A short article on a Gormelite military force (of a country mentioned in two of the
Gormel posts):
Commune of the Great Islands Cybery
The second youngest (predating the Spacey by a few decades) and historically smallest of the CGI's armed forces, the Cybery, as the name implies, is
responsible for cyberwarfare. It was created well before the Final War by integrating the primary cyberwarfare units of the other armed services. In the modern era, the Cybery is slightly larger than the Spacey, and nearly equal in size to the Airy... none of which are particularly large.
Ranks
The rank titles are 'close enough' translations, rather than exact names; they were largely taken from the CGI Army's Division of Signals. Rank insignia are marked on the shoulders of the harness, and on the helmet.
Rank 8 [40]
Marshal of the Cybery (w/Courtesy Rank 1 [1]) (one tree, encircled) (No official living holder, one Acting holder at a time.)
Rank 7 [35]
Division Marshal (two triple-point leaves) (No living holders.)
Brigade Marshal (one triple-point leaf) (No living holders.)
Rank 6 [30]
Colonel (three double-point leaves) (No living holders.)
Rank 5 [25]
Lieutenant Colonel (two double-point leaves) (No living holders.)
Rank 4 [20]
Captain Major (one double-point leaf)
Rank 3 [15]
Captain (three single-point leaves)
Chief Ensign (two single-point leaves)
Ensign (one single-point leaf)
Courtesy Rank 3 [3]
Officer Cadet (one to three round pips, showing number of years of study)
Rank 2 [10]
Sergeant Major of the Cybery (w/Courtesy Rank 6 [6]) (four hash-marks & one three-point star) (No living holder.)
Sergeant Major (w/Courtesy Rank 5 [5]) (four hash-marks & three lozenges) (No living holders.)
Master Sergeant (w/Courtesy Rank 4 [4]) (four hash-marks & two lozenges) (No living holders.)
Senior Sergeant (w/Courtesy Rank 3 [3]) (four hash-marks & one lozenge)
Technical Sergeant (w/Courtesy Rank 2 [2]) (four hash-marks)
Staff Sergeant (w/Courtesy Rank 1 [1]) (three hash-marks)
Sergeant (two hash-marks)
Rank 1 [5]
Signalman (one hash-mark)
Rank 0 [0]
Apprentice Signalman (one broken hash-mark)
Recruit (no insignia)
Notes
A 'hash-mark' is a thick, curved line with an outline in a contrasting colour or shade.
Uniforms (for Gormelites) consist of a distinctive harness with rank and other insignia, attachment points for armour and other equipment, and the standard military headgear, meaning either a cloth headband, a khepi-like hat with a narrow, all-around brim, or a helmet oddly similar to Earth WWI
Brodie helmets. Pre-Final War, the Cybery's dress uniform included a smallsword, but due to the difference in height and bulk between the average Gormellian and the average Gormelite, this has since been replaced by a large sabre designed as a sword-bayonet. The modern uniforms tend to have a lot of wear, or poor quality control.
Common weapons are defensive in nature, as Cybery personnel are generally not front-line troopers. These include experimental (photokinetic) laser carbines, experimental sonic screamers, sonic nauseators, gyrocs, and a few Liquid Propellant PDWs & pistols (along with an assortment of whatever else is available that they can find ammunition for). They tend not to use Gauss or EMP weapons, even when such are available. In parade uniform (something that they haven't had much occasion to use since the Final War), most units carried bolt-action rifles with bayonets fixed.
Thoughts?