Symons Lubricants and Oils
"Does your boiler creak and squeak? The axles of your cart or wagon groan and squeal in defiance? Then you need Symons Workman's Grease and Lubricant. No other grease on the market will take care of the moving metal parts of the equipment you rely on better! We are the only Grease and Lubricant trusted across industries, utilized by both the Aeronautic industry and the Rail industry. And at a price our competitors cannot match! If we are trusted with Sky-Ships and Trains, why would you choose anything else? Don't settle for the rest, when you can afford the best!"
advert in Geata Gazette that is run at regular intervals for Symons Lubricants and Oils
Symons Lubricants and Oils is owned by one Voltaire Symons and owns three of the largest Ghel factories in Geata-Iarainn. Until recently they owned four but one burned down in what the company is calling a 'regrettable accident'. They are the center of the controversy that is boiling in Geata-Iarainn the last few weeks, the strikes, the protests and blockades, and the shortages of vital items. Though their name suggests they only make lubricants and oils, specifically for mechanical , this is not fully true. That is their main production, with two (formally three) of the factories dedicated to such. The other one however, makes various food grade items from the whale oil, the 'Ghel' as its called locally. From cooking lards to frying oils. This factory is actually split in half, and produces candles as well. It is the smallest of the companies four operations.
Of course they are on everyone's lips for other reasons nowadays. The Whale Point Grease fire, a tragic event three months ago that they are claiming was due to worker negligence. The authorities in the city are backing this, and have thus far refused to let anyone investigate the scene, though no cleanup has officially begun, and Voltaire has not yet been allowed to remove anything from the scene or begin having the wreckage cleared.
Structure
Voltaire Symons is obviously the owner and Executive Chairman. His office building employs about twenty people to run day to day affairs, keep the books balanced, and generally insure logistics and operations are handled smoothly. But these are the mere paper pushers. His office building also houses the offices of his Head of Logisitics, Head of Production and Head of Public Relations, whom all sit upon the board with him, along with three very wealthy investors from Geata-Iarainn's 'old money' upper class. These individuals, along with each of the Plant managers, are the people of importance. Until recently there were four plant managers, but when the second largest factory the company owns, off the corner of Bottlenose Avenue in Factory Row, went up in smoke, well the manager of the facility was among the twenty-six initial casualties. The assistant manager died about two weeks later, along with others, to bring the count up to thirty-three dead, and seven whom managed to survive but were crippled for life. Listed below are the various people involved and a bit of well known gossip/public discourse about them. Besides all this they employ some two hundred and sixty people still, with another near fifty whom were left jobless, though relatively uninjured, after the fire.
WILL ADD LATER, when I begin preparing this whole arc these prompts are laying the baseline for as a proper campaign.
WILL ADD LATER, when I begin preparing this whole arc these prompts are laying the baseline for as a proper campaign.
Culture
Publically, on the surface they seem to be a caring member of the community, saying and doing the right things, their public relations are pretty well managed, as can be seen by the fact that despite all the accusinations, the strikes and supply disruptions, the heavy handed tactics being used in Factory Row and the open challenge by Voltaire's own daughter that it is his and his company's fault for the fire, their negligence and gross depraved indifference that all these men and women are dead, that with all that noise, their stock has only dropped by two copper stars per share in the three months of this unpleasantness. Given their share price is about seven silver stars (there are 12 copper to a star) this is worth noting in the quarterly meetings but by no means worth panicking and is totally recoverable. A minor miracle all things considered.
They visibly help out around the city, often publically having Voltaire make donations to the church, or to local soup kitchens and bunkhouses, hiring the homeless, things like that. That is what the city as a whole sees. But within Factory Row? The company is known as the worst among equals, for they are all terrible, all five of the manufacturers within the Ghel block of the district are generally looked at with distaste, but Voltaire and his company, Symons Lubricants and Oils, are seen as the root of this evil and oppression. Symons has a seat of great influence in Geata-Iarainn and all of Suranth, for he sits as the 'elected' representative for for business interests in the city on High King Cormac's city counsel of advisors. And more or less Geata-Iarainn sets the tone for the country as a whole as one might expect from a capital. He, and therefore his company, are well known to be Anti-Guild and Anti Unionization and though he knows better than to target the established guilds and unions, for it would be futile, they wield to much power. Three of the heads of the biggest guilds sit on city council. However he can exert his influence to avoid and garner the votes against for issuing any sort of official recognition of a Ghel-man Guild or their right to organize one such. He does this regularly, and this attitude is one of those open dirty secrets that everyone with sway in the public eye downplays, keeping public opinion under control as best they can.
Symons Lubricants and Oils is also known for not really being concerned with the legal code in regards to the laws against children under 60 for dwarves (with adjusted age translations for other races enshrined in the law, about 12 for those whom find a human reference more helpful) working in such facilities, willingly falsifying documents, often when a worker gets hurt, recruiting their oldest child to replace them. These families can't afford to say no or report it, and so the cycle continues. Some have claimed there are children as young as 8 being more or less forced to work in the factories, and given their small size, they are given dangerous jobs like cleaning the oil and chemical pump systems and pipes, some of the larger ones they even are told to crawl through and clean.
Much of this is not really believed, though that is starting to change. Until recently, Symons Lubricants and Oils was seen as a model of Suranthi business to be admired, as referenced in the above paragraph. Over the last three months though....this 'Gilly Ghel' has been causing the company to slowly but surely lose some of that public polish, bringing little skeletons out of the closet.
They visibly help out around the city, often publically having Voltaire make donations to the church, or to local soup kitchens and bunkhouses, hiring the homeless, things like that. That is what the city as a whole sees. But within Factory Row? The company is known as the worst among equals, for they are all terrible, all five of the manufacturers within the Ghel block of the district are generally looked at with distaste, but Voltaire and his company, Symons Lubricants and Oils, are seen as the root of this evil and oppression. Symons has a seat of great influence in Geata-Iarainn and all of Suranth, for he sits as the 'elected' representative for for business interests in the city on High King Cormac's city counsel of advisors. And more or less Geata-Iarainn sets the tone for the country as a whole as one might expect from a capital. He, and therefore his company, are well known to be Anti-Guild and Anti Unionization and though he knows better than to target the established guilds and unions, for it would be futile, they wield to much power. Three of the heads of the biggest guilds sit on city council. However he can exert his influence to avoid and garner the votes against for issuing any sort of official recognition of a Ghel-man Guild or their right to organize one such. He does this regularly, and this attitude is one of those open dirty secrets that everyone with sway in the public eye downplays, keeping public opinion under control as best they can.
Symons Lubricants and Oils is also known for not really being concerned with the legal code in regards to the laws against children under 60 for dwarves (with adjusted age translations for other races enshrined in the law, about 12 for those whom find a human reference more helpful) working in such facilities, willingly falsifying documents, often when a worker gets hurt, recruiting their oldest child to replace them. These families can't afford to say no or report it, and so the cycle continues. Some have claimed there are children as young as 8 being more or less forced to work in the factories, and given their small size, they are given dangerous jobs like cleaning the oil and chemical pump systems and pipes, some of the larger ones they even are told to crawl through and clean.
Much of this is not really believed, though that is starting to change. Until recently, Symons Lubricants and Oils was seen as a model of Suranthi business to be admired, as referenced in the above paragraph. Over the last three months though....this 'Gilly Ghel' has been causing the company to slowly but surely lose some of that public polish, bringing little skeletons out of the closet.
Public Agenda
To support and enable economic growth for our employees, board members and investors, as well as providing vital materials and equipment to our growing industries, and aid in elevating our great city's economic success, and therefore our nation's, to new heights.
Clip from a PR piece run in the Geata Gazette recently
Assets
The company is valued around a ten thousand Gold Suns (for reference a true like manor home, full on with estate might run you 100 gold suns if you are extravagent. You can build a full on castle complete with the village to feed it for a thousand.) That includes predicted profits based on the last five years being averaged however. Its physical assets, given the loss of a factory, are valued around eleven hundred Gold Suns. The company, after wages and taxes and loan payments to the bank for the property, still made fourteen hundred Gold Suns in the last calendar year.
Don't settle for the rest, when you can afford the best!
Founding Date
Agun 11th, 1455 SuD
Type
Corporation, Manufacturing
Alternative Names
SLAO
Leader
Leader Title
Location
Comments