Union of Diggers

When diamonds were found in the small Jiravesian town of Holloval, it caused something of a goldrush amongst the population. Many young hopefulls from out of town flocked to Holloval to seek their fortune, and the families that founded the new diamond mines grew wealthy from the natural bounty. Holloval grew immensely and businesses sprung up to cater to the new. The goldrush was shortlived, however, as the mines quickly started to run dry from the feverish mining activity. Some of the miners left as quickly as they had come, mockingly calling the town Drymine, but for many their savings and livelyhood were tied up with the fate of the mines. As profits started to deplete and both the mining business and those that supported it started to suffer, and desperation started to set in. The families who had grown rich and powerful in a matter of years, now dreaded losing what they had gained and they increasingly started to push the miners further, deeper, and in worse conditions in the hope that they would find new deposits. As discontent amongst the miners and other residents grew, they started to organise themselves in a miner's union that tried to protect the rights of its members, lobby for better pay and working conditions, and offer care to families who struggled to get by when members could not work due to sickness or injury. The wealthy families responded by using the local bounders and hired muscle to increase the pressure on the workers, and keep them on the task of finding new veins of precious gems or ore that they believed would set everything right.   As the repression grew, so did the desperation and resentment, until one of the union's members, a Svifneblim named Wreros "Big nose" Thalberg called out for more drastic action, and started to gather a following by promising retribution against those in power. Wrerors and his followers started with small acts of sabotage and vandilism, but as the ire of the wealthy families grew, so did Wreros' prestige within the union. As the union called for a general strike, the wealthy families sent in their muscle to break it up, but Wreros and his boys were ready for them, ambushing the hired muscle as they converged on the shocked strikers and running them out of town after a severe beating. With tempers high and the people outraged at the wealthy families, Wreros decided it was time to even the score. He and his followers led the rest of the outraged miners as they plundered the homes of the wealthy families, stripped them of all their belongings, and forced them out of town; tied down and in their underwear on a covered wagon. In the elation that followed after the reclaiming of the town, Wreros was named head of the Union of Diggers, and charged with the difficult task of providing a better future for the union's members and the rest of the town, redubbed Drymin by the new claimants, owing up to the mocking name it had been given.   Wreros knew that he could not continue on as those in power had done, but with of the town's resources tied up in the mining business, it would be difficult to steer it in a different direction. Wreros allowed those who wanted to keep mining to keep searching for new veins of ore or gems, knowing full well that it was unlikely they would succeed now, when they had not done so under the previous management. And so, Wreros started a mercenary company called 'the sappers' using some of the funds appropiated from the wealthy families to equip those of his followers who had shown an aptitude for the work. The profit of the sappers was to benefit the union as a whole and offset the meagre gains from the remaining mining activity. Wreros soon learned, however, that honest mercenary work provided far from enough funds to provide for all. This started the slow transition that turned the workers' union into a crime syndicate, as Wreros had to think off more and more methods to generate enough funds to keep Drymin and the union running and provided for. It started with the Sappers taking on less reputable but better paying jobs, but as time progressed the union got into more and more lucrative but questionable business.