Company Corporate Structure Moving Forward

Just to be Official: The shareholders have elected the Board of Directors: CEO/Shareholder Representative: Marquis Sebastien Maddox Shareholder Representative:  Petty Officer Jeff Scardack Employee Representative:  Gerald Rothschild and the Captain of the Athena: Captain Jacob Crow We have decided to pay off the bill for the construction of the Athena. We have decided to turn over the psionic manuals to Professor Isis in accordance to the negotiated Ticket. BUT we have not decided upon the exact means of delivery. A promising suggestion is to deliver the manuals (and the cryogenically preserved head of Captain Maarg) to the Professor in the presence of, or at least in the knowledge of the Duchess of Mora, who could then take responsibility for their final disposition.  With a fully invested Board of Directors, the shareholders can choose to Table the matter of the delivery and the completion of the Isis Ticket to the Board, or we could continue the discussion. Any shareholder can propose a motion in favor of or against any of these options...

In no particular order... Crewing I've been thinking along the same lines as both of you guys, Alby and Vic, in terms having an "Action Stations" roster and a routine schedule. In the Action Stations, everybody has just one job, and the best person we have is the one doing each job. This would also be the crew person who is ultimately responsible to the Captain for that position. Pilot #1, for example, gets his ass to that con asap in an emergency situation regardless of whose shift it is. He's also responsible to advise the Captain about the performance of the other pilots, physical or technical problems with the con itself, etc.. The routine schedule can be much more forgiving and flexible. In this one it's fine for folks to be covering more than one job as long as the jobs are more or less in the same general area and are not mutually exclusive, and the crew person has a +2 or better DM in each primary skill. I'd still like to to keep everybody limited in one 8 hour shift per 24 hour period. The duty officer of each shift will probably have more trouble finding constructive things for people to do than anything. But let's keep in mind that the Bridge is typically cleared during a trip through jump space. In just about all of the other positions, as we've already discussed, there are down times, when either no or minimal staffing will be required. I think that's why the Starship crew requirements are as light as they are. For the Athena, according to the table on p. 113 (TCR), a Full Crew is: 3 Pilots (one per 8 hour shift), plus backups. (Note that Pilot is considered the only position in which it's important to even worry about keeping it down to 8 hour shifts). 1 Navigator plus backups. 2.5 Engineers (We're already planning on running with 3 engineers and a Chief Engineer to make sure that they can also deal with the upkeep and repairs for the small craft and such) 1 Medic (Realistically, it's 1 medic/120 passengers. We're planning on having one actually devoted Ship's Doctor as well as additional med/sci techs.) 2 Gunners per turret. (we've already got a kickass gunnery bot in each of our 12 turrets, and we're going to run 12 with additional security/gunnery crew, plus  several of our PC's can also jump into a turret if they're not needed elsewhere.) NO Steward. (We really have more than enough Luxuries and robot helpers to cover way more passengers than we're ever going to carry. I think that if Izek, Gerald, Sebastien or whomever else wants to add a personal touch to our elite passenger service, in those occasions that we even carry passengers, that's peachy. We can also easily have the other "extra" crew help out in this regard when their positions aren't needed. If there's a real need for a Real Steward, I would want that position to be somebody who combos with Security or Med/Sci rather than somebody we might want to be piloting the ship.) 1 Officer per 10 Crew (We're not exactly sure of how big the crew is going to be yet, but we're going to have 4 Officers, so we should be fine) Depending on exactly how it all pans out, the current staffing scheme (in the Company Docs) should cost us around 150 to 160 KCr per month. I understand the desire to overplan and over-staff to make sure that we're ready for every eventuality, but keeping frozen soldiers and extra gunners and additional domestic help will make us bloated and cash-strapped. Everybody we take out into the black with us is also our responsibility, frozen or not, and a potential security risk.  Let's work with Bob to determine what's a realistic staffing level and duty schedule to work with, and try to keep an eye on the bottom line. Medical Bay A medical bay is a standard feature of every ship, just like bulkheads and airlocks. It's assumed to be covered in the tonnage set aside for the staterooms, as is recreational space, galley, etc. I certainly want to make sure that our Med Bay is as advanced and well appointed as possible, and that's one of the main reasons that I'd really like us to head to some really high-tech ports asap, to upgrade our base TL 14 med bay upgraded. And I do figure that one of our labs will be designated for life/medical sciences. If there are other, specific medical equipment or facilities that anybody thinks we should get, I'd be up for it. Crew/Owner Pay etc. Taking into account the fact that we've readjusted our profit-sharing so that the owners are back to just getting quarterly dividends based on net profits, I think that we should keep paying owners a salary, and a certain number of profit shares from Tickets, etc. I'm all for setting on a base salary and profit share # for all owner/employees, or some other pay scheme like that it others want to do that. I actually kind of like that better, I think. Currently none of the crew positions, even combo'ed should net more than 4 shares, so shall we set owner/employee profit shares at 5? And how about 8,000 Cr/month for a salary?

... For some reason the "NO steward" bothers me. Would it be good to have at least one crew member officially responsible for the wellbeing of the crew?

Alby said: ... For some reason the "NO steward" bothers me. Would it be good to have at least one crew member officially responsible for the wellbeing of the crew? There is are the Captain, the Ship's Doctor and the Chief of Security, who are all responsible for the well-being of the crew.... I guess I can throw the Steward/Morale Officer back in if people really feel strongly about it.

Izek has Steward 1 and gets plus 2 from soc, Also being 2nd officer its prob part of his job to keep moral up. Also ill try to get at least 1 NPC with steward skill.

Now that Taroon has been with us for a little while, including several tedious administrative sessions and a trip thru time and back again, I'd say it's fair to allow him to buy into the company as of 001-1111. If I were him, I would probably would have bailed on us by now. If anybody has any objections, please post them or bring them to meta on Wednesday.  I have figured out what the share value would have been as of 001-1111: 10,778,880 credits/share . 

Taroon has purchased 4 shares of Artemis Group, making him our newest shareholder!

wooo whooooo. more cash in the kitty

RV has also expressed an interest in buying into Artemis. All things considered, it seems to me that he should be able to buy in either 001-1111, as well, and at the same price. What say you?

Jeff likes RV, he's a great guy and will be indespensible in combat, but he is pretty gruntish so I definitely feel like he should wait one mission since he's a grunt and not our ships doctor. But Jeff would love for Sebastien to teach RV the basics behind what this company does (minus the whole "illegal items") just so we know what he's capable of doing as a shareholder.

With the purchase of the second G-Carrier, we have another small craft to name. Our Assault Shuttle is the Aegis, and one of the G-Carriers is the Pegasus. What should we name the other?

*Creative epiphany* ... Pegasus II?

Oh and I think that if RV's got the money then the company should be happy to take it.  We did establish that pretty early on that shareholders only have "power" in the boardroom and that shares don't actually give you any clout on the ship. So ... I don't think being a "grunt" really has much to do with whether or not he should own shares. Shares are really just an investment, and a say in how the company runs if you care about whatever issue goes to a vote. 

Don't we have a minimum IQ for share status? I mean can he really tie his own shoes?

Well obviously the IQ of current share holders makes it look as if you need to have a vast intellect in order to buy in. We're an elite club of genii.  But how many shares do you think Paris Hilton owns? I owned shares in OPSM since I was a kid (enough to earn me a dividend of $40 per year!). 

How about we call the more "civilian" G-Carrier the Pegasus and the more military one the Perseus ? Or the Bellerophon ?

VIC e. said: Don't we have a minimum IQ for share status? I mean can he really tie his own shoes? If we did, Izek wouldn't have shared in the company. 

What you said Wolfen. Or maybe Bucephalus (Alexander the Great's demonic warhorse) to keep with the horse theme. 

For your consideration as we think about a company image/logo/etc:  Goddess Symbols of Artemis General: Crescent moon (new moon), bow and arrow, sandals, clouds, three pillars, and blue sky. Gems and Metals: Moonstone, pearl, quartz, crystal, silver, turquoise, iron, aluminum, and diamonds. Colors: Silver, white, red, green, and turquoise Goddess Symbols of Athena General: Sun, golden shield and helmet, spear, spindle, bowl, intertwined snakes, the Parthenon, the seven auras, and the Number 7 Gems and Metals: Onyx, ruby, star sapphire, turquoise, gold, lapis lazuli, and ivory Colors: Gold, orange, yellow, emerald green, and royal blue

I didn't design these or anything: Artemis: Athena:

Pegasus for the posh, pimped-out G-Carrier with concealed pop-up guns, and Bucephalus for the balls-out, outright war-machine G-Carrier. Name for the civ-friendly cargo & utility enclosed air-raft to be determined...

In recognition of Hane’s role in being an objective arbiter, Charoux proposes we name him “Chief Facillitator”.

Tenacious Techhunter said: Pegasus for the posh, pimped-out G-Carrier with concealed pop-up guns, and Bucephalus for the balls-out, outright war-machine G-Carrier. Name for the civ-friendly cargo & utility enclosed air-raft to be determined... We actually decided not to get an air/raft, remember? The Pegasus has been made an unarmed (there are no pop-up turrets for small craft), fast, defensive civilian craft for comfy transportation and emergency/rescue. The Bucephalus is a slightly beefed up version of the standard military G-Carrier. Tenacious Techhunter said: In recognition of Hane’s role in being an objective arbiter, Charoux proposes we name him “Chief Facillitator”. I always appreciated that about him too, but Hane left the company over a year ago. Has anybody given any thought to our heraldry, for lack of a better term? You know, logos for the company and/or the ship, company colors, that kind of thing?

Mardi Gras crossed with Care Bears with a dash of Alice in Wonderland diamonds and checkered patterns.  Throw in some orange on all the weapons turrets and barbettes, right where they will clash with the armor.  Now.  Black for all the engines ports and exhausts.  Hides the fumes.  Then we need color-coded, arrowed lines on the floors from the airlock to various crew and passenger sections.  That way even RV can find his way from the gate to his stateroom without having to look like some backwater barbarian from a low-tech world.  Next we move in all the Airplants and have a hanging garden in the commons area(s).  Oh no, these chairs are so retro 1960s!  We simply must switch out for ashram floor pillows and very low, Japanese tables.  Shame really.  Some cha-no-yu trays and bento boxes and we have a minimalist galley and commons where no one can Infight over their favorite corner chair with all the pillows about that can double as....'encounters' spots.  Chopsticks for the humans and the Vargr will feel right at home using their claws for meals.  Some traditional sitar and Japanese samisen music and au de steak incense and we have a pleasant environment for all those who step onto the Athena. ooOOhhh... Yanni!

With regards to heraldry, any thoughts I have are complicated by just what the hell the Goddess Artemis has to do with warfare or safeguarding VIPs... which, she mostly doesn’t.

I blame it on the Greeks

I'm still hoping the Pegasus can be made modular, so that for one trip it could be a Lux G-Limo, and the next it's fitted out as an assault carrier. I was wondering why Bob hadn't responded to my PM about it - and then after checking realized that I never actually sent him a PM. Sending one now. As for Logos and Heraldry, I'm a big fan of minimalism. A basic, shape or symbol that sums us up would do nicely. A drawn bow that somehow forms part of the letter A would work. "A" for both Athena and Artemis. Artemis was a many-breasted goddess according to some icons. Maybe a logo that is a cluster of boobies?

I think we need to hold a "Company Meeting" pretty soon to sort out the company structure. At the moment we are Captainless. Technically a ship can't fly without someone who is responsible for it. We need to sort out some OOC issues too I feel.

Well, “Chain of Command”-wise, Charoux, as First Officer, is Field-Promoted to Captain; but even Charoux would admit continuing to operate that way is a bad idea, seeing as how little experience he actually has at that sort of thing. Also, Charoux getting to be CEO and Captain being a complete power imbalance is a fair argument, particularly when Charoux doesn’t much care about the all-too-necessary issues of earning a profit. Charoux would prefer to be a “Mission Coordinator”; working with the clients to organize a mutually satisfactory mission plan, and then organizing people to carry that mission out. Having some say over potential clients would be important, but probably won’t be a sticking point most of the time. Charoux isn’t interested in having a say over the trading, more than occasional passenger handling, or the ongoing operations of the ship, though he’s willing to step in when security issues warrant it. But, as CTO, he’s certainly willing to work with Drex on Artifact stuff. I could roll up a Captain character, but that would just perpetuate the problem of all the power being in one player’s hands again, at least until someone picks up the “Trading, Passengers, & Legal” part.

TT, the only person left on the board is Jeff. He's the Shareholder Rep, he also has 12 shares in the company and would be more likely to be CEO. But coming from a players standpoint I would need some help learning just what to even do. Even from a character standpoint he would need help learning just what to do.

Charoux was on the board too (or, at least, one of them). As far as Trading, Passengers, Business, and Law goes, Charoux doesn’t know much either. As a player, I was always hands-off with those things too, except occasionally playing at Steward. :P We really need to automate things so that these are simple Player Decisions, and not research projects.

Well if we are going to maintain the existing structure (we really need to) then our first and most urgent job is to elect a board of directors... because we really need one before we can sort out anything else. "There will be a Board of three Directors; two Shareholders' Representatives and one Employee Representative" So nominations for that really need to be sorted out first.  THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS " Shareholders may each nominate a maximum of one potential Representative . Each nominee must be seconded by another shareholder. Each shareholder may second any number of nominations. Once all Nominations are in, shareholders cast a number of votes up to their total number of shares, shared out amongst any candidates as they so choose. The two candidates who receive the most votes become the two Shareholders' Representatives to the Board. The candidate who receives the most votes becomes the CEO. In the case of a tie, the Employees' Representative chooses one of the Shareholder's Representatives to serve as CEO." This next one gets a little interesting: " Employees may each nominate a maximum of one potential Representative . Each nominee must be seconded by another employee. Each employee may second any number of nominations. Once all nominations are in. each employee may cast one vote for one candidate. The candidate with the most votes becomes the Employees' Representative to the Board." We have a larger number of NPC employees now. So maybe once we have the Player Character nominations in we could sort out a system that determines how the NPCs would nominate and vote? Once we have a board of directors, we will then be able to sort out the other positions. CORPORATE OFFICERS CEO : Skills Required: Some combination of Admin, Advocate, Broker, Carouse, Diplomat, Economics, Persuade and/or Streetwise. Notes: Appointed by the Board from among their number. Could easily act as CFO, as well. CFO: skills Required: Admin, Advocate, Broker Notes: Appointed by the Board, but doesn't need to be a Board member or even a shareholder. Could be rolled into CEO position. COMMAND OFFICERS: CAPTAIN: Skills Required: Leadership, Tactics (naval). Also helpful: Any Bridge skills, Admin, Diplomat, Persuade. 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. 1st Officer 2nd Officer Skills Required: Leadership and/or Tactics. Also helpful: Any Bridge skills, Admin, Diplomat, Persuade. 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. All other positions from the XO down are appointed by the Captain. So ... let's get nominating! If anyone thinks they have the chops for a position on the board of directors I'd say feel free to present yourself for nomination in a post below (either In Character or Out of Character). You can't nominate yourself, but It'd be good if we knew what your skills were and why you think you're the guy/gal for the job. Put your hand up for the other positions too, but keep in mind that we first need a Board of Directors. The other positions are appointed by the board.

I’d like to make a change about the Shareholder Representative vote; there are two positions, so each share should be allowed to vote for each position separately. I don’t know what Wolfen was trying to accomplish with his “split vote” rule; this is how things are normally done when there are multiple open positions.

Well at the moment, the one with the most votes becomes the CEO. The candidate with the second largest number of votes is also on the board. That seems like a good, straight forward way to do it. Can you give an example of how your idea would work? It sounds like you want to hold two separate votes? I'm struggling to see how that would be better. One change I would like to see - if you are nominated you can't use your shares to vote for yourself. EDIT: On second thoughts, let's not change anything. Seriously, this is going to become a pointless debate with no end. The current way of doing it is good. Let's focus on getting folks nominated so we can vote.

Charoux, the previous board was Jeff, Sebastian, and Gerald. I was shareholder rep, Sebastian  was the CEO, and Gerald was employee rep. You were just first officer but you have a large share in the company just like Jeff's 12 shares.

* This is an announcement that Grobble has made at some point during one of our many Jump transits. It may have been during a communal meal or staff meeting * Hallo to yoo all ... ... If yoo could all make the face meats of yoo be pointing toward me for the making of me to have the attention of yoo all please? Thanks be upon yoo. For the one who doesn't know of me I am Grobble. I am currently being employed on the bridge for the making of communications . But also recently - with the CEO and CFO Sebastian making absent of himself being - Grobble has been doing the works of him... For the making of monies for the Group. I have the know in my mind that it may be  ... pre-maturity ... for the make of myself a candidate for CFO because there is no Board of Directors for there to give such a job to anyone. But I have the honesty in my orgunz necessary for the making of yoo to have trust in me for to be doing this job. So ... What I like to say to yoo all ... if yoo like for me to do this job say so to me. I will give to yoo my nomination for the board of directors or my second. I have many shares for the making of effective votage for you. Plus, I have many other things I would like to give to yoo as the present. It is not the corruption. It is the doing of the nice things to the one who has the wisdoms in their orgunz to know Grobble is the one to give trusts to for the doing of the CFO job. May your spleens be blessed with effective functioning. Thank be upon yoo.

Charoux made a point of keeping pace with Sebastien in terms of company shares; I think that puts him at 15? Being an active purality shareholder makes a difference, but, you may be right, Charoux may not be a Board Member currently . Of course, as the previous CEO, with the current CEO having gone AWOL, it would make sense for Charoux to step in for the time being; which, admittedly, does not follow the existing business chain of command, per se; so, for Jeff, as the only  Board Member meaningfully present, is there any other move he would make, rather than promote Charoux to interim CEO, and have him fall into position as the interim Captain, as per the ship’s chain of command? If so, what, so we can put this issue to rest? The argument for one position-vote per share, besides it being how American elections are run (at least, in Massachusetts, anyway), is that we are voting for two different offices, even if they are equivalent, and, therefore, each office should get a vote. Now, I’m all for canning the issue for the sake of avoiding an argument, but, to me, this makes more sense than the way things are currently run, and I would prefer to see things changed, if it can be done reasonably. If it cannot, well, I can settle for the status quo for the time being.

I would have thought that the runner up on the board would take the vacant CEO position. That would be Jeff. Even though Charoux was acting as CEO before the current board was put in place I can't really see why it would default back to Charoux in Sebastian's absence. Charoux isn't even on the board. Charoux is First Officer however. So as far as the crew's authority structure goes he is at the top of the chain at the moment. That's a bit of a band-aid fix though. Ideally we need a character with the Leadership and Tactics skill in the captain's chair, preferably with at least a bit of experience as a naval officer. Anyhoo - all that aside, Kayleb is going to nominate Jeff Scardack for the position o f Shareholder Rep . ( I was going to do it In Character and all but I don't really have the creative energy to do it tonight .)

The funny thing is, our most qualified captain member is a npc.  Jerey Ugotiga Human Male, Navy(Crew) 6 terms 4 rank(Officer due to commision). Age 38. 5969FC Gun Combat (energy pistol) 1, Mechanic 3, Tactics (naval) 2, Steward 1, Gun Combat (energy rifle) 1, Recon 2, Melee (blade) 2, Vacc Suit 1, Gunnery (turret) 1, Leadership 1, Comms 0, Mecid 0, Trade (woodworking) 0, Pilot 0, Zero-G 0,

Well once the board can form a quorum they can select a captain. I kinda hope they don't give the job to an NPC!

Well, it all depends on what we want out of a Captain; do we want a decision maker, or do we want a glorified bus driver? The latter wouldn’t be so bad, most of the time.

Well I guess that's all up to the Board of Directors ... once we have a Board of Directors.