Sic transit gloria mundi
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: To flesh out Firemane's hierarchy a bit.
Image Credit: Here. Found on experiencequeenstown.com.
Canon: N/A
Permissions: N/A
Links: Aftermath, Kaylah Danton, Shazora Jai Vahal, Eldorai Exodus.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Organization Name: Board of Control.
Classification: Corporate leadership board.
Affiliation: Siobhan, House Kerrigan-Alcori, Firemane Industries, Tegaea, The Inner Circle.
Organization Symbol: Emblem displaying a Phoenix engulfed by fire.
Description: In principle, the Board of Control is the governing body of Firemane Industries. In practice, it is Siobhan Kerrigan's privy council, responsible for ensuring the prompt and smooth execution of her commands. Its members are functionaries who advise the Lady Kerrigan, who holds the title of CEO, and implements policies at her command. Members are appointed to their position by Siobhan, and can be dismissed by her. Firemane is purely privately owned, which means that only Siobhan and Tegaea own stock in the corporation. It does not does offer shares on the stock exchange. Suggestions for them to increase their market value by floating the company are swiftly denied by Siobhan.
GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
Headquarters: Arx Aeternae. The Board of Control meets in Firemane's Headquarters, which is located in the Presidium section of the station.
Domain: The Board of Control is Firemane's ruling group and administrative nerve centre. Thus it has influence in all spheres of Firemane and the worlds it operates on.
Notable Assets: Strictly speaking, all of Firemane. The Board of Control is essentially Firemane's civilian ruling group. Each department is responsible for administering a specific aspect of Firemane, such as industrial production, trade, public relations, finances and so on.
SOCIAL INFORMATION
Hierarchy: The Board has been structured by Siobhan to suit her autocratic way of governance, but is also meant to be able to be functional while she is indisposed for this or that reason. Siobhan leads the board as Executive CEO. She is assisted by a Vice President, who is empowered to chair Board meetings in Siobhan's absence. The current Vice President is Kaylah Danton, an efficient, somewhat dour career bureaucrat who has been with Tegaea and Siobhan since the Omega Protectorate days.
Aside from these two, the Board generally has six members who each run a specific department. The number of Board members - and of departments - has fluctuated at times. On occasion, Siobhan has amalgamated departments or split them up. For instance, the Science Bureau has alternated between being an independent department and a subdivision of the Department of Production. It is also not uncommon for a member to take a leave of absence from duties in the Centre and be assigned a task on the Periphery. Examples would be supervising a major construction project or being put in charge of a Firemane outpost. In the latter case, it tends to be one that is in poor shape and needs to be put back on track. Siobhan compares it to how General Staff officers alternate between staff and line duties, claiming that it helps officials not lose touch with the people they are leading. Of course, it is also a way to keep the principals on their toes.
Siobhan maintains a tight lock on all major decisions and has an absolute veto. This means that the Board cannot compel her to undertake a certain course of action. In a number of ways, this makes the Board more of a managerial body. However, policy implementation can be just as important as policy formulation. Siobhan may make the final decision, but Firemane is a large organisation and it would be impossible for her to micromanage it.
Tegaea Alcori jointly ran the corporation with Siobhan for many years, but recently retired from the Board to focus on other projects, namely her passion for exploration. At Siobhan's insistence, her wife was named honorary CEO and thus retained a Board seat on an honorary basis. Tegaea still receives transcripts of Board meetings. After Siobhan was incapacitated by a stroke, her wife briefly stepped into the hot seat to ensure continuity of government, so to speak. In an expanded sense, the hierarchy of the Board also encompasses the various departments overseen by its members, who stand at the top of an elephantine bureaucracy. This includes a number of autonomous agencies such as Firedawn, which is Firemane's freedman bureau.
Presently, there are the following departments of note: Production, Administration, Diplomacy, Communications, Defence, Security, Trade and Finances. It is common practice for a retired Firemane general officer to be in charge of Security. The names are somewhat grandiose, resembling those of government ministries. A Board member holds the title of Director of a specific department. Thus Kaylah Danton was Director of the Department of Production before being promoted to the Vice Presidency. She is still the head of her old department, though a lot of the day-to-day running has been delegated to a subordinate.
Each Director is aided by an Undersecretary, a career bureaucrat who is charged with running a department on a day-to-day basis and oversee the implementation of policy. It is not uncommon for an Undersecretary to see many Directors come and go. As is often the case, the nominal subordinate may know more about the department than his or her official superior. Some Directors are very interventionist and maintain a tight lock on decisions, others let the bureaucrats run things and just rubberstamp their decisions. The latter behaviour tends to arouse the ire of Siobhan, who is not above calling her minions into her office to scold them like bad pupils. Or carry out unannounced, vigorous inspections of their departments.
Membership: Appointment by Siobhan Kerrigan because she wields supreme executive power. That aside, a long period of service in Firemane and its various suborganisations is required. Members gradually climb the corporate ladder, working their way up by holding various bureaucratic positions. Patronage plays a big role, since while Siobhan appoints all the members herself, she is obviously also influenced by Board members and her inner circle. Thus it is a good idea to be on good terms with someone Siobhan listens to. The Lady Kerrigan is also adamant about being the only powerful Force-user on the board, so Non-Force-users are far more likely to get a seat.
Members of the Order of Fire, Firemane's Force-using branch, are kept away from management positions, even if their teacher happens to be Siobhan or her apprentice Tempest. Because Siobhan is biased, the Board only has one male member. On occasion, senior Firemane functionaries or officers are assiged to the Board as advisers. They do not possess voting rights, but their opinion is sought on matters within their realm of expertise. These special advisers tend to be general staff officers, public relations experts, engineers, scientists or high-ranking Order of Fire members.
Climate: Business-like, professional, but with a good deal of intrigue behind the scenes. This does not take the form of Board members murdering each other or arranging 'accidents', but the atmosphere is very competitive. Each Board member represents certain departmental interests. In some cases, they also are spokespeople for certain sectional interests. Firemane is a very diverse organisation, so this is par for the course.
As a result, working on the Board is defined by a mixture of cooperation and political manoeuvring. Employees are expected to comport themselves in a professional manner and avoid putting themselves or their departments in compromising positions. There is a good deal of jockeying for positions and Siobhan's favour. She reserves the right to hire and fire Board members. Each Board member has developed different strategies for how to deal with her. Some are sycophantic and do their best to anticipate her wishes, others adopt a professional, workman-like tone.
Siobhan has deliberately chosen to adopt a presidential or queenly leadership approach, rather than seeing herself as a first among equals. She hass managed to become the dominant figure of the group. She gives the Board members autonomy within their departments, but this is paired with rigorous inspection and she maintains a tight lock on major decisions. As a result, the importance of Board members varies. Various factors play a role, such as the relative importance of their department, their relations with Siobhan or heavyweights in Firemane's hierarchy and their connection to major stakeholders. Like every organisation, Firemane has its share of cliques. One example is the so-called Dahomian Clique, which is a loose network of Dahomian employees. Though officially the highest body of Firemane, the Board is superseded by a group called the Inner Circle. This comprises Siobhan's chief military and civilian subordinates. Some Board members belong to it, but others do not.
Reputation: Varies, depending on one's opinion of Firemane. Within Firemane itself, a seat on the Board is highly coveted by the ambitious types. Detractors, however, regard the Board of Control as a rubber stamp for Siobhan or believe it lacks accountability.
Curios: No real curios. Board members must adhere to a dress code that mandates professional business wear. This means a pantsuit, skirt suit or appropriate dress for women, and a suit for men. Overall, they must project a professional image. Personal scandocs and code cylinders also see use.
Rules: The Board follows the laws and regulations of Firemane. Being the governing body of a corporation, the Board of Control is obviously most interested in making money. While Firemane is a very autocratic corporation with a rigid hierarchy, it also embraces a variant of the corporate social responsibility concept. This postulates that a corporation has a responsibility towards its stakeholders and by extension society as a whole. CSR strategies encourage the company to make a positive impact on the environment and stakeholders including consumers, employees, invenstors, local communities, and others.
In line with this, the corporation depicts itself as a 'family', pointing towards the generous benefits their employees receive, including a comprehensive healthcare package and education for their children. They also point towards Firemane's humanitarian credentials, such as how it saved the Eldorai race from extinction, and its abolitionist campaigns. Of course, detractors rightly claim that this is window-dressing to improve the image of a militaristic corporation run by a despotic Dark Jedi, who acts like a law unto herself. Opposition to Sith and imperialist forces is a dogma within the Board. However, Jedi are also treated with scepticism, especially pacifist or extremist crusading ones. The overall alignment could be best described as Lawful Neutral.
Goals:
- To lead Firemane, provide it with efficient, smooth governance and ensure lucrative profits.
- Expand Firemane's political and economic influence.
- To carry out the decrees of Her Highness Siobhan Kerrigan, stay in her good graces
and maybe one day succeed her when she finally gives up the ghost or retires. Long may she reign. - Benefit themselves.
Siobhan Kerrigan: Founder, CEO, boss of everyone in Firemane.
Tegaea Alcori: Founder and former joint CEO, honorary Board member. Tegaea used to be in charge, but stepped down to fun Firemane's exploration division.
Kaylah Danton: Vice President of Firemane and head of the Department of Administration. Kaylah is an efficient, organised and independent woman. She is the bureaucratic workhorse of Firemane. She has a frank, no-nonsense approach and shows respect, but not mindless flattery. This has sometimes made working with Siobhan Kerrigan difficult. Among the Firemane principals, she's considered old guard since she has history with Siobhan and Tegaea that stretches back to the glory days of the Omega Protectorate. She grew up on Eriadu during the reign of Regulus Tarkin, a brutal fascist dictator. Her parents worked for the government, but were secretly opposed to it.
Her family was persecuted after participating in a failed plot to overthrow Regulus. Young Kaylah managed to elude capture. She went underground, linking up with anti-government dissidents. She engaged in minor acts of sabotage against the regime, which included illegal broadcasts meant to stir up resistance. Her actions brought her to the attention of the Protectorate after it invaded the planet and put an end to Tarkin's regime.
Kaylah worked for the Protectorate's intelligence service, and later joined Tegaea Alcori's staff. At the time the latter was an Omega Protectorate Exarch, a kind of super-governor second only to the Lady Protector. Kaylah has been linked to Tegaea and Siobhan since then. Since joining Firemane, she has held a variety of posts, such as head of Firemane's freedman bureau, Firemane's representative at the court of the Queen of the Xioquo, head of the Department of Administration and finally Vice President.
Kaylah is a talented bureaucrat, logistician and administrator. She chairs Board meetings in Siobhan's absence and handles a lot of the day-to-day minutiae. One might that she is the down-to-earth technician to Siobhan's flamboyant performer. She is an ambitious woman and has her eye set on the top seat. Kaylah has a rivalry with Royal, Siobhan's Chiss majordomo, whom she considers an unprincipled sycophant.
Shazora Jai Vahal: Shazora is a Qadiri leader, a former slave and Firemane's chief diplomat. She heads the Department of Diplomacy. Her people have given her the ceremonial title of High Liberator, though this is a sign of respect rather than absolute power or worship. Once a slave, then a rebel leader, and finally a respected politician and member of Siobhan's inner circle. Shazora hails from an island called Farsi. Her village was attacked by Xioquo raiders when she was very young. The drows enslaved her. En route to the Underealm, their ship was attacked by Khaimari raiders, who proceeded to take both the captured Qadiri as well as surviving Xioquo as slaves and sell them on the slave markets of Karahamor.
Shazora was purchased by one of the city's oligarchs and served as a slave scribe. However, her deferential, submissive attitude hid a cunning intellect. She became one of the brains behind a slave revolt that took control over the city. Though the freed slaves had to endure much hardship, incluidng the invasion of a hostile coalition of neighbouring city-states, they were able to weather the storm. Realising that the sky people could benefit her people and help them advance, Shazora made a pact with the humans of Firemane. In the years that followed, she became one of Siobhan's trusted agents, even joining Firemane's ruling group. Shazora tries to balance her responsibility to Firemane with those to her people, who have acquired their own worldship, the Void Seeker. She often visits Qadiri communities, garrisons and ships, encouraging education, self-reliance and independence.
Vivian: Her original name is Eloquence, as she is from Dahomey. However, she has chosen Vivian as a 'galaxy' name. Vivian is in charge of public relations and head of Firetruth. In this capacity, she bears responsibility for advertising Firemane products, communicating its policies to employees, vassals and clients and fostering a positive impression of Firemane and its leadership, particularly House Kerrigan-Alcori. She is the head of Firetruth, Firemane's news agency. Firetruth keeps the populace informed about Firemane policies and operations. Firetruth journalists may be embedded into Firemane military units involved in armed conflicts.
Her department puts a positive spin on Firemane activities. It produces public service announcements, holodocumentaries, propaganda posters and movies. Its work can raise awareness of important issues, such as supporting the abolitionist movement by detailing the horrors of slavery. It has also detailed the plight of refugees displaced by war and natural disasters. However, at the same time it seeks to spread propaganda that makes Firemane and House Kerrigan-Alcori look good. This has involved whitewashing more morally questionable actions. Firetruth is anti-Jedi, anti-Sith and quite jingoistic.
Her position puts Vivian in the limelight and means she works closely with Siobhan, who is quite sensitive about her image. This makes it vital for Vivian to have a good relationship with her boss. Unsurprisingly, she is an excellent source of gossip. Tegaea does not like Vivian much. She sees her as too slippery and too easy and ready to spin a lie when it is expedient. Because a lot of her job is about making the military look good, Vivian has a working relationship with the top brass, even though not all top officers like her.
Vivian is from Dahomey, a planet Firemane's founders have history with. The Dahomians have a curious way of naming their children, since around their tenth birthday they choose a descriptive name that embodies their personality and is different from their birth name. Of course, some name choices end up being awfully ironic. Her Dahomian name is Eloquence, but she uses Vivian on most official business. The Dahomian clique disapproves of her not using her Dahomian name. In terms of personality, she is very poised and a smooth talker. Vivian is a hard worker with an almost frenzied, managerial drive. Her perfectionist mentality means she will see a task through and, indeed, sees difficulties as challenges to be overcome. However, she quickly gets impatient with minions who cannot keep up with her or whom she perceives as slacking. She is not particularly concerned with ruffled feathers though and is rather merciless in firing employees she considers lazy.
Vivian has something of a 'working relationship' with the truth. Before being hired by Firemane, she did work for the Omega Protectorate and later the Galactic Alliance. She was an embedded journalist during the Republic-One Sith War. Accompanying soldiers in war zones exposed her to her fair share of personal peril. Vivian gained respect from soldiers for not quitting in the face of combat, but what she experienced was probably the catalyst for her flexible relationship with the truth. Vivian covered the Battle of Kaeshana, but grew dissatisfied with the Galactic Alliance, as she considered it indecisive. She started working for Firemane from then on. Siobhan took a liking to her and her work, including a documentary on Eldorai refugees and a propaganda movie to attract recruits to the Firemane Auxiliary Corps, and promoted her.
Ganath Antilles: Ganath is a minor member of Alderaanian nobility. Naturally charismatic, he is a competent salesman and has a good head for slogans. Unfortunately, Alderaan, an important member state of the Galactic Republic, was occupied by the One Sith. Not content with annexing and exploiting the planet, the Sith allowed their Yuuzhan Vong warriors to Vong-shape it. This gave Ganath a perfect reason to leave and develop a grudge against Sith. It also exposed him to the hardship people outside of the one percenter bubble had to face. This motivated him to use his resources to provide support for Alderaanian rebels and refugee groups.
Amidst all the chaos and turmoil, he joined Firemane and worked his way up. Ganath is comfortable operating in a high-tech, high-stress environment. He is media-savvy, urbane and erudite. He has good networking abilities and exudes confidence, without coming across as arrogant. The kind of guy who is easy to get along with it and like. Sales is a highly competitive field, and he gets results. He acts as the chief negotiator who is responsible for negotiating and closing trade deals. Aside from Galactic Basic, he is fluent in many languages such as Mon Calamarian, Twi'leki and Huttese. He can understand Shyriiwook, but obviously not speak it.
Incidentally, he is the only male member of the Board. Critics argue that this is a sign of tokenism, and that the presence of a token male is supposed to prevent accusations of sexism. Siobhan is well-known for having matriarchal views, though Firemane dismisses claims of favouritism. Ganath knows on which side his bread is buttered and has supported his boss throughout. Most of his colleagues like or get on with him. He is a pleasant, friendly fellow, and not a threat to the ambitious. This has been beneficial to him when other members of the group tried to intrude on his turf.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
To put it plainly, the Board of Control came into being once Firemane grew too big for Tegaea and Siobhan to run on their own. Of course, the corporation already had a hierarchy and various bureaus before that. But these lacked the formal structure they would acquire over time. A small staff and a secretariat sufficed while it was just a small company on Kaeshana, but became woefully inadequate once it transformed into a corporation with galactic reach. Thus a governing bureau was needed.
As a result, the Board of Control was born. The initial membership was comprised of old hands who'd worked with the couple since their Omega Pyre days. Over time, the Board acquired its present form. There was a marked shift when Tegaea took a step back from management roles and the Kerrigan administration took control. While both ladies are domineering, decisive types who like getting their way, Tegaea ran things the way a modern manager would and was thus open more open to debate and divergent opinions. She was also extremely averse to sycophancy. However, over time she become more interested in enjoying the high life and living a life of leisure. Siobhan was quite eager to fill the void.
In contrast to her wife, Siobhan cloaks herself with pomp, ceremony and majesty. To a degree, this is the result of insecurities that can be traced back to her Omega days, when she was mostly a Battering Ram. While she briefly held the title of Exarch and led the Protectorate's forces to victory against the savage Bando Gora, overall she did poorly as second-in-command of a galactic government. Believing that she'd wasted many years by just being a death charging warrior, she was determined to do better - and to make sure that no one would ever dictate her actions.
She was in charge. Everyone in Firemane would know that. She proved herself to be a decisive, but very domineering and autocratic leader. She also manifested a strong need for flattery and devotion. Some Board members proved to be insufficiently pliable and were sent into retirement or given other posts away from the Centre. At the same time, new blood was brought in. The new team was crafted in Siobhan's image and overall more dependent on her patronage. Like any autocrat, Siobhan enjoys being surrounded by toadies who hang on her every word and flatter her...but is privately contemptuous of them. She wants advice, but on her terms!
Nonetheless, the team scored notable successes. Perhaps Firemane's biggest achievement was saving the Eldorai race from extinction by evacuating more than three billion elves from doomed Kaeshana - as well as mitigating the casualties among those left behind by destroying a good portion of the huge asteroid on collision course with the planet. As the company became a megacorporation in the truest sense of the word, its reach and wealth expanded, as did that of the members of the Board. Naturally they vied for influence - and still do. While Siobhan set the agenda and focused on the 'big picture', the Board and the professional bureaucrats handled the details and minutiae. Low level autonomy was combined with rigorous, unforgiving inspection. Power flowed from the 'queen' to her 'ministers' to their minions.
After the Kaeshana Rebellion, Tegaea Alcori took a step back from the Board duties that had been long held in abeyance. Having done her part and been in the limelight as Omega Pyre CEO, Omega Protectorate Exarch and Lady Protector and finally Firemane's CEO, she felt it was time to focus on other pursuits. Since Siobhan had already been de facto running the corporation, it confirmed a transition the existing status quo. Siobhan appointed Kaylah Danton as Vice President. This might have been a bit of a surprise, since the working relationship between both women had been rather variable.
An old Omega hand, Kaylah was independent and very frank. For a while, Siobhan had grown frustrated with the bureaucrat and sent her off into the wilderness to run Firemane operations in Xioquo territory. However, Kaylah had turned out to be very skilled at navigating the political minefield there, which secured her reappointment to the Board. It probably helped that Tegaea liked her and preferred her to some of the more sycophantic members of the Board. With Siobhan focusing her attention on supporting the Galactic Alliance's war efforts against the First Order, Kaylah de facto ran Firemane's domestic affairs and business operations. In contrast to Siobhan, her attitude was more business-like and dour. Whereas the 'Lady of Fire' loathes paperwork, Kaylah is a consummate bureaucrat.
Shortly before the start of the Contingency's rather bizarre 'Incursion', Siobhan was incapacitated by a stroke. While this was kept secret, inevitably news leaked out. Inevitably, rumours about her condition spread, ranging from wild stories about how the Lady had died or been paralysed for life. However, Siobhan recovered, though she was unable to walk and suffered from significant memory loss. Naturally she was unable to run the Board in such a state, so Tegaea stepped in to ensure continuity of government, directing the company alongside Kaylah. Inevitably, this opened up the succession question. However, rumours about the Lady stepping down for good were squashed when a disabled, but still fierce Siobhan took charge again.
In recent months, the Board has gone mobile due to the construction of the Great Scarlet Flame and the Arx Aeternae. The former was built to serve as a mobile HQ, battle carrier and command ship, providing Firemane's leadership with a flagship from which they could direct operations. The latter is a huge space station that serves as a central hub for the entire megacorporation. It is home to millions of employees and all Firemane departments maintain offices on it.
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