Turning Purists into Tomorrow Men

The Gamma Terra crew picked up some new recruits the old fashioned way - by recruiting NPCs.

We have about 16 new folks in the group - 11 mutated humans, 4 "pure strain" humans, and 1 scientist "pure strain" human.

All of them are ex-Purists. Some very, very recently ex-Purists, although clearly they'd made some kind of decision internally that it took just our offer to get them to switch.

But it's a big issue for us. We're now outnumbered almost 2:1 by new recruits of dubious upbringing. Heh.

Also, of different rank - many of them outrank us, two of them very badly (two Majors.) We already made it clear they can keep their rank titles but it's not coming with any command authority in our group. Surely within their group it will, which is its own issue. We need to avoid parallel command structures.

We need to figure out a way to integrate them into our group and into our goals.

I have a couple of ideas.

We Do Solemnly Swear . . .

We all have an oath on our character sheets. We're O.G. 20th Homeland, as the new recruits called us. Did they take the same oath?

I think they probably did not. They should take the one we took. We know it by heart, otherwise we wouldn't be bound by it now with no one to enforce it.

Time Off Together

They've been trapped for two year with just each other. We've got a medical base with reading materials of sorts, people who aren't them, proper facilities, and plenty of time to relax.

And safety. No one will shoot at them.

It's possible that hanging around with the crew might help us all get a little more friendly and familiar. Hillbilly's already done his part by befriending Lynne.

Team Building Field Trip!

It's trust fall time. We can take them out on a mission. Non-Purist related. Maybe visiting the Citadel at Greenbay would be touchy right now, but maybe going to the Proving Grounds wouldn't be Or going somewhere none of us have been - not Angel Hill, too much temptation to split off - and seeing what we can find. That big Pyramid to the west, maybe the wandering forest, the AFB? Something where we have to work together and get to know each other. Even just some maneuvers would help. And they know the world better than we do, so it's a good chance for them to feel like they're showing us their worth and bringing something to the table.

Code Names

We might have to consider giving them nicknames. No one calls Hillbilly Arnold. Maybe we need 15-16 more nicknames? That might help with the rank issues. If we call Major Cho "Major Cho" it implies that she's, say, a Major of some kind. If we call her "Notorious" or "Hardass" or something like that, she might feel like one of us.*

Plus it's easier than remembering their full names and old rank.


Something to think about . . .


* This isn't crazy. I know a guy named John, but no one calls him that. Not even him. His nickname is Mother****er. He introduces himself that way. It's a good part of why he's a guy everyone knows. His story is here, at the 43 minute mark of the podcast.