Holy Stone Mining Company

The Salt Flats mining monopoly.

"People who worked for the company in the early days told stories of how it was a good job with good people. Most left when Cade was blinded by the prospect of wealth and began demanding more and more. All were gone by the time he passed away and he passed away rich with wealth unlike anything Tamazee had ever seen."

Staking a Claim

At the end of the Time of Darkness the people of the Geetan Archipelago sought to acquire additional resources and this led them to every shore of the Astrensea. The trading town of Seaside was founded as part of this boom.
One man had a different idea, Cade Wilonet traveled to the opposite shore - to the location of the Salt Flats and claimed the area for himself. Initially he hired friends and family to remove salt from the ground and transport it on their ships to be traded on the archipelago and beyond. Things went well at the beginning and eventually Cade formed the Holy Stone Mining Company.

Expanding the Enterprise

When the profits started rolling in Cade was exstatic and began finding ways to save money where he could, mine more, move more, sell more, and - most importantly - sell for more. This involved cutting wages, buying his own ships and hiring his own crews, and controlling the supply to increase the value of the salt. This earned him no friends and lost him those he already had.
Despite this, the business continued to grow. As populations boomed in Tamazee, Burim, and further across Breharan during the Time of Rebuilding, demand grew faster than even Mister Wilonet - as he then demanded to be called - could have dreamed.
The reputation of the company plummeted within the Tamazee where his hyperfocus on profit over community was at odds with the rest of society. Even so, he never struggled to find people to mine salt or crew his ships - there was always someone desperate enough somewhere, or so he said. Off of the islands the distant nations and their merchants did not care about the practices that brought them the goods, the only part that bothered them was how the company's monopoly allowed them to keep the prices so high.

The Company After Cade

Following Cade's death, the company continued as if nothing had changed. His successor - and all the rest down the line - were as profit-driven and unlikable as he was. Tamazee has previously considered breaking up the company but it is almost certain that it possesses wealth comparable to the nation itself - if not more.
In this new era - the Time of Exploration - the egalitarian ideals speading across Breharan have renewed interest in breaking the different operations of the now almost three-century-old company - mining, shipping, processing, and trading - into different businesses or simply forcing the surrender of some of the Salt Flats to a different business or even the nation itseld.

Stub Article

This article is just a stub for now and will be expanded upon later.

Old Article

This article was written in the past and does not meet my current standards for any number of article quality, layout, or content.

In-Progress Article

This article is being worked on, perhaps not at this very moment, but it is being worked on.

"By the time he died, he was as harsh as the salt his company mined."

Salt of the Gods

As the Salt Flats are believed to be the result of the godess Astrenza weeping for decades, the salt from there has special significance within the Geetan Archipelago.
In order to harvest it without backlash, Cade agreed that Astrenza would be thanked for every block of salt harvested. This worked at the beginning when he still had a good reputation but in the present - even long after his death - the company's name is the subject of ire and humor.

Since we were children I had always called him Cade. Then I wake up one cycle and he gets mad at me when I greet him. Mister Wilonet he wanted to be called. That's when I left. Didn't talk to him for the rest of his life.

— Letter to a Friend

Related Articles

Astrensea

The Salt Flats