conflict with Lanostre. And several hundred...more than two? If T'sarae fell first, and that was two hundred years ago or so, Omestris can't have fallen before that.

ALSO HOLY CRUD MAGNUS?! NO! NOOOO. besides, he can't become a bishop ; he's not an Inquisitor! ...Actually that's a thought -- we know Ziotea left him physically damaged to some extent. Think she damaged his skill with ether any? *thoughtful* That'd be even more insulting than being physically crippled, I think.

Is Aleksander still the head of the Inquisition, or was he just the commander of the forces in the field? It looks to me like the latter...might explain why he didn't clash so much in the centuries before.

Four bishops. Four. hmmm. Antonin isn't one, is he? There goes that theory. Do bishops need skill at command, strategy, and tactics, or just fighting prowess (martial and etheric)?

I suspect a lot of "ice pirates" are Muradan. It seems to fit. I'm not sure what you mean by keeping no gods leaving them unbound by the rules of the world. I mean, it's not like the folk in the slums all do much worshipping either.

...Oh my gosh, Chrome, worshipping very definitely has two Ps. Shipping, worshipping. IT'S NOT WRONG STOP UNDERLINING IT! *flail*