After the Ostenberg Agreement was signed, there was still the unsettled question of under whose purview the refining and transport of hellstone would fall. The Miner's Guild thought it ought to be their job, given that they were the ones responsible for handling the raw material; the Company thought that, seeing as how no hellstone was getting off the planet without their help, it should fall to them instead. So the Manufactory, originally a loose collective of refinery owners more interested in taking advantage of the problem than in any kind of personal loyalty, stepped in to fill the gap. With no affiliation to either the Miner's Guild or the Company, they came to be seen as a sort of peaceful go-between—and insurance that both sides of the equation would be getting a fair price, or maybe just the same raw deal.

This week, on Ruin's Gate: The skills, experience and temperament to rob a train.

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