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LORE BUILDER: ELEVEN: Squadron Numbering & Celebrities. Spectrum Dispatch - Comm-Link
Hello and welcome to another installment of LORE BUILDER, where we work with the community to help develop and flesh out corners of the Star Citizen universe. As always, I will direct any readers to the caveats and background reading listed in the beginning of the first issue to bring you up to speed on what’s been established.
So let’s jump right in.
SQUADRON NUMBERING SYSTEM
This is just a guess, but I seemed to gather that you all are leaning towards maintaining the current phonetic alphabet. I’m not sure, I might have to put together a poll …
Anyway, 
Sengar had used the original phonetic alphabet in his original post. When going through edits internally, the question was raised as to whether the terms would be updated (“Golf” and “Foxtrot” seemed particularly unlikely). Then Rob found a web page that charted the number of changes to the system within the past century (here’s the link for those interested), so I started changing them, but we can go back to the original/common version.
Moving on, Dzur had a fantastic write-up on how to update the general system. Here is a link to the complete post. After some discussion with him, we were able to work out an updated version of the overall organizational structure of the Navy and how they are named and numbered.
We’ll start from the very top:
IMPERATOR
Head of the UEE
HIGH COMMAND
The H.C. Legatus Navium is the highest ranking member of the Navy and represents the branch in the government. He or she dictates policy more than operational control.
GRAND ADMIRAL
Excerpt from Dzur’s email: “… similar to how the 5 stars worked during WWI or WWII, kind of a chairman and the joint chiefs all rolled into a single person, but with overall operational authority as well.”
MAJOR FLEETS
Named after Earth’s constellations, each fleet is commanded by an Admiral.
REGIONAL FLEET COMMANDER
Vice Admiral who oversees Fleet activity in specific regions of the Major Fleet’s Area of Operation. Named after universe landmarks (i.e. Gamma Region Commander, Cancer Fleet).
SPECIALTY GROUP COMMANDER
Vice Admiral In Charge of the Squadrons Assigned to the Major Fleet, reports to Fleet Admiral. Here’s a pass at the possible groups for the types of ships that could be included in a standard Carrier Air Wing:
IF = Intercept Fighter Group (Hornets)
IT = Intercept Torpedo Group (Gladiators)
EW = Early Warning Group (Hornets)
VB = Intercept Bomber Group (Retaliators)
BATTLE GROUP
Usually consists of 1 Main Carrier, 2-4 Escorts and large Combat/Support Vessels. Use Numbers for designation (312th Battle Group). These are run by Rear Admiral who reports to Regional Fleet Commander.
CAP SHIP CAPTAINS
Officers of various ranks (examples from Dzur’s email: a Carrier skipper would be a Captain, while a Destroyer, Cruiser, or Battleship skipper would be a Commander, a frigate or support vessel skipper may be a Lieutenant-Commander) who report to Rear Admiral.
CAW assigned to the battlegroup shares the number assigned to the carrier. This initial number for the first ship in the class is randomly determined and then subsequent ships are numbered sequentially.
Capital ships designations:
CV = Fleet Carrier
CVE = Escort Carrier
BB = Battleship
CA = Cruiser
CBC = Battlecruiser
DD = Destroyer
FF = Frigate
FFL = Frigate Light
K = Corvette
AP = Transport
AOG = Tanker
SQUADRONS
Squadrons are under the command of the Carrier Air Wing Commander who is stationed on thelargest carrier in the Battle Group and reports to the Rear Admiral.
I don’t want to bite off too much of this topic in one post, so we’ll save organization within the squadrons for next week and do a final write-up of the complete system. Thanks again to Dzur for making himself available to field questions and develop this further.
For our second topic of the week, like the pirate packs/mercs/syndicates, this is going to be an open topic. It’s something that, love them or hate them, will probably always exist with Humanity:
CELEBRITIES
Actors, writers, musicians, painters (yes, they still exist), athletes, media darlings of all stripes, come one come all.
Here’s an excerpt from the Writer’s Guide on the types of media that we’ve established thus far:
The web of information and entertainment is known as the Spectrum. Many of the forms of entertainment from today still exist, just changed, advanced. For example, there are movies and shows called Vids, that are effectively all on demand. Books are exclusively digital. Painting is as well. Music too. There are still celebrities, and NewsOrgs still do local nightly news and produce the equivalent of online newspapers.
You don’t necessarily need to limit yourself to these. If you come up with some interesting interactive media that make sense within the universe, by all means, write them down.
In the comments below, write up a description of a celebrity in the Star Citizen universe. Make them interesting or obnoxious. Pretentious or inspiring. Idiots or the real deal. Have fun with them.
The only rule is going to be the same one used for the pirate packs:
Please keep these descriptions to a single paragraph. It’s much more difficult, I know, but that limitation will help you keep their appearance, identifying traits and/or personalities succinct and distinctive.
That’s it for this week. Good luck.
Until next time …