The Mechanical Era

The sun had risen to a new morning about 3 hours ago. A line of merchants, long and wide, is seen forming near the refurbished wood and stone building with a giant sign on the top. These men all wore similar outfits with different shades of them; coats with a belt and purses attached to them.

The interior itself was well-lit by the sunlight coming from outside, with the floor made of fresh oak wood planks with a horizontal pattern. One merchant, tall with short combed black hair, a thick mustache with a black wool coat, and a brown leather purse waited as the man in front of him finished his affairs.

"Next!" A feminine voice spoke out. He finally came over to the counter. On the other side, behind the iron bars separating the merchant and the receptionist, was a woman with coco brown eyes and black hair that extended to her shoulder.

"Hello, sir. How can I help you today?" she asked in a disinterested tone.

"I need to start a core-pour-ray-shon?"

"Corporation sir. First, have you reserved a name for the company?"

"I have to reserve a name?" the man replied in his deep voice.

"Yes. You can do it here. Can you please inform me of the name?"

"Willow's Trading Company"

"You name?"

"Hans Willow," he replied. She went over to check for files. She then places the file down and writes on a piece of paper."

"Alright. Your registration of the name "Willow's Trading Company" has been approved."

"That quickly?"

"Well sir, this branch just started. There are not many registered names," she replied.

"I see."

"Do you want to register and other shareholders?"

"Shareholders?"

"People who own the business."

"Oh yes. I do."

"How many?" she asked.

"Only another person," he replied.

"Will the corporation's mailing address be the same as its principal place of business?"

"Yes." The woman went on to check a small file. She quickly came back, holding a few pieces of paper.

"Here are the forms that you have to fill out. After you are done, come back here and give us to fully incorporate it," she replied. As he picked the papers from the desk, the lady screamed "Next!" to serve the next merchant.

...

A man stood outside on the other side of the street. Arms crossed and looking around the line, he appears to be waiting for someone else. Then, from his coco brown eye, he spots a slightly tall man headed his way.

"Brother! Did you do it?"

"Not yet Burke. We have to fill out these forms first," he replied.

"Darn. Well then, let's go fill it up back home I guess." Burke said. The two walked about 25 minutes to two brick stone houses, with both their roofs connected to not block the street underneath. It had a painted wooden roof with crystal clear glass windows fitted on a wooden frame.

Behind the glass windows on the first floor were 6 children, 3 girls, and 3 boys, staring outside. They all smiled and disappeared inside. As soon as the two brothers arrive, the door automatically opened for them, with the children behind them. Smiling and greeting their children and nieces, The brothers went inside.

They head over to their office. The one who got the papers sat down on one of the chairs present while the other one of them goes to their private office and comes back with a quill and ink.

They look at the forms called the 'articles of incorporation'. The form is separated into a few sections; name and address, incorporator, directors and officers, and authorized capital.

"Name is Willow's Trading Company..." Hans writes down.

"What about the addresses?" Burke asks.

"Well, the place we operate the trading company is that building near the docks. As for the mailing address, since it is a family business... our house?" Hans asks.

"Alright then." they write down where they live on the form. They move on to the incorporator section.

"It appears there are two spots."

"I did tell the lady that there were two. Me and you."

"Ah. I see. Well, I will fill mine and you will yours." The two wrote down their names, Han Willow and Burke Willow on their respective forms, along with the address of their house. They then moved on to the next section.

The directors and officers section had a multi-choice question. It asked whether there will be directors and officers involved.

"What does it mean by the directors?" Burke asked.

"Um... oh here!" Hans says after he turns a few pages.

"It says that 'directors are the people responsible for supervising the activities of the corporation and for making decisions regarding those activities.'"

"And the officers?"

"People who are 'responsible for the day-to-day operations.'" Hans replied.

"For the directors, can we put our names in them?"

"Yes, it says it right there," Hans replied as he points out a description in the section.

"If so then that is settled, in regards to the officers, I think we should write the names of the apprentices down," Burke suggested.

"Should we contact them first?" Hans asked.

"I don't think that is necessary. They are already the officers of the business. I don't see why they need to know."

"If you say so." Hans, after ticking the box 'directors and officers involved', write down the appropriate names, along with the addresses.

"Alright moving on..." Hans turned the page to the 'Authorized Stock' section.

It had 4 blanks to fill in; how much stock should be issued, and what value of the individual stock. The other two were multiple-choice questions, with the first being either the choice of preferred stock or common stock and the other revolved around whether each should have any monetary value.

The two being confused about the definitions of the type of stock checked the last page again. 'Preferred stock gives no voting power while common stock does.' it read out.

"So what should we do?" Burke asked.

"I think we should just issue some common stock instead. It's not like we are raising money for anything." Hans suggested.

"Alright then," Burke replied. Hans ticked the box that said common stock and came down to the other multiple-choice question.

"Since we are not raising any capital, we don't need a value for each of them. The real question comes down to how many shares to print out."

"We can do 100 each. Split it among us 50/50."

"Alright then, but where does it say we can split the damn stock?" Burke asked.

"It's in the shareholder's agreement," Hans replied. He gives Burke a separate form, which consisted of lines where they write the small details regarding the ownership of the business.

After writing and filling up the rest of the agreement, the brothers went back to the corporate registrar where they handed the documents over to the lady.

"The articles of incorporation will take into effect the day after tomorrow onwards." She told the brothers. After paying the fines necessary, the two left the building, while the lady shouted 'Next!' once more.