A rank unique amongst the Shukara Volunteer Navy and is pronounced as Seer-ree-tah-con, a Sere'ta'kon are not included in the regular military command structure, they act independantly and as they please, but still must adhere to the rules of the Empire. They answer 'only' to the Royal Family, but otherwise are free to act on their own.

A Sere'Ta'Kon can be considered Elite Forces, with unrestricted access to technology and ships. However, earning this rank is a priveledge reserved for the few and obtaining this rank requires many years of service and must be chosen personally by the King and Queen.

Unlike other ranks, their pay is based purely on their time in the military upon being chosen. The pay goes up each year by a set amount, but never exceeds that of a Q'Abrenal.

On the battlefield, they have overall command. Only the King and Queen can overrule them, unless special circomstances are in place that forbid a Sere'to'kon from taking command. It is for this reason why this rank requires a great deal of combat and leadership experience, since a Sere'ta'kon may be called upon to lead anywhere from a small squad of infantry or a group of fighters, to even a very large group of warships.

Soldiers of this rank are highly respected, but there is no ceremony that follows this rank. Soldiers are recognized only by a gold ribbon with a red outline that covers the sides of their uniform.

Losing this rank is considered such a great dishonour, that the consequence is exile from the Kingdom.

There is no shortened version for this rank.

The Uniform of a Sere'ta'kon is rather straight forward, designed to demonstrate their power and authority. The uniform itself bares some resemblence to the military uniform worn my members of the navy, however there are some noticable differences.

For a Sere'ta'kon, the uniform comes in three peices. The first is light gray pants with four pockets, one on either side, and two that are above the knees, there is also a belt strap that is used to hand the officers sword or firearm from. These officers wear knee high boots that have a retractable sharpened blade on the back, which circles itself around toward the front, because of this the boot's and pants are made out of high quality, tough material. A soldier merely needs to tap the back of the boot and the blade will retract outward.

The second part of the uniform is the top, the top is split into two pieces - the shirt and the jacket. The shirt is dark blue, while the jacket is light gray. There is a difference between genders, however, in terms of the jackets length. For male's, the jacket comes down to the waist line. On the other hand, for females, the jacket actually extends to just anove the knees - however - it splits just below the waist so as not to be a problem while walking or sitting. The sleeves are a dirty white color, with white and black gauntlets. The gauntlets, like the boots, also have a retractable blade in them - although this blade is smaller and shorter, it is none the less quite strong and durable.

The final part of the uniform is a dirty red colored cape that is attached to the jacket and flows over the shoulders and down to the waist line.

While the uniform itself speaks of power and authority, some aspects of it could appear lost to some people. This includes the color of the cape, or the fact that the boots (and gaunlets) might have a blade on them.

The cape's red color respects that Sere'ta'kon do not live very long lives, and often give their life in the service of the Kingdom.

The blades serve both as a decorative function but also as offensive/defensive weaponry that can be used in combat. One of the few regulation's that a Sere'ta'kon has to follow is that these blades can't be deployed unless the officer is going into combat, like with the turrets on their ships - a deployed blade is no different than a deployed turret and represents an act of aggression.

This was written by Kalshion on 2011/11/30 23:20.