Author Topic: Mechwarriors and the Holidays  (Read 965 times)

Iceweb

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Mechwarriors and the Holidays
« on: 08 February 2018, 16:09:27 »
I know Valentines day is coming up soon, and I was wondering if that is still a thing in the Inner Sphere.
I would assume the Clans would not have much to do with that holiday due to their warrior centered philosophy, and most Periphery places are just trying to survive day to day that they wouldn't have much to focus on it. 
Then again I am often wrong and not up on my lore. 

That said what do Mechwarriors do these days for Valentines day?  Mech shaped containers of chocolates? 

These ideas popped into my head when I was playing HQ and I realized it was late December and I saw the 25th was coming up soon. 
I wasn't sure if most Mercs or Houses celebrated Christmas or not. 
Do mercenaries and house forces expect to get holiday bonuses? 
Do they tend to get the day off?  Are holiday parties still a thing? 
What about decorations?  If your going to be on a 6 month contract to do a planetary assault you are likely going to have to ship your tree and stockings with you as you can't just go into town and shop for stuff. 
I guess our closest analog would be pre-holiday planning to the ISS, does anyone know anything about that?   

I was also wondering about other holidays that get celebrated in our time. 
Halloween?  Easter?  Diwali? 
Anyone who wants to fill me in I would appreciate it. 

jackpot4

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Re: Mechwarriors and the Holidays
« Reply #1 on: 09 February 2018, 18:40:55 »
I dont think holidays even would have a purpose in the fiction from our perspective.  It really depends on what traditions have survived multiple years, worlds, wars.  Religious traditions can be found as far as seeing popular religions by factions in Total Warfare.  But, for example, i just read Measure of a Hero, Call of Duty, and Operation Audacity (Archer Christifori's trilogy) and even during "December" chapters Christmas wasnt brought up once.  In a battlefield the holiday has no bearing on anything.  Last time it did was Christmas in WWII that it had any major effect.
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Mendrugo

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Re: Mechwarriors and the Holidays
« Reply #2 on: 09 February 2018, 19:13:38 »
Christmas has been referenced multiple times.  Leaders’ birthdays and founding days are common.  Grain Rebellion Day is huge on New Avalon.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Frabby

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Re: Mechwarriors and the Holidays
« Reply #3 on: 10 February 2018, 06:00:15 »
There's the BattleCorps short story Ghost of Cristmas Present by Mike Stackpole. It's definitely one of his weirder works, but in any case it features a volunteer on holiday patrol complete with tinsel garland in his 'Mech cockpit, and a Christmas-themed pirate group.
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RanFelsnerAFFS

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Re: Mechwarriors and the Holidays
« Reply #4 on: 10 February 2018, 13:32:26 »
And is also the Christmas scene in the BoK trilogy in which Victor Steiner-Davion and Kai Allard-Liao are exchanging gifts.
But that is of course also a Stackpole story, so it is probably just an authors preference to use holidays for storytelling or not.

Tai Dai Cultist

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Re: Mechwarriors and the Holidays
« Reply #5 on: 10 February 2018, 13:49:59 »
Despite the Handbook series authors' occasional attempts to tell you otherwise, in the Inner Sphere culture is determined more on a planet-by-planet basis than a State by State basis. (I'd much more strongly recommend the FASA era House books for information about the Successor States)  Whether any given Holiday is celebrated is best answered by beginning with who colonized the planet and then making plausible assumptions from there.

Take Algedi as an example.  Settled by a (fictional) sect of Muslims largely from North Africa.  Will they celebrate Christian holidays like Christmas and Easter on Alegdi?  Probably not.  Since the Azami sect is fictional, you can't say what sorts of views they have on real world holidays, but you can probably make some assumptions that Islamic holidays like Ramadan are observed.

Contrast that with Luthien in the same star empire.  Lutheranism has a sizeable minority in the Imperial City, and so Christmas is actually a big deal on Luthien.  Even though it largely isn't across much of the rest of the Combine.

Another fun WTF for "Space Japan" is that there are enough Hispanics on enough worlds that Quinceañeras are commonly observed in the Draconis Combine, even by non-Hispanics.

Also consider that "Space America" was the Terran Hegemony, and many of the worlds that would be most similar to cultures (most of us) are familiar with are either dead or have been battlegrounds for centuries.


jklantern

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Re: Mechwarriors and the Holidays
« Reply #6 on: 11 February 2018, 13:54:32 »
The second Blood of Kerensky Trilogy book (is that the name of that trilogy?  Been a while.) has Kai Allard-Liao and VSD exchanging Christmas gifts before the battle of Alyina.

And I think HB: House Kurita mentions the Combine allowing Christmas, but primarily as a celebration of the Coordinator.

Really, the Handbook Series gives a whole ton of unique insight into the ways the various Houses approach Holidays.
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