STC Academy

Desert Combat Training, 9 ABY

"Smuggler, Assassin, Bounty Hunter, Thief, Upper-class, Lower-class, Ex-Military, Convict - these have been your masks in life, but no longer will you have to be indifferent. You have taken your first step toward a life worth living by joining the Vast Empire Stormtrooper Corps; it is here, in the Academy, will you develop a camaraderie unlike any other. You will have life-long friendships with people that will eat, sleep, and even die for you.

Remove your mask. You are now a soldier of the Vast Empire Army, and we all wear the face of the 'White Terror'."

- High General Cleric "Cosmic" Vor'soth

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Introduction

Welcome to the Stormtrooper Academy. This is a temporary information page, until we get the website working. Most information pertaining to your training is found here. You can also use this page as a reference in the future, in case something is forgot.

ID Lines

TRN/PVT Fakinus/.SQD/.PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE/

That is an ID Line. Every section in it tells information about the trooper in question. Breaking it down, we can learn:

TRN/PVT Fakinus/.SQD/.PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE/

Position Slot. From his ID Line, we automatically learn he is a TRN, which stands for Trainee. The most basic is TRP, which stands for Trooper. Positions

TRN/PVT Fakinus/.SQD/.PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE/

Rank Slot. This tells us the rank of the trooper. In Fakinus's case, he is a Private. Every rank has a special accronym for the ID Line. Ranks

TRN/PVT Fakinus/.SQD/.PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE/

Callsign Slot. The obvious slot. Just spell your callsign right :P

After this slot we get into the platoon, and squad specific things. For this demonstration we will pretend you are in a squad right now to make the explanation easier. When you are in the Academy your SQD and PLT will be read as .SQD/.PLT since you have neither squad or platoon right now.

TRN/PVT Fakinus/2SQD/.PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE/

Squad Slot. The number here is the important part. It tells you what squad he is in. You need to check the Roster to see which squad corresponds with the number. Must be used in conjunction with the next slot.

TRN/PVT Fakinus/.SQD/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE/

Platoon Slot. This number tells you where Fakinus's Squad is, in one of the two Army platoon's.

TRN/PVT Fakinus/2SQD/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE/

Company Slot. We only have one Company, so this number for every trooper is 1.

TRN/PVT Fakinus/.SQD/.PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE/

Battalion Slot. We only have one Battalion, so this number for every trooper is 1.

TRN/PVT Fakinus/.SQD/.PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE/

Regiment Slot. We only have one Regiment, so this number for every trooper is 1.

TRN/PVT Fakinus/.SQD/.PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE/

Army Slot. This slot just shows you are part of the Army, not Navy. Wear it proudly :)

TRN/PVT Fakinus/.SQD/.PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE/

Vast Empire Slot. You are a member of the Vast Empire. All ID Lines wear this.

TRN/PVT Fakinus/.SQD/.PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE/ [ES2][GRP][GRP][ES1]

Medals. These are not official part of your ID Line, but most put their medals directly behind the ID Line, leaving one space between them and the ID Line, and no spaces between medals. To find out what each medals means, look here: Stormtrooper Corps Medals

Weekly Reports

In the main, a report should include the following:

• What stories you have written or contributed to in the last week including specialty stories
• What graphics you have made in the last week
• What additions or alterations you have made to any squad or character website in the last week
• What games you have participated in during the last week
• What plans you have for next week
• You id-line in full

Some SL's like long reports, most like short simple ones. So, just find out what your SL likes and do it in that format.

Squad Leader, Assistant Squad Leader, Trooper

The most common positions in the Army are Trooper, Assistant Squad Leader, and Squad Leader.

Trooper: What you will be upon entering your new Squad. You finally get to post on your own Squad's story. Also, a Trooper gets to report every week to their ASL and SL. Troopers are the backbone of the Army, without you, we'd have nothing.

Assistant Squad Leader: This position is a Squad Leader in training. They get to help the SL with regular squad activities, look after the squad when the SL is on leave, and they get to receive trooper reports. They are chosen by the Squad Leader.

Squad Leader: The highest position without going into a command position of the Army. They get to start squad stories, make sure the story is continuing fluidly. Also they get to receive trooper's reports, and report to the Platoon Commander themselves. A Squad Leader is a respected position, and maybe is the most important position in the entire Army.

Command Structure

This is a shortened version of the command structure. There are multiple explanations of it throughout the site. This is only for a quick view, and maybe help hold you over till you find the more descriptive ones.

The Abbreviations after located in parenthesizes after the position.

The military chain of command as determined by the Stormtrooper Corps is as follows:

• High Council (HC)
• Prefect (PRF)
• Executive Officer (EO)
• Regimental Commander (RC)
• Company Commander (CC)
• Platoon Leader (PL)
• Squad Leader (SL)
• Assistant Squad Leader (ASL)
• Trooper (TRP)

There is some slight distinction between the next few ranks. We tend to be apart from the main Army, and have our own command structure.

• Commander of Training (CoT)
• Training Instructor (TI)
• Trainee (TRN)

There are assistant positions, but they are not in the Chain of Command parse. You do respect them, and listen, but are not necessarily required to follow their orders. But, if an assistant gives you something to do, it's generally advisable to do it. Or at least ask before you flat out refuse.

• Prefect of the Army Assistant (PoA:A)
• Executive Officer Assistant (EO:A)
• Commander of Training Assistant (CoT:A)
• Tactical Officer Assistant (TO:A)
• Commander of Development Assistant (CoD:A)

Combat Specialization (aka "Specialties")

In order to properly fulfill your role as a stormtrooper, you need to choose an area of specialization. This allows you to interact with your squad and assist and support as best as you can.

If your interests lie in saving lives, become a combat medic. Want to become a slicer? Start out as a communications tech and move up to the slicer advanced level. Want to lay waste to New Republic forces? Become a heavy weapons specialist.

The trooper specialization program is a way of not only adapting the new troopers to the writing style of the Vast Empire, but it allows all troopers to develop good, solid characters. Specialties provide an opportunity to establish your character with chances to do some character building that would otherwise not be allowed in the normal squad Run-ons due to focus on the mission.

Specializations

Writing Reference

Word Processors

In general, we recommend that you write with a word processor when writing your posts in instead of writing directly onto the little posting box in comnet simply for the fact of keeping your post safe as well as being able to double check for typos and spelling errors.

The majority of people here use MSword but if you don’t have MSword, then I’d recommend the following freeware. OpenOffice: Openoffice.org Abiword: Abisource.com GoogleDocs Google Docs

You will not just be able to check your posts for errors and such but also be able to store them onto your hard drive.

Narrative Form

What is narrative forms?

It’s basically the perspective in which your write. Now the two main forms are.

1st person’s view:

I frowned at my own reflection and sighed. I started brushing my teeth.

And

3rd person’s view:

She frowned at her own reflection and sighed. She started to brush her teeth.

Now we use the third person’s view when we post in our squads, or with other people. 1st person’s view is for personal stories if you prefer.

Tenses

We write in the past tense. If we all wrote in difference tenses, our squad stories wouldn’t sync with each other at all. Please be sure that you always writing in the correct tense.

Example:

Present tense:

She doesn’t know what to say.

Past Tense:

She didn’t know what to say.

Typos and Grammar

Typos are when you accidentally mistyped a word.

Example:

Taht: That Wordl: World Etc.

Watchout for them. Always re-read your post before posting.

Grammar is another matter.

It is not possible that your grammar will be perfect always. And I guess a majority of people reading this are still very much new at writing. But always try and keep tabs on your grammar.

Is the tenses correct? Did you spell correctly. Etc.

If you’re not sure, you can always ask some of the more senior writers here. They are always willing to help.

Watch out for similar sounding words such as Knight and night Their and there. Etc.

Italics

When to use them and not to use them.

Italics in general are used to indicate thought.

I can’t do this. Not this. Aeos thought to herself.

It is used to emphasize something.

The lion stared at its prey. The rabbit couldn’t understand his instincts.

When a ship’s name is indicated.

She stared at her new ship with a grin. The Flying Butler just needed a paint job and then they would be in business.

To indicate a flashback.

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Example:

Samual glanced at Bob with a frown.

“Hi dude, you’re spacing out me.” Bob shook his thoughts loose and grinned back at Sam and shook his head.

“What were you thinking off?” Sam asked his friend.

Bob frowned, the memories suddenly replaying by default.

”No!”

“Yes you will do it.”

A blaster pistol was shoved in his hand. Somewhere in the background a woman was crying. The rain splattered across his teenage face. In front of him an elderly man was kneeling. Bob shuddered and tried to suppress the wave of fury that swept over him. He threw the pistol aside and stared back his father and mentor with furious eyes.

“I don’t give a damn about the business. But I’m going to do this.”

Bob grinned again at Sam.

“Just wondering whether we will be having pie for lunch."

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Usually, when we want to indicate an Emphasis on a word while being in a flashback we would use bold.

Now, you can apply italics and bold through the little post menu which has HTML buttons.

NB: Do not change your font or font size.

Writing in the Vast Empire

How does it work?

The Vast Empire is not like most of the writing websites or forums you’re accustomed to. Our posts are generally longer, the quality better, but what really makes us different is the fact that we roleplay each other’s characters.

What does this mean?

You for example will have the authority to have my character engage in dialogue or actions. You will share dual-control along with your squad on eachother’s characters.

It may sound strange, but it is a lot of fun.

There is a few rules here.

At all times you will respect someone else's character when using him. You will not use other characters to elevate your own character.

Private First Class Example101 clipped the pistol back to his hip dusted his hands off his bloodied pants. “Wow Private. You are so cool!” Captain Aeos piped staring at the man next to her in awe. Example101 grinned and shrugged. “It was nothing.”

Research someone else’s character before using them.

What is their likes and dislikes. How do they dress? Are they friendly? Extroverted or quiet? We roleplay each other's characters while by default respecting said characters. It is expected you will do the same.

Godmodding

Godmodding is when your character is capable of feats and skills not logical or possible in relation to the world, his age, race and experience.

That includes being able to talk 7 languages, be skilled in hand-to-hand combat. Knowledge in all weaponry and being a natural born leader all in one go at the age of 23.

Give your character some flaws and weaknesses. It’s essential to developing him or her. Split personality or maybe he or she is coward? For example. My character. Aeos. She dislikes violence, and in general she’s not very capable on the field at times. She’s an excellent strategist though.

Example of a godmodding post.

Example101 unclipped his pistol and shoved Aeos out of the way as a rebel tried to take a shot at her. His excellent reflexes responded within time and he himself managed to dodge the bolt aimed at his heart. Without much trouble the rebel fell to the ground as Example took aim. The trooper didn’t stop there when he noticed seven other rebels replacing the rebel he had shot. Within five minutes he managed to shoot them all.

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Limit your character’s skills. Don’t make him or her a pilot, a weaponsmith, hacker and soldier all in one go. Most people at the age of the age of twenty don’t have any skills. Most people who joins up in the Army don’t have skills save what they learned back home. If your character was so good and what they were doing before why have them join up an Empire where they start at rock bottom?

NB: Our enemy characters are not stupid. They are just as skilled as your character is and maybe even better. Please be logical when writing.

NPC’s

Non-player character.

In order to make our world bigger here, we create extra characters who more or less can be played by anyone. This mean, the character does not have an account and is not a representative of someone from the real-world.

Our Empire contains millions and millions of troopers. Yet our current roster count doesn’t even account for a hundred of those troopers. The rest of those millions would only be NPC’s.

Cliches

Some typical biographies and scenarios we have seen here includes the following.

• Character is sadistic and violent.
• Character doesn’t care and will only kill.
• Character was a bounty hunter.
• Character was an assassin.
• Character first started killing as a young kid.
• Character has multiple skills

Nothing wrong with it, but some originality doesn’t hurt ;)

Bad and good posts

Bad post:

Supertrooper walked around the car and looked for the sqaud leader. Supertrooper found him. Teh bomb went off. I ran as fast as I could. Then Supertrooper turned and fired his BFG-1000 at the platoon of troopers that killed them all.

"Oh yea."

"What happened?"

"I killed them, yea!"

"Nice job Supertrooper."

We went to the base an dhad fewd.

Good post:

Supertrooper walked around the car, searching for the Squad-Leader. He managed to spot his squad-leader and was about to call him over when the world suddenly shook. A bomb had gone off. He ran as fast as he could. Supertrooper unclipped his DC-15 and took aim at the lone rebel who was trying to hide behind a pile of debris. The shot only managed to cripple the rebel. Etc Etc.

The Star Wars World

We have our world which is set into the Star Wars world. Here we don’t speak English. We speak basic. Earth as a planet doesn’t exist. Be sure to research about the Star Wars world. Creatures and planets and weapons and different types of alien races.

How to improve your writing?

Read. A lot.

My first language is Afrikaans. A dialect of the Dutch Language. When I first started here, my English was bad. Really really bad. And the only thing that helped it was by reading A LOT. So guys, if you really want to improve your quality of writing, trust me. Just read. Any storybook. But improving your writing doesn’t happen by itself. Sure, you can fix your grammar and all that, but you only start to get a feel and style as you read various other books.