Weekly lore discussion: 'Service means Citizenship'

[Silly goose]

We're going to be doing a weekly series of lore discussions from here on, so you guys can have input in what we consider canon for the server, and generally to promote discussion and awareness of the wider world of the server's universe. If players post stuff we think is particularly good, we'll incorporate it into the server's lore.

 

The topic this week is service. 

 

Enlistment in the Mobile Infantry is widely considered to be the toughest way to earn citizenship, though perhaps the easiest to sign up to. 

 

What are some other ways you can think of?

 

• Do garbage collectors sign up for mind-numbing five year stints to earn their right to vote?

 

• Are toilets cleaned in the name of the Federation by those looking for a license to have children?

 

• Do cargo haulers everywhere snore through their transit routes, dreaming of the status citizenship brings?

 

What routes to citizenship do you imagine?  Would they be popular? Looked down on? Respected? Seen as a pale shadow of true service in the military?

[F r a n c o]

 

Any civil service can in theory be considered a path to citizenship.

[F r a n c o]

Postal Service, Accounting and Taxing, departments of education, health, social workers, (in some cases) custodians, water treatment, human resources, youth counsellor, auditors (in some cases), librarians (in some cases), judicial services coordinators, youth outreach services, faculty positions in relation to sciences, civil architects.  

[El Excellente]

34 minutes ago, Pilotfish said:

Enlistment in the Mobile Infantry is widely considered to be the toughest way to earn citizenship, though perhaps the easiest to sign up to. 

You're wrong! Service in the Mobile Infantry is the easiest (read: fastest) way to Citizenship, but the more dangerous!

[Father Lee]

Also the Qoute is Service Garuntees Citizen ship  Also Being in the Mobile Infantry is Fun I think we should take most of those slides from the "Would you like to know more" guy Canon He has some very Informative bits of Info. So if we can have like a Panel on the Server like a Public screen where we can access the FEDNET AKA the Forums and use the Forums ICly as the NET I think that would be cool. Or maybe make an Actual PDA addon that would be Cool AF.

[Spooks]

 "Why, the purpose is," he answered, hauling off and hitting me in the knee with a hammer (I kicked him, but not hard), "to find out what duties you are physically able to perform. But if you came in here in a wheel chair and blind in both eyes and were silly enough to insist on enrolling, they would find something silly enough to match. Counting the fuzz on a caterpillar by touch, maybe. The only way you can fail is by having the psychiatrists decide that you are not able to understand the oath."

 

As per the book, anyone can enlist for citizenship as long as they understand the oath. In effect this means you'll have people running dangerous mining jobs in asteroid belts all the way to being little experimental subjects for medical purposes. The only factor that changes is how long your term is (IIRC.) In other words, a guy who goes out fighting living knives is much more likely to get the point of citizenship, and thusly gain it than a guy who mines for twenty years.

[Spooks]

5 minutes ago, Maple Leaf Moosefucker said:

wait, so i cant make an edgy pacifist?

Actually, you can. You'll just gain citizenship via long hard hours of work.

[HoneyElk]

For my current character, Wendell Cheslock, I have him written as the only one in his immediate family to have entered military service via the Mobile Infantry, despite everyone in his family being citizens/in the process of attaining citizenship. Robert Heinlein, author of Starship Troopers, stated that only about 5% of people attain "Veteran" (The novel's equivalent of Citizenship) status through direct military service, with the vast majority instead attaining it through other civil service. While this is a debated statement (And the fact we're based upon the movie rather than the novel), it did get me thinking as to other ways one might attain Citizenship.

 

Cheslock's dad, for instance, went most of his early adult life without citizenship, managing a private construction firm. Following destruction in the colonies from one of the many Bug conflicts, in chose to devote his company to repair and rebuilding efforts, at great financial cost. While not risking life or limb, his decision sacrificed much profit and time, and demonstrated his willingness to support the Federation.

 

On another hand, Cheslock's sister, while not a member of a military branch, instead works in a Federation R&D department, designing and testing explosives. All though she isn't on front line service, I'd imagine her (And many others supporting the war effort) would be considered worthy of Citizenship for their devotion to sustaining the Federation. However, I believe it should be expected that her service may be much longer than Cheslock's on, due to the difference in sacrifices the two risk (One being energy and time, and the other being life and limb). 

 

It's in my belief that any sort of service that benefits the Federation and its people, alongside just what exactly is being risked and sacrificed, can warrant Citizenship. After all, one of the reasons we were able to assure ourselves a victory in WWII was not only the actions of generals and troopers, but the production, development and support of those on the homefront.

[MasterMedicMan]

On 10/31/2018 at 6:43 AM, Pilotfish said:

Are toilets cleaned in the name of the Federation by those looking for a license to have children?

"sonny, i've been shit slickin since before you was even an idear"