The charitable society of unexpected benefactors [BLACKHORSE] - Organizations

History

2814 – Grown-up on the outer fringes of UEE space, Cristiano Baker hardly manages to make ends meet in the freelancing hauling business. Being fed up with egoistic fringe culture he ventures more and more into newly explored and colonized space – where large profit margins meet high risks. One day, while Cristiano is under heavy pirate attack, appears a Banu merchant out of nowhere and saves him. The merchant disappears immediately, leaving only a very brief message on the comm recorder: Be good!

2815/01/15 – Cristiano Baker founds ‘The Society Of Unexpected Benefactors’ inspired by his own experience the previous year. The goal being to show that good deeds and a more helpful and selfless society is possible in the tough world of the outer fringes. In the beginning he starts with simply offering the transport of hitchhikers for free (therefore we still have the ‘transport’ aspect as one of our official purposes).

Throughout the coming years more and more friendly traders, explorers, freelancers, scouts and others join the society, broadening its areas of operation and types of help.
In line with Cristiano’s inspiration, most members use stealth technology in order to keep a low profile when helping others. Coming out of nowhere and offering unexpected help becomes the society’s signature and leads to its nickname: black horse. Also because from the outside the society sometimes appears as being a little bit mysterious, obscure and unpredictable.

2842 – The society starts to expand into main UEE space.

2850 – Using its wide network of members and contacts the organization starts a branch (or division) specialized in intelligence. In combination with its expansion into mainstream space during the 2840s, this provokes criticism and hostility from other big organizations and especially from the establishment and educated elite.

2852 – Rumours are spread that the society maintains secretive contacts into Banu space and is trying to establish sinister contact with the Xi’An, badly damaging its formerly good reputation.

2853 – A final, desperate attempt is taken in order to regain people’s goodwill by adding ‘charitable’ to its title.

2854 – As the society slides into insignificance, the remaining members decide to put the organization “into hiding” and to go back to its stealthy, low key roots. No advertising, no aggressive recruiting, no big policies – back to the small day-to-day good deeds.

Being under the radar for almost a hundred years, it is unclear how many members the society actually has as many of its contacts remain only loosely associated.
Rumour has it, though, that the intelligence branch is still strong….

Manifesto

The society’s main goal is to be a force for good, no matter how small its impact as we believe that every small deed or step is worthwhile. Therefore we help and support others wherever we can, if desired. Also by using our wide network of contacts and our knowledge of the galaxy.

The charitable society of unexpected benefactors, often shortened to CSUB (spoken: c-sub) or just Black Horse, is a rather casual organization. We do not expect members to invest many hours or any Imperials. In line with our ‘every small deed’ principle, members do not need to get heavily involved (> lone wolves are welcome). Naturally, if you want to help coordinate, organize or want to give input, you are always very welcome to do so. As we do not believe in strong hierarchy, our laid-back communication style makes it easy to get involved and engage with other members (> community first!).

Besides a full-fledged membership (voting rights and minor responsibilities), we also offer the status of ‘associate’, which is more like allying yourself with us and becoming part of our galaxy-wide network of helpful friends.
Becoming a member (rank 1) or associating yourself with us (rank 0) is as easy as it gets. No website or forum to register at, no endorsement needed – just a simple application (> click the ‘join’ button).

[In case you’re confused – regarding role play: Although our public-facing front-end tries to create a fitting StarCitizen lore around the Black Horse, we are not a role-playing organization. You can speak freely and talk about real life or the game.
If, in the future, there are enough members who like role-playing, we might set up a special division for that.]

Charter

[1] Our values

A) We always try to be a force for good. Helping others, supporting good causes and building a positive future for the galaxy.

B) We always try to adhere to the principle of “do not do things to others, which you would not like be done to you”.
Naturally, in the context of a positive and constructive world view. Sometimes including the need to protect others by using force (> self-defence).

C) Therefore we do not take part in piracy – neither directly, nor indirectly.

D) We are not a role-playing organization. If you like to role-play you are welcome to do so, but please do not insist on others to do the same. If, in future, there are enough members who like role-playing, we are happy to set up a special branch for that activity.

[2] Our structure

A) “Ranks”

Associate (0): Someone who likes the idea of our organization and supports it. They tend to be lone wolves or heavily involved with other organizations. They make up our very important, strong and wide network of friendly contacts throughout the galaxy.
Loosely bound to the organization, they have no voting rights, but also no responsibilities. However, like all members they are very welcome to give input, feedback, criticism and ideas. The council always has an ear for them and is always happy to see them take part in our activities. Nevertheless, they are not part of the decision-making process and might be barred from some meetings and discussions.

Benefactor (1): A member who is still a bit unsure how deeply to get involved or they are just new to the game and are still making up their mind what “game-life” they wish to live. Like all members they have the voting right in all polls. They have the right to be present at or read the protocol of any meeting or discussion that was held with regards to upcoming decisions, including council meetings (which are always “open-door meetings”). At the same time benefactors have the responsibility to respond to messages from the organization in a standard time frame. Otherwise they are seen as only being nominal and their membership may be revoked. But don’t worry, we won’t spam you with messages in order to check your activity status. Only about twice a year there will be a message which needs responding to.

Veteran Benefactor (2): Same as benefactor, with the difference that they have been a member for at least a month. Usually they are involved in discussions and are happy to share their thoughts and feedback.

Committed regular (3): Same as veteran benefactor, plus they help with organizing events and the day-to-day business. In return, they can get administrative management rights if CSUB is their main org (see CIG org rules), like taking care of applications or helping with branding & marketing.

Division head (4): A committed regular, who coordinates the activities of a specific division. Often they have given or donated equipment or Imperials. Currently there are the following branches (to be expanded):
Exploration/Scouting, Transport, Security, Intelligence

Council member (5): A committed regular, who takes part in regular leadership meetings. They are heavily involved and help manage the organization. Therefore CSUB must be their ‘main organization’ (see CIG org rules).

B) Roles

Council member: Manages members, ranks & roles.

Recruitment: Manages applications.

Marketing/Branding: Manages content, front-end, marketing and branding.

C) System

The council provides leadership in terms of managing and coordinating the society’s activities. Council members have the obligation to take input, feedback, criticism and ideas from other members of the organization seriously and give them thought. Every council meeting has the ‘open door’ principle, meaning that any full-fledged member (rank 1 and above) is allowed to sit in and listen (and to give advice). Summarizing protocols are written afterwards and can be read by any member (sent by email, if desired – or simply ask a council member to receive a copy).
The council is allowed to make decisions with regards to the day-to-day business of the organization. If urgent, temporary ad-hoc decisions can be made on important issues. For example, a rogue member’s membership can be suspended until the general vote on whether they will be stripped of their membership. Memberships can be revoked if a member is behaving contrary to the organization’s values, if they turn out to be a spy or if they sabotage and heavily disrupt the organization’s activities.

Decisions, which have a fundamental impact on the organization – like changes to the manifesto, to the charter or general policy changes – have to be put to a general vote. Usually there will also be votes on some events, activities and management/handling decisions.
If 20% of the members support a certain idea (that does not go against the laid down values), they can force a vote on the issue. In order to change the charter an 80% ‘yes’ vote is needed in the council and in a general vote.

Appendix A:
As soon as there are more than 12 members and at least 2 election candidates, council membership will depend on a general vote – except for the founder, who can always be the odd-part of the council if he chooses. So, if the council consists of 2 elected members (which is the minimum), the founder would be the third council member. In consequence, the founder can be out-voted by a council majority.

The charitable society of unexpected benefactors / BLACKHORSE