I love the idea of an easy-to-reference guide to the VE, with collected maps and an historical overview, but I cringe a little at the idea of "banned races."  I know it isn't meant in any kind of a malicious way, but that particular terminology has bothersome connotations for me.

The point is well taken, though - there are species which make for more plausible backstories, and less plausible backstories, and species which are "overpowered" in game terms, and others which have very little verifiable canon information, and are therefore perhaps less appropriate - but I wish there were a way to raise the overall level of verisimilitude without resorting to blanket restrictions.

That second link is brilliant!  What a great find!

On the army side we also need a wiki resource explaining SCOPE troopers and our equipment.

Thats why there is the middle ground of all the other unlisted species. The approved list is just a few species we're absolutely happy to have, the "difficult" list is those that require some thought and approval and the "banned" list we won't have

DeepSix wrote:So long as the accepted list will contain some sort of "but not limited to" clause

Good point

I can see both sides: yes, we want to encourage creativity, but yes, we also want some standard of "realism."

Perhaps the answer isn't in restricting choices, so much as it is in demanding explicit justification/explanation from the creator for his/her choices?  In other words, if you want to have a backstory that is more unusual, you can, but you have to be prepared to do more work than is typically required of new members, explaining how your unusual character made his/her/its way to service with the Vast Empire?  Freedom to choose, but responsibility to make supportable choices?  I'm not sure how the responsibility half would be "enforced," except through the various divisional trainers...

That would be nice but it would also not really end up working too well if accomplished. Certain individuals who aim for perfection or merely wish to make themselves stand out would view such a possibility as a challenge. The more restricted and taboo something is the more people will want to have/interact with it. That's just human nature... for better or for worse.

Let's assume though that the standards would be high enough to indeed only allow a few such exceptions. It wouldn't really be a problem if such individuals would find themselves stationed on some world/station/ship surrounded by "regular" folks. Given our club's numbers however said members would either be found in the same squadrons/squads or task forces/platoons. It would then become somewhat unrealistic for so many strange and quite possibly exceptional individuals to meet under those circumstances.

"Oh hi, i'm the last surviving member of my species."

"No kidding, well i'm a fellow that's been around since the days of the Old Republic, many millennia ago."

"Oh would you both shut up already? I'm trying to calibrate my suit so that i don't end up dying given the fact my kind can't usually leave our homeworld."

This is of course an exaggeration but i believe that through it my concerns become clearer however. Basically i'm saying that no matter how good and believable an individual background, it's somewhat unlikely for only one or maybe two such backgrounds to be approved. It would thus not be really credible for so many strange individuals to end up interacting with each other and it would be unfair to subsequently deny great backgrounds on account of "having to many of them".

I believe this is a point that should at least be considered when making this decision.

We could go ahead with Raz's plan and place a list of accepted species and guidelines. Anyone who wants to do something outside of that needs to write a short personal story going over their backstory to prove that they deserve to be an exception. And as far as I can tell from the bios of all the recruits that have gone through the Navy academy in the past year, the majority of our recruits want to be a twenty-something human former smuggler/moisture farmer/orphan/whatever. (no offense intended to said members)

I like the idea, and I think it goes without saying this is an Academy only proposal, in other words, anyone already in a squad would be "grandfathered in".

Logic is something this site prides itself on. For the most part our stories make an attempt at a logical arc as we move between our official chapters. That is what prompts the need for realism when it comes to who would actually be apart of our little group.

In a galactic sense, very few people would have even heard of the Vast Empire outside the VE controlled systems. So any species native to those planets would automatically make sense to join up. Humans are everywhere so as long as your home planet and back story make some semblance of sense you are good. Beyond that, to me, it would be like an American citizen joining the French Army...which would be highly unlikely. Then you have to add in physical and metabolic inhibitors native to the species that would also make joining a foreign military just unrealistic.

We tend to give everyone a wide berth as it is (considering no normal sized wookie, gungan, or noghri would be fitting in a standard TIE fighter cockpit or stormtrooper armor for example). I just think Raz's idea here would make the rules more clear before someone writes up a huge backstory for a species that is not allowed, because as far as I know we really don't have a standard list for character development currently in place.

And getting caught up on the terminology shouldn't be the issue here. These species are "not allowed" because we know it won't work in the stories without massive modifications to the way squads already do things. I'm all for being more creative, but I personally don't see why creativity requires a new species. I would find it far more creative and challenging to take an established species and blow me away with an interesting
backstory.

anyway that's my 2 credits.

I for one believe this is a great idea. Not just the species thing, the whole idea in general. Having a guide for recruits would greatly improve things in my opinion. Now, I'm not talking about something too lengthy, I still cringe at the dreaded wall of text.

But knowing the VE's history as well as some of our controlled planets would help. The question of "What exactly is VE space?" has come to mind many times. I haven't known exactly what we control, or who is in control of which planet. It's a good resource for recruits.

The species list also helps to. Not only does it help recruits know which species might be more difficult to write, it would also help to diversify recruits in my mind. By giving them a list of species, it might intrigue them to choose something other than human. I only have a limited knowledge of species, even with all my reading, but the list might help them research other species. But that's my opinion.

Anywho, back onto the topic of helping, I would except that only being here for a year, I'm not too in the know with VE canon. I would like to help with something though, considering I am the Lucky's Assistant of Training.

For brevity's sake we just discussed on iRC that:

"Recommended Species: these are the species we automatically allow"

Sounds more friendly

Trying to move this forward

Recommended Species: Species that are automatically accepted on biographies. These races are either located in Vast Empire Space or are prevalent/politically aligned enough to make them plausible.

Humans from Vast Empire controlled systems. By far the most common race in the VE military.

Trandoshans. Their violent nature and Imperial history makes them good candidates.

Cereans. Their homeworld, whilst neutral is located in VE space, so it is safe to assume they would be prevalent in the region.

Gran: Very common in Vast Empire Space

The Middle Ground: Most species not mentioned on the list would come under this category. A decision will be made on a case by case basis by academy trainers. For particularly rare or different species the character biography will be passed up to HC level for approval.

Twi'Lek. Have been used as slaves by the Empire and Republic before them. Part of the NR, but quite dispersed as a species.

Rodians

Humans from neutral worlds.

Bith: Said to be found galaxy wide.

Difficult Species: Those where there would be major barriers to joining the Vast Empire, due to history or political affiliation. If a Russian turned up on American soil, would they allow him to be a commando the next week? These would need a detailed biography that explained how they came to be a part of the VE and would definitely need HC approval. This list includes all species which have been heavily oppressed by the Empire in the past, are strongly affiliated with the New Republic, or are just quite rare and located far away. Any species that is particularly rare should be considered on this list.

Cathar: Rare and located on the far side of the galaxy.

Wookies: A general hatred for the Empire and not very well spread through the galaxy.

Mon Calamari: Murdered in the thousands by the Empire and located on the very far side of the galaxy.

Zabrak: "the Zabrak race united as one and joined the fledgling New Republic, determined to never again be put under the oppression they had suffered during the height of the [Empire]."

Humans from New Republic worlds. There must be some consideration given to how a human from these systems would join the VE


Banned Species: These which we will not accept under any circumstances. Either due to being far too rare, inconsistently described in material, not being established enough in EU canon, being too powerful or just not compatible with the VE. e.g.

Noghri
Dashade

A task for Fury of course is to decide where the two other Imperial remnant factions reside.

Bastion is the typical IR stronghold.

Wayland would be an option for thrawn's base.

As would the Hand of Thrawn on Nirauan

I find myself amused at both my characters being on the Difficult Species list. Makes sense in both cases, but amusing none the less.

Note on Recommended Species: I'm 95% sure I've read somewhere or other that Gran are very common in VE space. I just can't recall where. We don't use them much (ugly critters), but there's a lot of them.

We ought to throw Ewoks in on the Banned Species list. They shouldn't have any love for the Empire after Endor, are a bit too dumb generally to understand the concepts required to be a pilot or stormtrooper, and are physically too small. And I'll shoot the first person who throws prosthetics on one and tries to introduce me to 'Lieutenant Kettch' the starfighter pilot.

I'll help out with VE canon/history wiki pages, if Raz or Fury can give me a few topics to focus on first (as broad or narrow as you like). May take several weeks at least, but I'll get 'em done.

-Drac

Yes, we've got most of the Gran worlds in our sphere. Consider them to be one of the majority species in our faction. At least, in the recent history of incorporating new worlds.