thoughts on 'Recruitment'

I was thinking about where ideas come from, and I can't rightly say.  Inspiration is an odd beast.  I like Neil Gaiman's answer, "'I make them up,' I tell them. 'Out of my head.' "

Yup, that's about right.

I've been playing Mass Effect 3, which was an fantastic Christmas present (thanks Rob, Nat, & Scott!), and it is beyond a doubt one of the best Sci-Fi settings ever created.  Not just sci-fantasy, but legit Sci-fi with Element Zero, the use of physics, fairly realistic alien races, ect

What got the wheels turning for 'Recriutment' was the Krogan.  They were already a violent species being watched from afar, then when the universe needed them the Salurians raised them up to fight a war with the Rachni.  Then they proceeded to begin to conquer the Universe on their own.

My thoughts went: What if that happened here?  Aliens make contact.  Offer us technological gifts of good will.  Then tell us that the universe if at war with an evil race, and they need our numbers to help fight.  They'll take care of everything, they just need the people to fill the roles.

What if we believed them?

What if they were liars?

I'm mostly an optimist, so I would hope that it would be more Star Trek, and the alien species would be more altruistic.  I would totally love to be a Space Marine.  I could even be all Bill Paxton "GAME OVER MAN! GAME OVER!!"

The idea of Pete was inspired by yours truly.  I grew up in a pre-9/11 America.  In the South.  My parents were of the Vietnam generation, and while Dad narrowly missed being recruited, military service was never stressed or spoken of in disdain at home.  Being Southern, I grew up with a lot of respect for members of the military in the community, but not inspired enough to seriously consider joining.

Also the only "war" in my life time had been Desert Storm, and the only real memory of that was us blowing shit up on the news and cool desert camo toys for my birthday party at Skateland USA.

When High School was coming to a close, and the recruiters bothered the crap out of you, my healthy amount of innate disrespect for authority pushed them away, plus I was incredibly excited to be college bound and out of the house.  AND I didn't respect 'the man' and his lust for oil.

When 9/11 did happen my freshman year of college, it definitely stirred things up.  Going into Afghanistan seemed right.  The 'War on Terror' also seemed fraught with the same mistakes of the 'War on Drugs' but at least stemming from the right place.  Then we went to Iraq, and while Saddam was definitely a bad man, it all seemed to be driven by American Imperialism, Bush getting revenge on Saddam for taking a pot shot at his father, and our addiction to oil.

Years pass, I live in NYC, pursue an acting career, do some very strange off off Broadway plays, and generally live things up.  This is pretty great for a while.  But the working as a waiter in several establishments, two of which are in the terror of Times Square (one of those no longer in existence), really wears you down.  I was getting tired.  I wanted to do something that made a difference.  Something respectful.

So, late in my 20s, I decided to give the USNavy a shot.  It was difficult to pick a job, but after long talks with the girlfriend, family, and friends; I decided what I wanted and went for it.  I tested fairly well, had some o.k. connections and references, but in the end was denied.  My recruiter was a very cool guy who told me it was most likely because of my age.   Ok.  I took too long.

I thought on this for quite some time.  When I was younger I was selfish and self centered (which is a very normal and typical teenage place to be), and wanted nothing to do with any system or regulation.

I still find most authority lacking, my own hubris I imagine, but don't have the disdain of my youth.  I think I've found a career worth pursuing.  But I still dream about some kind of valorous military service.  I fantasize about being a Kennedy-esque Naval Officer who ends up in the UK and ingratiating myself onto the royal family, saving the day, hooking up with Pippa, and being celebrated.  See, I'm great at making things up, why didn't I think of doing this earlier.  (actually, I first wanted to be writer when I was about 9, but that's a different blog post).

So, playing Mass Effect and adding in my own military fantasy, I began to think about being part of a space military, then where that could lead too, or what the beginnings of such a thing could be.  Or the problems that could arise.

When I was writing the conversion "scene" as it were, I had images of the Cybermen from Doctor Who forcibly converting people.  that just gave me a thought, why would the alien race trick people into being converted for their army?  Do they expect good relations after the war and don't want to be discovered?  Political disagreements amongst the alien congress on the morality or ethics on alien conscription...

that's a whole new story right there!