Visual Identity Creations

Firefly

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Independents

Rank Insignias
- Rank Shown Through Accessories
- Rank Shown Through Shoulder Patches
Off-the-field Uniforms

Rank Insignias

No system of rank insignias (as far as I know) was ever clearly shown on the series so I decided to create one. After much consideration however, I realised that 2 different systems could be created based on available datas (although they could also be used in combination).

Rank Shown Through Accessories

The first system I devised is one where the various accessories worn by the Independents indicate the rank (sergeant,captain, etc...) or level (lower officers, higher officers, etc...). An full breakdown follow the image.

	Helmet (1)	Scarf (2)	Lanyard (3)	Badge (4)	Gaiters (5)
Private	Brown with a black stripe	Brown	N/A	Black Contour, triangle pointing up	brown
Corporal	Brown with a black stripe	Red	N/A	Black Contour, triangle pointing up	Brown
Sergeant	Brown with a black stripe	Red	Red threads	Black Contour, triangle pointing up	Red
First Sergeant	Brown with a black stripe	Red	Five red threads for every brown	Black Contour, triangle pointing up	Red
Sergeant Major	Brown with a black stripe	Red	Alternating red and brown threads	Black Contour, triangle pointing up	Red
Ensign	Green with a black stripe	Green	Green threads	Green Contour, triangle pointing down	none (high boots)
Lieutenant	Green with a black stripe	Green	Five green threads for every gold	Green Contour, triangle pointing down	none (high boots)
Captain	Green with a black stripe	Green	Alternating green and gold threads	Green Contour, triangle pointing down	none (high boots)
Major	green with a black stripe outlined in gold	Green	Dark grey threads	Green Contour with thin gold outline, triangle pointing down	none (high boots)
Lieutenant Colonel	green with a black stripe outlined in gold	Green	Five dark grey threads for every gold	Green Contour with thin gold outline, triangle pointing down	none (high boots)
Colonel	green with a black stripe outlined in gold	Green	Alternating dark grey and gold threads	Green Contour with thin gold outline, triangle pointing down	none (high boots)
General	green with a black stripe outlined in gold and three black stars in a triangular configuration.	Green	Gold threads	Gold Contour with thin green outline, triangle pointing down	none (high boots)

1: Its hard to tell if there is any difference between the colours of helmets used by the independents's officers during the flashback. Nevertheless, I thought it would help in quick identification during battles (i.e. "follow the one with the green hat"). The presence of 3 stars for the General is explained under badges below

2: During the flashback of the Unification War in "The Message", the scarves worn by all seem to follow a certain colour-coded pattern: characters identified as privates wear a brown one, non-officers (Mal & Zoe) wear dark red ones and a lieutenant appears to have a green one (although it could just be a khaki t-shirt showing).

3: Mal is the only one as far as I can tell who wears a dark red lanyard (on his right shoulder) or for that matter any lanyard. The advantage of this sort of rank insignias is that one could be made easily (as long as you know braiding) and would go well with the "homemade" feel of the independents' uniforms.

4: This assume that the difference in badges seen in the show (Mal's black contour & the lieutenant's green one.) were not of rank but of relative level. The difference in design of unit badges (such as plain metal vs full colours) between level is common in some armies.

5: Mal wears red gaiters but quick shot of others seem to be brown. The lack of gaiters for the officers is based on the idea that they would have better footwear.

Rank Shown Through Shoulder Patches

Based on the 2 badges here seen in flashbacks taking place during the war, I have devised the following system.

Note that a lieutenant wearing 2 stripes is the insignia for such a rank in the system used by the Confederate Army during the US civil war. Since it complement it well (and since the southern states have been shown to be in many ways the inspiration for the Browncoats) I have used that system as basis.

While some (especialy in anglo-saxon countries) might find it odd to have 2 stripes for sergeant, the CSA army did not have single-stripers so indeed making the sergeant the second rank.

The Confederate sytem used only one insignia for general, the difference between the various levels was shown by the number of buttons and their grouping (by 2 for brigadier, by 3 for major-general, etc...). If the Independents used a non-centralised organisation (which would make sense considering their reason for opposing the Alliance), there might not even be any rank greater then general.

Off-the-field Uniforms

What would the Browncoats wear when not getting shot at ? Like most other political underdogs, the powers-that-be in the Independent movements probably had some shiny uniforms planned to give their men as dignified a look as the other side.

Unfortunatly for them, there would have been many things going against the kind of uniformity they were looking for: lack of supplies, disjointed authority, expendiency, etc... Still, there would probably be a few people off the battlefield (high officers, staffs and space fleet) who could afford to dress a bit spiffier.

Uniform #1: Many separatists groups in the past have drawn some inspiration from their former country since some of their military high-rankers would have formaly being part of its army. The confederate army mostly followed contemporary US military fashion but with a different set of insignias and basic colour. In the same way, #1 is meant to represent a uniform worn by a lieutenant-colonel (probably in the general-staff) and is inspired by that of an Alliance middle officer (compare with this one). The colour has been changed to brown with red and black highlights. The black bar on the Independents helmet is repeated here with an enameled black star used as cap badge.
Uniform #2: This could be a late war version of #1. With materials becoming scarce, countries in the past have often tried to cut corners with their men's uniform. The jacket here is shorter, facing colours and the diagonal strap have been taken out and the buttons are plain plastic ones (like those used on a field trenchcoat). The metalic hat badge would have been replaced with a standard fabric one for all ranks.
Uniform #3: In some cases, an officer might simply decide to wear a clean version of his field uniform when away from combat. To make if shinnier, he had the plain buttons replaced by metalic ones and wears a civilian shirt.