Lore-wise they are pretty stupid. We're not part of a military, we're just mercenaries, yet somehow we get military ranks.
It would be one thing if the corporations we belonged to gave us ranks (since corps are essentially private militaries), but everyone just gets these ranks from seemingly nowhere.Military ranks denote some sort of hierarchical command structure, yet we mercs don't necessarily operate with any command structure. We get ranks like "Brigadier", yet we're not in charge of brigades.
I'm willing to pretend that there is some organization in New Eden that gives us these ranks (probably CONCORD), but the names need to change:
The term "Loyalty Ranks" is an odd name since "loyalty" usually means something related to faction warffare (like the Loyalty Store, and Loyalty Points). In the lore, what does the "Loyalty" in "Loyalty Rank" referring to anyway? Instead of "loyalty ranks", it should just be called "Mercenary Rating".
The rank titles should be changed to something that does not denote responsibilities that we don't have. The ranks should just reflect our experience and abilities. Example:
MERCENARY RATINGS1) Recruit Tier 1
2) Recruit Tier 2
3) Combatant Tier 1
4) Combatant Tier 2
5) Advanced Tier 1
6) Advanced Tier 2
7) Veteran Tier 1
8) Veteran Tier 2
9) Interstellar Threat (perhaps CONCORD thinks you're too dangerous and powerful a merc, and keep an eye on you)
10) Legendary
More interesting and varied names can be done than the examples I gave, but you get the point.
On Trello for voting.EDIT: I'm going to try to make this more clear.
Ranks should be for organizations you fight for, or belong to. That means ranks they should be provided by your corp, or the faction you fight for in Faction Warfare.
Furthermore, ranks should reflect your responsibilities. Ranks like "Brigadier", "Colonel", and "General" for example are for people with the responsibility of leading significant chunks of an army.
Loyalty Ranks DO NOT come from your supported faction, and DO NOT come from your corporation. Loyalty ranks DO NOT reflect your responsibilities. This is why I want to turn loyalty ranks into a rating system of how dangerous or experienced you are.