It all started with a message to another character of mine who is an officer in the Penguin Mafia:
From MadMatt (#591379)Date: Wednesday, September 07, 03:59PM ok. my friend has started his clan up. Hes callin it American Federation after his Black Hawk Down clan. I wished him luck. Cuz if he doesnt get 6 peeps in 2 months, bye clan.I had a multi without a clan so I volunteered to help out. Spamalope applied and was accepted. One of the first things that I noticed was that the creator of the clan, BlackOpsSeal, had no experience either as a leader or a motivator. I was disappointed, but remained in the guild to see what would happen. I guess it was morbid curiosity.
It was my meat that bought the clan amenities. I was the first donator to the clan stash, effectively clearing my inventory of a bunch of stuff I'd been hanging on to for no reason. So now, with a stocked and fully functioning clan, I looked to see what the clan leader would do.
Since he needed help with recruiting, I created an image to be placed in the KoL Wiki site, using my own meeat to fund the placement of the ad. He said he was going to recruit, and we did get two or three more people, but no one else was active. There was one member who was nothing more than a stash looter: tonicrigid4 (#625607), who was able to take a great deal of the items before he left the clan. This was disapponting, and so was the lack of response by the clan leader. Eventually the clan stash ran out of meat, and I forgot about it.
Then on January 16, 2006, I needed an item and, on a whim, checked the clan stash. What I needed was there, so I took it. Checking the clan roster, I was surprised to see that BlackOpsSeal was gone, and I was the leader. Then I remembered why his name looked familiar; he had joined the Penguin Mafia! Interesting. Mariachi Fool was the only other member, but seemed to be inactive.
So here I was with my own guild. I immediately made changes to the ranks, establishing Officer positions with specific duties. Although at first I had set the initial karma level at 5,000 for new members, I realized rather quickly that it was too much. I am willing to give promotions, but after being stung by serious (#759362), and right after that, Heifetz (#510102), I decided to limit the amount of both karma and stat foods in the clan stash.
Setting my sights on building an excellent clan for exceptional players, I wrote a letter and started searching for players. It's interesting what you can tell about a person by what they name their familiars. The clan whitelist (a listing of players who will be immediately accepted if they apply) grew as the letters went out, and several people responded.
The most dedicated and loyal of the new American Federation members is jackel1814, who currently holds the rank of Sergeant. From the beginning, he set his sights on bringing the clan to a war footing. Although through my research, I believe clan war to be a tremendous waste of meat, I am willing to allow Sergeant Jackel the opportunity to become Field Marshal, a rank I created for the person in charge of our participation in the clan war. The first goal was 20 members, which we have surpassed. The next goal is one million meat in the clan coffer. This will be the minimum necessary to prepare for war. Yes, war is expensive. To help, I donate an average of 50,000 meat per day.
Keeping a close eye on the clan log, I immediately noticed that some people were more active than others. I started awarding rank to those who contributed, and did not abuse the stash. The first of these promotions is to Private First Class. This is not a rank based on karma amount, but on individual evaluation of performance.
The clan is growing, and I'm pleased with the progress despite the clan looter setbacks. I'm concerned about the clan coffers, especailly the drain clan war will cause. However, with the purchase and sale of a couple of Mr. Accessories or donation items, we should be able to maintain both a war footing and be able to purchase stat boosts, which I feel is an important benefit of being part of a clan.
On days when the moons cause certain stat gains to increase, purchasing cheap, normal or expensive training is an option. With 26 members, each stat purchase, which adds 10-16 points, costs 35100 Meat. For a small growing clan, that's a lot of funds. Hopefully, growth and an active membership will allow support of both the meat tree and the stat purchases.
I'm looking forward to having more Officers. Currently we have Polkalicious who is our Captain of the Cork. Her job is to take ingredients from the clan stash and use her Disco Bandit skills to make high-end stat drinks. This is slow going for the moment, which is fine. I don't want the temptation of too many stat items in the clan stash.
Today, the clan is growing at a good pace. Basically that means that I can keep up with the administration of it by myself. It amuses me to think what would happen if BlackOpsSeal looks up the clan again to find what he had abandoned and left for dead, a thriving and prosperous organization of extraordinary players.
