Geata Rail Riots-Foundry Platform Bombing

"If this shit with the Ghel-men keeps up, we'll see another GRR War, and no one should want that. I don't understand High King Cormac's angle here, or the angle being played by his government. We buried too many last time, those we could find enough of to bury. The Ghel-men won't be any different, hell many of them make explosives for the mining industry, for a living!!! They'll fight the Suranthi police and government the same way, targeting not just officers or military, but their families, their kids. Because they know full well that's what the government will order done to them. Its a fools errand. You'd think they'd have learned from the last one. They screaming they need help, they need support, they need to heard. But you would rather kick a hornet's nest of problems. No if what I've heard is true, we've very limited time, two weeks, maybe three if we are lucky, before the Suranthi government makes a move on this, and spills blood. Blood that will include collateral damage. If that happens there is no coming back. So for now the top priority of you lot, as you aren't officers and have the freedom as free-lance 'consultants' is to poke and prod anywhere you can til you find out what the hell the government is planning and better yet, which branch or branches in the city, and who has operational control. If we going to stop this fucking volcano from erupting like the Geata Rail Riots did, we need to get ahead of the problem. You've a list of names there, important figures for all players, the crimelord third wheel, a variety of government and law enforcement men and women of rank, and a few key people among the protestors whom seem to be organizers of some of all this, so far as we can tell. Someone is about to blink in the wrong way, I know my info is good that way. Figure out who before its to damned late."

Captain Alexei Grunston of the Suranthi Police Department, in charge of the South Dockland Precinct, at the corner of Fifth Mast Road and Orca Boulevard.

The Conflict

Prelude

After the success of the first locomotives, the industry exploded. By 1500 you could take a train to any country all across Valerick. By 1515 you could do so with regularity and a greater sense of security than even with a true fleet. The rail industry was booming. Trade was soaring, wealth was increasing. However there was a dark unwritten....truth. An open secret. The rail industry, at its lowest levels, was run by something that may as well have been slave labor.

The profession collectively known as Rail Rats, the coal dust covered labor force whom literally did everything from cleaning the locomotives passenger compartments, human waste and all, to the boilers, engine, smoke stacks, and greasing the axles, brakes, valves and every other little moving part underneath locomotives and their cars. These folk were disenfranchised, with no gnome or elves among them. Poor folk of all other races, orphans press ganged in. No regulation, barely paid, if at all besides food and a little pile of hay in one of the warehouses at the yard for a bed. The industry had no regulation, and rail yard owners, along with locomotive merchant men, swiftly were so rich that they could continually politically interfere and insure no regulation or recognition was passed onto this labor force. This tradition was generations old, having started with the first locomotive journey ever completed, with no less than fourteen 'Rail Rats' killed or injured doing their dangerous works, to insure the train was ready to make the attempt successfully. These poor folk kept getting treated worse and worse, and by 1520 there were all sorts of wild rumors about the Geata Rail Yard and its core near three thousand such 'employees'. Mass starvation, regular beatings and floggings, even sexual abuses used as punishments on workers whom were perceived to have failed at or shirked their duties in some way. It is very likely that some time in the next five to ten years the Suranthi government would have finally decided to step in and do something, or if not, High King Cormac would have been made aware enough to this by his own agents and intelligence apparatus, to the point where he would invoke his powers to declare a state of domestic crisis, thereby giving him power to make and enforce policy decisions and legislation without putting it to vote with the Tundra Enclave. However they would not get the chance.

"Aye I remember when t'e protests started. T'ey was ne'er totally passive, nae let anyone tell ya otherwise. We was far from quiet. We threw stones. We jumped an overseer or twenty, put em in 'ospice wit' some real injuries. At least four I know fer sure nae would walk again. Two o' 'em deserved all t'at an' more fer w'at t'ey would do ta t'e boys as 'punishments' sometimes, if t'ey been hittin' t'e drink to much t'at day. Let's just say 'loss o' innocence' was inevitable. T'ough we nae stooped ta t'eir levels. We just beat em 'alf ta death, broke their knees, smashed their wives faces up somethin' fierce, and removed t'ree fingers from their kids right hands. Nae rape o' any kind. They got off light. But all this was the lead up, this was in the middle of 1521. Nothing was officially acknowledge yet ye understand. Newspapers were burying the incidents, government was keeping it all hushed up. There were protests almost e'ery damned day, if I'm bein' honest. I remember those ones cause they stand out fer their violence. But most was peaceful, though loud. Fist fights, maybe a clubbin' or four, but nay more t'an t'at. Or at least nay more t'an t'at til one Thomas Crumvell was appointed Geata Police Commissioner in Jundar of '22. We all knew 'is rhetoric, he'd made nay secret of it fer t'e last two years. He also wasted nay time puttin' it ta work. Aye the conflict was bubblin', but it coulda been avoided. Most like ta point ta the events on the 11th o' Borin in '22, t'e Foundry Platform Bombin', as the trigger fer the uprisin'. There be some trut' ta t'at, but I'd argue it really started w'en Crumvell was appointed ta t'at office after Yvonismac's death. If Yvonismac had still been alive an' in charge he'd 'ave reacted a lot more...calmly. Savvy and experienced 'e was. 'e wouldn't 'ave jumped ta conclusions, t'at be certain."

Some old greybeard dwarf, a former Rail Rat whom lost his right eye and arm during the Riots in 1522-1526.

Deployment

This conflict was one of a more unconventional nature, an urban mess that travelled from Geata-Iarainn all about the Rail Lines to every major city and rail-yard in Suranth inside eight months. It was a powderkeg and just needed a spark. So what we will be covering here is that spark. The Foundry Platform Bombing.

On the morning of the 11th of Borin, 1522, at approximately 5:15 am, protestors started gathering. Another two Rail Rats had died and their deaths were now front page news, despite best efforts to hide them. One was torn apart/crushed between the axles of a railway car, because he wasn't fast enough in greasing it and they just hooked the engine car onto it and began moving it anyway. The second, more agregiously, had turned up half frozen to death, covered in blood and soot. It looked as if he'd been flogged into unconciousness and left out in the cold spring night. A snowstorm had come in, and the poor lad, a human of but eleven years, basically froze to death. It was his death that was causing the gathering of protestors again. He'd fought on for four days, but hadn't the strength to rally and recover. This day though, it felt different, as many eye witnesses would claim.

You see for months, the protests had turned violent, with no intent from those protesting. Since being named Police Commissioner, Crumvell's response and policy had been one of vicious, forceful compliance. Protesters had been rushed by entire formations and divisions of officers with RAESPs, along with Truncheons and shields, beating them into submission mercilessly. Generally three or four would die or be severely wounded in these clashes, with dozens needing stitches or splints after most encounters with the police. In that last month it had come out that Crumvell was quite chummy with a rail tycoon, one of the most dictator-esque of the bunch, one Durza Tordunmac Ivarsson, of Ivarsson International Frieght and Commerce fame. One of the biggest players on the side of the Rail Industry/government, he was going to be at this protest, with the police and his own personal 'security' to basically provide counter-messaging to the protesters. His guards were tense. They were openly armed, some firearms in attendance as well, according to one reporter. Ivarsson's own personal coach was parked on the middle of the platform, and would quickly become the focal point of the events.

The protestors for their part, for the first time many witnesses claimed (rightfully it should be noted) that things were notably different. Many wore longer winter jackets, ratty and tattered, but bulky and large, and various witnesses swore under oath that they saw a significant number of the protesters had weapons tucked into these baggy coats. Protestors whom would by 7:37am, number some twenty-one hundred souls, at least half of whom were not Rail-Rats or their families, but many other rail workers of great job variety, along with others from different professions whom had already won their battle for Guild Status and recognition. Stone masons, bankers, miners, even rail-yard mechanics were present. The protestors gathered on the platform on the south side of Ivarsson's carriage. The police and Ivarsson's goons were better armed, including at least half the police having pistols instead of just their RAESP, but had no armor to speak of. They also only numbered about fourteen hundred, and they were grouped up and warily formed up just beside Ivarsson's carriage on its north side. The police watched warily as the protestors began utilizing the platform as a city square, and pretty soon the platform was a log jam of all sorts, the numbers of civilians not tied to either side of the protest number in up into the territory of two thousand or more.

Battlefield

Foundry Platform, a busy multi track platform, with machinery always working, and three large warehousing buildings meant to house the various cargo that had come in, to be sorted and sent onward into the rest of the city, or the cargo meant to be shipped out, labels clearly marked. The center point of this is located just outside the front of the section's offices, on the raised 'waiting for train' part of the plaform's, the raised walking area for passengers to board or disembark.

Conditions

It was loud, windy, and chilly that day. A light spring snow was sprinkling in and Foundry Platform had near six thousand people on or in the vicinity at the time. Ivarsson was coming back to his carriage, as things were getting unpleasant. The police were moving forward to beat down the protesters again, but then...it happened.

Some claimed it was a flare gun shot. Some claim it was a Jorkativ Cocktail. Others said an arrow lit aflame, though this seems far less likely. One or two witnesses even claimed it was a red robed magister, a human woman, her hair a deep crimson, showing streaks of silvering. Whatever it was, it was thrown at Ivarsson's carriage, which was supposed to be laden with several barrels of ale for a dinner function he was throwing later that evening, not near flammable enough to explain what happened next. What is clear is that somehow the large barrels that were supposed to be ale clearly were not ale, for when whatever was thrown or fired at the carriage hit the storage at the back, the effect was near immediate.

The Engagement

"At exactly 9:21 am on the 11th of Borin 1522, a massive explosion fueled by five barrels of mixed smokepowder and a homemade napalm like solution made from locomotive lubricant grease, raw Ghel oil and Coal Dust mixed together, tore through the Foundry Platform of Geata-Iarainn station admist a clash between rioters and police. The blast killed seven of Geata-Iarainn's finest and it seems another dozen or so were injured, at least three of those will likely be crippled by the amputation of a limb. Fifteen of the rioters were killed, another twenty or so injured significantly, though not much is known as to how bad. Twelve innocent bystanders lost their lives, another fifty-six injured, at least thirty of those very serious. The carriage was owned by one Durza Tordunmac Ivarsson, the owner and founder of Ivarsson International Freight and Commerce. The well liked dwarven businessman was just stepping into the carriage when it happened. He obviously did not survive. The police are warning citizens to stay in their homes as much as possible after street lamps come on, as a curfew has been ordered and will be enforced heavily, as more rail gang and rioter violence is expected.

Excerpt from the Suranthi National, a newspaper known to basically be the Suranthi Intelligence and Military's personal propaganda machine. The only thing they got correct was to expect vioence.

Outcome

At first the initial outcome was shock and horror from all sides. No one seemed to know what had happened. The scene was absolute chaos. Smoke and fire all about, blasted and blackened bodies and body parts, screams of agony and suffering, cries begging for help, the sounds haunting through the haze and the crackling flames scattered about. The detonation timing had been done just as a locomotive was disembarking, passengers trying to navigate the tense stand-off to get into the terminal building, part of which was now collapsed, its front wall ripped and blasted asunder. For a few precious hours it seemed as though the brewing conflict may have been nipped in the arse, as the survivors on both sides rallied and briefly, it wasn't about the conflict anymore. They tore into the wreckage with abandon, trying desperately to save as many as they could pull out, even at great risk to themselves. At least another four or five coppers and a similar number of Rail Rats died trying to dig through the unstable wreckage, trying to get to some of those they could hear buried beneath, still alive but trapped. That hope was short lived however.

As early as the next day the first slander stories were headline news, condemning the bombing, blaming the Rail Rats, calling them terrorists. Harsh, some might say dangerously reckless, laws were invoked, a curfew ordered and being enforcd by Geata Police with vigor. For their part, the Rail Rats soon enough started firing back, claiming the bombing was a government move, a plot to make 'these helpless workers fighting for a better tomorrow for themselves and their families out to be the villain.

Fighting would be joined in Geata-Iarainn within a week. Cops versus rail road workers, as many of the other professions, most of whom had guild status, rallied behind their Rail Rat brothers and sisters. Within a month it was so bad that every damned day there was an incident of violence, be it as little as arson, or as brutal as murder.

Aftermath

News travels fast by rail, and since the Rail Rats and their allies controlled the rail roads, they also had some level of control of what version of events traveled the country. Within three months, the riots had begun in full, sparked by this incident, in every major rail town or rail yard in a city. Over the next two years, the casualties would become staggering for such an unconventional conflict where the military mostly was kept out of it directly. Across Suranth some seven thousand or so Rail Runners. the name for the 'caste' whom worked the rails, including forty-five hundred or more Rail Rats directly, would be dead, killed in action or by acts of disgusting violence and brutality being labelled as 'law enforcement' across Suranth. Added to this, many innocents got caught in the deadly crossfire, some eighteen thousand or more, at least half targeted for a family tie to a Rail Rat or one of the other rioters or protestors. Trade was disrupted horribly, prices sky rocketed, poverty increased dramatically, and this was well spun by the GRR, whom very quickly realized this war was going to be won not just by fighting, but by propaganda. They took hostages of prominent journalist's families, they paid bribes through the nose, did favors, even killed some. Whatever it took to get the most prominent journalists nation wide to stop spinning the government's version of events, and when possible, to start spinning theirs. Control the narrative, you control public opinion.

On the other side, Suranthi law enforcement, private rail tycoons' personal security forces and the tycoons and their families, well they saw frankly staggering casualties, for a conflict that for the most part avoided turning into a truly modern war. No artillery, no soldiers, no full scale military operations were launched. The numbers seem to suggest as high as twelve to thirteen thousand private security folk, law enforcement, and authority figures tied directly to the rail lines lost their lives in acts of violence. It was the single deadliest conflict in Suranth's short history since the Reclaimation Marches, and unlike that conflict, which founded a nation, this was a nation on the verge of self-destruction. The Tundra Enclave was useless throughout, as seven of its seated thirteen members would constantly vote against any sort of efforts to negotiate or concede, seeing this as a path to weakness/because they were in the rail companies pockets. The church even backed the rail companies, and the Storm Lancers were almost unleashed in some regions on the GRR and the populace at large, in a militant role. That is, until it was made abundantly clear that the rather freshly formed, but well known to be 'absolutely fucking deadly', to quote many military minds of the time, Iron Dragons would be unleashed on the Lancers as a direct proportional response. The Dragons were by and large correctly believed to be the more modern, more dangerous force for any sort of Urban warfare and ultimately the church didn't consider it worth the risk. This is likely the only reason the military for the most part stayed out of the direct conflict. The main exception were the various regiments and divisions of the Rail Warden Corps, most of whom actually sided with the GRR.

After two years of this, with the knowledge that their economic rivals far to the south, the nation of Waston, were getting wind of things, and having had his Wave-runners stop no less than four foreign plots attempting to escalate the violence to even further levels, trying to trigger a revolution or insurrection, High King Cormac did the thing he had not wanted to do. He invoked the 'King' in his title, and over-rode his own Enclave, and formally disbanded them, barring four of the most agregious offenders in regards to supporting the rail companies from holding public office, even going so far as to have two of them arrested for treason and conspiracy to commit treason. One of those charges stuck, for apparently Commissioner Crumvell had been taking Wastonian Gold for most of the conflict to keep escalating things. He was executed the week before the first proper peace talks, on the 2nd of Acrom, 1526, and the execution was quite public, a move that very likely helped cement the willingness to parley with High King Cormac amongst the GRR leadership. The meetings were a matter of public record, a demand that was a non-starter for the GRR if it was going to be ignored. Journalists recorded every detail, running them in papers across the country in the weeks following the negotiations. Over a solid week, from the 9th to the 16th of Acrom in 1526, the heads of the Rail Rat Guild, the same six men and women whom had led the revolution for the entire two years, sat with High King Cormac, his son, and those of his Enclave that had survived the 'house cleaning', and over many, many hours of back and forth negotiating, debate, argument and supposedly even fist-fights, they eventually hashed out an end to the violence. The Rail Rat Guild came into official existence, and like all Guilds, was instiutionally recognized by federal law, immediately stopping any province or region from trying to outlaw them, as Suranthi National Legislation overruled any regional rules or laws that tried to run in direct opposition to it. A few from both sides were imprisoned as a token gesture, those whom had committed some of the worst violence. The government paid out a hefty sum of coin to help the newly formed Guild build their offices, train workers to replenish the depleted work force, hire a legal team, and basically lay all the ground work.

The Rail Rats for their part, acquiesed that they would never be the highest paid. They knew that going in. As vital as they were to the operations of rail lines, they were the labor force. However they did get two guilds for the price of one, having it officially recognized that being the laborers should not include maintaining and handling of fuel, or cleaning of boilers and smokestacks and coal engines. That was a specialized skill set and profession that needed its own power, recognition and most importantly, operational right to basically lock out a locomotive so that no one could accidently (or on purpose) stoke a fire, intending to move an engine, when someone was up in the smoke stack trying to clean it. Thus the Smoke Monkey profession and Guild was also born. This seperation of labor meant that the Rail Rats were only responsible for cargo loading and unloading, cleaning rail cars, and those other sorts of menial, hard but reasonably low skill labor tasks. This division was a key cog in the agreements that came from this ugly war, without that recognition it is very likely it all would have come apart.

Historical Significance

This conflict, in dwarven terms, is not so much history, as it is relatively recent. There are still many dwarves, along with some halflings, a few elves and even a handful of gnomes (and likely tieflings too) whom took part directly or bore witness/had their lives effected by it. It was a dark time in Suranth's cities and prominent towns, a time where the streets weren't safe at night, a time where in some cases, even keeping your head down and trying to claim non-involvement would only incite a violent response from both sides, no matter whom it was. A time of bombings, public torture, riots, violent street battles, and blood-soaked alleyways. Not a pleasant memory, and many in Geata-Iarainn's current climate, watching the growing tension between the Ghel-men protestors and the Suranthi government, are greatly concerned that recent history is going to start rhyming.

Legacy

Nearly seventy years later the legacy of this conflict can be seen in the operation of modern rail yards all across Valerick. Suranth was the starting point and once they'd allowed such unionization, other nations in the NPA, and then across the continent, really couldn't argue the point. After all locomotion was a Suranthi innovation. The trade guilds whom built the trains you relied on, they were Suranthi and would simply refuse to sell to a nation that didn't recognize and allow such Unionization of these professions, letting them form functional trade guilds. The efficiency of the rail yards has gone up impressively, employee turnover from death and injury has dropped drastically, to levels that are generally across board accepted as an unavoidable circumstance of the inherent danger of working on and around such large and powerful machines in such a busy and chaotic environment. Wages are fair and survivable/liveable, if not always rich. Negotiations are set in a strong cycle, with the right to strike not limited in length of strike, but limited to contract renewal every four years, or if there is an agregious breach/pattern of breaches of the contract by the rail companies. The workers, when they do strike, cannot refuse to come to the table and negotiate, but are under no obligation to accept any terms, merely offer counterance. An arbitrator is always to be present, to insure that if negotiations crumble, the next time both parties do not come in with the exact same distance in their proposals. That is considered a misdemeanor crime and comes with a hefty fine. You must come in with some adjustment, some compromise with your opposites stated greivances to your previous proposal in your new proposal. If after six such meetings both sides cannot come to an agreement, no return to work is forced, but it goes to an independant arbitration team made up of economic and legal experts directly under High King Cormac's employ, whoms sole purpose is Guild and Union agreements and economic management. They will sit down with all drafts of all proposals, all listed grievances from all proposals, and patchwork together what they believe to be a fair compromise. They will rework it exactly once at the request of each side. After that third draft, it is finalized, and both sides must sign it. It then becomes law.

In Literature

The incident is now looked at in a few university programs, particularly those in the political, legal or historical fields. Indeed one image is remembered in the record, and is used as a teaching point by many professors in those fields as a lesson aide.

Depiction of the aftermath of the Foundry Platform Bombing by Artgalles (Goes by Supergaminggeek on Discord)

"At the time this image was published, by someone using an alias for their art, showing excellent foresight, this was a piece that we can look back on and see the propaganda in. It depicts two police officers rushing bravely towards the wreckage to try and pull folks out, and depicts them as concerned public servants. Whilst this was most certainly true to some degree, on some small scale, immediately after the blast, there were far more aggressive stances first taken by police. Politics of the situation aside, they felt that the blast might have led to a riot, so they tried to disperse the crowds as swiftly as possible. Unfortunately, innocent people got hurt, a few even died in that rush to clear and forcibly disperse the crowds. The whole situation is a sad stain on Geata-Iarainn's recent history, one we must learn from."

Lector Jared Bokram, professor of Modern History at Geata-Iarainn's Azila Institute, a highly reknowned university in the city.

Conflict Type

War

Battlefield Type

Urban

Start Date

11th of Borin, 1522

Ending Date

16th of Acrom, 1526

Conflict Result

Eventually the Rail Rat profession gets official licensing and recognition as a Guilded Profession.

Location

Foundry Platform, Geata Rail Station

Belligerents

Suranthi Government

• Clan Ironcliffe
• Rings of Suranth
• Suranth
• Suranthi Law Enforcement

Led by

• High King Cormac Ironcliffe

Rail Rats For Guild Recognition (RRFGR)

Strength

Tens of thousands if so desired by utilizing and calling in the military, but currently, perhaps five to six thousand, most basically mercenaries, but with the core of police about nineteen hundred strong in Geata-Iarainn alone.

In Geata Iarainn they seem capable of mustering some fifteen hundred or so at any given time.

Casualties

Seven officers died in the attack. another dozen or so lost limbs or suffered greatly.

Fifteen of the rioters were killed, another twenty or so injured significantly, though not much is known as to how bad.

Objectives

To break up the protests, and break this union/guild movement that is forming, by any means.

For Rail Rats to be afforded all the protections of, and recognized fairly and legally as, a Guild Trade.