Bucolos et fils
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Bucolos et fils is an Nouvelle Alexandrian family-owned surveying and cartographic company, noted for its extensive history in fine mapmaking and service to successive governments and notables, most recently involved in the production of a series of maps of the Federation at the request of Queen Alexandra.
The company is officially headquartered in Punta Santiago, Alduria, although most of its operations are nowadays centered in Narbonne. The company's previous premises in Norvind are still maintained as the headquarters of its bathymetric operations.
Management
Bucolos et fils is a privately held company, owned by the Bucolos family as shareholders and directors. The board of directors therefore currently consists of company founder Icol Bucolos and his nine adult children.
The effective CEO of the company is S. S. Bucolos, Icol's second son; responsibility for operations and finances is shared between himself and a deputy, Carlos Valenciano. The chief design officer is Edgard Bucolos, Icol's eldest son.
History
Background
The company's history begins long before the entity itself. The Bukolos family is of immense antiquity, dating back to Shyriath Bukolos who was once Count of Benacia and Duke of Brookshire; but the progenitor of the modern family, and of its association with mapmaking, was his descendent, the Shirerithian cartographer Shyriath Bukolos. (His friend and contemporary, Shyriath Farstrider, legal analyst and politician, is a different individual, though the two are commonly confused). From 1573 to 1623 AN - almost exactly fifty years - he was the publisher of the Gloria Mundi project, a high-quality atlas of Micras that was kept regularly updated to reflect the ever-shifting borders of the world's nations. He became well-known in his home country not only for his maps, but for his geographical and cultural documentation, being much in favor with Kaiseress Mira Raynora Minor.
Gloria Mundi brought him a certain amount of international renown as well. It was his life's work - his obsession - and between it and his other duties it left him little time for more domestic concerns. It was not until he was nearly seventy that he put his project away for good. He married later that year, and in 1626, his only son, Ikol Bukolos, was born in the family's home in Lichkeep. Ikol was born in a period of what seemed like peace and tranquility, for whose god he was named, but it masked deeper issues, which began to spill over into madness, violence, and international tensions as 1640 came and went. Regardless, the elderly Shyriath attempted to stay out of current affairs, devoting his remaining energy to raising and mentoring his son.
In mid-1644, Shyriath and his wife traveled to Shirekeep at the invitation of Shyriath Farstrider, partly to celebrate the upcoming Oustfest, but also so that the Imperial Advisory Council could make use of his extensive knowledge in ongoing efforts to reconstruct the city. The couple therefore had the misfortune of being caught up in the events of the Oustfest Massacre which brought a bloody end to the reign of Kaiser Dominus and gave the self-proclaimed Aurangzeb II power over the city. Detained by the usurper's forces, Shyriath and his wife were condemned for their association with the previous regime and with the family of the Mira Raynoras and other undead, and were summarily executed. Ikol, during the chaos of the Year of the Four Kaisers, made his way across Lichbrook to take ship for Alexandria.
In Geneva, the capital of the Empire, Ikol was granted asylum by the government, both in light of his father's reputation there - he had been made an Officer of the Legion of Honor in 1624 - and, quite likely, ongoing hostility toward Shireroth; the effects of Operation Tymarian Sun were well remembered, and the frankly genocidal nature of Aurangzeb's government and the cannibalistic behavior of his extremist Cedrist allies were of course abhorrent to them. Ikol made himself at home in the city, first joining a surveying company in 1645. He lived comfortably enough, particularly once he was able to receive the royalties from ongoing sales of his father's works, and, unwilling to return to Shireroth even after the victory of Kaiseress Noor, he eventually gained Alexandrian citizenship, changing the spelling of his name to Icol Bucolos to better fit the country's norms.
In 1647, now secure in his funds and wishing to be his own master, he founded a mapping and surveying company of his own.
Early years
Bucolos cartes et cartographie was a very modest company - profitable enough to remain in business, but beyond its famous name it was unremarkable, most of its income derived from street maps of Geneva and several of Alexandria's other major cities. It was said that Icol desired to one day resume his father's work on Gloria Mundi, and the slow expansion of his business might indeed have allowed it one day, but his efforts were cut tragically short by the appearance of the Alexandrian Flu.
The immense death toll led to the collapse of Alexandria, to say nothing of Icol's business. Managing to avoid infection, he, like many other Alexandrians, fled abroad, settling near Triegon in Natopia. Here he found his skills in higher demand; the need to build settlements and infrastructure for the incoming diaspora demanded accurate surveys and maps. Refounding his company, the quality of its output began to bring the name of Bucolos back into the public mind, and - when it too relocated there - of the surviving members of the imperial family.
During the chaos of the relocation, Icol had become very attached to one Adrienne Gaudin. Once secure in New Alexandria, the pair continued to enjoy one another's company, and they married in 1652. Their first child, son Edgard Dieuxdonné, was born in 1653; their second, daughter Célestine Julie, in early 1655. By this time, while the company continued to thrive, Icol began to seek new opportunities; the frantic need for surveys and maps had slowed, while the expansion of his family showed no signs of doing so, which became apparent when, late in the year, Adrienne was once more with child.
Icol learned, through mutual contacts in the diaspora, of a contract being offered by Armée Altusienne Unie, effectively the remains of Alexandrian garrisons acting as a military government over a series of islands off the west coast of Eura. Though neither Icol nor his wife were pleased with the prospect of leaving New Alexandria, the contract was a large one: to produce extensive topographic maps of the islands and liaise with government geologists to locate mineral deposits, and to train service members in surveying and cartography for area reconnaissance operations. The work would likely keep the company in business for years. Icol's bid, though not the lowest, promised quality work and a well-known name into the bargain; the Altusian government accepted. The company moved operations to Norvind in early 1656, where Icol's second son, Sylvain Schiriath, was born several months later.
Expansion
Though Bucolos cartes et cartographie was not the only oufit of its type employed by Altusian government, it was the most respected. This had as much to do with politics as reputation. Most of its competitors were home-grown and connected to (or part of) one faction or another in the power politics of the military administration, while Icol's company, itself thoroughly civilian, held no influence at all except its own usefulness. Icol was a smart enough man to realize this, and made a point of avoiding any offers of preferential treatment.
The contract continued to be renewed over the following years, and the company thrived, as did Icol's family. Six children followed Sylvain: in 1659, son Francis Joseph; in 1661, son Henri Eugène; 1664, twin daughters Mira Raynora and Lissanse Dolorès; in 1667, son Victor Louis; and finally, in 1669, in a patriotic nod to the establishment of Alduria, a daughter Aldurie Alexandra.
The collapse of Altus and its military government, and the move to northwestern Eura, brought both challenges and opportunities; the headquarters in Norvind had to be abandoned and the lucrative contract essentially voided, but the company almost immediately found a new niche in the surveying of Alduria's new territories, particularly in the search for oil and for urban planning.
It was during this period that Icol's eldest sons began to be gradually introduced into the business of the company. In 1676, Edgard took on a formal role, and the company was given its modern name.
Recent history
While Edgard shared his father's aptitude for maps, he had no interest in running a business, being of a more artistic bent. Sylvain, however - now generally going by his initials, S. S. - was a different matter. While he began his formal involvement with the company in 1678 working alongside his brother, he took a keen interest in the company's organization and strategy and, by degrees, began to involve himself with Icol's decision-making processes.
Icol had reason to welcome an opportunity to delegate his role. His wife, Adrienne, had been in deteriorating health for some years, and as the 1680s began, he began to turn over his duties to S. S. to spend time with her. S. S. began laying the foundations for a change in emphasis for the company; while government contracts and utilitarian maps were the bread and butter of their income and this would certainly continue, he began investing in artistic talent and in relationships with possible non-governmental patrons.
After Adrienne's death in 1684, Icol retired from his position. A family council - consisting of Icol and all but his two youngest children, who had not yet reached majority - chose S. S. as the new head of Bucolos et fils. In an early communication to the company's employees, he explained that he felt a need for a change of emphasis. "We bear a proud name," it said, "and though we have not dishonored it, we may perhaps have strayed from what it once meant. Shyriath Bukolos did not publish Gloria Mundi to aid industry or planning, worthy as those goals are; he believed in the magic to be found in showing the world to the world - as a subject might find in a portrait of oneself, exquisitely done."
It was in furtherance of this goal that he established a division of the company, headed by his brother Edgard, devoted to artistic maps, and those for public outreach and education.
