Rank Structure

Since I needed to type up an exportable version anyway for a comment response, I thought I might as well share the Table of Ranks of the Imperial Service and Imperial Military Service with everyone.

It’s in this spreadsheet, since WordPress doesn’t give me a good way to do tables.

 

8 thoughts on “Rank Structure

  1. Curious that the Stratarchies don’t have any warrant-grade ranks.

    Also curious that the Imperial Navy’s Flight Ops seems to have its own rank terminology despite not (technically) being a separate branch. I’m guessing there’s a historical reason for this?

    • On the former, warrant officer billets are usually for tech specialists outside the standard ratings. Since the stratarchies are all tech specialists, they don’t need a special category for them.

      On the latter: I did mention that the IN draws from both wet naval and air force traditions.

  2. How do our intrepid elves render honours? The salute used by the majority of armed forces is a descendant from opening ones helmet visor so one may be identified.(It also means your weapon hand is too busy to grab a weapon). Did the Eldrae salute come from the era of armoured close combat, or something else?

    • Not heard of that explanation before; the origin I’d heard of involved hat-doffing/tipping, and makes a little more sense as pretty much everyone had a hat, and removing it in the presense of some notional superior was a thing.

      Conversely, full-face great helms with openable visors would be very rare due to the expense of making the damn things which were basically comfort features. The sort of person who’d be wearing one would probably also be decked out in heraldic bling-of-war so as to be clearly identifiable from a distance. Also note that ‘not wielding a weapon’ wouldn’t necessarily have been a thing either; shields are hard and hefty and most kinds were built with the assumption you’d bash with them…

    • The Imperial salute is the hand-over-heart one (the Military Service use a closed fist; on formal occasions, the civilian Service render the same salute with an open hand, palm inwards); it’s a reaffirmation of one’s word to the Service. Upgrading to actual chest-thumping is optional, and usually reserved for while in armor. If you happen to be wearing a suitable formal sword (i.e., for the most part, a teirian, not just a hanrian), salute with that.

      (Look-I-have-no-weapon traditions didn’t have a foundation in the Empire. Partly that’s because in cultures descended from the Ungoverned Era going around notably unarmed is a social faux pas, but also because everyone knows that an unarmed chap can still kill you with their brain.)

  3. How exactly does a logarchy differ from a ministry? Are logarchies under the jurisdiction of the seven top-level ministries? Also, what is the difference between a Fleet Admiral and a Grand Admiral?

    • It’s similar to a line/staff distinction: the ministries do the work of governance and the logarchies (collectively the Imperial Service) provide the support structure for the ministries: archiving, computation, engraving & printing, pay and rations, all that sort of thing handled centrally. All the unglamorous work that keeps the Service supplied, staffed, housed, funded, informed, and able to do its job. They answer to the Secretary-General of the Imperial Service / Lord Keeper of the Registry of the Imperial Service, who’s part of the Imperial Household rather than going through the Council of Ministers.

      As for the latter distinction, a Fleet Admiral is the commander of an entire directional fleet, or similar, which is largely an administrative post; a Grand Admiral, on the other hand, is a roving post typically handed an entire battle fleet (collection of task forces) and given a remit to go forth and shoot trouble enforce the will of Their Divine Majesties in the field.

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