The Quartermaster explains to a potential recruit that being a pirate is a business, and like any other, it requires a product or service to be provided to customers in exchange for money. This money is then spent on equipment and personnel to create more product for more customers, generating more money. The difference with Piracy Incorporated is that their customers don't wish to be serviced, but the business model still requires them to be serviced.
The Quartermaster also explains that the pirate business operates under a contract, which sets the voting methods, codes of conduct, punishments for violating those codes, distribution of pay, workman's compensation, etc. The contract is agreed upon by all members of the crew before setting sail. The captain and the quartermaster are elected offices, with the captain serving at the pleasure of the crew. The quartermaster oversees the men, their quarters, their rations, their agreed-upon privileges, and punishments executed for contract violations.
The Quartermaster also explains that the crew is not paid in wages, but with one share of the profit. The captain gets two shares for the strategic decisions he makes, the quartermaster one and one half for his labors, and the surgeon, one and one fourth. The carpenter gets the same as the surgeon if there is no surgeon.
The Quartermaster then explains that the pirate business model is not because they are better and the Empire worse, but due to economic inevitability. Empire and merchant ships are not owned by the men who sail them, but by monarchs or investors who hire captains and officers to run them. The captain is not only paid much more, but has a share in the ship's profits, which the men do not. The crew, hired from the mass of men with lives of quiet desperation and personalities matrices constraining them inside the law, have only the low price of their undifferentiated labor to offer.
The Quartermaster then explains that the only thing standing in their way is the subtractor of Costs. If it grows too large, the business will inevitably dissolve. These costs come in mostly two forms: Ship repairs and people repairs. For the ship, the rules of supply and demand work against them. They can't sail into a port of the Empire seeking repairs without raising questions. So they must only visit pirate-friendly ports, with pirate-friendly dockworkers, mostly far away in the New World. Which raises repair costs considerably. For pirates, each broken mast or cannon hole is more costly than for the Empire. So, for business reasons, they prefer not to fight. Also fighting incurs personnel costs. Since they know that some crew will be injured in battle. Permanently.
The Quartermaster then explains that the contract they decide on lists generous compensation for lost legs, arms, hands, eyes. Thus after the treasure is seized, the injured are compensated, the ship is repaired, supplies replenished. The remainder is profit. The glorious, glorious profit. And your one share, after one successful voyage with them, will be worth years of labor with the Empire.
1. The text is a dialogue between a recruit and a quartermaster, discussing the business model of a pirate operation.
2. The business model involves creating a product or service for customers in exchange for money.
3. The money is then spent on equipment and personnel to produce more product for more customers, generating more money.
4. The pirate operation is unique in that their customers do not wish to be serviced, but the business model ensures they are serviced regardless.
5. The quartermaster explains that if the pirate operation does not service their 'customers', someone else will, leading to poverty.
6. The pirate operation is part of an economic niche in their societal and technological environment.
7. The quartermaster mentions that profit is income minus expenses, and for a pirate company, income means seizing the biggest booty.
8. The quartermaster also explains that seizing the biggest treasure requires provoking the least cost-inducing resistance.
9. The pirate operation has a contract for voyages, which sets voting methods, codes of conduct, punishments for violating those codes, distribution of pay, workman's compensation, etc.
10. There are two elected offices in the pirate operation: the captain and the quartermaster.
11. The captain serves at the pleasure of the crew and can be replaced by a majority vote if they are unhappy with his strategic decisions.
12. The quartermaster oversees the men, their quarters, their rations, their agreed-upon privileges, and punishments executed for contract violations.
13. The quartermaster explains that the cost of crew labor is low due to the qualifications of many men in the new century.
14. The quartermaster explains that the crew are not paid in wages but with one share of the profit.
15. The captain gets two shares for the strategic decisions he makes, the quartermaster one and one half for his labors, and the surgeon, one and one fourth.
16. The quartermaster explains that the pirate operation is not about camaraderie, but economic inevitability.
17. The quartermaster explains that pirate ships are owned by the men who sail them, unlike Empire and merchant ships which are owned by monarchs or investors.
18. The quartermaster explains that the captain is not only paid much more, but has a share in the ship's profits, which the men do not.
19. The quartermaster explains that the crew, hired from the mass of men with lives of quiet desperation and personalities matrices constraining them inside the law, have only the low price of their undifferentiated labor to offer.
20. The quartermaster explains that the incentive for the crew is great as they are not here to sell their labor to distant and disinterested owners, but to taste the fruit of their labors directly.
21. The quartermaster explains that the only thing standing in their way is the subtractor of Costs.
22. The quartermaster explains that the costs come in mostly two forms: Ship repairs and people repairs.
23. The quartermaster explains that for the ship, the rules of supply and demand work against them.
24. The quartermaster explains that they can't sail into a port of the Empire seeking repairs without raising questions.
25. The quartermaster explains that they must only visit pirate-friendly ports, with pirate-friendly dockworkers, mostly far away in the New World.
26. The quartermaster explains that each broken mast or cannon hole is more costly for pirates than for the Empire.
27. The quartermaster explains that for business reasons, they prefer not to fight.
28. The quartermaster explains that fighting incurs personnel costs.
29. The quartermaster explains that the contract they decide on lists generous compensation for lost legs, arms, hands, eyes.
30. The quartermaster explains that after the treasure is seized, the injured are compensated, the ship is repaired, supplies replenished, and the remainder is profit.
31. The quartermaster explains that the recruit's one share, after one successful voyage with them, will be worth years of labor with the Empire.