The Pipemen

The pipemen are the newest group to be granted Company Majora status having secured their seat on The Silver Council within the last 6 years, though they have been biding their time for a seat to become available. They and their company are responsible for harvesting the sap that The Great Tree produces and turning it into the fuel that the The Black Hands, The Checkers and The Gilded need to produce the steam that powers all of the new wonders of the Steam age.

"We throw the sap in the refinery, few hours later outcomes the star fluid, I mean that's not everything that comes out of there but it's what's supposed to be coming out at least." -Gus Pipemen Supervisor

Public Agenda:

The pipemen are the sole source of Star Light in the world, an extremely energy dense substance that burns as hot as a star for nearly as long. As such they are incredibly wealthy and the profits from its sale have and its nearly universal acclaim mean that there are very few if any in Arbor that have not at least had a moment in their lives where they have not had cause to use this wonder item. Their agenda then is intrinsically tied to this substance such to the point that their mantra has become "The stars must never go out" harkening to the fact that should it end Arbor as the world knows it would cease to exist. They live, breath and die to create as much and more of what the city needs for all of the marvels of steam that have come about due to their discovery.

Rumors

Now the process of refining Starlight is a guarded secret and anyone who works on the process knows best to keep it that way otherwise everyone might be out of a job. However all of these people were once bootleggers of one sort or another so while the process does produce Starlight there are a few additional outputs from the process. A few of these outputs are simple alcohols nothing too dangerous but enough to do the job if that's what you're looking for. However there is a rumor that one of the more interesting outputs is a drug known as Bliss which if true could land them in a lot of trouble with the The Green Cloaks who are looking to clamp down on this and more importantly pay the Silver Council it's due.

History:

The pipemen as a group are an odd sort, at the start it was simply a few bootleggers pulling sap from The Great Tree at the root level, harvesting the smallest amounts and making a kind of moonshine. It was only when Arashi Katai on a cold winter's night with nothing else to burn threw her bottle that had been sitting on a window sill for weeks onto the smoldering logs in her hearth, when the flames didn't go out for 4 days she knew that she might have something valuable on her hands. She began testing other bootleggers batches and found that while some of them exhibited similar properties none lasted even half as long.
Somehow Arashi secured enough financial capital to petition The Silver Council for permission to be the sole user of the Great Tree Sap this was granted because at the time no one knew that the sap had any value beyond being good for a kind of glue that was so sticky it was down right dangerous. There was a provision in the contract that said some of the sap 2% must be sold to this existing business so they were kept placated. The thought was also that there was no way to extract the sap in any large quantities at the time without seriously damaging the tree.
This changed though due to some interesting quirks of the Star Light and pipes, Arashi was bootlegger first and knew that lighting a fire then snuffing it produced an enormous suction pulling the sap even from solid wood. Using this knowledge and funding from the bootlegging business slowly began a process of establishing more and more piping to pull Sap from the Great Tree eventually. At first the Star Light was sold as a heating source a replacement to burning wood however with the invention of Steam Power Star Light became the de facto power source for this new technology and rapidly catapulted Arashi and the rest of the pipemen to untold wealth.

Attire / Common Garb / Quirks:

Depending on their role pipemen can be found in almost any sort of garb though one thing is consistent about them and that is the lead pipe that can be seen on their person. They take it as a point of pride as most of them even their leader came from nothing so they still carry the pipe of their old trade as bootleggers a simple steel pipe about the length of a man's arm used to draw sap from the The Great Tree some have gilded theirs others have had smaller more ornate ones made into necklaces or bracelets but they all carry one on them.

Structure and Hierarchy:

Having originally been a collection of bootleggers there is little to no structure or hierarchy present in the pipemen, they all respect each other of course and hurting one of them will net you the ire of the rest but they equally seem to fight with each other as much as others. The one person they do respect is Arashi she keeps most of them in line and producing Star Light using her recipes which are constantly being refined and made better.
Because everything is so decentralized without clear hierarchy at least from the outside there is an undue assumption that it would be easy to break the pipemen apart and simply muscle them out of their territory. This couldn't be further from the truth. The pipemen know where they came from and if an outsider attempts to try and muscle their way into the their territory, you can be sure that they'll have the entire lot of them on their backs quicker than you can imagine.

Notable People:

Arashi Katai - Founder of the Pipemen known by all as a amecible sort though a bit of a drunk so her mood can change depending on how much liquor is in her system and what you bring her as a gift.
"Kara" - Arashi's personal assistant and handler. She's a no-nonsense, organized woman who keeps Arashi in line and on schedule. She's fiercely loyal to Arashi and the Pipemen organization, and will do whatever it takes to keep things running smoothly. She's the one who handles all of Arashi's meetings and appointments, and is often the one who has to deal with her drunken antics. Despite this, she's fiercely protective of Arashi and will defend her to anyone who criticizes her.
"Gus" - A gruff, no-nonsense supervisor who has been with the Pipemen for over 20 years. He's seen it all and knows the ins and outs of the organization, but is often gruff and dismissive to newcomers. Despite his rough exterior, he cares deeply about the Pipemen and their product, and is fiercely loyal to the organization.

Territory:

Originally they were workers from the Twigs and the Third Ring, however they do need direct access to the tree itself so their pipes which are now more than a man's height across, directly connect to portions of the Great Tree's main trunk. So their territory really encompaces the pipes themseleves and the refining facilities located in the Third Ring

Notable Structures:

The Starlight Refinery - the main location where Starlight is refined from the Great Tree sap there are a few smaller locations where the sap is refined but this is the main location and you can see the great pipes that ran across parts of the city descending into the facility below.

The Stars must never go out

Leader

Arashi Katai

Notable Members

• Arashi Katai