The Red Union

Fire in a city with a giant tree in the center is a constant worry luckily this is where the Red Union steps up. However like most things in Arbor nothing comes without a cost and putting out a fire is no exception. The Reds do not work for free or at the behest of the city despite some calls for them to be made part of the The Silver Council and it's purview. Every building within Arbor that wishes to have the peace of mind that should a fire occur the Red Union will arrive to put it out must pay them for a badge that is placed on the outside of the building. However they are not completely heartless beasts that would watch a building burn down in front of them, but instead will extort or simply take what they want from any burning buildings while they are saving lives.

"You have three choices here: Pay us now, pay us later or watch your house burn down but I mean the choice is of course yours" -unnamed Red Union fire fighter

Public Agenda:

The Red Union exists to put out fires while making a profit, part insurance company and part civil servants. Perhaps the two disciplines are at odds with each other but until something changes this is the way of things.

Charter

There are three basic ways that the Red Union operates:

Insurance

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A special member of the union will contact any new or prospective tenants in a building, though they rarely bother with anyone in the Third Ring or the Twigs. After contacted in this way the union member will either assess the building, it's occupants and potential threats or hazards that are currently present. Once this assessment is done the tenant or owner is quoted a price for the services of the union. If accepted the union member welds a plaque to the outside of the building indicating the building is to be protected in the event of a fire, if they don't accept the union member thanks them for their time and leaves

P.O.D.

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If a fire breaks out in building the Red Union will find the owner of the building and request immediate payment usually far higher than would ordinarily happen if the owner had bought the insurance in the first place but as there is currently a fire raging then you have a captive audience ripe for the pickings.

Barter

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In the case where the individual might not have enough money to afford to save their home and potentially any people trapped inside, the union may put the fire out anyways if they believe there might be something of value inside the building. Often times they will leave people not only homeless but destitute taking life savings, rare heirlooms or other valuables no sane person would part with under normal circumstances. But then if you didn't want your house to burn down you should have paid for the insurance don't you think?

Rumors

Of course with an organization like this and one so likely to be corrupt rumors abound of the Red Unions methods in attempting to secure contracts and what they do should someone refuse and need to be made an example of. There are of course whispers that there are more fires started by the union than have ever been put out in the entire history of Arbor. In addition there are additional rumors that say they may hold insurance back and orchestrate situations in order to action the third part of their charter in order to get access to a rare good or even destroy someone's livelihood to return a favour owed to another company.

Public Perception

Lower Class

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For the most part the Lower Classes are left largely alone by the Red Union and they only really come into the picture if a fire starting in the slums of Arbor begins to threaten the rest of the city, and even then they may just collapse a house or two to create a fire break to protect their paying clients.

Middle Class

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For a large part of them the public view is one of begrudging acceptance. There is a constant thought that goes through every person who has dealings with the union that they are being extorted and cajoled into buying something they may never need, but quickly are they reminded of the danger of a fire in a city when a neighbor or even their own homes are burnt down.

Upper Class

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Unless they are very rich the Upper echelons of society simply pay the Red Union and pay them well to ensure there is no funny business. Largely the Red Union know not to try their usual tricks on these people unless they are specifically ordered to, I mean if you know how to put fires out for the right money you can probably start a few here and there.

History:

How does a company like the Red Union get started, well that's a complicated question with a complicated answer. They started as simply an insurance company one with the sole idea of providing compensation for buildings when they burnt down in exchange for being with the insurance company and providing them with a small amount of money on a monthly or yearly basis. Specifically three insurance companies are the precursor to what became the Red Union. When eventually these three companies formed they took the name the Red Union Insurance Company and all their existing clients fell under the same umbrella.

Costs too High

However with the only fire service in the city being your friends with some buckets pay outs of the clients of the Red Union was beginning to look like it was an untenable situation and would likely reduce the company to ruins before too long. Predictions were beginning to be thrown around of not if the next big fire was coming but when. But even before that small fires that destroyed homes and artifacts were costly to pay out for and even with the amount of fine print in their contracts the union was still paying out far more than it was putting in.

Becoming the Solution

Before the next big fire arrived and wiped out any gains the union might have made a proposal was made that they fund a selection of individuals to fight these fires. They would commission vehicles from The Gilded and along with a few mages from the Collegiate Arcanum could create an effective Firefighting force that could hopefully keep the amount they needed to pay out relatively low. Of course a pinch of prevention is worth a pound of cure and so the new Red Union Firefighters would also spend time warding and protecting buildings that were under their care.

Becoming the Problem

Of course realizing there is always more profits to be had methods for extracting profits from those in need were expanded upon and very quickly you see the organization become what it is today a ruthless profit driven machine using peoples lives and livelihoods as leverage to squeeze just one more Leaves out of anyone they can.

Attire / Common Garb / Quirks:

There are two main groups within the Red Union those who fight fires and the ones who show up to collect the cash. For the collectors a simple suit perhaps with a red tie to just really hammer the point home on who they are and represent is all the uniform they possess. For the actual firefighters though a great deal of thought has gone into their uniforms, bright red, reflective bands and even a breathing mask are all part of the standard uniform. They are covered head to toe in a flame resistant material to keep them safe while they do their job, it wouldn't do to have an employee collapse while carrying out a client would it.

Structure and Hierarchy:

The structure of the Red Union still resembles much of their past as an insurance company with claims, finance, legal, marketing and underwriting departments. Where it diverges is in the Firefighting brigade which in some ways resembles a military organization with captains, lieutenants and chiefs, so in a lot of ways it's a tale of two companies though they are completely intertwined and dependent on each other.
In all things though the insurance side of the company is the one calling the shots, and as long as they are the ones bringing in the money this is the way it is likely to stay.

Insurance

The Insurance side of the company is generally organized in five broad departments: claims, finance, legal, marketing and underwriting. Marketing and underwriting are the “yes” departments, while claims and finance are the “no” departments. The legal department is often the referee between these competing interests.

Marketing

Someone needs to go out and make sure that people understand the value of the Red Union and marketing are the group that makes sure everyone knows they should have the insurance that is on offer and impresses upon them what happens when you don't.

Underwriting

These are the people who write the various products that the Red Union offers. These vary quite a bit from expected level of service to amount returned in the case of a mishap. The products can include even magical restoration of objects item and in the most expensive of offerings full resurrections of pets or people.

Claims

When there is a claim on a policy it's up to the claims department to do everything in their power to make sure they say no. Of course this is to say they do not simply deny a claim outright but if they can find evidence of fraud or any kind of suspicious circumstances they will do their utmost to avoid paying out.

Finance

The money people, they handle all the transactions and collect payment from clients making sure that the accounts are kept up tot date and everyone is getting what they should. They also handle contracting out to other services in the case when things like resurrections, construction or other services need to be performed when processing a claim from client

Legal

In a broad sense this department keeps the company honest though not too honest, They make sure everything they are doing is in keeping with the existing laws of Arbor and that all contracts are being abided by. In addition they also represent the company in cases where disputes over the payout of claims needs to be massaged through the system.

Fire Brigade

The part of the company that actually fights the fires within the city due to the size of the city and the area they need to cover they are split into smaller stations dotted throughout much of the First Ring and Second Ring. Each Station is usually responsible for between 100-150 clients and any more than that necessitates the building of a new station.

Fire Chief

The head of the Fire brigade coordinating the various stations houses together. While they may be the most important person in the brigade itself they still answer largely to the bosses within the Insurance side of the company. In the cases of particularly nasty fires that may spread to other areas where there is a density of clientele they have the authority to pull in resources from multiple station houses or even from the company itself including the emergency requisition of mages to assist with particularly nasty fires.

Captain

Each Captain is responsible for an individual fire station, they are ultimately responsible for the safety of their men, budgets and organizing the troops should they need to be mustered for fighting any fires. They also serve as the face of an individual station should something go wrong and there needs to be blame assigned.

Lieutenant

A lower ranking individual who is chiefly responsible for the training and education of new Firefighters, they are tasked with making sure that any newbies don't get themselves killed in their first outing. They also act as a sort of morale officer keeping spirits high which is crucial in the kinds of situations that these people may be subjected to.

Firefighter

the lowest rank and starting position for those looking to join the Red Union. The pay isn't half bad for an unskilled labour job however both the tax on your body and the weight on a person's conscience can difficult for some. Letting a building burn down in front of you with screaming children inside just because they couldn't afford to pay is a heavy price to pay for anyone so very few actually last long within the union.

Notable People:

Maxine Louise Missing -Current Fire Chief for the Red Union, a Flame Touched so is well suited to dealing with fires constantly butts heads with the insurance side of the business but still does as she's told for now.
Jonathan Garrett Lambkin -Current President of the Insurance group known as the Red Union, a Water Touched a greedy little shit who wants nothing more than to find the next great innovation in insurance policies to make himself even richer.

Territory:

None the Red Union holds no territory unless you count each individual insured by them as part of their territory but most don't

Notable Structures:

The Red Union Square - Situated in the First Ring is a square structure painted red along the outside, inside you will find the offices for the insurance company the Red Union.

Type

Guild, Professional