Post by Geralyn on Jul 23, 2016 12:32:38 GMT
On the matter of realistic age minimums for Starfleet/Romulan Republic characters
This is probably one of the most often brought up issues, and one that has been eagerly awaited by many. The question of whether or not we should mandate realistic age minimums for characters in Starfleet or the Republic. The reasoning being, there is an absolute minimum realistic amount of time it takes for someone to work their way up the promotional ladder, and an absolute minimum age when someone would be permitted to enlist/enroll in Academy. And without establishing these guidelines, we have seen characters of ages that are wildly unbelievable for their rank and station, both inside the fleet and out. This topic has been brought up after dozens (no exaggeration, literally dozens) of members have asked/begged/insisted we address it. So here is a guideline for realistic age minimums, proposed to the fleet in discussion and overwhelmingly agreed upon by the fleet as a whole.
Note: The document outlines age minimums derived from canon and real-world 20th century examples. We will not be considering any younger ages, because it would specifically conflict with canon. We will not be considering any older ages, because we do not want to place too strict of a restriction on fleet members, and want to allow the option of making a character that can progress faster than average through hard work and dedication without exceeding believable boundaries.
An absolute minimum age for enrollment in Academy or enlistment. This would be either at the age of adulthood for the species or within a couple of years of that age. (Wesley Crusher would have been allowed to apply for entrance to the Academy at sixteen, for example, if he had made it to the entrance exam.)
An absolute minimum of four (4) years in Academy, no exceptions for 'being very smart' or 'having exceptional aptitude'. Data..DATA...who could have just downloaded all the coursework in a single day...had to do 4 years. This is because a service academy is a lot more than just teaching the technical things, like how to be an engineer, or how to do science, etc.. Cadets have to learn how to apply what they know to dealing with others, all while being watched and evaluated by staff to see if they're going to cut it. There's seeing how well the cadet handles stress, decision making, and leadership under multiple scenarios and varying circumstances that require the full four years.
After four years, the cadet is an ENSIGN, and no higher. The only times people came out of Academy at a higher rank were cases where the cadet stayed longer, usually 2-4 years, for further training in the science or medical fields, graduating from Academy at Lt. Junior Grade. (As a note, Julian Bashir graduated Starfleet Medical Academy in 2368, at the age of 27, and at the rank of Lt. Junior Grade. Beverly Crusher's service record showed her as attending Starfleet Academy from 2342 until her graduation in 2350 at the age of 26.)
As was mentioned in a previous post, the typical Ensign remains an Ensign for three years. (TNG: "Datalore")
An officer reaches the rank of Commander after 10-15 years of service in Starfleet.
It should be noted that Riker implied at one point the rank of captain is usually not seen till an officer reached his late 30's/ early 40's when he said he had "set lofty goals for himself, and hoped to reach captain before thirty-five years of age. (TNG: "Chain of Command, Part I", "Second Chances")"
And the youngest Rear Admiral in all of real-world history was 44 (and a mere five months away from 45) when he was promoted to that rank. He later became the youngest Vice Admiral at 47 (one month away from 48).
Based on this, and allowing for some wiggle room for characters that advance faster than others, we come up with the following:
Rank Age in Earth Years*
Cadet | 16 (average/normal is 18) | |
Enlisted (non-com)/Uhlan | 18 | |
Ensign | 20 (average/normal is 22) | |
Lt Jr. Grade/Sublieutenant | 22 (average/normal is 25) | |
Lieutenant | 24 (average/normal is 26-28) | |
Lt. Commander/Centurion | 26 (average/normal is 27-30) | |
Commander | 28 (average/normal is 32-37) | |
Captain | 30 (average/normal is 35+) | |
R. Admiral/Subadmiral | 40 (average/normal is 45+) |
*For humans and most similar species in the Federation, who all share an average 120-130 year lifespan. Must be this age or within 2 or 3 months of this age. (Such as graduating in June, and turning the appropriate age by July or August).
Romulans/Remans are considered adult at age 30, instead of 18, so for those species add 12 to all numbers.
Vulcans are considered Adult at age 40, so add 24 to these numbers (not 22, because cutting one's education short, impatience, or ambition would be illogical...)
Cardassians are considered adult in their mid-20's. Add 8 for all numbers.
Caitan lifespans are not specified by canon, but a joint attempt by several roleplayers to fill this shortcoming put forward an age of adulthood at 10. This would result in subtracting 6 from the numbers above.
Joined Trill have the combined wisdom and life experience of the host and symbiote, and the general consensus of the fleet has been to allow 1-2 years of wiggle room for post-Academy career paths. They still, however, have to do the full four years in Academy.
And yes, different worlds have different year lengths based on planetary orbits. It is beyond our ability or reasonable effort to try to calculate all of these variables. We will base it on Earth years for a common reference.
The following reasons have been offered for characters younger than the proposed age limits, to which we also provide responses:
"Exemplary performance in Academy/one's duty as an officer, leading to a fast track..." As mentioned before, Data didn't 'fast track' through academy, and if anyone could claim exemplary academic performance, it would be him. And as mentioned in a previous post, exemplary performance does not translate into promotions. (That's what commendations, medals, and citations are for.) Being good at your current job does not necessarily give you the qualifications to do another. You can be the best carpenter in the universe, and those skills won't get you a job as a computer programmer.
"I want to play a character who's young and daring and full of youthful vibrance." In Star Trek, humans live between 120 and 130 years, vs today's 80-90, with the oldest living human mentioned in canon being 137. (TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint") . Fifty years longer on average, and not all of which is tacked onto the end of the lifespan, but rather evenly spread over all of it. If your character is between 35 and 40 years old, physically they would be as youthful and energetic as a 20-25 year old. (Picard was 59 when TNG started, and he sure didn't look like today's 59.) And with the extension of lifespans, there's no social or cultural imperative to "hurry up and do something while I still can". People have plenty of time, and therefore plenty of time to do it right.
"People get promoted faster in wartime." The ages established by canon in TNG were thoroughly established at the beginning of the series, at a time when the Federation just ended their war with the Cardassians. So there is no canon support for this statement. And the ages have been effectively valid even throughout the 20th century, at a time when computer records are nowhere near as comprehensive as they are shown to be in Star Trek. Remember, the youngest Rear Admiral in history was 44...even after World War I and II and all of the casualties suffered.
"The war is creating a need/demand for more members in Starfleet due to casualties." When there's a war, the need/demand for more people is almost exclusively in the enlisted ranks. Since, after all, it's mostly the enlisted ranks that wind up directly confronting the enemy on the battlefield. Putting overly young/inexperienced/improperly trained people in officer's uniforms would serve no purpose at all. Especially since the Federation, and with it Starfleet, has been growing in the years since TNG. In the time of Kirk, in the 23rd century, it consisted of a thousand worlds (TOS: "Metamorphosis"), According to Star Trek: Star Charts, there are 183 member homeworlds and 7,128 colonies/affiilate worlds by 2378, and trillions of sentient beings (supported further by Bashir's fortunately inaccurate estimation of a possible 900 billion casualties by the end of the Dominion War in DS9: "Statistical Probabilities"). Starfleet has that, and now more, to draw from. And if they truly needed an influx of officers, there are three more ethical means of increasing numbers than throwing a 17-year-old in the Captain's chair:
- Lower the standards. Starfleet Academy standards for admission are brutally strict and demanding. It's specifically mentioned that a majority of 1st year cadets wash out. Lowering the standards just a little (and I mean just a very little) could boost the numbers by 50% or more.
- Active recruiting drive. Sending people to all the worlds with honest reports of the situation would inspire a great many to volunteer, given the philosophies and mindsets of the Federation. If they only convinced a thousand people from each world to join, that's a million new people. And as we saw in America's history, there were far more than a thousand people who voluntarily enlisted just to protect one country
- Draft. The least desirable option, but still more ethical than putting minors in harms way. With over a thousand worlds , even the lightest draft quota spread across all the worlds would bring in millions of fully adult people to serve in Starfleet.
This document is considered official fleet canon, having been decided upon by the fleet as a whole.