An Unofficial Guide to the Black Company

Foreword

This guide is written by Alexander von Thurn of the Black Company (AKA Simeon Lodge). Although I maintain the Black Company Mailing List, and therefore sometimes make operational descisions¹, I have only as much authority as I'm allowed to get away with. Therefore, given that I'm subject to contradiction, this is not an offical guide.

It's possible of course that The Company (in its collective wisdom) might someday make this guide official. I think that would be nice, and maybe even a good idea.

A Description of the Black Company

The Black Company is an anarchic society of friends², who originally were defined simply by their dual membership in KAOS and the SCA. Although participation in SCA activity has remained manditory, the requirement for KAOS membership has been relaxed to include those with friends in the company. A custom of recognition involving sponsorship (see below) has been adopted to deal with the tricky question of who exactly is a member.

The SCA is an international medieval historical recreation society. Regionally, the SCA is divided into Kingdoms, Principalities, Baronies, Shires and so on, and operates under an "umbrella" incorporated society. The general criteria for participation in SCA activities is courteous behaviour and an attempt at medieval costume. Participants may become paid members of the society, this is mostly useful if one is to be an officer of the society (somebody officially responsible for an area of its activities); however all participants are generally considered to be in the SCA.

KAOS is a somewhat anarchic paramilitary society, which like the SCA has rather fuzzy membership boundries. Officially it consists of a number of university clubs and it's official reason for existance is to conduct games in which members try to eliminate each otrher with waterpistols and other toy weapons; this is sometimes expanded to include other types of (live) wargames such as pacifist warfare. Unofficially KAOS includes a number of other "associates", tries to throw lots of wild parties and generally gather together socially in places such as the Canterbury Students Association Lower Common Room. Deliberate weirdness and theatrics are encouraged.

The virtues and aims of the Black Company are those of both the SCA and KAOS (combined). Public opposition to either the SCA or KAOS is incompatable with being a member of the Black Company, and is (probably) equivalent to resignation of membership. Public participation in both might, on the other hand, lead to membership.

Customs and Traditions

Being an anarchic society, the Black Company has aquired informal ways of doing things over time, rather than being based around a constituation or charter³.

Heraldry

The Black Company is usually represented by the device "sable, a dagger argent" (i.e a white dagger on a black background). A black leather disc, stamped with a dagger design has traditionally been presented to new members. These are our oldest customs, and could justifiably be considered official.

Two devices (argent, a dog (for heavies) or raven (for lights) sable) have been suggested for Company military units. Although these devices were popular, they haven't been used so far. Tabards bearing the Black Company dagger have been commonly used however.
Motto

Everybody has something they like. Unfortunately, everybody seems to like something different from the next person, so there is no Company motto⁴.
Leadership

There is no secret leader of the Black Company. There is no secret ruling body of any kind. The rumours are all false.

Forums

By tradition the "Canterbury Althing" is held at a secluded location in the middle of the night at Canterbury Faire. This meeting is open to all members, and discussion should be as quiet as practically possible. A speaking token, passed from person to person (a sword or knife if possible) is generally used.
Most other discussion occurs on the Black Company Mailing List. Smaller company meetings ("Things"), are sometimes organised through this forum.
Due process

In order that as many members as possible be able to participate in the descisions of the company, and in order that bad decisions are not made in haste, the following customs are observed wherever possible (by me anyway):

Descisions are not acted upon for at least a week (the company may change it's collective mind)
Descisions will be discussed in a public forum (e.g the Black Company mailing list or the Canterbury Althing)
These customs specifically apply to membership (and theoretically expulsion), as well as other descisions.

Membership

Curently, membership derives from two sources:

Historical membership: the person was a member before the Black Company arrived at its current form and has not renounced it.
Sponsored membership: the person meets the generally accepted manditory criteria (see above) for membership, is sponsored by five "friends" in the company, and is not opposed by a 2/3rds of the members.
While membership of the Black Company mailing list implies membership of the Black Company, one can be a member of the Company and not be on the mailing list.

There is currently no central membership roll.
Structure

On the ^1st of September 2002, a simple majority of members approved a resolution to form a quartermasters' office, the initial officer to be Zane Bruce (Ianulfr). This is essentially the "sub-committee for stuff".

Apart from this we have no official structures, although groups of members have been known to organise themselves for some common purpose like travel, camping or fighting (SCA combat).

Military Organisation

In the past, a group of Black Company Fighters has practiced shield wall tactics and fought together on the field, supported by others who turned up on the day. Although it seems likely that there will be more than one such "band" in future, it's expected that we will generally fight together (i.e on the same side as allies).

There are two documents on Black Company military organisation available for the use of Black Company fighters, the "Black Company Commands of Doom" (unit tactics) and "Alexander's Conventions of Military Organisation" (unit organisation).

The Quartermasters' Office

Here's the "fine print" of the Quartermasters' Office mandate:

The office will be considered formed if a majority vote is achieved.
The initial officer will be Ianulfr (Zane)
Other officers may be recruited by the office.
It is up to the office to work out it's own internal structure and affairs.
The office should report on it's activites to the company in general at least once a year. A thing or althing, and the mailing list or other newsletter would be an appropriate venue.
Officers will not be opposed by the majority of the company. The company may vote to veto or remove an officer.
Removing the last officer winds up the office.
The office may be wound up by majority vote.
The company is urged to appoint a reciever to hold office property for safekeeping if the office is wound up.

People in the Company

Let me know if you're actively doing something for the company and want to be on this list (or off it).

Ianulfr (Zane Bruce) has the Company Hire Garb (and a shed full o' stuff).
Sanchia (Robyn Guy) has a supply of Black Company tokens (she's in Wellington, but on the list).
Alexander (Simeon Lodge) and Edward (Phil Anderson) are administrators of the Black Company Mailing List.

Suggestions for the Future

Here is a shortish list of things I think we should do as a company. You can stop reading now if you want.

Offices

We actually have an office now, by gosh; the quartermasters' office.

Generally if we want to do something as a company we take a vote on it and assume collective responsibility (or irresponsibility). This works best if for example we want to have a whip around for a gift, but it can make it trickey to organise things like equipment. So far, things have mostly been achieved by people going off and doing things in a semi-official capacity.

I suggest that we might vote to form subcommittees, called offices, that could take resposibility for things such as group property or money. This most urgent thing that could be organised by such an office in my opinion would be a roll of company members (and their contact information).

An office would be responsible to the company as a whole, but could act "officially" on it's collective initiative, and recruit people. The company could vote people in (people already unofficially active would be an obvious choice), or out, or dissolve the office if it outlives it usefulness.

Electronica

Currently we have a mailing list. Perhaps we it might be a good idea if we also had things like an communal web to-do list, web calendar, or web ring. I've got web ring software, so if more than a couple of people are interested, I could start one. A multiplicity of pages might represent the company better than just this and Phil's page.
Expulsion of Members

An unpleasent subject, but one best considered before it becomes necessary. This is a serious matter which I think would be best addressed by a 2/3rds vote of the company.

Official Rules

So far we have not agreed on any particular charter, and perhaps we don't need anything more formal than the contents of this guide. Actually, if we adopted this as an official guide, with these or other suggestion as "custom", it might suffice.

In any case, if we decide to try something, I think that a 2/3rds vote on trail adoption would again be appropriate, with a trial period of a year before another vote on perminant adoption. The Canterbury Althing would be a good venue for these votes.

References

Notes

I say I want to do something, nobody says I shouldn't or suggests anything else, and thus we arrive at a kind of consensus. Sometimes discussion occurs, and I go with the apparent consensus. Sometimes no clear concensus emerges and nothing happens. Sometimes I go with the majority view, if it's a large majority. It varies.
That is to say, some of the members are friends with some of the other members, not necessarily that everybody is friends with everybody else. That would be ideal, but not likely.
Although a couple of us have tried writing charters, these attempts have become bogged down in details, and hampered by the plain fact that charters make boring reading. So, the Company has continued as an informal society with a few simple customary procedures.
The orginal suggestion for a Black Company motto was "get a big black dog up you".