Restructure & Expansion

Cloud 9 has undergone a few major surface-level changes and several behind-the-scenes changes through the years. The most recent includes being restructured on a foundational level while introducing an expansion consisting of a couple groups that were created back around the time that Cloud 9 was founded, and additional groups more recently created, each with a focus on different professions.

Here it is....

The Basic Structure

Cloud 9 Inc.

• Cloud Nexus

• Cloud 9 Games, Inc.

• Ennead Union, Inc.

Cloud 9, Inc. continues to serve its purpose as the "parent company", while the "inc." is in name only.

The three groups within it are a mix of old and new.

Cloud Nexus is new, an addition that combines our original lawful and outlaw organizations.

Cloud Nexus

• Cloud 9

• Nebula 9

Cloud 9 Games, originally an external group, now also an organization, has been given it's own "inc.".

Cloud 9 Games, Inc.

• Cloud 9 Games (org)

• Cloud 9 Games (external group)

Ennead Union, originally given a different name, was also originally an external group, and now has the addition of an organization, both of which have been given their own "inc.".

Ennead Union, Inc.

• Ennead Union (org)

• Ennead Union (external group)

At the next layer, each of those branches out into a network, with each network consisting of multiple organizations (or planned for later) or multiple nested groups if external. Among them, there's the Cloud Nexus Network, Cloud 9 Network, Nebula 9 Network, Cloud 9 Games Network (org), Ennead Union Network (org), Cloud 9 Games Network (external), and Ennead Union Network (external).

The Cloud 9 Games Network (external) is one of our oldest groups, although it was simply called Cloud 9 Games (C9G) at the time. We created multiple C9/C9G groups, such as one in Warframe, another in Astroneer, and a few others. We also have a Steam community, albeit ancient by this point.

Within the Cloud 9 Network, which is contained within Cloud Nexus, we now have the original Cloud 9 organization and 5 new organizations nested within that. All of the groups listed immediately below are organizations.

Cloud 9

• Horizon Health (aka Cloud 9 Horizon)

• Vortex Security (aka Cloud 9 Vortex)

• Solaris Resources (aka Cloud 9 Solaris)

• Quantum Commerce & Logistics (aka Cloud 9 Quantum / QC&L)

• Olympus Entertainment (aka Cloud 9 Olympus)

In addition to the organizations above, the following have also been introduced:

• Nebula 9

• Cloud Nexus

• Ennead Union

The plan for organizational development begins with the original Cloud 9 and extends to integrate the five nested organizations, all of which will rely on successfully recruiting more people.

Organization Networks

We have a priority order of initial organization and organization network developments that adheres to our initiatives by establishing our fleet-building and division-building processes.

The fleet-building process begins with the first three crews, which serve as a packaged deal in purpose. All three (Phoenix, Runners, Euphoria) function as onboarding crews and the third (Euphoria) as the first main crew in the first fleet.

The division-building process begins with a focus on survival, moves on to resources and entertainment next, then returns to exploration. Crews formed after the first three will be part of our Survival Division and fulfill the medical, security, and engineering needs of the fleet. Technically, the engineering part of that is in Resources, yet also plays a critical role in Survival. Similarly, the areas of medicine and security extend to be incorporated into Resources, and all three are important in Exploration.

Following the formation of our first medical and security crews, we proceed with our Resources Division. We will start right off with the engineering focus so that our engineers can be integrated into all of our crews alongside medical and security professionals in each.

With crews in the Resources Division, we will start off with its Materials & Commerce Subdivision crews, then the Entertainment Subdivision crews.

We'll come full circle after that and return our focus to the Exploration Division.

At that point, we can continue to cycle through each division as we form more crews.

Being the initial developments for our orgs and networks, these steps are to ensure the more critical areas are covered first while also not sacrificing progress in the others before returning to them for more growth.

After we have established a fully self-sustaining, surviving and thriving first fleet, we may begin to introduce different methods to how we further expand the fleet. By that point, and this is much further down the road, we will also begin forming the Cloud 9 Second Fleet. While the first fleet is covering all professions by way of divisions, we can later start to form fleets dedicated to each of our orgs. We may increase the number of crews in our first fleet enough to create additional fleets from what we already have, provided it does not sacrifice anything in the first fleet.

Order of Development

We have the frameworks for 5 organization networks and will focus on them in the following order:

1. Cloud 9 Network: Cloud 9 (lead org in network), Horizon, Vortex, Solaris, Quantum, Olympus

2. Nebula 9 Network: Nebula 9 (lead org in network) and additional orgs TBA

3. Cloud Nexus Network: Leadership organization combining both Cloud 9 and Nebula 9 Networks

4. Cloud 9 Games Network: Cloud 9 Games (lead org in network), others TBA, and external C9G groups

5. Ennead Union Network: Ennead Union (lead org in network), others TBA, and external Ennead groups

Within the Cloud 9 Network we will initially focus on developing organizations and crews in this order:

1. Cloud 9: Phoenix, Runners, Euphoria

2. Horizon: Vista

3. Vortex: Maelstrom

4. Solaris: Igneous, mobiGas, Munchers

5. Quantum: Tows 'r' Us, Quantum Galactic

6. Olympus: Celestial Voyages, Titans

The sequential order of development in both lists above is top-down and left-to-right. For example, the Cloud 9 Network is to be established first, and within that the Cloud 9 organization, and within that Phoenix is to be formed first, followed by the Runners second, and then Euphoria third. After Euphoria, Horizon Health may form its first crew, Vista. Next is Vortex's first crew, Maelstrom.

We will also have two "wild card" crews, which will fulfill the needs of others before we form the others. They are the first two crews that we will form, Phoenix and the Runners, so we will have crews with the needed flexibility early on while we start to form crews that focus on specific categories of professions.

While the first three crews of Solaris—Igneous (mining & refining), mobiGas (refueling), and the Munchers (salvage)—could be formed in the order listed above, they could be formed in any order without sacrificing any internally needed services and products that may come from each for the fleet. Adjustments may be made, though, like if we need mobiGas operational as a result of demands for fuel in systems like Pyro.

All of this depends on personnel, who we have, what they're interested in doing, and availability.

The first two Quantum crews—Tows 'r' Us (towing) and Quantum Galactic (hauling)—could be formed in any order. Until towing works again with quantum travel, Quantum Galactic may need to move up on the list, and we can always "shop at" Tows 'r' Us later and see what kinds of toys vehicles we'll tow.

Between Olympus' first two crews, the tourism crew, Celestial Voyages, dates back to the early years of Cloud 9, around the time when we had our experimental crews, including the Star Crawl.

Future developments for tours and cruises will involve the coordination of multiple orgs in our organization networks. The Star Crawl is a bar crawl where the 890 Jump travels to every bar in the 'verse. It's more than a tour, it is a lengthy cruise. As a result, coordination will involve the assistance of explorers from Cloud 9, healthcare professionals from Horizon, security professionals from Vortex, engineers from Solaris, transportation professionals from Quantum, and tour guides and staff from Olympus. Due to being a more intricately involved activity, we have only ever had one Star Crawl per year.

We could form the Celestial Voyages crew or the Titans crew in any order. We are currently limited on types of activities for the Titans—specifically the more sports-focused variety introduced at CitizenCon 2954, like parkour—but some of the others are in the 'verse now, including racing.

The First Three

So that we can give the Cloud 9 First Fleet its structural premise and the foundational potential for expansive depth later on, we will need to form Phoenix first, the introductory crew that provides new crewmates with initial field training during onboarding.

Until we have more citizens ready to form the Runners, our second crew, our Phoenix crew will double as the Runners crew for the next part of onboarding. Likewise, until we have citizens ready to form Euphoria, our third crew, existing crewmates will fulfill the purposes of that crew.

To accomplish this, we will need citizens who would be interested in the variety and willing to take on the responsibilities of helping to build our first fleet by training incoming citizens with the first crew, observing and reviewing their progress with the second, and integrating them into the first fleet with an exploration focus in the third crew. New crewmates will be Runners in all 3 crews. The same applies to Euphoria. With all main crews in the fleet, the captain decides when to retire the Runner title and assign a specific crew position. This also applies, at the captain's discretion, to someone who has experience in a previous crew in the fleet and transfers to or joins an additional crew. The captain may decide to assign the Runner title temporarily while the crewmate adjusts.

Wild Cards

Phoenix and the Runners each have three primary functions: 1) Training mode: provide initial training to new crewmates and prepare them for insertion into the first fleet, 2) Fleet Flexible mode: run ops separate from training scenarios, without anybody going through onboarding, with only the established crewmates in each crew, and with a change in focus to the specified professions as ordered by fleet leadership during times of need, and 3) Wild Card (WiCa) mode: run ops separate from training scenarios, without anybody going through onboarding, with only the established crewmates in each crew, and with a change of focus at the two crews' discretions, operating outside the fleets.

Eventually, only the most elite will serve as established crewmates on the Phoenix and Runners crews.

While in Training mode, Phoenix will provide a hands-on approach and provide demonstrations, and the Runners will provide a hands-off approach so new crewmates may demonstrate their abilities with different responsibilities.

While in Fleet Flexible mode, both crews will perform any tasks by order of fleet leadership, and they will do that with any profession. They only operate in this mode on occasion. Tasks may range from courier deliveries to extremely high risk scenarios.

While in Wild Card mode, Phoenix implements a more traditional approach toward running ops, while Runners implements more of an unorthodox approach. As wild cards, both crews operate outside of the fleet and under the appropriate leadership while functioning as wild cards. Both crews operate within the fleet and under fleet leadership while training and during times that our other crews need help.

Both crews may focus on any professions of their choosing as wild cards. The tradeoff is that they must focus on the professions deemed needed by order of fleet leadership while operating within the fleet.

More Crewmates

Ideally, before we begin forming crews in the other orgs in the network, we will have established different crewmates to allow for 3 separate crews in Phoenix, the Runners, and Euphoria. However, if we are ready to proceed with forming Vista after Euphoria has been established, but if we also don't have enough people yet to have a fourth set of crewmates, then we may proceed as long as we have different crewmates fulfilling the needs of each org.

In this scenario, Cloud 9 crewmates would need to maintain reliability in each of the first three crews, without ever sacrificing one for another. They would also need to effectively prioritize how they integrate from a fleet perspective when coordinating with the crews of our other orgs.

It may be necessary to stretch personnel thin and have one set of crewmates for Phoenix, Runners, and Euphoria, and another set for Vista. It would not be feasible to have the same personnel in all of them due to the needs of the fleet and having different crews supporting each other.

Along these lines, someone in a Cloud 9 crew may also be in a Horizon Health crew, provided they also don't sacrifice their responsibilities in one for the other.

The same applies to all organizations, all crews, and all fleets in all of the organization networks.

The simplest solution to this is recruitment. We will need more citizens so we can have more crewmates and, thus, more crews and larger crews. For this reason, the more of us recruiting, the better.

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