Slag-Weld Repair Union

The Union's first century was defined by practical victories. It standardized repair marks across the basin, established the first shared salvage yard, and created a rotating emergency crew for border fortifications. Its greatest triumph came during the Furnace Tithe Crisis in 1172 TF, when military officers attempted to claim every skilled mechanic for a rapid weapons buildup. The Union halted all repairs, documented the unsafe production schedule, and forced the Basalt Bench to recognize a minimum inspection interval. The stoppage became known as the Eleven-Day Silence, a watershed moment that transformed the Union from a workers' compact into a recognized industrial power. Its greatest setback followed in 1219 TF, when a Union-certified artillery platform collapsed and killed thirty-six soldiers and eight mechanics. The Union accepted public blame, though private records suggest the platform had been deliberately overpressurized by a military overseer. Since then, its members have treated every contract as a possible battlefield and every inspection as a political act.