Pike & Sons Co.
Historical Overview
Founding
The origins of the Pike & Sons Company is closely tied to that of their founders, House Pike. In the earliest days of the Promenade, the Seaside did not yet exist, and whaling fleets were community-organized affairs, which would leave via the nascent canals of the Landside. This hodgepodge of small ships, each generally crewed by a family, were led by a prominent local luminary known as the Pike. The Pike was responsible for organizing the armada of ships, and eventually this position came to be held continuously by the same family."When the procession arrives in First Point, and the Patriarch of House Pike throws the ceremonial harpoon into the Sieve, the people of Seaside are gathering in The Portion and Dogshead for general revelry and drinking." - Sprayspot FestivalThis family, who came to acquire the largest group of small whaling vessels at the time, was eventually known as the Pikes. Their local dominance was codified by House Prominere, who elevated them to the status of minor house, cementing their importance to the then-formalizing whaling industry. As it became unseemly for a noble family to personally lead whaling armadas, House Pike established a more professional company to manage their affairs in the industry. Thus, the Pike & Sons Company was born.
Peak
The early Prominere whaling armadas were not just cobbled together groups of community-run small craft, but social affairs as well. Families naturally grouped up by neighborhoods, and friends sailed to the same hunting grounds together. The Pikes utilized their connections as the most prominent local family to coalesce friends, allies, and sycophants around themselves. This allowed the family a solid base within the industry from which to expand their company. These original recruits into the Pike family business are known as Lances, and while they are not noble families, their names carry great weight in the industry to the present day."Early Promineres saw the sea as an enemy. It made the low-lying land into salty marshes useless for farming, it swamped the fishers' small craft, and the waves tore away attempts to expand the city. To kill whales was not only crucial for the city's survival, but a way to strike back at an all-encompassing ocean trying to swallow the town." - Isobard Quickquill, Whale Whale Whale, What Have We Here?These Lances developed into a class of professionally trained captains within the Pike hierarchy, giving the family a crucial advantage over later comers to the whaling industry. Organizations such as Deepquest Whaling had to subvert Pike's existing recruitment base in order to compete, and the Lances allowed House Pike this near-monopoly over the early whaling industry.
Downturn & Motherships
The extinction of the Coastal Whale, fueled by the very peak which thrust House Pike to power, forced them to dramatically adjust their business practices. Pike & Sons attempted to expand the range of their whaling by the construction of deeper-water hauling vessels, known as motherships. These vessels were wide-decked ships meant to haul the carcass of the whale aboard, where they could be harvested and boiled down in trypots. The Longshoremen's Guild, at the time still representative of the interests of the workers of the Seaside, attempted to prevent this practice. Initially halting the Pike order for new trypots from the Castworks, the Guild seized the subsequent imported trypots. These huge metal pots meant for motherships were piled into the outflow of the Landside's canal, flooding parts of the city, and forcing House Pike to relent. The Pike & Sons Company's method of enforcing these measures was the employment of the Redmarks Gang, deeply sullying the image of the company as Seaside residents who made it big. Thereafter, Pike & Sons were firmly viewed as on the side of the landed interests of the city gentry.Whaling Colonies
While the Pike & Sons Company was being defeated in the streets of the Seaside, a new player entered the fray in the form of Deepquest Whaling. A company without the backing of a noble house, Deepquest was founded by residents of Calettina in search of the innovative approaches ignored by House Pike or the Longshoremen's Guild. The Deepquest method was based around circumventing Guild-imposed restrictions on what could be done aboard whaling ships, by simply sending those jobs to the regions in which more whales were found. This led to the creation of whaling colonies on the shores of the Boreal North. Pike & Sons Company has been largely left behind by the shift in focus to the frozen north, and while they dominate the waters around the Promenade, it is to their economic detriment. Recent attempts by the company to encroach upon Deepquest's colonies has been met by violence and proxy-wars in the tribal tundra bordering the Serpent Sea.
Type
Corporation, Business
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Parent Organization
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