assorted headcanons about the new republic, its culture, and its history!!
(brought to you by someone who thinks about the new republic daily and has for years) (had this in my drafts for awhile, finally posting :D):
-they adore everything that's considered anti-regulation and/or unprofessional. long hair, piercings, tattoos, dyed hair, cursing, cigarettes/alcohol/drugs, all of it. the new republic is a rebellion at heart, it's important for morale that they remember their rebellious roots
-the rebels tried so fucking hard to convince the captains to get new republic-themed tattoos. they eventually talk grif and tucker into it (not sure about caboose and simmons, maybe grif makes fun of simmons for not getting one and he gives in, and caboose wants to participate because the others are). the rebels argue over who gets to do the honors, and so many rebels gather to watch that they have to do it in the mess hall to make room for everyone. they get star tattoos (stars are a theme for the new republic, they're on one of the shoulder plates of new republic armor, i believe the right one. all the new republic armor is canonically mismatched)
-shortly before the captains showed up, morale was at an all time low. many rebels weren't bothering to do a good portion of what was assigned to their schedule, they were up at all hours of the night, and they were having trouble doing self-maintenance (showering, brushing teeth, brushing hair, etc. although being dirty/grubby wasn't really minded in the new republic to begin with). the captains being there got them up enough to at least try again, and it was an extremely massive blow when they left. kimball was having a lot of trouble enforcing discipline for all the poor behavior because the problem was so widespread
-jensen is somehow the best at making prison wine, which is a hot commodity, and bitters is eternally seething about it because he thinks it's edgy and cool as fuck and not only is jensen too young to be so good at it, jensen is too much of a nerd to be so good at it (he thinks lovingly about her)
-piercings are a big thing, especially face piercings, and a good number of the rebels who've been there a long time have quite the collection, so piercings kind of function as a display of seniority. kimball is of the opinion that morale is an extremely important aspect of the new republic, so she let's them get away with much more than they honestly should, but she does try to draw the line at piercings because an explosion could cause the metal to damage the body. some of the rebels get by with having them on seniority, but others try their best to hide them (like by flipping their nose rings up so it hides in their nose, etc.). if you get caught with a very obvious piercing, kimball looks disappointedly at you until you take it out and hand it over, so you'll sometimes see rebels walking around with random objects like safety pins or nails in there to keep the holes open until they think kimball is distracted enough and they can get their hands on normal jewelry to put back in. those without as much seniority opt to deck their ears out entirely too much, and because long hair is also common, they can cover their ears fairly well. once the rebels discover an abandoned Chorus Spencer's tm on a supply run, they load up on plastic jewelry and no one can tell them shit anymore
-seniority is a big thing for the rebels, it frequently outweighs rank in day-to-day proceedings. seniority is mostly determined by how long you've been serving the new republic. you'll find privates with more seniority than lieutenants, and you'll find those with a higher rank asking for advice from those with more seniority. having more seniority can give you the ability to override commands from those with a higher rank, skip things you're scheduled for, cut in line around the base, have more luck calling in favors with people, and delegate boring work to others. having more seniority means you can be relied on to deal with the more difficult and important work, the kind that weighs more on you mentally, so it's a trade-off. because seniority is socially imposed, having a reputation of abusing it can get it taken away from you, which is enough to keep people from abusing it
-money isn't really a thing in the new republic because there's very few outside businesses that sell to rebels on principle, so bartering is more the default way to exchange things. food (coffee and candy especially), cigarettes/alcohol/drugs, hand-altered clothes, manual labor, whatever you have in exchange for whatever you want. popular services include hair cutting/dyeing, tattooing, piercing, mending of clothes, getting people to lie for you, getting people assigned to supply runs to grab something specific for you, and getting preferred slots, activities, and people when the schedule gets made
-supply runs for the new republic get creative. the federal army has monopolies on all the most useful places you'd think to look first and the numbers to enforce those monopolies, so the rebels have to think outside the box. abandoned places like malls, liquor stores, small businesses, places you think wouldn't be worth your time (and yes, this includes abandoned homes and apartments, although they try to make these a last resort in an effort to remain respectful). early on when times got really, really desperate, they did sometimes rob stores and places that were still running, but the feds caught on quick and started guarding them in exchange for their loyalty
-the new republic doesn't really have standard-issue fatigues, it's pretty much all street clothes. they also don't have much access to a consistent MRE supply, so they rely a lot on finding normal food and do a very heavy amount of rationing. up-cycling clothes is also part of their culture, they're a small group and don't have much room on supply runs for anything not extremely essential, (also their base is underground so bringing things down is a Whole Thing tm, also they have a history of moving bases as needed at a moment's notice so transporting stuff is difficult and it's never guaranteed how much you can bring), so making what you have last is important. visible mending is a notable part of the new republic culture, they stitch and sew patterns over holes, nothing is intended to blend in and showing off your designs is a point of pride
-the new republic base is organized oddly for an army base. it was originally a mining outpost, so it wasn't really built for this kind of thing. also, the new republic has a history of moving bases as needed, so no one bothers organizing much anymore after so many moves. beds are thrown wherever (most of them are actual mattresses and air mattresses instead of cots, the cots the rebels managed to get their hands on all went in the infirmary). none of the mattresses have frames, they just lay directly on the ground. lots of beds are just shoved together, the rebels that are left all know each other very well by now and physical contact is part of their culture. physical contact as a cultural thing started when there were a lot more rebels and not enough beds to go around so they had to share. most of the furniture is a random assortment of whatever they could get their hands on, and a lot of it is damaged and worn-out. you'll frequently find crates as chairs, boxes as tables, and duct tape is a precious commodity
-the new republic doesn't actually have a washing machine. they had one at previous bases, but there was an Accident tm trying to get it down into the new base, so they've been without for quite awhile. everyone just takes their loads and throws it in one of the really deep kitchen sinks or a plastic tub and swishes it around with some detergent (if they even have any at the time), and it turns out decent enough. between this and some people hand-washing their clothes to try to prevent unnecessary wear, everyone's clothes tend to smell kind of bad and yes, so do the people too. living underground kicks up a lot of dust and weird smells, and most of the rebels are pretty young and not living in a community that values cleanliness much, so the rebels don't shower as much as they should and even when they do, most of them learn pretty quick that you'll go back to smelling like an underground army base a couple hours after you shower anyway, so they don't bother as much as they should. a frequently heard conversation is some variant of "dude, you fucking reek" "no i don't, pretty sure that's you" "no it's not" "i bet you a pack of cigarettes it's you" and the face person A makes upon smelling themselves is enough to silently let person B know they are now one pack of cigarettes richer. yes, they're fucking gross and crude and think it's hilarious to say "hey look how bad i smell" and grab someone's face and shove it into their armpit, yes it's usually palomo they do it to, and yes everyone thinks it's sooo funny until it inevitably happens to them and then it's bullying and terrorism and they swear they're running away and abandoning the new republic, and then it goes back to being funny the next time it happens. when someone works up the courage to do it to tucker the ensuing cheering and cackling is enough to summon kimball from three halls down to see who did what dumb shit now and how big the fallout is
-the infirmary and healthcare in the new republic leave much to be desired. medications and supplies need to be rationed very carefully because the federal army has such a monopoly on supplies. rebels frequently have to go without medication for less serious/less life-threatening situations, and a lot of necessary procedures are made much more risky or outright inaccessible by lack of supplies, lack of equipment, or lack of experience in the medics that are still alive. to make up for the lack of supplies, weed is permitted to use as one sees fit for self-treating health issues (and no one bothers you or cares much if you use it recreationally). the new republic largely has unchallenged access to it because the federal army deems all substance use of any kind against regulation (for the feds, drinking is seen as the Cool Edgy thing to do). once of the shifts you can find on your schedule is infirmary assistant, where you help out around the infirmary by organizing supplies, cleaning, attending to the less urgent needs of patients, basic charting, or just grabbing the medics lunch or printing papers for them and things like that
-here is where i include that chorus has literally the Dankest Space Weed Of All Time, to me chorus is like those memes about australia being wild and all the flora and fauna is hyped up on steroids. bitters splits a joint with grif and grif has to not only go to the infirmary but stay overnight for monitoring and everyone makes brutal fun of him nonstop. finding someone in the mess hall kitchen doing knife tokes is not an unheard of occurrence, the rebels have a bad habit of stealing borrowing each others' paraphernalia and it's the kind of thing you don't realize you're missing until you need it
-most of the technology the new republic has is extremely outdated and/or busted up. being a technician in the new republic requires an ability to jury rig just about any technology that crosses your path, as well as being expected to handle some repairs around base. you can frequently hear private ghanoush (one of the technicians seen in s12ep5 "training daze", the one with black armor trim) screaming at the barely functioning printer or see him outside smashing open the casing of broken technology with a random pipe he found so he can use its internal pieces to maintain other technology. you can also frequently see private mccallister (the other technician from "training daze", the one with green armor trim) smoking copious amounts of weed to deal with private ghanoush. when the federal army (and wash) eventually see the condition the new republic is in, they're horrified (and when a portion of feds have to move in there and into fed outposts after doyle explodes armonia, a lot of the feds protest and draw straws to see who has to move into the new republic base because they genuinely feel like the whole place is one big fire hazard). huge, disorganized piles of criss-crossing cables, frayed wires, perpetually overheating computers, monitors you have to hit just right to make their screens turn on, overloaded sockets, etc. any room that meets a certain quota of technology is required to have a fire extinguisher in it. power outages aren't uncommon, there's some generators that are used to power the vital things but anyone not doing vital work uses the opportunity to hang out and conveniently ignore their schedule while anyone who has the authority to tell them not to is distracted managing things
-when some of the feds have to move into the new republic after armonia explodes, the feds massively turn up their nose at the base. it's dirty, it's cramped, it's low-tech, it's underground (so limited sunlight and not-so-fresh air), and it's falling apart. a lot of the feds end up overcrowding fed outpost because the rebels refuse to have a lot of them (and that's just fine with the feds), partially as a result of the disrespect and partially because of trust issues. the rebels complain about their base all the time, but it's their base to compain about, y'know?
-when the rebels moved into armonia after felix and locus were revealed to be traitors, the feds had massive issues with the anti-regulation culture of the new republic. the feds would constantly badger the rebels about it, and it was never received well. i'm obsessed with this fanfic about a couple feds breaking into bitters' room at night to cut his long hair while he slept because it was against regulation. i don't think the feds are the type to start outright physical fights but i do think they're the type to do stuff like that if they're angry enough
-when the new republic moved into armonia, the rebels make it an explicit rule to never go anywhere alone. in their perspective, they're in the lion's den and vastly outnumbered, so it only makes sense. the buddy system starts being built into their schedules, you'd be assigned a buddy to go with you literally everywhere, even if you were going somewhere for just a minute
-while the feds are very passive-aggressive and fight more with social tactics, the new republic is blunt and violent. when they need to keep each other in check or settle disagreements, they tend to do it with a fistfight (or wrestling, or an arm-wrestling competition, or a punch to the shoulder, or just a slap upside the head). violence isn't taken personally, they'll beat the shit out of each other and help patch each other up when they're done. they're often left to patch each other up because the medics have instituted an official rule that they "don't deal with stupid shit", otherwise all their time would be eaten up. the rebels were in for a huge culture shock the first time one of them decked a fed, and the feds were absolutely baffled when they kept dropping passive-aggressive insults and hints and none of it was picked up on
-curfew in the new republic largely isn't enforced, but there is a general "quiet hours" sentiment. the rebels are a very loud bunch, and hanging out anywhere you want is pretty much fair game except for really specific areas, but if you're being too loud outside someone's room or a meeting room with talks going on inside, expect someone to walk outside and give you whatever treatment they see fit, anything ranging from "hey please quiet down out here thanks :)" (pretty much only smith does this) to straight up getting your shit rocked (pretty much only bitters does this)
-pretty much anywhere you turn you can find someone hanging out or napping somewhere (a couch, a mess hall bench, a closet, under a desk, it's all fair game), and it's considered perfectly acceptable to flop down on top of them and hang out/take a nap with them, even if they groan and roll their eyes
-a significant portion of the rebels are disabled, physically and/or mentally. it takes wash some time and a thorough talk with kimball, as well as access to the rebel's medical files, to fully understand what he's working with and how to adjust his training and expectations accordingly to something geared towards the rebels specifically, and it works well despite being unconventional
-kimball tries very hard to take a humane, person-centered approach to running the new republic. she prioritizes fostering morale and compassion whenever possible. the new republic takes the form of an army for organization's sake, but she doesn't forget its by-the-people-for-the-people roots. she doesn't always know how to do things perfectly, and she doesn't always have the resources and time to do things perfectly, but she cares enough to try. she tries to implement harm reduction and education policies on issues like sex, substance use, disciplinary matters, etc. there's a little section of the base that functions as a social services section. there you'll find a decently sized library all things considered the new republic amassed over time (mostly filled with informational literature on safe sex and substance use practices, history books, textbooks, handmade informational zines and conciousness-raising zines from the very early days of the new republic when they were still forming, old newspaper articles and footage of new republic-related events some of the earlier rebels saved and archived, as well as whatever random books rebels brought with them and would like to share, mostly fiction books), harm reduction materials like condoms and clean substance use supplies and things like that, and resources on reporting harassment and bullying (although this largely go unused after the new republic dwindles to the point that everyone knows each other well)
-there is a bit of truth in kimball's and doyle's explanations of their opposition: the federal army was over-bearing and offering to let the new republic move to a different part of the planet and govern themselves wouldn’t have solved the new republic’s grievances (which were largely based around the planet’s wellbeing/enviornmental concerns and the wellbeing of the chorusans as a people), and the new republic was prone to drastic (and at times excessive) uses of violence
-in season 15 when the unsc puts up a planetary blockade to prevent resources from getting in after the blues and reds start their attacks falsely in the name of a chorus free from unsc control, the feds start floundering in response to the level of rationing they have to do while the rebels are used to this level. the rebels do their best to help the feds through it, and it fosters a tight bond and newfound level of respect for each other (i haven't seen the latest season yet but i've heard rumors some events were retconned/made so they never happened, i'm excluding the canon of the latest season from this post until i see it, no spoilers please!!)
[cutely spends 6+ hours writing, rephrasing, proofreading, editing, proofreading, evaluating, adding to, rewriting, evaluating, adding to, fine-tuning, and proofreading this :3] if you made it this far, i appreciate you so so much and i deeply hope you enjoyed!! <333