The Coalition Universe

[GrahamKennedy]

Been on something of a uniform kick lately, redrawing all the uniforms for the various armed forces of the Coalition. I've been having fun with dress and ceremonial uniforms... so many sci fi uniforms are all futuristic and stuff, which is fine, but for ceremonial and dress uniforms I felt like going very retro. The army dress uniform includes a tricorn hat and a functioning flintlock pistol.

[Captain Seafort]

A flintlock? Swords, I can understand, but a flintlock?

[GrahamKennedy]

Well, if you're going to regard an obsolete weapon like a sword as a symbol of honor and whatnot, why couldn't the people of a thousand years from now think the same about other obsolete weapons?

[Captain Seafort]

Because a sword isn't going to blow up in your face. And you can't open telegrams from your employers' daughter with a flintlock.

[Mikey]

Also, a sword doesn't require any special conditions to operate. A flintlock (probably more properly, for your purposes, a miquelet or snaphaunce) requires a certain oxygen content of the atmosphere, a certain maximum moisture content, etc., etc. A sword just needs... a hand with a decent arm attached.

[GrahamKennedy]

They don't use them. They're decorative ceremonial items.

[Teaos]

Cool, hope they can do homie duals

[GrahamKennedy]

Cool, hope they can do homie duals

I was actually tempted to have a dueling tradition in the Coalition using old style flintlocks, either accurate reproductions or perhaps reliable versions built with modern materials. But in the end it didn't really make sense to have a tradition like that exist in a modern style of society - there are good practical reasons why dueling was outlawed, after all.