The Sol Merchant Society (SMS)

[Bsmiffy78]

Type (e.g. Planet, Faction, System): Subsidized Non-Profit Organization

Founding/Settlement Date (if applicable): 2297

Region of Space: All Sol Alliance territory, including inner and outer colonies.

Controlled by (if not a faction): Representative Body

Other Snapshot information: Established in the aftermath of the second Great Depression the Sol Merchant Society is a non-profit organization of unsubsidized small-time merchants existing wtihin Sol Alliance territory and its frontiers and is most widely known here for providing financial assistance and security to its members.

Prohibits admittance of IPC-owned organizations, foreign (non-SA) organizations.

Long Description:

Overview and History

The Sol Merchant Society (SMS) was originally formed by two small-time human merchants, Joseph Sneeringer and A'mir Kra'shiik, who's great, great grandchildren now represent the Society as President and Chief Financial Analyst respectively. The original society was a business agreement between the two companies, promising each other mutual financial support, as well as providing private contractors should one find themselves unable to provide such a service for themselves. They also bought resources such as fuel and other commodities en masse from manufacturers to reduce their combined losses through larger purchases. Today, the Society maintains a very close tie to its foundations; with 549 Major members, and approximately 3,600 Minor members, the society assists in providing financial and security aid to all of its members for a portion of their annual revenue, 5% from its Minor members, and 15% from its Major members-- these percentages will change should members grow in size rapidly, and should it reach 30%, their membership will be considered invalid. These funds are used as a way to manage the Society's expenses and finance new additions to the Society. In addition to these funds, the Sol Alliance contributes subsidies to the group, and recognizes it as a major organization in the protection of many of its vital trade routes. The main purpose established by the Society is to provide a way for small-time Merchants to compete with mega-corporations such as Nanotrasen. Currently, the SMS has established five sector outposts: 1 located in Sol, in orbit around the planet Mars, which acts as the Central Hub; 1 located in Tau Ceti, in orbit around the planet Reade; 1 located in Epsilon Eridani, in orbit around the planet Isis; and two other outposts, most likely forward operating bases for private contractors, suspected to be located somewhere within the Inner and Outer colonies-- the true locations are only known to the Security Committee and top Executives, exposing them will result in expulsion from the group.

Security Forces

The Society's Security Forces resemble more of a conglomerate militia than a Navy. They are comprised entirely of private contractors registered with the Sol Alliance, each of whom remains a separate entity from the Society, and are hired by the Security committee. The total strength is approximately somewhere around 300 different contractors, in possession of PMV vessels ranging between the corvette and destroyer classes; specific force sizes are kept a closely guarded secret. The primary focus of the Security forces is to provide protection to the Society's 4,000+ members, all contractors operate on an on-call basis. Secondary focuses of the Security forces involve protection of Society assets, an increased presence of PMV-marked vessels can be seen surrounding most of the Society's outposts, though less notably so in systems closer to Sol. Fleets owned by private contractors have also been reported to continually hunt down pirate bands in areas where Sol law is lacking in enforcement.

Membership

Admittance into the Sol Merchant Society varies widely from quarter to quarter, as every three months, the Representative Body, made up of the Major members, adjusts the requirements to meet the financial ends of the Society and its members. Generally, it is recognized that a new member must meet the following requirements: Be recognized as a space-faring, merchant company by the Sol Alliance and represent a profit to revenue ratio which is proportionate with the average ratio of society members. Specifics are kept logged in meeting minutes, and are often not released to applicants until they have already been processed. Because of this, all applications are open-ended, to prevent falsification of financial information.

Once Accepted:

2. Enrolled in orientation program, which introduces new companies to the Society's benefits and specific requirements for continued membership, such as maintaining certain qualifications and certifications with the Sol Alliance and submitting quarterly financial reports.
   
4. Marked as a Minor member, given access to security protection forces and financial aid (in the form of loans and society tax relief) should they begin to decline. Minor membership requires a base tax of 5% of all revenue, plus or minus some given the company's financial situation.
   
6. Granted ability to upgrade status to Major member after 5 consecutive years of Minor membership without being reprimanded.

 

Representative Body

The Sol Merchant Society's Representative Body, otherwise known as the RB, includes the Society's 549 Major members and is administrated by the current President, Katya Sneeringer. The RB runs on a bureaucratic system, where a two-thirds majority is required to pass votes regarding various decisions. The President however, has no involvement in the RB, rather he/she participates passively by initiating meetings, votes, and introducing new proposals developed by the RBs many committees. There is, however, a clause in the Society's Constitution which states that should it be absolutely necessary that the President must make a decision on a matter, that he/she is permitted to carry out such an executive order, without consulting the Representatives first. However, this clause has rarely been utilized over the Society's 160 years of existence, and was last used to attempt to prevent the loss of an outpost being developed in one of the outer colonies to a band of Unathi pirates-- though it was ultimately unsuccessful, and the outpost fell to the pirates after a short skirmish between a private contractor that resulted in numerous deaths and large financial losses for the Society.

 

• Main Representative Committees
  
  
  
  Admissions: Proposes plans for changes in memberships requirements or the orientation program, negotiates admissions applications with prospective members, presents negotiations to the RB.
  
  Financial: Presents plans for the allocation of funds, proposes plans to minimize costs/maximize revenue, and provides quarterly Society financial assessments to the RB.
  
  Security: Presents plans for strategic allocation of forces, proposes private contractors to hire, negotiates contracts with private contractors and presents negotiations to the RB, and provides quarterly security-risk assessments for the society's Major and Minor members.
  

 

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Notes: I'd appreciate any and all feedback, constructive criticism is welcome.

EDIT(S): Edited Title. Edited Region of Space. Edited Overview. Edited Security Forces. Edited Main Representative Committees.

Edited December 10, 2015 by Guest

[Killerhurtz]

I've submitted it for review, and there's two main issues with it so far:

First,

All human-occupied space, Sol Alliance territory and bordering frontiers.

and

Financial: Presents plans for allocation of Society funds, proposes plans to cut expenses and maximize Society revenue, provides quarterly Soceity financial assessments to RB.

seem to contradict one another. Could you explain why it does not?

Second, what IS the extent of the security committee? Is it PURELY for defense or do they also serve an offensive/active interest protection role?

[Bsmiffy78]

I've submitted it for review, and there's two main issues with it so far:

First,

All human-occupied space, Sol Alliance territory and bordering frontiers.

and

Financial: Presents plans for allocation of Society funds, proposes plans to cut expenses and maximize Society revenue, provides quarterly Society financial assessments to RB.

seem to contradict one another. Could you explain why it does not?

Second, what IS the extent of the security committee? Is it PURELY for defense or do they also serve an offensive/active interest protection role?

 

1. I'm not sure I'm seeing the contradiction that you are, but maybe I could try to clear up the two things you have quoted above. First, the reason for such a widespread of the Society is because they accept applicants from anywhere that is "governed" or "occupied" by the Sol Alliance-- perhaps I will remove "human-occupied space" to make this clear. Secondly, the Financial Committee is responsible for allocating funds to projects and resources, and paying private contractors, proposing plans to the Representative Body for minimizing costs/maximizing revenue, and providing financial assessments. As a note: non-profit organizations can collect revenue, so long as it is not counted for-profit (i.e., no organization or entity gains profits directly from the Society.)

2. The security committee and the private contractors which are employed under the Society serve a primarily defensive role. They are dispatched to members as they are needed, the size of the force depending on the priority and security risk of the route being taken. However, if necessary, they can serve more an active interest role-- especially in the outer colonies and areas less governed by Sol Law-- which has gained them reputation with the Sol Alliance for keeping track of and actively targeting pirate bands in some areas.

P.S. I will edit the OP to reflect this post.

[Killerhurtz]

It's not profit, though. It's revenue. Profit is specifically monetary gain - revenue defines a financial income. The wording you chose made it sound like it wanted to maximize PROFIT.

Though for your second point, it ties into a few other things: to me, it seems like the SMS would do a lot of heckling to protect interests. How is the SMS not guilty of basically owning a private army (with the security committee)? Furthermore, since only the Major Members know the location of the bases and they're funded by the Sol Alliance, how are they not guilty of property and tax fraud?

[Bsmiffy78]

It's not profit, though. It's revenue. Profit is specifically monetary gain - revenue defines a financial income. The wording you chose made it sound like it wanted to maximize PROFIT.

 

Forgive my ignorance. I see it now. However, my point still stands, the Society does not collect the revenue, nor does any of its members, by cutting expenses, more funds are able to be allocated to projects, resources, security, and etc. There is no monetary gain and this must be reflected in quarterly reports to the SA.

 

Though for your second point, it ties into a few other things: to me, it seems like the SMS would do a lot of heckling to protect interests. How is the SMS not guilty of basically owning a private army (with the security committee)?

Because they do not own rights to any vessels. They hire private contractors for their members and dispatch them appropriately, a select few are used to guard the Society's more exposed outposts in the colonies. All private contractors must be registered with the Sol Alliance.

Ex: Company A is running a route from Point X to Point Y and request security from the Society, the Society informs Contractor X of the request, and Contractor X dispatches its forces appropriately. The next time Company A requests security assistance from the Society, they might receive help from Contractor W, Y, or Z, and the size and classifications of the forces dispatched varies from Contractor to Contractor. In short, the Security committee is like a broker between Company A and Contractor X-- except Contractor X is paid for directly by the Society, and this is accounted for when collecting taxes from members.

For a certain period of time, Contractor X might be protecting assets in and around the Outpost in the Outer Colonies, and and may be replaced by Contractor W, Y, or Z if necessary.

 

Furthermore, since only the Major Members know the location of the bases and they're funded by the Sol Alliance, how are they not guilty of property and tax fraud?

All outposts are known to Sol Alliance officials. I'm going to edit this, so that only the outposts within the inner and outer colonies are kept low-key, for security purposes, and are only known to the Security Committee and the key Execs (including SA.) If this doesn't answer your concern, please elaborate.

[Killerhurtz]

Nope, sounds good. Marking as processed.

[Killerhurtz]

http://aurorastation.org/wiki/index.php?title=Sol_Merchant_Society

Application processed. Locking and archiving.