The OBV goals and methods section says "the Order recruits anyone from the British armed forces who displays an ability to wield magic, no matter their rank. If found capable of handling the responsibility that such power carries, any recruit of a non-officer rank is commissioned as such"
The Initiation and Advancement section says "New inductees to the Order undergo rigorous tests to ascertain their abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. If they prove themselves disciplined enough, and of having the raw potential necessary to wield magic effectively, they...".
So what if they are judged "magician material", but not "officer material"? Say a low SL cockney who can't read or write? Or worse yet, a low-caste, non-white member of a Colonial Regiment who barely has enough English to understand orders? I know that historically, lower class enlisted did receive battle-field commissions, but they still had standards like requiring literacy. Are they just put through remedial training until they can become an officer? Or what?
Where might somebody who trained in the traditions of a traditional native religion, who ended up in the military before awakening as a Shaman end up? OBV? Chaplin? Elsewhere?
Just so people know the direction I am heading, I am trying to develop an NPC who is a non-english shaman, who has been tasked by the British (government, military, and/or Anglican Church - probably all three) to study saurid shamanism. He would be doing this after his own shaman powers first start to manifest, but while they are still developing and long before he has anything figured out. I want to make him a major founding figure in a terrestrial shamanism lodge under development.
I am figuring that his backstory might be that he had some training as a zulu shaman in his youth, but did not complete the training and ended up enlisting in a British Colonial Regiment to earn a living. His regiment was shipped from Africa to the Gruv as soon as the link was established, and it was there he found the rituals of his ancestors were suddenly actually working.
I don't really see an (initially) illiterate zulu private being invited into the OBV, and I don't really see them being in favor of shamanism in general, which is fine because I don't really want him in OBV as I want him to found a terrestrial Lodge not affiliated with the OBV. But I am wondering what the OBV's attitude towards him might be, and whether they would be a friend, foe, or indifferent of his new Lodge.
On the other hand, I do see some parts of the OBV, the Anglican Church, and the government in general being interested in the results of a study of Saurid Shamanism, and figuring that a (suitably discrete and cooperative) terrestrial shaman might be a valuable team member in such a project.
So anyway, I think I have the backstory pretty much all put together, but the thing I have the most doubt about is what his interactions with the OBV most likely were, his feelings about the OBV, and the OBV's feelings about him, especially if he is still in the military (possibly detached to some other agency).Statistics:Posted by ChrisDDickey — Mon Jun 10, 2019 7:40 pm
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