“People will stare, make it worth their while.”

These words resonate throughout the hallowed halls of the Gentlemen’s Collective. They are a code to inform our lives, even a code to live by. We are a Collective of Gentlemen, a group which aims to hold ourselves to the same set of standards and expectations that our forefathers held themselves to, centuries ago. Why, you may ask? How can the ideology of such an archaic time period possibly be of use in the modern era? How can the values of people with merely a loose grasp of mechanical engineering, let alone the intricacies of interstellar exploration, nay, let alone the simple possibility of venturing out from the planet they call home, really be expected to apply? In that we see the fundamental key. Their comparative naivety, their very lack of knowledge is not the barrier. Their standards, their ideas as to what it means to act in a Gentlemanly manner, to show chivalry and honour, these are the ideas that we care for, the ideas we seek to uphold. No matter how advanced a civilisation is, what discoveries it makes, what in manages to achieve, there will always be place in that civilisation for the common decency and gentlemanly manner expected of those that came before us, and expected of us now.

This is of course not to say that we gentlemen must apply this common decency to all aspects of our lives, merely, that we show gentlemanly manner in whatever we choose to do. Piracy, after all, loses its class when those that engage in the activity are little more than dirt found in the gutter. One can still be a gentleman whilst holding you at gunpoint and reacquiring your assets, for instance they would dress appropriately, apologise for the inconvenience, and thank you for peaceful transaction of their business. It feels only right to enlighten you, dear citizen, and share the rich history of the Gentlemen’s Collective, given you have made the trouble to bring up our organisation page on your Plexi-Glass.

The Gentlemen’s Collective was founded in year 1847, in London, England, Earth, by a lawyer, Alexander Hamilton, who was to become the Collective’s first Master. The Collective was an exclusive club, designed primarily as a refuge for its members against the struggles and hardships of their daily lives. Much like many of the exclusive clubs across London at the time, it followed a strict code, whereby all members adhered to the founding rules, that members must display a class and manner befitting of a gentleman at all times and in every aspect of their lives, that they must strive to enhance the image of true gentlemen; even if their actions are somewhat dubious, they would still have honour and respect over and above their actions, and that there is no place for conceitedness and arrogance in the Gentlemen’s Collective. The Collective was no place for the loud and obnoxious. Such traits make even the most noble of man void of class and manner.

Under these main principles, the Collective maintained, adopting members as it saw fit and deserving, and providing them with their intended refuge. The Collective believed that manner and class were not indicative of only certain social groups, that one’s societal class was not the contributing influence to their ability to hold themselves to a standard acceptable for membership. Anyone could apply and providing they fit the basic criteria and could prove themselves to truly be a gentleman; they were welcomed with open arms and friendly smiles. These standards were dwindling at such a rate, that any person still adhering to them was to be cherished. In 1951, The Gentlemen’s Collective took inspiration from Harry Winston, a then world renown diamond jeweller, and current member of the Collective, an adopted its current motto, “People will stare, make it worth their while”, which reflected the values and opinions held by all members of the Collective; people will judge you, no matter how you act, so give them a reason to aspire to be like you, dress and act in such a way that you improve the lives around you, that people strive to act as gentlemen again, and hold themselves to the same high standards and manners that all members do. These rules and values have been cherished and nurtured over the past millennium, with similar clubs forming in many cities both on Earth and Terra.

We are the Gentlemen of the Collective. It is an honour to make your acquaintance.

Master Alexander Montgomery IV