Babylon 5 and the Draft

[chrisdw]

We were trying out the Universe of Babylon 5 last night and hit an issue, my eldest daughter decided to create a Worker Caste Mimbari with a career of Citizen worker - so far so good, but she failed the enlistment roll - now what? Does the Draft exist in Babylon 5? Can you get drafted into a career you would not normally be allowed to enter? ...

What we did was submit to the draft, the character ended up in the Fleet and took a specialisation of Crew. So she now has a Worker Caste Mimbari with a lot of warrior type skills, such as Gun Combat.

Chris D-W

[dmccoy1693]

My own interpretation of Minbari society would be 3 different drafts: crew specialization for warrior castes, some kind of menial task oriented specialization for worker castes and some other kind of menial labor for the religious caste.

Sorry, I don't have my book infront of me at the moment and I'm blanking as to what's inside them.

[Valarian]

She's become Warrior caste
The caste in Minbari society isn't fixed, someone born in to one caste can decide that the caste they were born in to is not that of their true heart. After a brief (by Minbari standards) ceremony, the person enters their new caste.

e.g.
Alyt Neroon changes from Warrior caste to Religious caste in the Season 4 episode: Moments of Transition
Branmer (Legacies, Season 1) was a member of the Religious caste who became Warrior caste

[chrisdw]

She's become Warrior caste
The caste in Minbari society isn't fixed, someone born in to one caste can decide that the caste they were born in to is not that of their true heart. After a brief (by Minbari standards) ceremony, the person enters their new caste.

Thanks for the quick turnaround.

Chris

[Greg Smith]

There are religious caste Minbari who crew ships. The White Stars are initially crewed by religious caste members, IIRC. Roles aren't totally fixed to castes, it would seem.

[Lorcan Nagle]

Wasn't there mention somewhere of warships crewed by worker caste members as well?

[Valarian]

There are religious caste Minbari who crew ships. The White Stars are initially crewed by religious caste members, IIRC. Roles aren't totally fixed to castes, it would seem.

I thought it was that the White Stars were crewed by Rangers, and supported by Religious caste, because the Warrior caste wouldn't support the Rangers when Sinclair took over and allowed humans in to the ranks. In essence, not their true role but they filled the gap when needed. As I understand the society, Worker and Religious caste could be pilots as well. Worker caste would fly all the merchant vessels for instance, and Religious caste pilot their own flyers when travelling around.

[captainsmirk]

I thought it was that the White Stars were crewed by Rangers, and supported by Religious caste, because the Warrior caste wouldn't support the Rangers when Sinclair took over and allowed humans in to the ranks. In essence, not their true role but they filled the gap when needed. As I understand the society, Worker and Religious caste could be pilots as well. Worker caste would fly all the merchant vessels for instance, and Religious caste pilot their own flyers when travelling around.

That was the intention but when the White Star fleet first came into service there weren't enough Rangers to crew them all, so the Rangers just commanded them whilst the Religious Caste supplied the crews. If you watch the bits in the series on board the White Star you'll see that all the crew wear long flowing white and brownish robes (like the Religious Caste Minbari seen in other episodes), where as the Rangers wear black.

Nick

*Edited for abysmal spelling...