Chapter

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A chapter is a local subsidiary of an organization.

In The Royal Manticoran Navy: The Official Honor Harrington Fan Association, Inc. (TRMN), all members choose a chapter to join, and are invited to form new chapters.

Meeting Chapter

In TRMN parlance, a meeting chapter refers to one which is required to convene a minimum of three times annually.[1] This means that most, if not all, of the chapter members live near enough each other that they can meet in person periodically. However, TRMN has no regulations restricting which chapter any member may join, which means that even meeting chapters may have one or more members who live on the other side of the planet.

City of Charter

City of Charter is a term sometimes used to refer to the city where the founding Commanding Officer lives. This place will be referenced in the Commissioning Certificate for the chapter when it founded and be the "location" of the chapter.

Correspondence Chapter

A correspondence chapter is contrasted to a meeting chapter in that there is no requirement to convene in person, so the members of the chapter typically do not live near each other. This was originally designed for people who live in remote areas with small populations that would not support a meeting chapter.

The term "correspondence chapter" is a carryover from the pre-internet days, when people in such remote areas could join a correspondence chapter of a fan club, receiving newsletters by mail in order to keep up with club events. In the 21st century, social media and video-conferencing allow frequent contact with fellow chapter members living anywhere on Earth.

Ships

The most common framework for a chapter (whether it be meeting or correspondence) is that the members are the crew and other embarked personnel aboard an imaginary military spaceship.

For regional oversight, ships are assigned to a fleet based on their location.

Star Nations

In the early days of TRMN, the club leadership conceived that meeting chapters would be Royal Manticoran Navy ships, while correspondence chapters would be ships of the Grayson Space Navy. In practice, this scheme has not been adhered to, as the nationality of the ship is more commonly based on the role-play interests of the members, so both RMN and GSN ships may exist as either meeting or correspondence chapters. Other nationalities and types have been introduced, so that a ship may be from any of the following Grand Alliance member services:

Chapter nomenclature

The chapter name will be the name of a ship from the Honorverse canon approved by BuShips, such as HMS Invincible.

Prefixes

Hull Numbers

After the name, the ship's Hull Number is appended. This includes a Hull Classification Symbol for the ship type, and then a number identifying that ship within its navy. (example: HMS Invincible SD-455. "SD" for superdreadnought, 455 to signify the 455th superdreadnought of the RMN).

Ship types

The type of ship which a chapter may portray is limited by minimum crew complement requirements. Although the fictional spaceship would have a much larger crew (the largest superdreadnoughts might have crew complements numbering in the thousands),the chapter requirements are:

SHIP TYPE MINIMUM TOTAL CREW MINIMUM OFFICERS
Pinnace[2] 2 1
Light Attack Craft (LAC) 3 1[3]
Destroyer (DD) 6 2
Light Cruiser (CL) 8 3
Heavy Cruiser (CA) 10 3
Battle Cruiser (BC) 12 4
Dreadnought (DN) 16 5
Superdreadnought (SD) 20 5

Marine Detachments

Additionally, members who portray the Royal Manticoran Marine Corps may form Marine Detachments (MarDets) as part of an existing ship chapter. The MarDet members portray the marine complement stationed on the ship and have their own structure, organization, chain of command, and reporting requirements, forming a "chapter within a chapter."

Leadership

Chapters are required to have a "command triad" consisting of the following:[4]

  • Commanding Officer (CO): Analogous to the chapter president. Sometimes called the "skipper" in club jargon.
  • Executive Officer (XO): The chapter's second-in command.
  • Bosun: The senior enlisted member of the chapter, who must have a minimum grade of E-7 (called the "gunny" for MarDets or "NCOIC" for Army chapters).

The "triad" structure is also used for leadership of larger echelons formed of multiple ships as well as the bureaus and service branches which makeup the organization.

Army Chapters

Unlike the Navy and Marines, whose chapters are ship-based, Royal Manticoran Army chapters are ground and Atmospheric units, with composition requirements delineated in Army Directive 2302-02:

TYPE SOLDIERS CO RANK XO RANK NCOIC RANK ATTACHED ELEMENTS
Fireteam 2-4 Corporal (E-4)
Section 5-7 Sergeant (E-5)
Platoon 8-10 2nd Lieutenant (O-1) Sergeant (E-5)
Company 11-13 Captain (O-3) 1st Lieutenant (O-2) Master Sergeant (E-7) One
Battalion 14-16 Lieutenant Colonel (O-5) Major (O-4) Sergeant Major (E-9) Three
Regiment 17+ Colonel (O-6) Lieutenant Colonel (O-5) Regimental Sergeant Major (E-10) Five

Civilian Chapters

Members who portray non-uniformed civilians serving in the Diplomatic Corps or the Special Intelligence Service may be members of RMN ship chapters, but also may form chapters that portray diplomatic missions or intelligence stations.[5] These can be part of ship chapters, in the same manner as Marine Detachments.

Holding Chapters

A holding chapter is the term for a general organization-wide chapter for members who have not joined meeting or correspondence chapter.[6] These are commonly fictional space stations.

  • HMSS Greenwich (HMSS= Her Majesty's Space Station) was the original holding chapter for all Manticoran members.

In 2021, separate Holding Chapters were introduced for each regional fleet, with Greenwich retained for First Fleet:[7]

  • HMSS Hephaestus was designated as the initial waystation for all incoming RMN branch personnel pending further assignment.

Flagship

When Commanding Officers of Fleets, as well as other flag officers select a ship to be their chapter, that ship is known as their flagship.

External Links

Worldwide TRMN chapter location map

References

  1. ↑ TRMN Membership Handbook, page 23
  2. ↑ a pinnace is overseen by an existing larger ship and is meant to be temporary while the new chapter recruits to be able to upgrade to a larger "permanent" ship type. It has a CO, but no XO or bosun.
  3. ↑ Admiralty Order 1602-06 specifies that a LAC requires only a CO and bosun, with no XO required.
  4. ↑ A pinnace needs only a CO, and a LAC needs only a CO and a Bosun
  5. ↑ Home Office Directive 007-20
  6. ↑ Admiralty Order 2307-04 designates branch heads as the authority for appointing holding chapter COs.
  7. ↑ Naval Directive 21JA-03
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