The Longshoremen's Union

Due to its strategic location at the mouth of the Velverdyva River , the City of Dyvers sees an amount of waterborne trade surpassed by few other cities of the Flanaess. Not surprisingly, the Longshoremen's Union has grown to become one of the city's most powerful and influential guilds. No cargo is loaded or unloaded without the Longshoremen's say-so. Their power is such that virtually any cargo can be unloaded with the utmost speed and efficiency, or can be delayed by countless inspections, lost paperwork, or labor disputes.

Guild Members

The Union has a total membership of about 500, members being split about 60/40% between the day and night shift.
Few of the Longshoremen are actually sailors. While the majority are simply strongbacked laborers, many have developed skills useful and unique to spending a lifetime on the docks.
1) One of the most common longshoreman skills is the ability to judge the amount of cargo a vessel is carrying. By observing a vessel, knowing its cargo space, and how it sits in the water, a Longshoremen can estimate fairly accurately the amount of cargo in the vessel’s holds.
2) While many of the Longshoremen are illiterate, it is the rare individual who is not multilingual. A lifetime exposed to sailors from many nations is the perfect learning ground for many languages.
3) Many of the older Union members can be considered experts in the field of ship heraldry. These individuals can identify at a glance which nation or merchant organization a ship belongs to. This ability is treated as a Wisdom proficiency check with regards to ship heraldry only.
While there are few skilled warriors among the union’s members, the majority can more than hold their own in a brawl. Most members receive a +1 bonus when punching or wrestling. They also a proficiency in the club, (including the belaying pin or the gaff/hook).

Religious Faction

Among the members of the union there is a small group of religious fanatics. Devoted worshipers of Procan , this cult has become a source of increasing concern for Maddox Vren.
The cult is small, numbering less than 20, and until recently had only been a minor irritant to the guild at large, restricting their activities to preaching among the other workers and requesting donations from the odd ship hoping to dock in Dyver’s harbors. Lately, they have become more vocal in their devotion to their deity. The cult members now refuse to work on nights when Luna is full, a holy time to Procan’s followers due to the extreme influence of that body upon the tides of Oerth’s oceans. The cult has also begun to demand sacrifices from ships docking in Dyvers.
Faced with these problems, Vren is unsure how to proceed. He can't simply expel them without creating animosity among the rest of the union. He also does not wish to anger the Church of Procran within the city.
The main force behind the cult is an individual by the name of Perlov N'emo. A rogue specialty priest of Procran, N'emo is a former member of the Pilots' Guild. He was expelled from the guild for his refusal to navigate ships into port unless the crew made the proper sacrifices to Procran. Although many members of the Pilots' Guild are priests of Procran, N'emo is much more fanatical in his devotion.
Even more serious is the fact that N’emo’s activities have come to the attention of the Thieves' Guild, who sees this situation as one that can be exploited to their benefit.

Guildhall

A small warehouse near the docks doubles as the Union’s guildhall. As the Union runs a day and night shift, there is almost always someone there.
The hall contains several offices belonging to the guildmaster and his assistants, as well as one used by the two secretaries in the union’s employ. There are also several rooms used for the storage of records. The rest of the guildhall is taken up by a large meeting hall where the union holds monthly meetings.
The only thing of value kept at the guildhall is the union’s official charter from the city. The charter proclaims the nuances of the union’s right to operation as well as its specific jurisdiction.
Despite the lack of valuables kept here, the union does employ six guards for security. Two guards are on duty at all times, splitting the duties up into three eight-hour shifts.

Guild Strengths

The Union's strength lies in its control of all cargo delivered to the city docks. Any cargo loaded or unloaded to any merchant watercraft within the city must be handled by Union members, without exception. Since many merchants have their warehouses located at the docks, this control extends to these warehouses as well. However, this does not extend to those warehouses that are located elsewhere within the city. Those storehouses must deal with the Longshoremen's chief rival -- the Warehousemen's Alliance.
Although the Union has a reputation of being militant, this is something of a misconception. The union is not so much militant as it is extremely well organized. This is more or less the result of the influence of the present guildmaster over the last fifteen years.
The Union's organization and strength takes several forms. Virtually nothing goes on in the dock region that does not eventually come to the attention of Vren or his assistants. Union members are also extremely loyal to the organization, being both vigilant in watching over "their" jurisdiction and unusually difficult to bribe.
This not to say that all Union members are honest, law abiding citizens. Rather, the majority are just "good Union men" who are loathe to break the agreements of the guild, and risk expulsion from the Union.

Guild Rates

Each year the Longshoremen's Union submits cargo handling rates to the Dyverse and Sundry Senate. Upon approval by the Senate, these rates remain unchanged for one year.
While merchants constantly complain that the rates are outrageous, they have actually remained fairly consistent, having increased by only 2-4% each year, over Maddox Vren’s tenure.
The rates are also consistent with those charged by the Warehousemen and the Carters and Cabbies Guild across the rest of the city. A condition that has many merchants screaming collusion.
The rates represent the minimum fee that must to be paid to the Carters, Warehousemen and the Union. While few members will purposely slow up a job in order to extract a higher wage, it is well known that an additional wage on top of the Union rate can greatly speed the unloading or loading of a vessel.

Relations with other city guilds

Due to the structure of the city government, and the strong guild structure of the city, the Longshoremen's Union has dealings with a large number of other guilds. While the majority of these affairs are of the normal sort concerning day to day operations, as well as political maneuvering within the Senate, relations with several guilds warrant a more detailed explanation.

Carters' Union

While Dyvers is a wealthy sea power, the riches entering the city overland via caravan are even greater. Much as the Longshoremen monopolize the handling of water borne cargo, the Carters have a similar monopoly with respect to overland transportation. The Carters transport all merchandise within the city walls, save for merchant caravans arriving and departing the city. In turn, the Warehousemen load and unload this overland freight.
While the Longshoremen unload all water vessels, not all of that cargo is destined for those warehouses located on the docks. Those cargoes that are to be transported elsewhere in the city are loaded onto Carters' wagons to be transported to their destination, where Warehousemen will unload the cargo . In addition, caravan cargoes destined to travel further by water are loaded by Warehousemen, delivered to the docks by the Carters, then unloaded by the Longshoremen.
What many merchants have long suspected is true. These guilds cooperate to set cargo handling rates. By keeping their respective rates competitive yet comparable, the guilds insure that merchants' coins find their way into guild coffers with a smooth efficiency.
For the time being, the Carters and Longshoremen, though potential rivals, are satisfied to control their present duopoly.

Warehousemen's Alliance

The Longshoremen's true rivals are the members of the Warehousemen's Alliance. While the Longshoremen control the loading and unloading of cargo from ships, to include storage in dockside warehouses, the Warehousemen control the loading and unloading of merchandise in warehouses everywhere else in the city. Just as the Longshoremen cooperate with the Carters, so to do the Warehousemen. However, both the Longshoremen's Union and the Warehousemen's Alliance long to control all cargo handling in the city. Realizing that such a situation would not be to their advantage, the Carters and Cabbies Guild works to maintain a balance of power between the two rival guilds. These efforts are made simpler by the hatred Longshoremen have for Warehousemen, a sentiment the Warehousemen more than return. Tavern brawls between members of these guilds are legendary.

Merchants and Traders

Various merchant organizations would like nothing better than to see an end to the monopoly enjoyed by Longshoremen's Union. These merchants see the Union as nothing more than an obstacle to their right to free enterprise.
Over the years merchants have occasionally approached Maddox Vren with proposals to sign individual agreements with the Union, each merchant seeking preferential treatment over their competitors, of course. To date, Vren has refused all such proposals. His opinion is that as long as the merchants are busy trying to outdo each other by paying ever greater amounts above the set Union wage to ensure "special" handling, there is no need to change a thing.

Thieves’ Guild

The Union's relationship with the Thieves' Guild is shaky at best. The thieves would like nothing better than to do away with Maddox Vren. Since he came into power, smuggling on any large scale has become virtually impossible.
Vren supposes that there are more riches and power to be gained through fairly honest and straightforward business dealings, than to risk the wrath of the military and the city government for quick profits made through smuggling.
To date, the Thieves' Guild has had to satisfy itself with small operations, usually involving non-native merchants and those few union members who are approachable.
The one major gain the Thieves' Guild has made against the Union has been a plan long in the making. For the past six years the guild has had a mole working as a member of the Union. The mole, one Brull Hopcroft, was recently elected to the position of assistant guildmaster.
As the assistant in charge of the night shift, Hopcroft is in a perfect position to implement smuggling on a much larger scale.
At present the Thieves' Guild is loath to do away with Maddox Vren. Realizing that they have very little support within the union, and not wishing to risk a guild war at this time.

Sculptors & Mechanics Guild

One of the unique things about the port of Dyvers is how much of the cargo is handled. Dyvers is famous for the many mechanical devices used to load and unload cargo.
All of these devices were constructed by members of the Sculptors & Mechanics Guild, under agreement with Longshoremen's' Union.
Mechanics can often be found on the docks, working on and repairing the various devices found there.

Pilots Guild

The Longshoremen's Union has a special relationship with the Pilots Guild.
By Dyverse law each occupation is organized into a guild and is represented in the Dyverse and Sundry Senate. The Pilots' Guild is no exception. However, this guild is extremely small, numbering no more than 30, and is an obvious target for take over and control by other guilds. To preserve their independence, the Pilots' Guild has developed a close relationship with the Longshoremen. The Pilots are protected by the Longshoremen's Union, in return for support in the Senate.
By definition, the Pilots' Guild oversees the navigation of all ships into Dyvers' port as well as the docking of like vessels. Naturally, all of the guild’s members are expert seamen and navigators. In addition, roughly 50% of all guild members are priests of Procan. Not only does this relationship give the Longshoremen a second voice in the senate, it also gives them a powerful ally within the religious community.

Type

Guild, Merchant