Company Corporate Structure Moving Forward

I agree that the meetings as we've been working them haven't been very helpful in making decisions, but I think they've done a great job of getting people talking and sharing ideas. Where we've been falling down has been in the compromise and consensus part of the process. The fallback position of, "fine, then we'll we'll just wait for the board vote on it," is just an easy cop-out. It also usually ends up with us waiting too long to make decisions. We need to make compromise and consensus the priorities and then we need to know when we need to cut off debate, and move on to working together to implement solutions. We also need to get the board on board, as it were, and agree that whoever's present when we need to make a decision, is enough to make the decision. If I have to, I'm willing to facilitate, at least temporarily, as Jacob. It's really not something he would want to do, but I guess his command training in the Navy would allow him to function in that capacity. To be blunt, he'd rather succeed Gev as Captain of the ship (whichever ship), and leave the business end of things to the board. Perhaps we can set up a rotating or elected chairman of the board, who facilitates the board in establishing clear policies and objectives? Then the Captain and whatever new corporate and ship's officers the board want to name get concrete powers and responsibilities. If they don't perform, the board can hold them responsible. 

Why not vote the people on the Board by the amount of trust the crew has in them, then we take the top 3 and rotate through those 3 every 6 months. At the end of 18 months we do a new vote for the top 3 and rotate those through, etc. There are good and bad things to this plan, but if the crew is able to have some say in the matters of the board, they'll feel more included and be willing to do stuff that the Board decides on. Also with the Board Chairman, they'd be in charge of rounding up the board members immediately after the crew decides that the Board needs to decide on something, but in times of emergency the Captain would be in charge of things like the ground forces and the ship. While in the meantime the Chairman would make the decisions that normally the entire board would make, and if the board believes that what either of the two did was wrong, they'd be held responsible as individuals if it was their ideas that lead us to failure.

I like those ideas a lot. I still believe the owners should have a say, relative to their number of shares, but the idea of setting up a Board that is limited to people who everybody chooses based on their trust and respect makes a lot of sense.

The Board would still have the responsibility of the company as a whole, but in times of emergency when we need a high profile decision made, without time to call a meeting, we need a reprentative to make that decision for us. 

Dividing the board from crew positions are a good idea. 

As before, the Captain makes the calls on matters related to the ship between departing and arriving. Company matters are separate from shipboard matters.

Tenacious Techhunter said: As before, the Captain makes the calls on matters related to the ship between departing and arriving. Company matters are separate from shipboard matters. Absolutely, TT. The big difference that I see coming out of this discussion is the idea of having a Chairman of the Board empowered to make those big, non-shipboard decisions in real time, as opposed to waiting for a vote.

Wolfen said: Tenacious Techhunter said: As before, the Captain makes the calls on matters related to the ship between departing and arriving. Company matters are separate from shipboard matters. Absolutely, TT. The big difference that I see coming out of this discussion is the idea of having a Chairman of the Board empowered to make those big, non-shipboard decisions in real time, as opposed to waiting for a vote. That's exactly what I was going for, in times of emergency we don't have time or the ability to bring together all of the board in order to make a decision, especially since our board is also pretty much ground ops, so if we have a chairman make the decisions in times like those we can get stuff done.

Careful consideration as to whether a current issue is corporate, personal, or cultural should be undertaken.  The Ark, for example was definitely an issue that no Board of Stockholders could have authority over.  It was an issue of much larger scope.  Trade and whether or not to stop a Derchon's Downport was a corporate decision.  Dealing with the onboard Psions was a personal and corporate scope of reactions.  How to deal with the Warrant and the upcoming Court is personal, corporate and cultural (Imperium Nobility) in scope.  Thus each character has an opportunity to fine tune their character's reaction to Court, their dress, weaponry, attitudes etc.  Then the Board Stockholders decide on their scope how the Artemis Group will stand together, get their story straight, react to the nobles, ad nauseam.   Finally, there's the wider culture to deal with.  This is the upper echelon of the Third Imperium in the Spinward Marches we are dealing with.  Their actions in response to the Group  will decide the fate of the subsector or even the entire Sector. These examples show how command and corporate structure will need to delineate how decisions are made.  

Buddah said: That's exactly what I was going for, in times of emergency we don't have time or the ability to bring together all of the board in order to make a decision, especially since our board is also pretty much ground ops, so if we have a chairman make the decisions in times like those we can get stuff done Well there is a "chain of command". And each area of our company or of the ship would have it's own authority structure. It really depends on the emergency. If the emergency is happening in the drive room and decisions need to be made in order to avert catastrophe then the chief engineer is the authority. Board room politics would never come into it. If the emergency is space combat then the captain is the authority. On the ground then whoever gave you their tactics bonus to initiative is the one who's instructions you should be following (if not then give the +DM back!). Like Pakkrat said, some things are outside the sphere of some authority structures. Things like moral decisions and cultural attitudes - by their nature those things don't come under anyone's orders.  If the Company was a military unit then there would be a very clearly defined authority structure - a chain of command with ranks and sections with different responsibilities. But Artemis doesn't really seem to work that way. 

“Shipboard Safety” is also a separate category of decision making.

Well "shipboard safety" shows that decisions are delegated to individuals who are experts.  I guess the question is - who is doing the delegating. But that could easily be board room voting stuff. Roles should be delegated before "emergencies" happen so when the rubber hits the road folks aren't wondering who to listen to. I know we're not a military organisation anymore, but to use the military as an example - officers almost never give orders to the regular soldier on the ground. Rarely ever even speaks to him. Officers are upstairs making overarching tactical plans based on orders they received further up the chain. On the ground the grunt is listening to his NCOs who are giving him instructions based on both the orders given to them from higher and also on their trained response to their situation.  

Runt gives Pavlovian responses to the situation.  Bell?  Salivate.  Gravcar?  Chase it.  Psion?  Burn it.

Just been mulling over the Corporation rules in Merchant Prince and thinking about the look and feel of the new company.  None of the following actually affects the game mechanics in any way. It's mainly just the vibe.  I get the feeling that our new company would mainly be getting into Professional Contracting ( mercenary brokerage ), Commercial Transit ( VIP transport ) and maybe a bit of Cargo Line Transit and Workforce Management.  (p38 of Merchant Prince) So keeping in mind the fact that there were two side to our company - Mercenary/security as well as Cargo/passenger transport - maybe the overall structure Could look a bit like this: AEGIS Security Solutions : Primarily concerned with Mercanary Brokerage. Offices at starports in various locations would negotiate tickets for mercenaries and contracts for security personnel, as well as organize recruiting, equipment, transport, training and medical services. ARTEMIS Mercantile : With offices in starports on major trade lanes, Artemis would oversee cargo and passenger transport, focusing on provision of high security transport services.  Our new ship would literally be our flag ship and would operate in the purple overlap area of the diagram above. It would carry out the tasks organised by both AEGIS and ARTEMIS.  This wouldn't necessarily be two different corporations. Both are entities under the ARTEMIS GROUP umbrella. The idea just illustrates how the Wealth stat would be distributed as per STEP FIVE – PRODUCTS AND SERVICES on p 37-38 of Merchant Prince. 

I like it, Alby. Who doesn't love a venn diagram? Seriously, though, this is a nice way to think of it.

If down the road the company purchases more ships, they could either operate under AEGIS (the red section), or under ARTEMIS (the blue part) or do both - flying in the purple carrying cargo and passengers in a heavily armed ship loaded with security personnel.  

Venn diagrams are great. XD

Should the Artemis Group  decide to include help from Gevaudan and Qithka Cannagrrh from Gvurrdon Sector as a division of a greater corporate Entity, that works as well.  However, the division, answering to the Entity has to cover its own expenses, workforce, missions and quarterly profits.  It becomes largely self-sufficient due to communications distance.  Profits are sent quarterly to the greater corporate Entity. What this does is to put immediate response to business issues in the paws of Gev and his sister.  However, the corporate Skills become somewhat divided.  Gev's contribution of Shipping/3 and Qithka's Nobility/2 and Propaganda/2 are unavailable to the main Entity as are the requirements of workforce and the like.  Shoring up Wealth attribute can happen in either direction but suffers that pesky communications time delay as does messaging and mission sharing. Either way can be done, as one Entity or as an Entity with a contributing division.

Currently working on a spreadsheet that we can use to tally up our corporate stats.  At the moment it's just formulas and place holders. The first page shows the totals that are calculated on the second page. So you'd rarely edit the first page.  MERCHANT PRINCE stats for ARTEMIS GROUP

Been thinking about this way too much.  A couple ideas concerning Gev and his adventures up north past the border: Artemis Group Invest's in Gev's enterprise. Gev sending back the Company's cut after he takes out his share.  So under this model Gev is actually running a totally separate commercial entity. Artemis throws a heap of money at Gev to set the business up. So Artemis is an investor owning a significant slab of Gev's operation. The Artemis cut of Gev's profits is sent back each quarter.  Gev's enterprise as a subsidiary  Under this model, Gev's show is mostly owned by the Artemis Group. I'm still trying to nut out how the Merchant Price mechanics could accommodate this, but I think it could work. To represent the distance between the two operations, a pool of wealth and employees is set aside as "Extents". Only Gev's and the Dame's Skills from Career ranks could be used in the Lines being worked up in the Extents.  The bonus that either of them contribute to the group's stats would only count up the extents. Same for bonuses contributed by people south of the border. So the company would essentially have two different Loyalty and Reputation stats, and a divided Employee and Wealth pool.  This model is kind of complicated. The first one would probably be easier to run with. The second model is so chopped up you may as well have two separate corporations. The up side is that it would bring more CRs into Artemis than simply investing in Gev would ... I think? The concept of investing seems a bit scetchy. It looks like the system really has in mind that Player Characters are Leaders or not a part of it at all. "Investors" seem to be faceless NPCs. But I may have missed something. Still reading the rules.    

Just a point or 2 Alby. 1 Gev wont be slaving for a Few years yet. 2 The first time Izek hears of this is the last day Izek stays with the company. Gerald on the other hand will want his cut. hahaha.

Come to the Vargrside.  We have cookies and other Whoredervs.

It should be noted that Gev’s “slaving” is more akin to indentured servitude. Also, in the context that Pakkrat has noted, it’s more of a “Schindler’s List” sort of thing; Gev is rescuing these people from some sort of nasty plague, but, to do so, he has to pay for his expenses. They’ll buy themselves out of servitude soon enough. Not that Izek would be capable of understanding the difference.

The Slaver Whore Bus is really just a place holder name. Main point is how to fit his adventures into our corporate structure.  If Gev is only planning to fly around and do his thing and wasn't really planning to have offices at starports and a team of employees on the ground then we may not have to include his operation at all.  Also assuming that receiving funds from him isn't a breach of his "exile".  More I read about it the more I'm thinking that the first model with Team Gev being a totally separate entity makes more sense. I noticed in the examples given in Merchant Prince that the Megacorp corporation stats given represented the subsector branch of their operation and not the entire Megacorp. So a Megacorporation is simply a conglomeration of many different branches that operate semi-independantly under the Megacorp's Umberella. We could run a similar short of show with Gev operating under the Artimis Umberella. Example from page p64 As a Mega Corporation LSP is a huge organisation. The entries here are indicative of the operations within a single subsector where LSP has large scale operations.

The reason that Gevaudan counts as an Ally/Contact in two subsectors is that he has an office Gnoengungag overseen by his Personal Drone while he commutes to Rorruksueknea and back.  If we like, we can designate Gevaudan's operations in those two subsectors as a distant branch of Artemis and as such he'd have to run the show with his own employees ad a division of a greater Entity.  He runs normal Trade until the 1130s, so shipping and speedy, VIP passenger liner is his main industry.  It makes no real difference how Gevaudan sends profits back to aid Artemis , or even if he is a part of Artemis at all.  But doing so keeps him as an Entity asset as well as his Sister-Dame.  Else, Gev and Qithka can be let go and do their thing in Gvurrdon Sector.  Options, is all.

At the last meta, we decided to go ahead with the liquidation and restructuring of the Artemis Group. You can see your individual payouts in  the Payday Thread . We will need to start discussing and deciding company structure in earnest now. First, though - since it could influence how things get decided - folks can now start buying shares in the new company before all that extra cash burns a hole in your vacc suits. Initially, shares of the company are selling for 4,646,183 Cr each, with a maximum number of 10 shares per player  (not per character).  Twenty percent of the company (20 shares) is reserved and cannot be purchased, leaving the company with a healthy core cash reserve no matter who cashes out or what bills come in. After everybody has decided how many shares they want to buy, we will re-value the company and (hopefully) pay off the new ship.  If there are any unpurchased shares remaining at that point, I suggest that we allow players who have already purchased 10 shares to buy more, up to a final maximum of 30 shares per player. Crow is definitely in for 10 shares. 

Jeff is in for 8 shares: 37,169,464 Drex is in for 2 shares: 9,292,366 By the way, relating to shares, I haven't converted Drex's 10 ship shares from mustering-out yet. Do I use the ship share amount for Mercenary Cruiser(4,334,400) found in the core rulebook(pg. 38) for conversion? Or do I use a different amount due to this being a 1.200dTon ship? You can search for aDrexny mathematical expression, using functions such as: sin, cos, sqrt, etc. You can find a complete list of functions here. Rad Deg x! Inv sin ln π cos log e tan √ Ans EXP x y ( ) % AC 7 8 9 ÷ 4 5 6 × 1 2 3 − 0 . = +

Use the value for the Merc Cruiser shares. You're actually converting your benefit ship shares to cash and then buying shares in Artemis Group as a company.

Hm. I think you're a bit off on your math there.  Jeff's purchase of 8 shares would be 37,169,464 Cr

I copy pasted the wrong thing -.-, I originally had Drex at 3 and Jeff at 7. I copy pasted the one that was times 3 on accident.

Pakkrat says.....  Yes, though it makes sense to convert Ship Shares to a 1200dT vessel, it gets out of hand quite quickly.  As the Artemis Group  has become prestigious and works with clout for big names such as Dukes, Duchesses, Viscounts and a Marquis; it should be capped at Mercenary Cruiser at this stage in the campaign.  The next Referee caveat, and all.

        Out of Izek's pay out he repays Cpt Crow the 10 000 000, he owes as advanced payment. He then buys 5 shares of Artemis Group for 23230915 cr Leaving him with 2166728 cr. Of these moneys he is going to send 2000000 to his grandparents and a note to his Big brother to not stress, his carh will arrive in a couple of months unless he tries to touch up mum or the gerry's for cash then he's getting nothing:)  As for Gerald i am unsure of what assets he has that he can liquidate to buy into the company, but he knows how much the company makes so he would definitely buy as many shares as is allowed. So up to 5 Izek is now Broke again, whens the next pay out hehehehe

Kayleb is in for 8 shares .  37169464cr The 8 shares will be split in two. Kayleb getting dividends for 4 of them, and the Menorb Community Project Fund getting the cream from the other 4. 

Please also indicate if you intend to vote with your shares, or if you just want to make dividends. Not that we’ll begrudge you if you change your mind, but knowing up front that we can ignore your votes is helpful. How do Charoux’s shares roll over into the new company?

Jeff wants to have votes in stuff, and Drex only cares about the stuff that will directly affect him, so he'll go to board meetings but will abstain on anything that wouldn't directly affect him. 

Both Izek and Gerald would want votes. How ever we do need to establish a way for major votes to be decided when some people are away and a time frame for when they get  an automatic abstain  on there voting rights. I am thinking a voting thread and 7 days to vote, if they havent got back by then its an auto abstain.

I don't really understand. How could someone have shares and not votes? Why would a share owner ever have their vote "ignored"?

Alby said: I don't really understand. How could someone have shares and not votes? Why would a share owner ever have their vote "ignored"? Agreed. Unless they for some reason they wanted to be a silent partner because IDK they are a spy and dont want their identity to be know/ or associated with the Aremis group.

Alby said: I don't really understand. How could someone have shares and not votes? Why would a share owner ever have their vote "ignored"? Roleplay, think about what your character would do. Would they either get the Shares because they can help decide on the workings of the company? Or are they only a shareholder for the Dividends? Drex is doing it because the dividends are a nice bonus, but most importantly he wants to have some form of authority in the ship due to his life of being a Leader.

TT, Charoux's shares were bought out in the liquidation, in order to give you the opportunity convert them to more shares in the new company. Your 4 shares in the old company were converted to 43,368,685 Cr, which is enough to purchase almost 10 shares in the new company. (See the Payday thread). If you just don't want to touch the money that you had invested in the company, I'll "roll it over" into 9 shares in the new company, and then you can either take the remainder as a payout or throw in enough for that full 10th share. Value of 4 Shares in the Old Company 43,368,685 Cost of 9 Shares in the New Company 41,815,647 Remaining Funds 1,553,038 Cost of 1 share in the New Company 4,646,183 Cost of Charoux's 10th Share in the New Company 3,075,145 Let me know what you like'd to do. In terms of voting with our shares, I agree that a share should equal one vote in a shareholders' meeting, but I think that we've learned that we don't want or need to have a full vote of all the shareholders every time we need to make a decision. I'm guessing that's what TT was asking about.

That makes sense. I guess it was the "we can ignore your votes" part that had me scratching my head. Pretty sure Kayleb would be keen for all of his 8 votes to count.  Just in case my little ramble about the Menorb Community Project Fund caused any confusion; as trustee to that fund he would be voting on behalf of the beneficiaries. The fund "owning" shares is mainly just a way to determine how dividends are distributed. One implication of the fund is that if Kayleb dies his personal shares would be liquidated and distributed to his next of kin, where as the fund would carry on. In theory someone else would be made the trustee and the beneficiaries would continue to receive their dividend.  None of this really means anything. In effect Kayleb just owns 8 shares.  I did have a question about all this. Is this share system going to be running parallel to the Merchant Prince way of doing things or instead of it? The MP "Corporation" rules are a very different show to what's going on here. 

By the way, if Jeff gets a chance he will buy more shares, the "only" reason he bought 8 was because he was such a minor shareholder before, but if more shares are available to him(10 shares per player limit) then he will buy more. Just thought I'd bring that up.

The overall company structure that we're currently discussing is indeed a completely different thing than the Merchant Prince Corporate Entity thing. Consider that a subsidiary of the overall company. I'm in the process to working up a complete company charter that I'll propose once I've got it a bit more complete and coherent.  By the way, for those who missed it, at this week's meta, we discussed future Refereeing, and Jim said that once things settle down for him, he'd be interested in having round-robin referees. So if Jim and I, and perhaps Alby and/or whoever else are all going to be taking turns running things, I'm putting Crow's name back into consideration for Captain of the new ship. Sebastien, on the other hand, will be stepping back considerably. He will still do brokering, negotiating and such as needed, and would be interested in taking a position at comms or something, but he won't be taking any kind of leadership role in the new company. He's not even going to be buying any shares atm, although he might buy one or two later on, if that becomes possible, just as an investment. 

I’ll probably just round up to 10, then; I presume I just subtract the price of 10 shares from the 77MCr total payout, and then pocket the rest?

Exactly, TT.

Alrighty, gang. Time to close the initial stock offering for our re-booted corporation. I am posting this notice in the forum and PMing it to everybody to make sure that everybody has had a chance. I'd like to close this offering as of Sunday night, so that we can revalue the company for next week's meta, and consider allowing folks to buy up the remaining available shares. As of right now, we do not  have enough credits in the till to pay off the new ship, so, I'd like to move forward with the re-valuation and get to work putting the new-ish company together. This is the last chance for those players who have not yet bought the current maximum number of shares (10).  Wolfen, Buddah and TT have each bought their max. Vic and Alby have bought some shares, and Dave, Bob, Jim and Pakkrat have bought none. There are currently 37 shares available for 4,646,183 Cr per share.  Current Owners/Shares Captain Crow 10 Jeff Scardack 8 Drex Hegey 2 Izek Mazel 5 Kayleb 8 Larzamonte Charoux 10

The company is now re-revalued, and the going rate for shares is 6,972,795 Cr per share. Of the 35 remaining shares, let's reserve 20 for new characters and allow any players to purchase the remaining 15 shares, with a new maximum share limit of 20 per player.  I know Jeff wanted 4 more shares, for 27,887,180 Cr. That leaves 11 shares available. I don't have my characters' finances in front of me atm, but between them, they'll probably be buying as many as the full +10 shares. I'll specify later.

If nobody else wants them and/or can afford them, Jacob will take 5 more shares (34,863,975 Cr.) and Sebastien will buy 5 (34,863,975 Cr.) as well. That leaves one additional share available to current players, or to be added into the 20 reserved for new characters if not snapped up by the legacy characters. EDIT: With the additional share purchases, we have enough to pay off the new ship with a bit less than 100 MCr left over for operating funds.

Here's the beginning of a proposed Corporate Structure, based on the discussions we've had in this thread and elsewhere. Please comment. Company Structure A. Shareholders 1. Authority: All authority in the company resides in the shareholders. The primary function of shareholders' meetings is to set goals and policies for the company. Generally, these should be broadly focused and concerned with the company's long term performance and nature, but virtually any matter that affects the company can be decided by in a shareholders' meeting. For efficiency and convenience, the shareholders can vest specific portions of their authority in individual officers, appointed commissions or other representatives. 2. Shareholders' Meetings: The shareholders will meet at least once per quarter (game time), to discuss issues and make decisions, review the company's performance, etc. The meeting will be announced (via Forum thread and PM) at least one week (real time) ahead of time. The primary function of shareholders' meetings is to set goals and policies for the company. Generally, these should be broadly focused and concerned with the company's long term performance and nature. Any shareholder can call an emergency meeting when important matters arise that the shareholders as a body cannot wait to address until the next quarterly meeting. Any two other shareholders must second the call to meet, and all possible time and means must be taken to contact all shareholders in advance of the meeting. a. Quorum : Whenever the shareholders meet, those who are in attendance shall be considered a Quorum, authorized to make binding decisions with the full authority of all of the shareholders. b. Votes : At any time during a shareholders' meeting, any shareholder may call for a vote on the subject under discussion, which must be seconded by another shareholder. Any other shareholder may second the call to vote. All votes will be decided by a simple majority (whichever option gets the most votes in passed), and each share equals one vote. Shareholders may abstain from votes, split their votes among any number of options, or vest any number of their votes in any proxy. c. Proxies : At least 24 hours (real time) prior to any shareholders' meeting, any shareholder can give any representative the authority to vote with any number of his/her shares. This investiture must be announced in the Forums and the terms should be as clearly and specifically as possible. d. Special Votes: Once a motion to vote has been seconded, any shareholder may make a motion that the vote be considered a Special Vote, requiring an absolute majority (over 50% of all votes cast) for the motion to pass. A motion to make a vote a Special Vote must be seconded and then passed by a simple majority vote. B. Corporate Officers 1. Board of Directors: A board of three directors will be appointed to handle to important matters between shareholders' meetings. This board will include a total of three directors, who may or may not be shareholders. Two of the directors will be representatives of the shareholders and one will be a representative of the employees of the company (see C., below). All representatives will be selected by nomination and vote and elected quarterly. Should the shareholders feel that the Board is not serving the best interests of the company, they may vote to replace the Board members at their next quarterly meeting, or during an emergency meted called for that purpose. a. Representative Selection : Any person may be nominated to be a representative to the Board of Directors by any member of the appropriate body (shareholders or employees), and must be seconded by another member of that body. Nominees have the right to refuse nomination for any reason. No person who is under censure by the company (on probation, suspension or otherwise officially reprimanded) cannot be nominated to the Board of Directors. All terms on the Board of Directors last one quarter, although individuals may be elected any number of terms. b. Shareholders' Representatives : Selection of the representatives will take place at each quarterly shareholders' meeting. Once all nominations to the Board are made, shareholders take a simple vote and the two candidates with the highest totals of votes are elected. In the case of a tie, a runoff vote is taken. c. Employees' Representative : Selection of the representative will take place quarterly, at the same time as the shareholders' meeting. Once all nominations to the Board are made, each employee of the company (as defined in C., below) is allowed to cast one vote for any nominee. The nominee with the most votes in appointed to the Board. In the case of a tie, a runoff vote is taken. d. Board's Rights and Responsibilities: The Board of Directors can be considered in session any time all three members of the Board are in simultaneous and direct contact with one another. It is the Board’s responsibility to design policies and make decisions that direct the rest of the company in how to implement the goals laid down by the shareholders. They can also provide input and feedback to the CEO, CFO or the Captain (see below), but generally do not generally otherwise take votes or propose motions except when they feel that the company's best interests are being harmed, or are in clear and present damage of being harmed by a decision or action being actively pursued or performed by an officer of the company. i. In the case of overriding the CEO or CFO, In such cases, a two-thirds majority of the board may veto the CEO's decision in that single matter. ii. In the case of overriding the Captain, a unanimous vote of all three members of the Board of Directors can relieve the Captain of command, thereby leaving the decision in the hands of the next in command. 2. Chief Executive Officer : The Board of Directors will empower one of their number to act as Chief Executive Officer of the company, who may make decisions on behalf of the Board and the company in all business and financial matters. In voting for a CEO, Board members cannot vote for themselves or abstain from the vote. The CEO's term generally lasts for the quarter, but the other two Board members may recall the standing CEO by passing a two-thirds majority vote to do so and agreeing to name one of their number to take the recalled CEO's position. a. CEO's Rights and Responsibilities : It is the CEO's duty to implement the decisions and Goals of the Shareholders and the Board of Directors on a day-to-day basis. This includes decisions regarding the allocation of corporate resources, hiring, disciplining and firing company officers, making binding agreements with patrons, customers, suppliers and any other matters that pertain to the company as a whole but are not covered under another officer's purview. b. Delegation of Responsibilities: The CEO may appoint one or more administrative assistants to help in his duties. These individuals will be considered company employees, bound by and entitled to all of the rights and responsibilities defined below. Administrative assistants can be vested with whatever portion of the CEO’s authority as he wishes, and such investiture can be temporary or permanent at the CEO’s discretion. Any CEO may choose to discharge any administrative assistant at any time, subject to the limitations in the Employees section, below. 3. Chief Financial Officer: The Board of Directors will empower a qualified individual to act as the primary CFO of the company. The CFO is responsible for directing the fiscal functions of the corporation in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and the goals and principles set down by the shareholders and the Board, and in cooperation with the CEO. The CFO's term generally lasts for the quarter, but the Board members may recall the standing CFO by passing a two-thirds majority vote to do so and agreeing to name another qualified individual to take the recalled CFO's position. a. CFO’s Rights and Responsibilities: The CFO will plan, develop, organize, implement, direct and evaluate the organization's fiscal function and performance. He will track and report the company’s assets, manage accounts receivable and payable, oversee payroll and work closely with the CEO to maximize the company’s profits and credibility. The CFO has the authority to enter into short-term, binding agreements on behalf of the company in matters of sales and purchases. The CFO sets the base salaries and other compensation to all employees, subject to the approval of the Board of Directors, b. Delegation of Responsibilities: The CFO may appoint one or more administrative assistants to help in his duties. These individuals will be considered company employees, bound by and entitled to all of the rights and responsibilities defined below. Administrative assistants can be vested with whatever portion of the CFO’s authority as he wishes, and such investiture can be temporary or permanent at the CFO’s discretion. Any CFO may choose to discharge any administrative assistant at any time, subject to the limitations in the Employees section, below. 4. Captain of the (Ship Name here): The shareholders will select a qualified Captain to command the company’s flagship by simple nomination and vote. A Captain’s term lasts indefinitely, although the shareholders may call for a vote to replace him at any shareholders meeting. The Board of Directors can also temporarily relieve a Captain from command. a. Captain’s Rights and Responsibilities : The Captain is responsible for the safety and welfare of his ship, its crew, its passengers and its cargo. The Captain of the company flagship will also serve as Admiral of the Fleet whenever more than one company vessel is operating together. The Captain has direct command of the bridge crew and authority over the ship’s crew, and may assign them to duties and discipline them as needed. The Captain also has ultimate authority in all matters regarding the safety and welfare of the ship (qv.) The Captain is responsible to the CEO, the Board of Directors and the shareholders to command the ship in the pursuit of the goals and policies laid out by the company. b. Delegation of Responsibilities: The Captain may promote one or more junior officers to help in his duties. These individuals will be considered company employees, bound by and entitled to all of the rights and responsibilities defined below. Junior officers can be vested with whatever portion of the Captain’s authority as he wishes, subject to the limitation that no junior officer may have authority over any command officer. Any Captain may choose to demote any junior officer at any time, subject to the limitations in the Employees section, below. C. Command Officers The Board of Directors will assign two qualified individuals to serve as Command Officers, directly responsible to the Captain, and subject to his orders and discipline. In each Command Officer will be empowered to act as acting Captain if the Captain is unavailable. These Command Officers will be selected by simple nomination and vote. In cases of emergency, when they both agree that the Captain is acting or behaving irrationally and/or against the interests of the ship, crew and company, the Command Officers are empowered to temporarily relieve the Captain of command and or duty, and to remand him to the custody of the Chief Medical Officer or confine him as needed. 1. First Officer: The First Officer is second in the chain-of-command aboard the ship, and is responsible to advise and assist the Captain in the furtherance of his duties and in pursuing and protecting the company’s goals and interests. The First Officer may serve in additional capacities as determined by the Captain or the Board. 2. Second Officer: The Second Officer is third in the chain-of-command aboard the ship, and is responsible to advise and assist the Captain in the furtherance of his duties and in pursuing and protecting the company’s goals and interests. The First Officer may serve in additional capacities as determined by the Captain or the Board. D. Crew Chiefs Crew Chiefs are nominated by the Captain and ratified by the Board of directors. Command Officers may serve as Crew Chiefs 1. Chief Engineer: The Chief Engineer is responsible to the Captain and the Board for the maintenance, repair and operation of the ship’s mechanical and electrical systems, including informing the CFO when spare parts, tools and other material need to be purchased. The Chief Engineer is also the direct commanding officer of all designated engineers on the crew, subject to the approval of the Captain. 2. Chief Medical Officer: The Chief Medical Officer is responsible for the physical and mental health and safety of all personnel and passengers. The CMO is to monitor the health of all people aboard the ship, and has absolute authority in medical emergencies aboard ship. This means that the CMO can declare any crew member unfit for duty and can prescribe medical treatment and precautions for any individual or group of individuals based on medical need and the health of the crew and passengers as a whole. The CMO is also the direct supervisor of any crew specifically designated as medics, and can commandeer additional personnel as needed in a medical emergency. 3. Gunnery Chief: The Gunnery Chief is responsible to the Captain and the Command Officers for the maintenance, repair and operation of the ship’s weapon systems and ordnance. The Gunnery Chief tracks and requisitions ammunition, ordnance and spare parts for all of the ship’s weapons and is the direct supervisor of any crew specifically assigned as gunners.  4. Force Commander: A Force Commander is assigned as needed by and responsible to the CEO and the Board of Directors to coordinate and command operations outside the ship, including boarding and ground operations. The Force Commander is the direct supervisor of any crew or other employees assigned as marines or ground forces, as well as of any additional personnel assigned to specific operations outside the ship. That's as far as I've gotten. I think it's mostly complete, as far as it goes. Now that I'm going through it again, though, I think that the Gunnery Chief and the Force Commander can probably be combined into one position. We can also probably turn the Chief Medical Officer into the Science Officer (pointy ears optional).

Let's start discussing positions in the company and aboard the Athena. Corporate Officers CEO Skills Required : Some combination of Admin, Advocate, Broker, Carouse, Diplomat, Economics, Persuade and/or Streetwise. Compensation: 10,000 Cr Salary, Private Stateroom. (Office?) Notes:  Appointed by the Board from among their number. Could easily act as CFO, as well. CFO Skills Required: Admin, Advocate, Broker Compensation: 6,000 Cr Salary, Private Stateroom. (Office?) Notes:  Appointed by the Board, but doesn't need to be a Board member or even a shareholder. Could be rolled into CEO position. Athena Crew Captain Skills Required : Leadership, Tactics (naval). Also helpful: Any Bridge skills, Admin, Diplomat, Persuade. Compensation: 12,000 Cr Salary, Private Stateroom. (Office?), 4 Profit shares. Notes: Appointed by the Board, but doesn't need to be a Board member or even a shareholder. Probably should not be combined with another position. Command Officers 2 required: First and Second Officers Skills Required: Leadership and/or Tactics. Also helpful: Any Bridge skills, Admin, Diplomat, Persuade. Compensation:  8,000 Cr Salary, Private Stateroom, 2 Profit shares. Notes: Appointed by the Board, but doesn't need to be a Board member or even a shareholder. Could or should be combined with another position, perhaps a Crew Chief or Bridge Officer. BRIDGE OFFICERS Pilot 1 required, plus 2 back ups Skills Required : Pilot (small craft), Flyer  Compensation: 6,000 Cr Salary, Private Stateroom, 2 Profit shares Notes: Appointed by the Captain, approved by the CEO or Board. Could be combined with another bridge position. Astrogator 1 required, plus 1 back up Skills Required: Astrogation. Also helpful: Navigation Compensation:  5,000 Cr Salary, Private Stateroom, 2 Profit shares Notes: Appointed by the Captain, approved by the CEO or Board. Could be combined with another bridge position. Comms, Computer, and Sensors Ops At least 1 of each required, preferably 2 Skills Required : at least one of: Comms, Computers, Sensors. Also helpful: Astrogation, Electronics, Pilot (small craft) Compensation:  3,000 Cr Salary, Shared Stateroom, 1 profit share. Notes: Appointed by the Captain. Should be combined with another bridge position. ENGINEERING Chief Engineer Skills Required : Engineer, Mechanic. Also Helpful: Physical Sciences, Remote Ops, Space Sciences, Trades Compensation:  6,000 Cr Salary, Private Stateroom, 2 profit shares. Notes: Appointed by the Captain. Could be a Command Officer. Engineer 3+ required Skills Required : Engineer and/or Mechanic. Also Helpful: Flyer, Physical Sciences, Remote Ops, Space Sciences, Trades Compensation:  4,000 Cr Salary, Shared Stateroom, 1 profit share. Notes: Appointed by the Captain. Could be combined with other positions. SCIENCE Chief Science Officer Skills Required : Any combination of Medic, Remote Ops, Sciences (any), Sensors, Trades Compensation:  6,000 Cr Salary, Private Stateroom, 2 profit shares. Notes: Appointed by the Captain. Could be combined with Command Officer, Ship's Doctor, or Bridge Officer Ship's Doctor Skills Required : Medic, Life Sciences, Social Sciences Compensation:  5,000 Cr Salary, Private Stateroom, 1 profit shares. Notes: Appointed by the Captain. Could be combined with Chief Science Officer and/or Command Officer. Science and Medical Techs At least 2 suggested Skills Required : Any useful combination of Medic, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Remote Ops, Sensors, Social Sciences, Space Sciences Compensation:  4,000 Cr Salary, Shared Stateroom, 1 profit share. Notes: Appointed by the Captain. Could be combined with Chief Science Officer. More to come...