Dominion Steel & Foundry
Dominion Steel & Foundry (DS&F) is an alloyed metals production and distribution company located in Bailymena, Skodia. It is one of the city's largest employers(1), and the second-largest producer of steel in the Empire.
Culture
Work hours are seven days a week, ten hours a day, with breaks scheduled throughout. Solstices and Throne holidays are paid vacations. Employees earn a living wage with job security and benefits(2) that provide well enough for a family of four on a single income. Company hiring policy does not discriminate based on gender, species or ethnicity.
Public Agenda
Assets
Dominion Steel owns the Baverstock Node (more below) as well as several other substantial deposits in the Farroll Islands which have allowed it to establish a monopoly on the Skodian iron trade. Besides lucrative government contracts to fill the Navy's shipyards with more steel, civilian marine and construction interests have a voracious appetite for Skodian steel.
Additionally, DS&F's reputation as an extractor and refiner of metals has brokered a limited partnership with Swann & Co. Jewelers, which provides access to Swann's network of Free Harbours in distant ports worldwide. Dominion Steel's partnership with its employees' union provides it with an unswervingly loyal workforce, and the goodwill of Bailymena in general.
History
FOUNDATION AND SALE
Dominion Steel & Foundry was founded in 912 IR by brothers Tarbh and Tagh Ironheel, immigrants from Bael Burdoch who had followed the first wave of settlers welcomed into the Imperium from 910-915. Having traded their nest-egg for three mining claims, some equipment, and ten days worth of rations, their inspection of the first two sites revealed them to be a coastal marsh and a stretch of shoreline toward what is modern Farshell, north of the then-bustling Styles fashion district.
The third and smallest of their claims revealed a rich seam of adamant, the proceeds of which allowed them to develop a foundry on their marshland, and to buy more legitimate claims further inland. One of these, registered to a T. Baverstock of Kirival, revealed a rich iron mine which the brothers promptly developed to feed their foundry, which allowed them to build more mines. In fifty years, DS&F had risen from the lucky find of two brothers far from home, into a wealthy and powerful Imperial corporation. The brothers looked and saw that they had built the City of Steel and Steam, home to millions of mostly-human souls. Where once stood a marshland now stood a mighty steel mill, triumphant at the foot o the towers. Home and hearth to the thousands who marched in and out of its gates day in and day out, earning their daily wage. An indvisible part of Bailymena's identity.
When Tagh Ironheel was killed in a smelting accident, his brother drafted a set of ironclad assurances that established business practices would not change, then sold his half of the business to the Dominion Steel Employees Union and the other half to the Davrus banking house before retiring to Bael Bradach a very wealthy man.
BUILDING AN EMPIRE
Local supplies of coal and natural gas meant short supply lines and a speed of production unmatched anywhere else. Quickly, DS&F became Maunder's preferred supplier of steel. It used this prefererred status to establish a monopoly first on Skodian steel, and then to purchase and develop coal, natural gas, and iron assets elsewhere in the Cradle and beyond(3).
THE MODERN ERA
Today's DS&F is a cornerstone of Bailymena. As one of the City of Steel and Steam's industrial leaders, Dominion supplies Skodia's shipyards, defense and aeromotive industries all over Hyperborea.
1.) Together with its subsidiary companies, DS&F accounts for 15% of all employment in Bailymena.
2.) Children of Employees are eligible for company scholarships to Burgoyne University annually. Those who attend Burgoyne on such scholarships and pursue a course of study applicable to steelmaking will find a ready job waiting for them.
3.) Dominion owns more than 40 rich iron deposits across Hyperborea.
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