A Posteriori

The following was written by Fleet Admiral Keldorn Cochrane, and signed by High Admiral Ari, and posted on the EH domain and message boards on 27th January 2004. Instigated by many assorted IRC (Internet Relay Chat) conversations in the closing months of 2003 between Keldorn and other senior officers, including Sector Admiral Astatine, High Admiral Ari, High Admiral Priyum Patel, Fleet Admiral Bevel Leeson, General Quake (Kweeky) and others.

The document was inspired by a Roman senatorial address and consequently is particularly verbose, vitriolic and - arguably - excessive in its assessment of others.

I. Introduction

How strange that many Officers of the Empire have spoken of matters not unlike those that the Executive Officer and former Dark Prince have recently lamented. Of matters indicating the erosion of our time-honoured systems of command and personal conduct of Officers. In recent years, this ‘august’ body of Command Staff composed of our most senior men has suffered the loss not only of its power, but its dignity as the leaders of the Emperor’s Hammer. Why have we – the Hammer’s leading men! – lost sight of the path our organisation treads? We – the Hammer’s leading men! – have become fickle, greedy, untrained, thoughtless, part-time and good-time amateur politicians, grinding the faces of the average member into the mud beneath our own egos and plays for power!

Our wisdom, our experience, our talents and abilities have all ceased to matter to the average member. Why? Not because the membership no longer cares for those who are selected from within it to guide it, but that those of us who are selected are more concerned with self-service than selfless-service. Only the membership matter. The membership are our organisation, they are what we lead. And I say to you, our ‘leading men’, that we are not qualified to govern the Emperor’s Hammer!

What segment of the average membership has any input into our policies and ideas? What portion of new members have a voice into the countless inane ideas we announce in our bland and boring reports? None! The higher we climb the more ambitious we become to run our commands despotically, ignorant of the needs of the member, ignorant of what each other is doing, and ignorant of the reality of our situation! We have men who call themselves Inquisitors, but who must hawk for the unsuspecting cheater cast down from the Tactical Office or prey upon the bucolic and the imbecilic, and men who call themselves various magistratus extraordinariae, but can never quite describe what they are responsible for! We have men whose duties bore them, so they frequent mailing list and IRC flattering themselves and their precious monopolies over ‘this or that’, declaring falsely how they can govern better than their superior! Political cant dribbles off their tongues, they prate of achieving this or that, and applaud when awards or promotions are derided by those in no more right than themselves. They are middling-men, these fellows, neither great enough to work diligently for the better of all, nor lowly enough to mind their business like the upstanding Flight Member! I say to you again that these people have not the qualities to govern! Too much power has been accorded to them and in their overweening arrogance they now presume to ignore the feelings, requests and persons of the membership!

It is high time that we of the Command Staff reversed this process. It is high time that we showed the membership that they are the superiors in our joint organisation! Of course the origins of this erosion of principles are easy to pinpoint. This command body has admitted too many vipers, too many noxious mushrooms, too many glory-seekers into its senior ranks. What does appointment to a position of responsibility mean to a man who has to point at another to excuse his own incompetence? What does the Emperor’s Hammer mean to a man who is at best dedicated to lauding their medals and rank in the face of those of lesser stature? And what does the Emperor’s Hammer mean to man who belittles his fellows and goads them into personal conflicts for no other reason than to do?

Our junior members are timid creatures, growing up in a “fun” atmosphere suffocated by politics even as it breathes life into the egos of Command Officers. How can we expect our new members to lead the Emperor’s Hammer in their turn, when their superiors cow them? I say to you – if you have not already begun, today you must begin to educate your Assistants and potentials to be strong, to be honest and upstanding and not only to care for our organization, but for each and every member of it! Make them understand that a longer ID line does not equal natural superiority over the newly graduated Sub-Lieutenant! And make them prepared to fight to maintain this rightful principle!

Can anyone tell me why a member of this group would deliberately set out to undermine it? Can anyone? Because it happens all the time! There they sit, calling themselves admiralty and senior officers – members of our organisation! – yet also calling themselves the betters of our members! They serve themselves first and the membership second. Their real duty is to the very membership they preside over. But do they do that? No! Of course they don’t! Some accomplish nothing for their peers or the membership, too afraid that if they sit to either end of the bench, the rest will get up, and they will be tipped on the ground and turn themselves into laughing stocks. But some, my leading men, deliberately set out to undermine the rightful authority of the membership. Why? What could possible lead them to destroy that which holds them up?

I speak of the kind of Officer who sees in the membership a tool to further his own ambitions, the kind of man who craves the status of High Admiral, without earning it through hard-work and selfless dedication. They content themselves with inflaming the habitual traits of their peers, and work their will through deceit and manipulation. We don’t have the luxury of criminals and public riots; our thorn is far more dangerous. They are more vindictive, more subtle; they seek to corrupt the membership to advance their own aspirations. And that, fellow Officers, is beneath contempt. Yet every day it is done, and every day it grows more prevalent. The short cut to power, the easy road to pre-eminence and the quick road to the death of the Emperor’s Hammer.

Well, we all know these men, don’t we? Some of us have fought them, and fought them tooth and nail, and fought them to exhaustion, and fought them with every weapon in our limited arsenal! To no avail. They thrive. Some members of our esteemed ‘Command’ are guilty, and yet there they sit idly by as all we have worked for, for nearing a decade, crumbles around us.

What can be done about this? I say to you that we need reformation. We must counter the decay of our principles; we must stop the flood of negation and give power back to the membership.

The Emperor's Hammer has a history of attempted reformations. One common factor in almost all of these reformations has been that they have come primarily from the upper echelons of the Command Staff. However this is not adequate! The nature of issues within the EH, namely membership experience, dictates this. The Hammer's member base is what gives us so much breadth and strength. However, it seems certain things have begun to falter in recent times.

The simple answer is our standards. I believe standards should be strengthened. This was the goal of the our projects such as the Internet Guidelines when they were originally passed last year, and for the most part they have worked. I believe that a tightening of standards in terms of how command is run on the lower levels. Not only in terms of duties of a Command Officer, but in terms of acceptable work and responsibility ethics. In terms of enforcing the rules and not ‘slacking’ off. Like the Internet Guidelines, I believe a fleet-wide Command Guidelines could be greatly beneficial.

II. Databases

The Emperor’s Hammer is reliant upon databases, technical innovations that have gradually replaced the necessity for a solid administrative backbone. But not only this; basic management of SubGroups, competitions, rosters, awards are all no longer handled by individual members but by automated processes that make the traditional Command Officer almost irrelevant – a simple caretaker for the cogs and bureaucracy of our organisation.

However, such constructions have proven to be largely beneficial to every SubGroup that has created and utilised one: the TIE Corps, the Bounty Hunter’s Guild, the Corporate Division etc. But the most successful (undoubtedly the TIE Corps and Bounty Hunter’s Guild database systems) have one factor in common; longevity. They are successful because they all have features that work, they have a system that functions, they permit excellent customisation by the individual members (the Bounty Hunter’s Guild is the most sterling exemplar) and the membership trusts that they will always ‘be’.

Many SubGroups do not have this luxury. Whenever a new SubGroup Commander is appointed it is almost an expectation that they create a new website and start work on developing another database. This has to change, and has to do so now! The smaller SubGroups are gradually progressing to this point; the Corporate Division, for example, has created a stable and effective database that continues its development throughout the reign of multiple Presidents. But many SubGroups still need a push in this direction, and they require the assistance of Common Officers to accomplish this.

I say to you that we need a new Executive Order concerning databases. There is already the requirement that archives be sent to the Fleet Commander and Executive Officer on a regular basis, but is this honestly adhered to? It needs to be enforced. But not only this, there should be an Order whereby every SubGroup must – if they are insistent upon becoming reliant on such automated online processes – work towards the development of a stable database that shall remain in use for at-least the immediate few years. How can one even hope to create a database akin to that of the TIE Corps or Bounty Hunter’s Guild if they are constantly creating new versions from scratch? Long-term development is no longer a luxury, it is a necessity.

There is an existing pool of knowledgeable programmers within the Emperor’s Hammer and thus there is no excuse for a failure to create a fully stable system within mere months. As the Executive Officer has demonstrated, existing databases can also be adapted for use in other SubGroups. Why should the likes of the Corporate Division or the Bounty Hunter’s Guild make their code available to other SubGroups that have not had the opportunity to develop their own systems? The short-sighted and inclusive among our senior members would argue that this cannot be done, that one SubGroup should not ‘sponge’ off the hard-work of another. What they lack in intellect they make up with isolationist-posturing. If we have learnt anything it is that only through uniting does the Emperor’s Hammer have any hope of prospering.

III. High Court of Inquisitors

A High Court? I say to you that our High Court is nothing more than a retirement home for admiralty, an ineffectual body that exists only to permit our most ‘dignified’ members to rest upon their laurels contented that no-one will call upon them to do anything more than issue puffed-up convictions on delusional role-players. In its current state the High Court of Inquisitors is the butt of jokes, is lamented for a growing lack of impartiality and the ignorance of its members from the actual state of the Emperor’s Hammer! But the High Court of Inquisitors is one of the most valuable of our many untapped resources.

Its mandate is so limited that it wastes the experience and talents of those Inquisitors that have earned a right to be called some of our greatest Officers. I had high hopes for the present High Inquisitor, for he could cast off the stereotype ‘justice’ of Paladin or Faethor. But he lies dormant and does nothing more to remedy the problems of the High Court, or to expand its responsibilities into one of the many avenues open to it. The High Court of Inquisitors is in dire need of reformation.

It consists of eleven members. Eleven individuals in a body that is rarely called upon for any semblance of activity, eleven individuals of which only a select few can claim to have knowledge of the present condition and membership of the Emperor’s Hammer. Hearing fewer than two cases every two months, if the High Court of Inquisitors were a TIE Corps squadron it would have been declared inactive long ago!

Yet it cannot even fulfil its current mandate. When the High Court is unsure of a finding, when it lacks the courage to perform its duties it defers to the Grand Admiral. In itself, not necessarily a miscarriage of justice, but another example of the redundancy of the current mandate. I have said to you that the High Court is an untapped resource, but to realise its full potential its mandate must drastically reform!

Those Officers that are selected for service in the High Court have been members of the Emperor’s Hammer for many years, they have seen others come and go, they have seen ideas proposed and fail, they have seen success and, dare I say it, instigated some of that success. They have such experience that they could give a great deal back to the Emperor’s Hammer. They do not. This must change.

The High Court could fulfil so much that is lacking in the Emperor’s Hammer. Inquisitors should be of recognised integrity, of intelligence, of experience and of common-sense. But they must all be able to retain impartiality, and it is thanks to this that they could accomplish a great deal more.

Imperium Consultae

The High Court of Inquisitors should be able to pool their combined experience and intellect and publicly publish consultae – written recommendations – for all members of the Emperor’s Hammer to read. As we should all recognise by now, we need a greater level of transparency in our group, and what better way to begin this than by the publishing of new ideas and reviews for all to see?

Reviews of Command Officers

As I have already stated we have been plagued with incompetent Command Officers throughout our history, yet the only means to eject these imbeciles is through the offices of the Executive Officer and Fleet Commander. When this happens, the Officer undoubtedly appeals to the individuals, promises the individuals and attempts to manipulate them. This is not always the case, yet it is often believed to be.

While I do not suggest that the High Court be given the ability to remove Officers, I do suggest that the High Court be given the mandate to undertake impartial reviews of any senior Officer, either at the request of the XO or FC or at a valid (evidentially supported) request from any member of the Emperor’s Hammer (the attitude that the membership cannot be trusted to treat such a right with the respect it deserves is reprehensible!). These reviews should consider the activity of the Officer, the accomplishments of their office and any other factors that are considered prudent. A review should – most importantly – include ideas for improvement, positive concepts by which the Officer can regain their dignitas and improve the Emperor’s Hammer.

Reviews of SubGroups

We have seen many SubGroups come and go during the history of our organisation, some were successful and some were not. We should be constantly re-evaluating the direction that our SubGroup’s take. We need new ideas, new gaming platforms and fresh members so that we really can claim a membership count of thousands. Why shouldn’t an impartial review of an SG be undertaken by perhaps the only members that can really claim such? A review of the systems, of the administration, of the game-platforms is beneficial in bringing to light new ideas. For ideas are the life-blood of our organisation.

Concepts and Ideas from Members

The bulk of our membership have some of the most excellent ideas, far more innovative and exciting than many conceived by Command Officers – myself most definitely included – and yet the membership have no definite method of having these ideas reviewed and published. The High Court of Inquisitors could be such a mechanism.

Any member of the Emperor’s Hammer should be able to write a proposal for a change, a new idea, or anything of like, and submit it to the High Court. Inquisitors should then be able to discuss this with the member, to help them in the development of their idea, to politely inform them if it is frankly absurd and to publish their idea for all to see, and hopefully for some to take heed of and take forward into gradual implementation. We do not only need new ideas, we need new leaders, and this system would be a stepping stone.

But that is not an end. To tackle the perception of the High Court there needs to be a greater degree of transparency and accountability in the appointment of new members.

The executive appointment of the High Inquisitor is necessary, but that Officer should be ever mindful of whether they retain the impartiality and ability to perform their responsibilities, and if they do not, they should be compelled to resign by nothing more than their conscience. Sadly this is not always a reality, therefore there must be checks and balances in place to ensure a quick removal if the High Inquisitor ever lacks the required attributes.

Aside from the ability of the Executive Officer and Fleet Commander to remove the High Inquisitor from their position, the existing members of the High Court should be permitted to perform their own review of their superior – ideally at the request of that superior – without threat of recrimination. As with all other forms of consultae, such a review should be published for all members to read.

New Inquisitors have always been appointed in the past without an explanation of why, leaving the membership with an unacceptable ‘unknowability’. The average member has no input whatsoever in the selection and appointment of their judiciary. How do we hope to inspire confidence in the judicial proceedings if this remains the case? While the constitutional reforms are being implemented, the High Inquisitor should nominate new members of the High Court publicly, and call for comments on these appointments. But once the initial appointments are made, any member should be permitted to nominate another for membership in the High Court whenever a vacancy is announced. As one is to expect, the final decision must rest with the High Inquisitor, Executive Officer and Fleet Commander, but the opinion – at the very-least – of the membership should always be taken.

IV. Gaming Platforms and a Multiplayer Rebirth

The Emperor’s Hammer relies heavily on game platforms, whether TIE or SWGB or JK2. In an attempt to throw concentration back into these platforms, two systems should be in the outlook on the horizon of the New Year: an EH-wide Ladder system, and a mock-up of the Zone, specific to the EH. This should not be limited to the TC as would ordinarily seem such systems should be, however expanded to any subgroup that participates in the use of a platform that lends itself to either system. Both an EH Ladder and EH Zone would spark up competition between members, spur activity and generate enthusiasm. This could be used to fuel Hammer’s expansion, both in terms of numbers and in terms of our background. Maybe it could lead to a whole new progression of the EH timeline. An EH Zone is sure to attract copious amounts of new members, as well as other clubs. These two systems can be used to propel the EH into a new era of prosperity, but more importantly richness of the membership experience.

V. Conclusion

Change is unstoppable. It is either forced upon the unsuspecting or prompted by the foresighted. I trust that we are the latter.

The Undersigned.

Admiral, Dark Adept Keldorn "Mad Buck" Cochrane Training Officer, Dean of IWATS & Headmaster

IO-FSEA-PROF/HA Ari/CS-5/SSSD Sovereign

Fleet Commander's Note

Please note that the XO and I have already started requiring actions by the EH CS (and others in the EH) to accomplish some of these objectives...Several of the Command Staff have been sent separate and individual orders to accomplish these objectives...

We have listened...but understand the traditions and habits in the EH have evolved over a long time and won't be resolved overnight :)

Executive Officer's Response

With the posting of the document written by Ari and Keldorn, there's been a lot of talk and not really any action. I think deep down, all of us are a little guilty of not pushing that extra yard. I've talked to COs about certain projects, both new and old projects that have been abandoned, and I get a response all too often. A response I dislike. "It's too hard". But then, that's what being in a position like that is all about. It's supposed to be hard. If it was easy, everyone would want to be COs and we'd have no one having fun as normal members.<ref>EH News March 2004</ref>

High Inquisitor's Response

First I'd like to put on record a formal reprimand on Keldorn for his total lack of respect to the HCI. While some of his points made sense (very few), the whole way he promoted them will make me put a bounty on his head... figuratively... he can already forget a place within the HCI for as long as he breathes... also he better not spit on the sidewalk...

Here are some of the points : to start : the evaluation of COs will NOT be part of the HCI since it's the GA's and XO's job and we have no jurisdiction there.

As for consulting us on some issues.. well some INQs are constantly on IRC and the others are always reachable by email. We won't create an "activity of consultation" but if they do need our help, experience or expertise, they just need to ask.

For the choosing of the INQs, that won't change. There will be no public "asking" if I can or cannot appoint this or that INQ. GA and XO are asked for their approval and I also consult the TRIB and WARD on my choices.

For the reviews of sub-groups, it is the responsibility of the XO to do that and while we will be helping and monitoring the SGs as of now we won't begin a formal evaluation of SGCOMs and such.

As for the appointment of the HI, well if he got something against it, he should take it up to the GA. No one else is in charge or has authority over it. and I myself start to have something against the current appointment of the TO...

So overall he was wrong on almost all of it. Except maybe activity which should change in the next few months. So next time he tries to "think", he better talk to the people concerned instead of publicly bashing them in his report.

Now after my own rant, here come the rest of the report<ref>EH News March 2004</ref>.