CoRefs (Kow-refs)

Cooperating Refiners. Artisans, crafters, cooks and much more.

All the danger, all the work, and this is the end result?
It feels sad, underwhelming, almost like a stab in the back, right?
Do not worry. The first coin always feels like that.
Now, let me show you who is truly worthy of your first favor.

-Rike Skoritzel upon seeing disappointment of new Raiders

Description

Refiners organized and cooperating in order to ensure each of them has material for their work.

While Planners ensure the prosperity of the settlement as a whole, CoRefs plan their own requirements for their working schedules themselves.
With that comes scheduling of their individual assignments for Raider who supply the necessary materials.
After Cataclysm, the humans abandoned the old coins and returned to barter trades. However, CoRef's internal coin gave roots to a system that quickly took hold.

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The scale of presence and origins

Originating from now fallen Atocite and carried on by traders on Cycler, came the idea of cooperation between Refiners.
Instead of fighting for Raiders Time and increasing the internal competitiveness, the approach of taking turns in putting assignments allowed Refiners to keep themselves occupied.
In the present day, almost every Atocite have their Refiners cooperating in the suggested way, even though some details may vary.

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Operations and agenda

The main issue the CoRef faced was mutual competition for the precious time of the Raiders. Getting materials from The Ground below require their skills and carry capacity.
Originally the Refiners not only needed to make the trip worth it for the Raiders, they even needed to make sure their assignment was doable, and more lucrative than the others. Failure to achieve that meant they had no materials to process into finished goods or for experimenting.
Over time the members came up with a tier list that ranks Refiners based on the quality of their final product. With this ranking done it is serving a dual purpose. At first, it shows which Refiners are the best, and secondary it also makes making priorities in case of conflict easier. It is in everyone's best interest to have the best equipment being made with as little downtime as possible. Hence the better blacksmiths, artisans, and crafters get higher priority in receiving materials.

The method of giving assignments to Raiders evolved a few times over the years.
In the present day, Refiners each have their own coins depending on what tier they are acknowledged on. When it's time to inform Raiders what materials are needed, the priority in which assignments are given out is determined by what tier of coin the Refiner used. In sad cases when Refiner is out of coins, they can not raise another assignment.

With this approach, the Refiners take turns in giving assignments to Raiders. Once someone receives materials, they do not put up more assignments until they run out, until they present a project that requires different materials than they already have available, or until every member of the CoRefs had their turn.
When every member handled at least one assignment. The selected representative gives every member one coin of their respective tier.
Thanks to this, the most skilled have full hands of work and the less skilled can get materials too.

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Currency and its use

CoRefs have an internal system, which allows Refiners to pay Raiders for the materials not with finished product, but with a promise of free work should they need it.
These promises, called Favors, take the form of minted coins that bear the tier of the Refiner.
All the Raider needs to do in order to call upon the favor is to bring a coin of sufficient or higher tier to their selected Refiner along with materials needed for their commissioned item.
The Refiners take the commission along with the coin, and when the job is finished they handle it to the Raider free of charge.
Refiners must focus on commissioned items in order of coin tiers. So if Refiner service becomes highly demanded, Raiders may decide to skip the line by commissioning item using higher-tiered coin.
Additionally, should the Raider decide, they can pick one of the available finished goods instead of commissioning their own piece.

Refiners getting their hands on coins above their acknowledged tier is nothing rare. When that happens they are encouraged to use it to gain higher priority on giving assignments to Raiders. Using the higher tier coin this way gives them priority equal to the tier of the coin and shows everyone that their services are valued more than they are acknowledged for.
Any occurrence of this is noted and should a Refiner reach a point when such coin usage becomes a norm, their tier would be increased.

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Important ranks and responsibilities

Representative: Every Atocite has one member of CoRefs elected as a representative.
After being elected, the representative is responsible for holding the daily meetings, accepting the assignments for Raiders, handing out coins, and monitoring possible new members.
Minter: The person responsible for minting Favor coins or their melting is someone everyone trusts. They hold the keys to building housing specific minting machine that is used to create coins of any tier.
The building housing the mint is also used to store spare coins not in circulation. Coins leaving circulation happens when there is a tier promotion. The mint is also capable of melting the coins. While lower-tier coins are often stored and reused for Refiners reaching these tiers, the higher tiers are melted and minted anew to ensure they do not accidentally leak into circulation.

Tier II to V: Refiners of various tiers reflect the demand and quality for their service and skills.
Their sole responsibility is to gear up the Raiders in the best that the Raiders can get.
Tier I: The entry tier. Refiners who freshly joined the organization are given this tier and then monitored. Should Raiders overburden them with commissions, they would advance to the next tiers. Exceptions on this tier are food-providing Refiners. These cooks may be acknowledged for their efficiency as higher tiers for the sake of raising assignments, but they are kept on this tier to make their products available.
Ungraded: Refiners who are out of interest to CoRefs.
While the organization's goal is to make getting materials easier for each member, the ultimate goal is to ensure Raiders are well-equipped.
Refiners who do not have an officially recognized tier are those, whose skill is deemed insufficient for the Raiders by the organization and therefore barely of interest.
However the representative is still monitoring them to see possible changes in the quality and skill.

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Process of Joining and Falling in Disfavor

While seemingly beneficial, some intentionally do not use this cooperation or were forbidden to use it due to not fulfilling their part of the deals.
In order to join, the Refiners need to provide services of a quality that sparks interest in the eyes of both the Raiders and the representative as well.
After the representative gives them a chance, they receive their tier I coins and are allowed to join the morning meetings.
If someone pays Riders with their Favor coins and then refuses to accept it as payment for commission, they can fall into disfavor with the organization. The only way to avoid this is if the refusing party can present an untouched starting package of coins, meaning that they received an offer to join, but yet did not.
Once a Refiner falls in disfavor, they will stop getting more Favor coins. Once they run out of the ones they had, they will either start accepting them as payment for their service or never get another.
Raiders who were hurt by the refusal to accept their commission, could not pick nor wanted to pick a finished product from the freshly disfavored Refiner have their coin raised by the whole tier and are encouraged to visit other members of the organization.

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External relationships

Raiders are still suspicious when they receive their first coins for a haul of materials. But they quickly adapted and started seeing possible quality equipment in the palm-sized coins.
Planners on the other hand jumped on this opportunity. Some Atocites completely embraced the Favor coins, providing them as part of their own assignments.
In the end, the cooks who are cooperating with both Planners and CoRefs always had enough resources to feed the population. Meaning that on some Atocites the Favor coins completely replaced lower quality Sustin.
Traders on the other hand loathe the coin system. As the concept of quality is always different on every visited Atocite. What is Tier V on one may be Tier III on another or worse. They, therefore, reject the coins and accept only either finished products or higher-quality materials.