Vale Toil Front

The Vale Toil Front (VTF) are the current iteration of the Vale Toiler's Union, an agriculture workers' trade guild which began to slide from prominence in the 9960s AR.
Though the Union is still recognized as a legitimate certifying organization in terms of certain agricultural and agriculture-adjacent trades, it (in the form of the VTF) is now better known as an activist organization associated by the democratic government of Petalcap Vale with militant - and occasionally extortionist - agitatation for workers' collective rights. As of the year 10,000 AR, the Petalcap Vale Bureau of Justice regards the VTF as part of the 'cruel trio' of organized crime in the Vale, with the Asbestos Boys and the Verdant Order being the other major players.

History

Petalcap Vale Flag by BCGR_Wurth

The Vale Toiler's Union began as a traditional trade guild almost around the year 9750 AR. At that time, before the arrival of Eqai Voiranoi opened the whole of The Verdial Arc to trade with the rest of the Manifold Sky, the Union served as an important arbiter of certain self-imposed regulations on the Vale agribusiness sector, with worker safety, product safety, sustainable farming practices, and certain market reforms being among their major achievements. The Petalcap Vale Customs Authority arose. in part, at the behest of Union-aligned bureaucrats in the Vale Bureau of Justice to enforce trade duties designed to protect local workers.
With trade opening with the outside world, however, some of the old guild trappings appeared increasingly out of place in a modern context. For example, production caps which previously were designed to keep even small farmers competitive in the marked didn't make as much sense when the market was no longer constrained to a single small set of cubes. The Verdant Order's business interests, especially, were keen on spreading verdial influence (and, through verdialization, verdial identity) despite the system of tariffs and duties imposed by bureaucrats aligned with the Bureaus of Justice and the Executive.

Criminality

A combination of political and economic forces began to erode the Union's support base, and the Union responded by becoming more evangelical and, eventually, militant in rhetoric. The Vale Toil Front was the product of a rebranding push by some of the Union's most strident and vocal supporters. While the Union maintained a more reserved stance, its VTF foot soldiers were known to take aggressive measures to support the cause. Farmers who attempted to work outside of the strictures imposed by the Union might find their fields sown with Penrose fescue, their livestock poisoned with mold-tainted seed, and their equipment sabotaged. Front members were not visibly involved with the Cull of '64 as it was in progress, but it later came out that they were involved with stirring up the Asbestos Boys to clash with the 'owners' in the Verdant Order. In the worst cases of the 9980s AR, Front members were known to kidnap both business owners and farmers who publically opposed the Union and subject them to gruesome tortures - wherein the victims were treated like mere barnyard animals - before releasing these maimed individuals back into the community as a warning.
The Union officially disowned themselves of the VTF in 9977 AR in response to the later group's violence. Still points to the fact that the Front still recieves support from high-ranking Union officials. For example, known and suspected members of the Front have been known to use Guild contract cards originating from Union ledgers to utilize Navigator's Guild-enabled modes of transportation, such as international airship flights, when carrying out Front business.

Founding Date

9750 AX

Type

Illicit, Front

Demonym

Toiler

Location

Petalcap Vale (municipality)

Related Ethnicities

• Vale Verdial
• Voluntarist Verdial

Vale Toil Front

50

Forgism

0

Non-Agression

Vale Toil Front

25

Asbestos Boys

-25

The Asbestos Boys regard the Vale Toil Front as a threat to hard-won traditional ways of living, but the Front regards the Boys as a useful blunt instrument against the Verdant Order.

Sworn Enemies

Vale Toil Front

-100

Verdant Order

-100

Law Enforcement Action

Vale Toil Front

-100

Petalcap Vale Customs Authority

-100