As a disaster strikes, completely overwhelming several communities, a group of friends is called back into service as first responders. Each of their lives took a different path since the Service, but as they scramble to remember their training - as flood control, epidemic trackers, trauma psychologists or radio technicians - they feel like one unit again. Meeting new kids, straight from the mandatory training everyone goes through - will they become their mentors, or struggle opening up to greenhorns?
Raw Research Notes #
There is A LOT of baggage coming with the idea of a military service, the indocrination of the military, nationalism, destroying the individualism, discriminating against queer people, hiding sexual abuse etc. Let’s acknowledge that and instead of “re-forging existing militaries” (as is episode #11) let’s focus on something else: life after service.
Let’s imagine that after finishing high school, but before going to the University, every person in our society goes through 2 years of training and climate service. It doesn’t matter what gender they are, or if they are disabled: they get assigned to a specialization and they learn how to help their community and society in some way. They can be first responders, they can be electricians, logisticians, kindergardeners, forest rangers, flood experts od epidemic effort coordinators. They are not professionals - of course, they can align their careers along their training - but they are the “service members”.
This gives people their first skillset, but at the same time assures that everyone in a given region can help in case of a catastrophe. In case of a given kind of help needed, people with the right expertise are called for, no matter where in life are they now - whether hairdressers, engineers or politicians.
They were equal once, within their “unit”, and they will be equal once more, standing at the flood embankments.
What’s important, this prompt is not set DURING their initial training and service (as per #11), but years after, when people are mobilized again.
This gives us A LOT in terms of worldbuilding:
- Everyone has been through a similar experience. This gives them a friend-group for life, some more empathy for people from vastly different paths of life, but can also result in some tribalism.
- Are there sports teams or political factions based on the “service groups”? The Firemen versus The Radio Guys?
- Instead of being indoctrinated into patriotism and nationalism, our service members share a bond of saving lives and helping others in their own way. They might bring a lot of different and conflicting ideologies to the table, but this is something that connects them all.
- As with current military reservists, people will be called for trainings once every year, or several years. If they weren’t a group of friends and a small community then, they probably will be.
- What in case of a drama? If Casey told Tom she really hates them, can they work well together under a lot of pressure, during a cataclysm? There must be some procedures in place for that!
- Will they naturally navigate to live close together, potentially making the whole social structure more fragile? The service members are supposed to be spread more-or-less uniformly in each region!
- In our Solarpunk world we want to imagine full transparency, so no “buying easier spots” in a team. Everyone gets a specialization along their skills and limitations and everyone is equal.
- How does a mobilization look like? What if someone is sick, pregnant, or cannot leave their position - for example at the power plant?
- From a very human side: how does mobilization look like? Is it a thrill, “me and my friends are going to save some asses?”
While there might be a lot to explain in this prompt, I think the story itself would be really fun and enjoyable both to write and read. The action, the dramatism is right there, and it’s full of potential “flashbacks” to regular lives in a Solarpunk world.
Service Members vs Volunteers #
The focus on this prompt can go both ways and I think both are equally interesting. The first is the mandated Service that a lot of people might not like, as it’s “too authoritarian”, while the latter is just Volunteering, which assumes that people got the necessary training on their own (like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_Association_for_Search_and_Rescue or Volunteer Firefighters).
The very heart of the prompt is people who are leading normal lives until they are called for help - and their social dynamics, since it’s what creates the story. Emphasizing how volunteering works right now could help the listeners imagine that, but I also think that imagining a huge cultural shift where everybody shares this experience is important.
Generational Shift #
An interesting aspect of the story would be the first year / generation of the Reservists and how alien, oppressive the program might feel - set against the culture 20+ years later, where it’s normalized, and everyone shares the duty / responsibility of the Service.
