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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Creamsteak" data-source="post: 4773413" data-attributes="member: 552">Simply by being a member of the Military Caste you have no legally recognized rights. That goes so far as to include basic human rights. Someone with a rank of 1 might be a small child, an elderly grandmother, a town guard, or a 36 year veteran with more combat experience than half the army combined.Someone with a rank of 2 has legal authority over anyone with a rank of 1 that they so choose to take authority over (that is not already under the orders/commands of someone with a rank of 2 or higher). It's a simple no-nonsense system that demands respect from ones superiors and responsibility towards ones subordinates. This made sense on landing in the wild lands... when everyone was a soldier. But war has persisted in one form or another for a long time now. There are families here now. There are farms. There are merchants and hospitals and even a select few nobles. The structure largely adapted as necessity saw fit. A system of hard and fast law that asked no questions and gave no quarter has been bogged down by additional caveats and rules over generations. Because a corrupt chain of command could easily take actions that harm their subordinates unduly, the middle years when the last of the original expedition were aging out were full of protectionist clauses and rules. Quickly, a series of microgovernments formed within the militocracy. Members of the 5th regiment follow different rules than members of the 6th regiment. The best analogy I can think of is the roman army. People carry their units pride on their shoulders.For a PC, the value of this is all in how you use it. The use you mentioned is defensive in nature (I can avoid some authority). The opposite angle would be offensive in the nature (I can have some authority). Neither of which are actually very useful in the hands of someone who doesn't understand them. The real power is visible in the hands of someone that can use them to fulfill goals. Maybe those goals are political in nature, or perhaps more tyrannical, or perhaps more civic. It represents just as much a responsibility as it does an advantage, so at the end of the day it's somewhat of a wash.Note that the feat (if taken) isn't the only way to earn a rank. Anyone can be promoted with or without a feat. What it represents is an advantage over others of similar standing and reputation. It's also something that I'll put a lot of weight on for how NPCs treat a person. Maybe there's a circumstance bonus/penalty to some diplomacy checks or similar, but that's on my side of the table and I won't make any declarations one way or another regarding it.</blockquote>

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