Factory Bosses
These are the men and women who control the factories, processing plants, and in many ways the lives of those that live in Arbor. The factories are also, taken as a whole, the largest employers in all of Arbor, ensuring that those in charge of their workings wield considerable power within the city and beyond. While on the surface they all share like minded goals, they are not a fully cohesive group. Instead, they are a collection of independent individuals, and in some cases independent companies, with only a single true goal, maximizing their already grotesque profits. With this in mind, it is rare for all of the bosses to agree on something, so when they do you can be sure that it will only be good for them. How they squeeze such profits out of the populace is largely left up to the individual bosses, with some employing less than savoury methods to keep production high and costs low. This is not to say that every member will do anything to increase the size of their coin pouches, but it's better to assume that if you work for them they see you as little more than a disposable resource.
In a word bad, by most of the general populace the factory bosses are seen as horrible despotic rulers of tiny kingdoms that people are forced to work in or starve. The conditions inside are horrific, life threatening environments that few will live to see their 30th summer. What keeps them in power and not being murdered in the streets by the people they employ is their rather cozy relationship with local constabulary and a very heavy liberal use of corporal punishment. A culture of fear is thus what keeps the workers working... at least for now.
There is more nuance in this socioeconomic setting than in the lower class, some see the Factory Bosses as a necessary evil someone has to be in charge after all. Others see them much as they are greedy terrible creatures who see sentient creatures as merely a means to make more money, exploiting whoever and whatever they can, Still others though see them as a dream they themselves have yet to capture but one day...
In large parts the Upper Class is them though to say that there is a split in the Upper class and many factory bosses are regarded as new money and thus somehow less. This keeps the factory bosses somewhat at arms length from some aspects of high society and no amount of money will likely change that any time soon.
Zull Throat Snapper (Textiles)
Sikhil Nalambar (Glass Making)
Eli Hall (Brick Making)
Miyo the Serene (Sewage Processing)
"The truth is we could get golems and constructs to do the work, but they are so much more expensive to replace than the average Twiggy." -Factory Boss
Public Agenda
Officially, the company named the Factory Bosses does not exist, however it is an open secret that all of the bosses collude with each other in order to maximize their profits. As such their public agenda can be thought of as coin at all costs. Individually, factory bosses run the gamut from saint to devil and thus predicting what any individual will do or how they might run their businesses is a roll of the dice.Public Perception
Lower Class
In a word bad, by most of the general populace the factory bosses are seen as horrible despotic rulers of tiny kingdoms that people are forced to work in or starve. The conditions inside are horrific, life threatening environments that few will live to see their 30th summer. What keeps them in power and not being murdered in the streets by the people they employ is their rather cozy relationship with local constabulary and a very heavy liberal use of corporal punishment. A culture of fear is thus what keeps the workers working... at least for now.
Middle Class
There is more nuance in this socioeconomic setting than in the lower class, some see the Factory Bosses as a necessary evil someone has to be in charge after all. Others see them much as they are greedy terrible creatures who see sentient creatures as merely a means to make more money, exploiting whoever and whatever they can, Still others though see them as a dream they themselves have yet to capture but one day...
Upper Class
In large parts the Upper Class is them though to say that there is a split in the Upper class and many factory bosses are regarded as new money and thus somehow less. This keeps the factory bosses somewhat at arms length from some aspects of high society and no amount of money will likely change that any time soon.
History:
As a group the company is a rather young, only springing into existence in the last 100 years. It arose around the time that The Order of the Fallen Leaves ceded control of the resources of The Great Tree over to The Silver Council. When that happened Nathan Penn approached several of the other bosses and convinced them to join him in a hostile takeover of the Council. They succeeded and have since used their power and influence in the pursuit of more coin while eroding workers rights and quietly pushing under the carpet several concerns about The Great Tree's sustainability.Attire / Common Garb / Quirks:
No two Factory Bosses look alike. Each being extremely wealthy they are able to afford the finest of garments from all around the world which allows them to express themselves in ways only the super rich can.
There is a monthly meeting held to discuss the business of their holdings and settle any grievances that may have come up since the previous meeting. The meetings are held in secret, the location kept from even the bosses themselves lest one of the more unscrupulous ones attempt to sabotage the location and in the wake of some untimely passings make a fortune snapping up available holdings. These meetings are mostly quite stuffy affairs talking about new laws and taxes that are on the docket to come up in the The Silver Council and which ways the various members who have seats on the council should vote.
Structure and Hierarchy:
Each boss has on retainer anywhere between 100-200 hired muscle. These people maintain order in the factories, or in the case of more unscrupulous bosses make sure troublesome employes or The Green Cloaks are taken care of. In addition to this, they also employ a number of mages from Collegiate Arcanum to provide magical defenses and to uncover their competitor's secrets. They will often have a number of The Green Cloaks on the payroll as well to help smooth things along. The Arbiter of Production is the only real title or position of authority within the organization and even this is a stretch. The Arbiters only real power is to arrange the meetings and make sure no one actually kills each other at said meetings. All the other factory bosses are supposedly equal though some believe themselves to be more equal than others.Notable People
Velera (Arbiter of Production )Factory Bosses:
Below you will find a list of the most notable factory bosses and what they primarily deal in. This does not mean that there are not smaller factories that prioritize these items as well but that the bosses listed below hold the majority stake hold in the production of these goods. This majority is held by a knife's edge and often within the same year things can change multiple times. Ezmerelda Omaris (Food Processing and production)Zull Throat Snapper (Textiles)
Sikhil Nalambar (Glass Making)
Eli Hall (Brick Making)
Miyo the Serene (Sewage Processing)
Territory:
Each boss controls the factories they own along with some of the surrounding area. In addition, some have begun moving into the realty business and own much of the land, buildings and stores where their workers make their homes, buy their food and send their children to school. For the bosses a worker that never leaves their territory is the best kind of worker. Because of the nature of the bosses they have no central location where they might meet to discuss business as each time this needs to happen a new location is picked. Notably most of the factories are spread out in the Third Ring and Twigs the majority of which being in the Twigs espcially those that are polluting, noisy or other wise disruptive to higher members of society.Notable Structures:
Statue of Nathan Penn This is a 15 foot high bronze statue of Nathan Penn in Second Ring and it is probably the only site in the entire city where violence is limited, not out of respect, but fear of Nathan and what he might do even beyond the grave should someone desecrate his statue.We own you, now get back to work!
Type
Corporation, Business
Alternative Names
The Bosses
Leader
Leader Title
Related Ranks & Titles
Notable Members
Trusted
Much of the supply of refined steel, copper, brass and other metals come from the Iron Hands so both trust each other not to screw the other one over.
Like
Due to similar business practices and a general callousness for human life the two companies like and understand one another.
Distrust
The Gatherers believe that some of their ranks are providing goods to certain factories below the market rate in exchange for being cut in on profits or other methods of ensuring their cooperation.
Distrust
The main supplier for thread for the textile factories there relationship is amicable though neither really trusts the other.
Distrust
While they rely on the Black Hands for the transportation of goods throughout the city they take umbrage that they are not under their control.
Distrust/Neutral
The Bosses destruct someone they can't put a face to.
Distrust/Loathing
The Order owe their downfall in the social and leadership hierarchy to the factory bosses so keep an active distaste for them the other way around a simple level of distrust exists to the once great power.
Distrust
The Factory bosses would love to have access to the wood that the tree-wrights have an exclusivity to but have thus far been unable to make the necessary moves to remove that monopoly.
Hate
The Factory bosses are working everything they can to subvert the Green Cloaks, bribery blackmail whatever they can to make sure the officials stay on their side and any twigs who fall into the machines never see any justice.
Rivaly
The Bosses believe that the Golden Man muscles somewhat in on their territory and have seen their agents interfere before.
Loathing
There is a great amount of hatred between these two groups due in part to their wildly different philosophies.
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