Category:Organisation

An organisation involves a group of individuals who are brought together in some common cause and who work together more or less openly towards one or more definite goals which may be more or less enduring.

Organisations tend to assign their members to well-defined roles and tend to be hierarchical. They are not usually, but may be, cellular. Any given member usually, but not necessarily, knows quite a bit about the roles to which others are assigned and usually, but not necessarily, has quite a bit of contact with those assigned to those roles.

Organisations are resistant to being altered, let alone dissolved, by a single well-placed member. But they may be easily altered, and even dissolved, by the coordinated efforts of well-placed members. An organisation is not created ex nihlo by a willful individual. Others must at least be persuaded of their interest in joining together in its creation and others may at most demand to describe its terms in return for joining in its creation. Persuasion and negotiation, plus some shared basis for these, are inescapable.

Examples of organisations include the Lamplighters concerned with public safety in Mordent, the Veiled Palm concerned with the good reputation of mediums everywhere, the Boritsi Trading Company concerned with the private profit of its owners, and La Société de Legerdemain concerned with magic feigned and unfeigned. Examples of secret organisations, more commonly named secret societies, include The Syndicate of Enlightened Citizens‎ concerned with squelching the supernatural, The Fraternity of Shadows concerned with seizing hold of the reigns of reality, the Ba'al Verzi concerned with killing for profit, and the Kargatane concerned with immorality and the power to enjoy it.

There is inevitably a degree of overlap between an organisation, a society, and an institution. The more an individual's participation appears voluntary and the less it appears natural the better the fit with an organisation. In Dementlieu the Noble Brotherhood of Assassins is first and foremost an organisation. Few would dare join it and none would publicly admit to doing so. Whereas the less an individual's participation appears voluntary and the more it appears natural the better the fit with an institution. In Barovia Balok is first and foremost an institution. Everyone speaks it and few can even imagine speaking anything else. As for an individual's participation in a society, it appears less voluntary and more natural than in an organisation and more voluntary and less natural than in an institution. For mediums worried about the good name of their profession, the Veiled Palm is first and foremost a society. It would be easy to be drawn into its work but it is a commitment that demands serious thought. The fact remains, however, that the distinctions are fine and in some cases are difficult. The Church of Ezra is an organisation (a regrettable one to the eye of the Lamordian), is a society (an indispensable one for a lonely Mordentish widower), and is an institution (the only one that counts for Bastion Teodorus Raines).

Entries under all of organisation, society, and institution should be kept to an absolute minimum. Entries under organisation and society or under society and institution are fine. And entries under any single one of the three are ideal. Note that entries appearing under secret societies should also appear here.