14 members
Outer World Shipping Co-Operative / OUTERWORLD
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Transport -
Trading
The Outer World Shipping Co-Operative is an corporation of independent owner-operators that follows a co-operative control structure which intends to preserve the members’ independence while keeping them in touch with a reliable group of similarly-minded peers.
History
The Outer World Shipping Co-Operative (‘the Co-Operative’) was originally incorporated in Lo in the Corel system as a partnership between a pair of visionary independent owner-operators in the early years of the boom years of trade with the Banu Protectorate. Seeing the benefits of co-operation, but not wanting to give up their independence entirely to corporate masters, the two veteran spacers formed a corporation by and for pilots like themselves.
The Co-Operative grew quickly as many similarly-minded shippers, attracted by the flexible ‘ship-owners co-op’ model of governance set out by the founders, joined up and contributed to the Co-Operative’s coffers and intel banks. The novel structure, part professional association and part corporation, saw profit and control largely kept in the hands of the ship-owners rather than corporate officials or uninvolved shareholders and was almost as much of a shippers’ union as it was a true corporation.
Idealism thrived for a time, buoyed by the boom and the riches that independent adventure-capitalist explorers and captains could earn. However as the Corel system became more civilised and less frontier, and Imperial bureaucracy brought along by the Castor project spread, the number of independent operators able to keep afloat dwindled. The members followed the frontier and the unofficial headquarters of the Co-Operative moved with them even though officially the base remained on Lo.
The Messer Era with its institutionalised xenophobia turned many away from the frontiers and foreign goods and this hurt the Co-Operative badly. However, those members that remained were a hard core of independent spacers who wanted no part in the fiercely martial and tightly disciplined society that a succession of tyrannical Imperators sought to create. These free-spirits stuck with the Co-Operative and rode out the Messer Era, and its decline. As freedoms filtered back into society and an interest in what else was out there grew again the Co-Operative swelled with members.
A freer society ultimately threatened the viability of the Co-Operative. Without a tyrannical government some members went back to being unaffiliated freelancers and others joined up with new corporations that lacked any of the ties to the oppressive former regime. The benefits of solidarity and comradeship out on the fringes could not compete well with the relatively safe and easy profits. Those that did not want to split and who remained in the Co-Operative often turned to the grey edges of the interstellar economy: smuggling, transportation of illegally-obtained goods, and ‘discreet transport’ for people even more outside the law. The traditional work of exploration, transport, and trade along the outer edges of settled space continue too – but when times are tight Co-Operative members rarely turn down paying work.
Currently the Co-Operative has a slightly tarnished reputation and shrinking margins. It is a diverse assortment of haulers, explorers, smugglers, traders, and salvagers. The ‘stereotypical’ member is a fiercely-independent adventure-capitalist with a chip on their shoulder and a gang of fellow-members to back them up.
Source
Kanawa, R. ‘OUTERWORLD: a case study in the decline of the independent collective as an economic unit’ [Journal of Astro-Socio-Economics, vol 331, no.3]
Manifesto
Outerworld is about the members. It’s a co-operative – run by, and for, owner-operators and is not beholden to any other corporate masters. We can do work for them, we can work with them; but they don’t own us – we aren’t company property.
Outerworld is about independence. Fly where you want, haul what you want. What you earn is yours – after you pay your dues – and you can do what you like with it. We own our ships, we operate our ships; this isn’t a job – it’s a life.
Outerworld is about community. You are your own boss, but you aren’t alone – you have back-up. It’s dangerous out there on the Edge; it’s the unknown afterall – but we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Outerworld is about freedom. The Empire is everywhere, there are new rules and laws and tariffs seemingly every day. We want to get out, get beyond all of that, and play by the rules that really matter – rules that are not made up by some bureaucrat.
Outerworld is about the Edge. Getting out there, getting to know it, and getting a payday out of it. People come to us because we know the Edge, and people join us because they know the Edge – or they want to.
Charter
Principles
“Here are the rules that matter comrade: pay your dues, family-first. share your luck, fly casual, and close ranks when you gotta.”
— overheard: a frosty Senior to a factory-fresh Provisional
“…pay your dues?”
The Co-Op isn’t like a corporation, it doesn’t try and chisel planetbound folk to pay for your gear but it doesn’t have a lot of creds to slosh around either. The Council and Stewards are captains just like you – what they have is what the Members give. When you get a payday you break a piece off for the Co-Op because when you need something… I mean really really need something… then the Co-Op has something to give.
“…family first?”
Your comrades aren’t your workmates, this isn’t a cube-farm. This is the ‘verse and these are your brothers and sisters. Yeah, you can fight with family sometimes – everyone does – but you still put them first. You need a gunner or a scan-op… family-first; you need a wingman on a grey run… family-first. Your comrades are there for you, and you are there for them.
“…share your luck?”
Everyone has their good runs and bad. On a good one – share the wealth; on a bad one – don’t go it alone. Don’t let fortune make you into an ass and make sure pride doesn’t make a loss cut deeper. If you find a fresh ‘point then share it with your comrades, and if you get shackled by the Advocacy don’t be afraid to contact a comrade to bail you out.
“…fly casual?”
Don’t make a mess. Look, I will level with you I hate these customs fees and tariffs as much as most and I gladly raise a middle finger if I can slip by with a hold full of something that it shouldn’t be full of. Smuggling, transport, a bit of ‘salvage’ is all good. Just keep it on the down-low.
That goes double for starting a ruckus too. We aren’t pirates or slavers, and more than that we aren’t a-holes either. We are here for the creds and the view.
“…close ranks?”
Stuff happens and a lot of it is bad stuff. People get shafted – in space or in the marketplace. When that happens we close ranks. If someone puts bad on a comrade, we give it right back. All of it. Blacklist them. When the Advocacy starts asking after a comrade then we don’t know anything. Family looks out for family and a staunch comrade is better family than your own momma out there on the Edge. Unless your momma is a member right?
Structure
Affiliates
Affiliates are friends of the Co-Op – good sorts who are too domesticated or have too many ties to another org. Buy ‘em a drink – but remember they aren’t really on the crew.
Members
Three kinds of members: provisional, entered, and senior. Provisional are new, or are just getting started. They don’t have a jump-ready vehicle or else they are paying their dues at the bottom of the pile for a while. Once a couple of real members give them the nod then they move up. Entered are those members that are on the books for real. They have a ship that’s good to go and they have got up and went. Seniors have been living the life for a while now – they are frosty from being out in the cold black so long and they put the chill on the newer members so they can survive and thrive better out there.
Stewards
Stewards are those that a dumb enough to volunteer to do something for the Co-Op. All the admin, comms, and membership stuff that gets done is done by them. Someone has to do it because this isn’t a fancy corp with temps on tap to do that sort of thing. They call the shots at a local level and they have both the rep to do the job and the spirit to put up their hands and say “yeah, I can pitch in”. You gotta respect that.
Councillors
We had more of these people back when there were more of us. Was a time when the Co-Op was a big org – with ships all over the place. We are pretty small now and we don’t need a lot of leadership types telling us what to do: mostly because we joined the Co-Op to get away from that crap. The Councillors are either real Co-Op lifers who have put their heart and soul into the org or else are descendants of some of the original members: for them this really is their family.