He's probably disqualified himself on the grounds of a) virtual immortality makes some of the threat/danger-related criteria pointless and b) he could end up looking like a generalissimo from some banana republic with all the bars and badges and whatnot on his chest, and even if they were obtained honestly, there would always be the impression that they might not have been, and that would be bad for morale and all that.

-- Bob
(Proud member of the Legion of Rabid Crack Weasels)
-------------------
Kosh:  "Who are you?"
Morden: "What do you want?"
Ivanova: "I'll be in the car."

That's why Gryphon doesn't usually wear his full fruit salad for dress-uniform occasions - just the Star of Salusia, the Corellian Bloodstripe, and his First Contact Medal for Vorlas. Hell, he'd have to put his collection of campaign ribbons on microfiche to fit it on his chest, and that big silver-hammer MechWarrior award from Lyra gets heavy after an hour or so... :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor in Chief, Netadmin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/

Anybody know the names of the medals and the Secret
Order ranks from TIE Fighter? I no longer have my
copy of the software. :P

-RT

UF-Red doesn't have much of -any- medals, actually. He has ribbons for MASS service, TacFleet service, and Command service; Sharpshooter, Survivor, Pilot, and Infiltrator confirmation; and the Bullhorn. These are all automatic gives. The planets, the Purple Heart, the Black Star, and especially the Medal of Fortitude all require the recommendation of one's commanding officer, though. As a result, UF-Red only has the first level Medal of Fortitude, awarded in 2008 for "services in founding, protecting, and commanding the CFMF".

He's never recieved any additional clusters to the Medal because, in the Freespacers' eyes, "oh, he's Redneck, he's -supposed- to do that."

Redneck (yay, gratitude)

Perils of being a legend, y'know.

Look at the bright side: he does have that Salusian knight-defender-hood.

--
Geoff Depew - Mephron
Haberdasher to Androids, Malakite of Lightning and Angel of Tech Support Professionals
EPU RCW #1

Shhhhh!! }:-{D

UF-Red only displays his Order of the Knight-Defender honors when he needs a favor from the Salusians (or when he needs to bully them around). He keeps the honor secret the rest of the time.

Redneck

Err, this confuses me. Wasn't that honor awarded in a rather public ceremony? <yeah yeah, it was a few centuries back, but Salusians are rather longer lived than humans, so I'd imagine, among Salusians anyway, it'd still be relatively common knowledge>

	-={(Astynax)}=- "Darkness beyond Twilight"

Name everybody the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland knighted last year.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor in Chief, Netadmin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/

I get the point, but there -is- a difference <maybe not enough of one, but..>

1. Salusia is, I'd wager, a bit more important on the international stage than the UK currently is <maybe not by much, but by enough>

2. Knight Defender is, IIRC, awarded far less liberally than modern UK knighthood.

I'm probably splitting hairs here, but it's different to me...

	-={(Astynax)}=- "Darkness beyond Twilight"

Well, yes and no.

The UK, as a nation, isn't all that important. However, the monarch of the UK is -also- the monarch of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and a lot of other places, so the monarch's importance as a head of state is bigger than the principal state she's head of.

>2. Knight Defender is, IIRC, awarded far less liberally than modern UK
>knighthood.

True, to a limited extent. Still, a knighthood is generally unimportant to the public at large, and although the knighting may be scandalous, the event will be forgotten in a matter of weeks, even among the Salusians.

As a general rule, the people who know about the Redneck's knighthood are:

(1) Asrial, Jeremy, and their cronies;

(2) the other Knights-Defender;

(3) about 400 or so Salusian nobility, who keep very close tabs on the honors passed around by Her Majesty;

(4) about 400 or 500 reporters who worked on the story of the Greub Pretendership;

(5) a handful of historians who pore the meticulous records kept by the Royal Archivists;

(6) however many people the Redneck has used his knighthood upon as leverage; and

(7) a tiny handful of other people who have long memories, aquaintance with the Redneck, or most usually both.

There aren't that many Freespacers in that number, and that's the way UF-Red prefers it.

Redneck

OK, let's put this into the perspective you suggest - which is convenient, as it also accounts for the time differential present in Future Imperfect.

Name anybody who was made a peer of the English crown in 1602.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor in Chief, Netadmin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/

Incidentially, why is UF-Red so keen on keeping his patent of nobility a secret? Is he afraid that everyone will start calling him "Sir Redneck"? :)

-Joe-

The three Planets are not based strictly on valor- nor, for that matter, is the Medal of Fortitude. (The original full name is "Medal of Intestinal Fortitude," and some Condorcet-descended families refer to it as the Medal of Testicular Fortitude, but neither name passed the Legate.) The various Planets are levels of 'you did better than we expected you to,' and the MoF is 'you did more and better than anyone had any right to expect of anyone.' Valor's only part of it, and it isn't even required for the Green Planet, which is awarded as often as not for inventors or accountants as for front-line personnel.

> In any case, I think everyone
>present would agree that UF-Red's 1st Level Medal of Fortitude is
>well-deserved many times over. Better to wear one ribbon that _means_
>something than a whole chestful of pretty "warm-room" baubles. (cf.
>the Victoria Cross, the Medal of Honor)

Under normal circumstances, UF-Red's dress uniform is ribbon and medal free. He only puts on the hardware (including medals awarded by other services) when he wants to come over The Admiral with a vengeance.

>Incidentially, why is UF-Red so keen on keeping his patent of nobility
>a secret? Is he afraid that everyone will start calling him "Sir
>Redneck"? :)

No, there's a serious reason.

The Order of the Knight-Protector is the innermost core of the Salusian Monarchy's defenders. They are both the Monarch's bodyguard and the Monarch's generals, in one package. They are expected to be the most loyal, -personally,- to the crown: the events of the Greub Pretendership are a major abberation.

As such, the oaths required of a Knight-Protector include an oath of fealty more stringent than any other office or honor under the Salusian Crown. Technically, as a Knight-Defender, UF-Red is a feudal lord under patent from, and owing fealty to, Queen Asrial... and this poses a potential conflict of interest with being CINC of the rabidly independent CFMF, to say nothing of the Freespacer Alliance government.

Although the conflict is not -truly- there (the Greub Pretendership occurred almost precisely a year after the end of UF-Red's term as Freespacer chief of state), he still doesn't want it noised about that if Asrial ever gave him a direct order, no matter what it was or who else it involved, he'd be obliged to carry it out with any and all forces at his disposal.

Redneck