I hope I’m not out of line for making this suggestion, but it’s a little something I’ve been thinking of. It is adding a rank structure to the membership of the site to show numbers of troops, officer positions, and honorary members.
The rank structures are split into four categories: Member Ranks, Voted Ranks, Appointed Ranks, and Awarded Ranks. I am only giving the Navy Ranks, but some may prefer Marine Ranks. That would be dependent on how difficult it would be to code those.
MEMBER RANKS
Member ranks are for people to show off how long they have been in armor. It starts with someone who registers with the forum, receiving a rank of Candidate (no matter whether they are a visor or a costumer). When they complete their costume and it is approved, they immediately receive the rank of Petty Officer Second Class. Now is where it gets a little more fun.
Each event that a person does has a point value assigned to it. The number of points each event has is determined by the number of characters (in costume) at the event. A birthday party with three characters would be worth three points. A parade with seven characters would be worth seven points. A convention with eleven characters would be worth eleven points. If an event is organized by 343i, or 343i is present and the costumer troops with them, then the point total for that event is doubled.
What do the points get? At 125 points, the member is promoted to Petty Officer First Class. At 250 points, the member is promoted to Chief Petty Officer. At 500 points, they are promoted to Senior Chief. Finally, at 1000 points, they are promoted to the coveted rank of Master Chief Petty Officer.
The higher ranks cannot be earned in just a couple of years, though it is possible to earn PO1 in a year if you troop hard. The numbers also encourage recruitment without outright offering incentives to troop. The rank itself can even be officially used on “custom” armor (non-face character).
VOTED RANKS
I don’t know how voting is going to go, whether there will be a legacy commander, or what is going to happen. However, with my idea for Time-In-Club ranks, it would be beneficial to offer a similar ranking structure for officers of the club. For that reason, I am suggesting the following organization and rank structure.
The Division as a whole will be commanded by a Vice Admiral. The Division XO will have the rank of Rear Admiral (Upper Half), and members voted into Staff Officer positions (council members) will have the rank of Rear Admiral (Lower Half).
Regimental positions are not part of a geographical grouping, but are differentiated by costume types. This is similar to the Detachments in the 501st, but are for our costumes. The Regiments would be Spartan, ODST, Marine, A.I., Uniformed Services (soft costumes), and Covenant. This isn’t a complete list, but you get the idea. The Regimental Commander would be ranked as a Captain with the Executive ranked as a Commander. Their positions would be voted on by the costumers within the Regiment (one costumer could belong to multiple regiments).
Battalions are the geographical groupings of the various smaller units. These would be similar to the Mandalorian Mercs Regions than to anything in the 501st. Right now we have Pacific, Midwest, and United Kingdom regional groups. The Battalion Commander would be a Lieutenant Commander with the Executive as a Lieutenant. They would be voted into their position by the companies under them.
Mirroring the Garrisons of the 501st, would be the Company level groups. There is not much I can say here that hasn’t already been said before. The Company Commander would be a Lieutenant Junior Grade with the Company Executive being an Ensign.
The smallest designation for the group would be the Fireteam. Fireteams would mirror Squads within the 501st, but also would be similar to Outposts. A Fireteam would be a smaller unit within the Company that is geographically separate from the rest of the Company (such as an Oregon/Washington Company organizing into two Fireteams with one in each state). It is possible for a Fireteam to be part of a Company or to be isolated from other Company elements. Fireteams are not lead by an officer, but by a Warrant Officer-1, who is voted into their position by the members of the Fireteam. The Warrant Officer-1 is only considered an officer if the Fireteam is not associated with a Company
APPOINTED RANKS
Within the 405th, there will be positions that are appointed into service rather than elected. These positions include things like Webmaster, Costume Judge, Captain of the Guard, and others. For these positions, there will be Warrant Officer Ranks. Specifically, Chief Warrant Officer ranks. They do not have the full effect of an officer, but are set apart from normal members.
The Company level appointments will be ranked as Chief Warrant Officer-2. Battalion level appoints will be ranked as Chief Warrant Officer-3. Regiment-level appointments, primarily costume judges, will be ranked as Chief Warrant Officer-4. Division appointments, such as main site webmaster and Captain of the Guard, will have the rank of Master Chief Warrant Officer-5.
AWARDED RANKS
Awarded ranks are given to members and outsiders based on their participation within the 405th or Halo community.
Every year, there is a vote at the Company level to determine Member of the Year. The person who wins Member of the Year will receive a boost of 25 points toward their Member Rank. These winners will be forwarded up to the 405th Staff officers who will choose one member from every Battalion to put forward to the costume group as a whole to vote for 405th member of the year. The winner of that vote will receive a boost of 50 points toward their Member Rank. Finally, each Regiment will hold a Costume of the Year amongst its members, who will be awarded 25 points toward their Member Rank.
Each costumer can win at the Company level only once in their lifetime. Likewise, a costumer can only win at the Regimental level once for each costume (if they have 5 Spartans and an ODST, they can win up to 6 Regimental honors).
Once a member has reached the rank of Master Chief Petty Officer within the 405th, they will be eligible for a new rank. The member with the highest Member Rank total will receive the rank of Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy.
Finally, the position of Admiral would be awarded to members of the outside community who have been a part of Halo. This is similar to the honorary member of the Legion given by the 501st to cast, crew, artists, etc. of Star Wars. It would be accompanied by a plaque or some such.
