Mahou Shoujo Youkai
The MSY (Mahou Shoujo Youkai, 魔法少女ようかい, usually referred to as the MSY or Union in Standard) is the overarching magical girl organization of TtS, encompassing under its auspices every magical girl alive. In the past, this was compulsory as a matter of practicality—though it was required under MSY law—but now it is a legal requirement and assumption under Governance.
((Posts 2 and 3 still need to be incorporated. Also, a separate section on the breakdown and responsibilities of the contemporary MSY, along with known officials, is probably desirable.))
Contents
History
Founding
The MSY was founded in 2021, at a meeting of representatives from six teams encompassing the Mitakihara metropolitan area, the brainchild of the famous Mitakihara Four. It followed an extensive series of friendship meetings, social gatherings, and group hunts designed to bolster mutual trust. These ~24 girls, collectively considered the MSY’s founders, had previously been forced to cooperate in order to counter the depredations of the Southern Group, and were thus on very good terms, facilitating the idea of a mutual aid group.
While the original MSY did have some ambitions for expansion, as evident from the name and the grandiose act of penning a Charter, the scope of the group’s initial intentions were limited. As originally delineated in the Charter, the MSY was merely an agreed-upon framework for the fulfillment of five founding mandates:
- The elimination of grief cube shortages, by the formation of a collectively managed grief cube “insurance pool”, designed to mitigate fluctuations in harvesting and need for any particular team. Each team was expected to contribute a certain percentage of their takings or a certain minimum, whichever was higher, and could not withdraw more than a certain amount per month. Deviations from these rules, in the case of extenuating circumstances, could be accepted with collective consent.
- Provide for the airing out and resolution of misunderstandings and disagreements.
- Providing mutual aid, in the case of external threats or in dangerous circumstances.
- Smooth out differences in non-magical resources between groups, and attempt to acquire a source of steady income. It was recognized that the health of each team was in some degree dependent on that of others, and that some of the wealthier members could easily provide for everyone with the use of only a minimal amount of their resources.
- Allowing for the “borrowing” and “lending” of team members between city regions, to optimize team structures, as long as the borrowing team undertook to provide housing, training, etc. For instance, in the provision of healers to teams with no healers.
The original Charter provided for decision-making by informal meetings of teams, who would meet at least once every three months, and more if necessary. Formally, a majority was required for decisions, as well the agreement of at least one member of each team. A quorum was required of at least one member of each team. Informally, most decisions in the early days were made by effective unanimous consent. The unusually formalized and written structure of the Charter reflected both the beliefs of the famous Akemi Homura and the advice of the Incubators (via Kyubey), who had seen the rise and fall of many similar organizations.
It was intended that while the Charter could be extended to an indefinitely large area, it would only provide a framework for local cooperation, with the wider prefectural or (unimaginably) national level connections being used primarily to facilitate easy travel.
Early Expansion
The MSY succeeded beyond the expectations of both its organizers and the Incubators, driven by a combination of unexpectedly large grief cube surpluses and the overwhelming success of the rebranded D&E Corporation. The consequent more relaxed hunting schedule and relative opulence, with team members free to dine in expensive restaurants and dabble in personal careers (and even more unthinkably, outside relationships), attracted regional envy and “border” groups hurried to join. By the end of the first decade, decision-making with the full membership had become unwieldy, and the decision was made to fragment into local organizational groups, and Charterize a Leadership Committee (2031), formed out of prominent girls within the organization. While ultimate authority would still lie with the full membership, of whom a meeting could be called at any time, the Leadership Committee would be responsible for day-to-day decision-making.
This was also desirable because of a slow expansion of the organization’s mandate. With the expansion of the MSY’s financial resources and the lengthening lifespans of its members, the organization found itself expected to help with things like bribing local police, paying college tuition, providing plausible excuses to parents, providing medical and psychological care, hiding girls with missing limbs, and so forth. This entailed an increasing number of specialists, including non-contracted humans, deployed in more and more complex ways. Nearly all of this would eventually cement into a formal bureaucracy.
The first and perhaps most notable of these child organizations to emerge was the Soul Guard (2043). Headed by the founder Tomoe Mami, the Soul Guard began as a single team and grew into a full police force, and was designed to be the explicit fulfillment of part 3 of the original charter, suppressing insane girls, providing fire support, acting as response force to complaints of charter violation, and, occasionally, meting out approved revenge on behalf of organization members. All of these functions had been previously carried out haphazardly, with only an uneven record of success, and it was an embarrassing streak of unnecessary deaths caused by insane girls that prompted the Soul Guard’s formation, though ironically this role became less important with the rise of the MHD and the MSY’s increasing oversight of new recruits.
Hand in hand with the Soul Guard came the enshrinement of a legal system (2044), replacing mob punishment of “soul criminals” with formal trials, with a tribunal (two random members, one Soul Guard judge, at least two telepaths) for questions of guilt, a jury for decisions on punishment, and an executive panel for questions of interpretation of the increasingly convoluted “Law”, at the time a confusing mixture of Charter amendments, Leadership Committee Decrees, and common practice.
It is to this period that historians date the MSY’s institutionalization as a true government, with its seizure of the critical state monopoly on violence.
After the formation of the Soul Guard, with its legitimization of formal MSY sub-organizations (the Charter modified to explicitly give the Leadership Committe the right to make such organizations), there was a ballooning of the number of executive committees and organizations, with, for example, the MHD (2053) created to tackle the thorny issue of mental health (all-important to magical girls), the rehabilitation of insane girls and criminals, and, incidentally, the provision of health care when the normal hospital wasn’t a choice.
Japanese Consolidation
Dating the end of this second phase remains controversial, since the date on which the MSY absorbed the last Japanese holdouts (2085) considerably postdates the establishment of the first MSY overseas outpost (2068). Nonetheless, the period 2050-2075 clearly represented a considerable slowdown in MSY growth, as the organization stalled on the coasts of Japan and struggled to digest its new responsibilities and powers.
It was a period of consolidation and organizational maturation, as the MSY refined its techniques and bureaucracies at all levels. From an institutional standpoint, the most notable milestone was a major rewrite of the Charter in 2059, establishing a common law legal code, placing legislative powers in a newly-formed Rules Committee, formalizing voting and representation procedures for top offices, setting the structure of the Leadership Committee, and giving an explicit procedure for Charter amendment. Though in some sense the Charter had been a constitution for a long time, this was first time it began to resemble the other democratic constitutions then prevailing in the world.
This period was also the period in which MSY corporations began to represent a significant portion of the Japanese economy, and in which MSY infiltration of the Japanese government began to spread upward into the Diet and Cabinet. The MSY saw its first “second-generation” magical girls, inaugurating the Matriarchies that would come to dominate internal politics over the coming centuries.
It was also in this period that the MSY, tired of the mob’s outrageous crimes—especially its exploitation of teenage girls and women—and the nonstop jostling between the two organizations in the underworld they both inhabited, finally decapitated the Yakuza in a series of Soul Guard operations in 2055, installing its own bureaucrats at the top. From here on out, the Japanese Mafia would become a bound mastiff, abandoning most of its criminal enterprises and serving as an instrument of MSY policy.
By 2075, the MSY had become a dominant force in Japan, influencing its economy, controlling its criminal underworld, and helping to direct government policy, all from the safety of the shadows. It was only fitting that it would then turn its eyes outward.
Organization & Charter
Original Charter
Statement of Purpose
Up until now, the magical girl system has been a tragedy of massive proportions. The dreams of teenage girls become a nightmare of fear, conflict, deprivation and death. This is the result of a failure of organization and cooperation, not intrinsic to the system itself. The participating teams of Mitakihara City hereby undertake to build an organization, the Mahou Shoujo Youkai, capable of fostering the cooperation and organization necessary to end the unnecessary pain.
The MSY is founded as a mutual aid group, with five primary mandates:
The elimination of grief cube shortages in any one time by the establishment of a grief cube pool
The provision of a forum for the airing out, resolution, and arbitration of misunderstandings and disagreements
The provision of effective countermeasures in the event of serious external threats or dangerous circumstances
The distribution of non-magical resources such as money in a manner beneficial to the group as a whole
The distribution of team members, particularly newly contracted girls, in an optimal manner
Article I-Fundamental Organization
1: Global Meeting
Major decisions shall be made at a General Meeting, held at least once every three months, but more frequently whenever necessary. This Meeting shall have the power to issue exceptions to every part of this Charter, and may amend whenever felt necessary. At least one member of every member team must be present to constitute a quorum, and decisions require an absolute majority of present members, as well as the agreement of at least one member of each team, with the exception of certain sanctionary actions mentioned below, for which the quorum requirement may be relaxed to as little as one member per each of half the existing teams. This may be done, for instance, for failure to attend the Meeting.
Chairmanship and Hosting of the next Meeting will be decided at the previous meeting. The hosting team will organize and chair the session, charging any direct costs to the General Fund. Any member team may request an early Meeting at any time.
2: General Fund
Two joint Treasurers from different teams shall be assigned to manage a General Fund, which shall be used to finance organizational activity, as well as provide reimbursements when practicable. The Treasurers shall provide a description of organizational finances at every General Meeting, and may be replaced by the Meeting whenever desired.
The founding teams commit to providing at least twenty thousand Japanese Yen (¥20,000) per member to initialize the Fund. Subsequently, teams are required to contribute at least ten thousand Japanese Yen (¥10,000) each month per member. Individual members may be required to contribute more at the discretion of the Global Meeting, particularly if the given member has access to significant outside wealth.
Any contributions exceeding this amount may be used to deduct from the contributing team's required surplus grief cube contribution, at a rate to be considered and reset at every Meeting, depending on the state of the organization's current finances and grief cube stocks, but may not be used to deduct from the absolute minimum. The initial rate is set to ten thousand Japanese Yen (¥10,000) per cube.
Businesses or investment ventures undertaken by the organization will be financed from the Fund, and any proceeds will return to the fund. Every General Meeting, a monthly reimbursement amount for each team will be decided upon; this amount may exceed the contribution amount, and the amount may differ between teams, as circumstances warrant. Teams may also request emergency allotments, issued at the discretion of the Treasurers; the resolution of any resulting fiscal issues may be decided at the next Meeting.
3. Grief Cube Pool
Three Cube Keepers will be assigned to manage a Grief Cube Pool, which shall be used to insulate member teams against poor grief cube harvests. The Pool shall be kept in multiple locations, as practicality and safety permit. Every two weeks, or more frequently, teams shall submit a number of grief cubes not required to exceed the operating surplus, but otherwise not lower than an absolute minimum of one grief cube per member per week or fifty percent (50%) of their operating surplus, whichever is higher. In the event of an operating deficit, withdrawals may be made from the pool up to one grief cube per week per member. Additional withdrawal may be granted at the discretion of the Keepers, but must be discussed at the following Meeting.
The Keepers shall provide a description of organizational grief cube stocks at every General Meeting, along with an account of the productivity of various teams, and may be replaced whenever desired by the Meeting. The direct purchase or selling of grief cubes to or from the Pool may be permitted, within limitations prescribed by the previous Meeting.
The Incubators have agreed to perform verification of operating deficits and surpluses.
Article II-Entrance or Departure of Teams
A team that wishes to enter the organization may, with majority agreement of its own members, submit an entrance request at any time. Such requests shall be taken up by a General Meeting as soon as practicable. If requested by any one member team, a disapproval vote may be held—a majority shall suffice to refuse the entrance request. Otherwise, entrance is automatic. The Meeting may also require the requesting group to provide additional resources, i.e. monetary instruments, grief cubes, before allowing entrance.
A team may leave the organization at any time, with majority agreement of the team's own members. The other teams must be informed as soon as possible. Leaving the organization does not discharge outstanding debts and obligations.
A team may be ejected from the organization with the agreement of four-fifths (4/5) of the remaining total membership of the organization, with the assent of at least one member from team except the one being ejected.
Article III-Lending of Individual Team Members
Member teams may transfer or lend individuals between one another with unanimous mutual agreement, and in cases where newly contracted members have skills that would be essential to a team other than the team in her contracting area, it may be expected, depending on residency status, age, and so forth.
Individuals lent or transferred to another team have a right to expect treatment comparable to that which would be expected from their own team, including training, housing, social support, and so forth. The original team may, with the assent of the individual in question, demand that the move be reversed, with arbitration by the General Meeting if the new team does not agree.
Article IV-Other Resources
It is expected that member teams will share resources not already discussed, i.e. access to health care or transportation, in a manner that is generous, reasonable, and fair. Disputes may be arbitrated by the General Meeting, but this is hoped to be avoided.
Article V-External Threats, misc.
Member teams are expected to cooperate in the utmost in the eradication or handling of any external threats and other issues that may arise.
Article IV-Additional Enforcement Measures
In the event of noncooperation, failure to attend General Meetings, or willful violation of Charter stipulations and/or Meeting decisions, a Meeting may impose sanctions upon a team, with the agreement of two-thirds (2/3) of the remaining total membership of the organization, with the assent of at least one member from every team except the one being sanctioned. These sanctions include, but are not limited to, increased monetary and grief cube contribution requirements and refusal of emergency allotments and grief cube withdrawals.
Signed,
Akemi Homura, on behalf of the "Mitakihara Four"
Kuroi Kana, on behalf of the "University Area Group"
Chiyo Rika, on behalf of the "Northern Group"
Tanaka Yui, on behalf of the "Financial District Group"
Takara Chinami, on behalf of the "Factory Area Group"
Yasuhiro Rin, on behalf of the "West Kasamino Three"
