The Structure of the Crimson Order
A Caste based system
In line with the canon and RP of the Sith Empire of the current time, there are several different castes:
Sith'ari is the caste of the Sith Lords.
Kissai is the ruling caste.
Massassi is the warrior caste.
Engineer caste, is well, the engineers and tradesmen.
Slave caste is the peeps that are too weak to run their own life.
How does this apply to the Crimson Order?
Sith'ari, the leader of the Crimson Order will be considered to be a member of this caste. He/she will be one of the Sith Lords.
Kissai, this caste will contain our senior functional leaders. This includes our military commander, operations/intel commander, personnel/recruiting commander, and logistics commander. Each will have responsibility over their functional areas, as well as acting as back-ups for next highest person on the chain.
Massassi, this caste will contain the majority of our players. All combat personnel, whether troopers, medics, bhs, force users, etc, will fall under this caste.
Engineer caste, our only deviation from RP will be that we will consider engineer caste members to be equal to the Massassi caste. This is for our non-combatant crafters (if they are a playable profession).
Slave caste, this is where we will consider all NPCs and companion characters (and we may think of some of our allies falling here).
Direct Chain of Command
The Grand Lord
The Grand Lord is the ultimate authority in the Crimson Order. While this position is ideally designed for an actual force user, it is not limited to just force users. Should a non-force user become the "Grand Lord" of the Crimson Order, then another member shall role play as the nominal figurehead for ceremonial purposes.
The Grand Lord will be elected by the membership. The Grand Lord will serve in that position indefinitely, until he/she either resigns from the position.
Dear Leader Emeritis
The Field Marshall reports directly to the Grand Lord and is a full member of the Kissai. He is charged with being the advisor to the Grand Lord and interpeting the Rules and Regulations for the guild.
The Overlord
The Overlord is the Second highest ranked member in the CO, oversees the Operations Team and Intelligence Team and speaks for the Grand Lord in his absense. He/she will be responsible for planning campaigns, coordinating tactics with allies, gathering and analyzing gathered intel, and assisting the General with running the military.
The General of the 209th Legion
The Crimson Order military will be headed up by a General who will command the 209th Legion of His Majesty's finest warriors. The General will report directly to the Inquisitor and functions as the 3rd in Command of the Crimson Order. The General directly oversees all of the Company Commands in the Crimson Order.
Company
This is the largest unit in the Crimson Order. It will consist of 2-3 platoons, and will hold approximately 20-80 members.
This unit is led by a Commanding Officer (CO), who is in turn assisted by an Executive Officer (XO). If needed, a senior enlisted NCO can be appointed to assist in running the Company.
Platoon
These units can either be specialized units or generic units. (ie, specialized would be a Spec-Ops unit, RP unit, generic would be no specific role beyond ground combat unit)
These units are led by a Platoon Leader (PL) who is assisted by an Assistant Platoon Leader (APL). There will also be a pool of 1-2 Section Leaders (SLs) who will lead small detachments of members (groups of two or more) during combat.
These units will consist of about 10-30 members. During combat, the available members of a Platoon would be separated into smaller groups (based on in-game grouping limits). The PL, APL, and SLs would each lead a group of members.
Functional Areas (The Kissai Ministries)
The Inquisitor
The Inquisitor is the Fourth highest ranking member, and the last of the Kissai caste. The Inquisitor oversees the Recruiting/Training Team, Communications/Information Team, the Web Design Team and oversees all trials or disputes for the Order. He/she also oversees the Personnel Team, Engineering Caste (if applicable}. He/she will be responsible for the full gambit of member affairs and will coordinate such things as LOAs, unit assignments, promotions, awards, etc.
Functional Area Team Members
Members of a "Functional Team" such as the Intelligence Team or Web Design Team would be an additional duty as they will be assigned to a platoon or engineering unit. The staff members wouldn't be in a completely separate post, they'd report to a Platoon leader for combat, and to the kissai for their functional duty role.
The Chain Of Command
To make it clear who is in command at any given time, a chain of command list will be established to show where all of the officers fall.
#1 The Grand Lord
#2 The Overlord
#3 The General of the 209th Legion
#4 The Inquisitor
#5 The Senior Company Commanding Officer
#6 The next senior Company Commanding Officer (if more than one Company, it would descend through seniority as determined by the Sith Lord or General)
#7 The Senior Company Executive Officer
#8 The next senior Company Executive Officer (if more than one Company, it would descend through seniority as determined by the Sith Lord or General)
#9 The Senior Platoon Leader
#10 The next senior Platoon Leader (as there will likely be more than one Platoon, it would descend through seniority as determined by the Sith Lord or General)
#11 The senior Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) (Such as the Sergeant Major and so on down the line)
Sized Based Leadership Scaling
Ideally to prevent there from becoming too many leaders and not enough general members, the CO will institute a general guideline to assist in determining the appropriate amount of leaders. This sliding scale will be adjusted as appropriate in response to the demands of leading the CO.
The number and types of leaders would expand in direct relation to the size of the guild.
Overall guild sliding scale:
1-44 Members: 1x Grand Lord, 1x Army Commander, 1x Company (1x Company Commander, 1x Company XO), 2 Platoons (2x Platoon Leaders, 2x Assistant Platoon Leaders, 2-4x Section Leaders). A total of 12 leaders for 44 members, approx a 1 to 2.6 ratio.
45-87 Members: 1x Grand Lord, 1x Army Commander, 1x Grand Inquisitor, 2x Company (2x Company Commander, 2x Company XO), 4 Platoons (4x Platoon Leaders, 4x Assistant Platoon Leaders, 4-8x Section Leaders). A total of 25 leaders for 87 members, approx a 1 to 2.6 ratio.
88-130 Members: 1x Grand Lord, 1x Army Commander, 1x Grand Inquisitor, 1x Lord Chaplain, 1x Logistics Leader, 2x Company (2x Company Commander, 2x Company XO), 6 Platoons (6x Platoon Leaders, 6x Assistant Platoon Leaders, 6-12x Section Leaders). A total of 33 leaders for 130 members, approx a 1 to 2.9 ratio.
Assuming we keep Platoons to average 20 members.
Platoon sliding scale:
The platoon has 1-8 members: 1 Platoon Leader
The platoon has 9-16 members: 1 Platoon Leader, 1 Platoon Assistant Leader
The platoon has 17-24 members: 1 Platoon Leader, 1 Platoon Assistant Leader, 1 Section Leader
The platoon has 25-32 members: 1 Platoon Leader, 1 Platoon Assistant Leader, 2 Section Leaders
The platoon has 32+ members: The platoon will be split, ideally the Platoon XO would become the leader of the new platoon, the 2 sections leaders would also get promoted to Platoon XOs.
Dedicated based unit assignments
Platoons will be grouped by either the level of dedication of the players (ie an entire platoon of "Hardcore" members and an entire platoon of "Casual" members) or by an appropriate mix of dedication levels (ie, one platoon will have 12 Hardcores and 8 Casuals, or similar mix).
Dedication level defined: The level of dedication is the amount of time/effort a member is willing to volunteer for guild activities. It is not meant to identify slackers, but more to fit in with peoples play styles.
Hard Core Dedication Platoon:
This group would be willing to dedicate a significant amount of time, as needed, to guild events/activities. This group would most likely also follow a somewhat more stricter and regimented military code. It would probably feel more like a military unit than the other platoons. PvPers and our military RPers would likely fit in well here.
Lower level of Dedication Platoon:
This group would be expected to participate in maybe one guild event/activity a week. Its designed for the members who like to do their own thing most of the time, or for the part-time/weekend warrior. It will likely function as a freer, loser group.
And there may be varying levels between the two extremes.
Definition of guild events/activities:
Any event will be considered a guild event if it meets ALL of the following criteria: Posting in not less than (but not limited to) the MoTD and Forums for a length of time no shorter than (but not limited to) 3 days prior to the start of the event; or, any event that is agreed upon by the majority of the highest ranking members online at the time, by 2/3 majority.
Threat Level:
Red - All combat forces would be expected to participate in combat operations. This threat level is to be used when there is a significant risk to either the organization's image/interests/territory. Ie, our home town/bases are being attacked, every member who could fight and is online would be expected to turn out and join the attack.
Orange - Moderate level of dedication combat forces are expected to participate in combat operations. This threat level is to be used when there is a risk to either the organization's image/interests/territory or a significant risk to our allies.
Yellow - High level of dedication combat forces are expected to participate in combat operations. This threat level is to be used when there is a risk to our allies or to our faction. Ie, the Republic forces are known to be engaging in a battle off-world and we have an interest in ensuring victory.
Green - Normal operations. No expectations of participation. Republic forces could be running around out there, but there is no need to call up our forces. If members want to team up and engage the enemy on a voluntary basis, it is acceptable. This would most likely be our status for 95% of the time.
Other points:
- Command would be able to have a better understanding when planning persistent military operations (for example, the Naboo Campaign and Tatooine Campaign are two examples of persistent military operations). Command would give the Hard Core units more assignments per week, and the easy-going units less assignments a week. This way we can be more certain of the levels of participation in campaigning in individual units.
- Provides a variety of experiences within our organization.
- Members can transfer as their situations or feelings change.
