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Sunvalley Industries, an industrial conglomerate headquartered in Rim Billiton's Sunvalley region, makes and maintains machinery for mining, smelting, and agriculture, and also makes toys and miniatures. It targets the low-end market, delivering custom-made, low-cost equipment popular in places like Bolívar and Sargon. Rim Billiton usually deals with outsiders collectively, so the company's recent appearance abroad hints at internal change.
It began as a Cautus family workshop near open Originium pits. Sunvalley's high-quality Originium and glowing pits led families to fight over the "Land Where the Sun Fell" until an elder brokered peace, forming the Sunvalley Mining Alliance, which grew into today's company.
Its factory district is a self-contained community with hospital, school, bathhouse, and batball field. Its structure—Chief Secretariat, Chief Office, Chief Planning and Service Departments, and local branches—differs from other Terra companies. Employees prize stability and take pride in their slogan, "Work for a better life."
Sunvalley Industries did not always stand out among Rim Billiton's factories and mines; Rim Billiton dealt with the outside collectively, so the name rarely appeared on its own. Recently, however, the company has surfaced far away as an equipment manufacturer, hinting at some change within Rim Billiton.
Sunvalley Industries is an industrial conglomerate headquartered in Rim Billiton's Sunvalley region, manufacturing and maintaining machinery for mining, smelting, and agriculture, among others, with ventures into toys and miniatures, and expanding into infrastructure services such as localized weather reporting. Its products target the low-end market. The Rim Billitonian Cautuses excel at custom-made, low-cost equipment and support in less-than-ideal environments, making their products popular in places like Bolívar and Sargon, where simple but effective equipment is in high demand. Their products may seem strange to those used to Victorian and Columbian machinery, but work very well, and are highly regarded by their targeted customers.
The company began as a Cautus family workshop in the Sunvalley region, near open Originium mining pits, where multiple families pooled production and appointed a representative to sell the ore. Sunvalley's geography is unique: its Originium is among the best in Rim Billiton, and heat waves gush from bottomless mining pits, making the valley glow faintly at night as though there were an underground sun. After large high-quality deposits were discovered, Cautus families fought over the once holy "Land Where the Sun Fell" until a respected elder ended the fighting, forming the first Sunvalley Mining Alliance. This grew steadily, absorbing family workshops and equipment makers to become Sunvalley Industries. Members of all races are treated equally, with employers adhering to the same code of conduct, "working and living as though in Sunvalley."
Its factory district contains a full community—hospital, market, canteen, school, public bathhouse, batball field, and club—where employees live minutes from work in a tightly knit, self-contained community with little outside contact. The bathhouse janitor explained the ticket system, and how outsiders were banned after an incident, and described the school batball team and his own factory life.
The company's structure—Chief Secretariat, Chief Office, Chief Planning Department, Chief Service Department, and local factory branches—differs from companies elsewhere in Terra. A young Cautus lady explained these functions fluently, since her office communicates with all of them. She said the slogan is "Work for a better life," and expressed pride in matching Columbians in Sargon.
Everyone at Sunvalley Industries is proud of its work in Sargon and Bolívar, which is linked to their quality of life. Compared to the turmoil outside, life in Sunvalley may be boring without a batball match, but it is peaceful and stable.
EPIGRAPH
At the Ultramassive Iron Town Batball Stadium, the Sunvalley Miners from District 12, who were playing in their first-ever postseason, defeated the Diamond Carrots in a shocking comeback, stunning the defending champions after a grueling eight-hour struggle. It is the first time a team has raised the Originium Carrot Cup in their first playoff trip, and puts an end to the Diamond Dynasty's dream of a three-peat of the Rim Billiton Carrot Cup. In post-match interviews with Batball Digest and the Sunvalley Post, Sunvalley Miners head coach Rekhagel, whose day job is line manager at a Sunvalley factory, gave all the credit to the players. He particularly singled out Captain Edmond for praise, saying that he was “like one of those beasts roaming the wilds of Rim Billiton”. The champions will be immortalized with a plaque in the Batball Hall of Fame, inducted by the president of the Rim Billiton Batball Association personally. On the streets of Ultramassive Iron Town, thousands of fans are already preparing for the festivities, eager to witness the birth of the Legend of Sunvalley. – Harvey, Correspondent of Sunvalley Industries Publicity Section, Ultramassive Iron Town
Sunvalley Industries did not always stand out amongst the many factories and mines of Rim Billiton. Its triumphs in the field of batball practically represented the company at its peak. Rim Billiton has always dealt with the outside collectively, so the name Sunvalley Industries was rarely seen outside Rim Billiton on its own.
In recent years, however, the company has surfaced far away from Rim Billiton as an equipment manufacturer, hinting to some sort of change within Rim Billiton. I visited the company's Rim Billiton factories to understand how they operated.
Sunvalley Industries is an industrial conglomerate, headquartered in Rim Billiton's Sunvalley region. Its operation encompass the manufacturing and maintenance of machinery for mining, smelting and agriculture, amongst others; it has also dipped its toes in the toy and miniature markets. The company is also expanding its operations into infrastructure services, such as localized weather reporting.
While Sunvalley Industries is an established equipment maker, its products target the low-end of the market. These Rim Billitonian Cautuses excel at delivering custom-made, low-cost equipment and facilities and providing support in less-than-ideal environments, making their products very popular in areas like Bolívar and Sargon, where simple but effective equipment is in high demand.
For those of us used to Victorian and Columbian machinery, Sunvalley products may seem strange at first glance, but work very well nonetheless. Such products are typically not manufactured in large numbers, but are highly regarded with their targeted customer base and usage case.
Like many other mining companies that made their fortune in the Rim Billitonian wilderness, Sunvalley Industries began as a Cautus family workshop in Rim Billiton's Sunvalley region. Similar workshops can still be found all across Terra today. These Cautuses lived near open Originium mining pits, rising with the sun and going home when the sun sets. Multiple families pool their production together, appointing a representative to sell the ore off at the market.
The geographical features of Sunvalley are unique, however.
High-quality deep Originium ores are found throughout Rim Billiton, and Sunvalley Originium is amongst the best. Heat waves gush forth from bottomless mining pits, and the valley glows faintly even at night, as though there was another underground sun, hence the name Sunvalley.
Over time, people stopped fearing the unusual phenomenon. With the discovery of large high-quality deposits in the valley, Cautus families began to fight over the once holy "Land Where the Sun Fell". After a few years, a respected elder finally put the proverbial foot down and put an end to the fighting. Terms were reached and deals were struck, forming the first Sunvalley Mining Alliance.
In the years that followed, the Sunvalley Mining Alliance grew steadily, absorbing family workshops and equipment makers in the area to become today's Sunvalley Industries. In their own words, members of all races are treated equally, all employers being required to adhere to the same code of conduct, "working and living as though in Sunvalley".
The sights of the Sunvalley Industries factory district are one-of-a-kind.
Production lines rumble behind the tall walls, but there is also a full-fledged community here, with its own hospital, market, canteen, school, public bathhouse, batball field, and club. Those who live here are Sunvalley Industries employees, who walk to their place of work within just minutes. This is a tightly knit, self-contained community, with very little contact with the outside. Everybody knows everybody, and the whole community is ready to help when someone gives birth, or when there is trouble in a family.
I talked to the janitor of a public bathhouse, an old Cautus who was tearing off tickets handed to him by patrons to the bathhouse. He looked at me and tilted his head, as though urging me to show my ticket.
“I don’t have a ticket.”
He grumbled something under his breath, then said, “Well, then, you can’t bathe here.”
“Is everyone who bathes here a Sunvalley employee?”
“And their families. The families get less tickets. But not you. Unless you have a pass from the Service Department that lets you go up there.” He gestured to the staircase to the side.
“What’s the difference between the first and the second floors?”
“The second floor is for important people, who get to lie down. The first floor only has benches, and you’ll have to squeeze in with the others.”
“Do all the facilities in the district require tickets?”
“It wasn’t like that in the beginning. But one day someone from the outside fell in the baths and his family caused a huge fuss at the office. Got relatives involved and whatnot. Security had to send guards to arrest them. After that, they set strict rules that banned outsiders like you from going in.” He looked up at me. A thought seemed to have come to him, and he raised his voice slightly. “I’m sure you wouldn’t be so unlucky, but rules are rules…”
We were interrupted when a group of sweaty young men walked in and slammed their creased tickets on the table.
I watched them disappear around the corner and asked, “Who are they?”
“The school batball team. They just came back from a friendly. Billy kids grow up in the wilderness and on the batball fields, not like you city-dwelling Victorians.”
“School? For the children of Sunvalley employees?”
“Yeah, it’s free. They teach everything, but it’s pretty much useless if you don’t ever leave. Like my dad before me, I spent all my life working in the factories, then retired to come here and watch the door. What point is there to learning all that stuff? You know what the hardest thing about being a student was? Memorizing the names of all the mines. I wrote down one from my family whenever there was an exam…” He paused, then said, “We also learned about Victoria. They said Londinium’s walls were invincible. In the games we played after school, there was a defense move called ‘Londinium’.”
I humored his wild fantasies about Londinium.
I saw many unusual things on my brief visit to Sunvalley Industries. Their organizational structure, consisting of a Chief Secretariat, Chief Office, Chief Planning Department, Chief Service Department, and local factory branches, is very different from companies elsewhere in Terra.
The young Cautus lady who received me said that the Chief Secretariat was responsible for important matters involving the company as a whole, and consists of powerful elders in Cautus families; the Chief Office was responsible for the company’s internal matters; the Chief Planning Department schedules production for factories around Terra; the Chief Service Department manages employee benefits, and markets infrastructure services to external customers.
All this, in a single breath. I asked, “How are you so familiar with all these functions?”
She stared at me, seemingly confused that I had to ask. “Our daily work involves communicating with all these departments. That’s the main job of our office.”
“It sounds like this place is not as... profit-seeking as Columbia.”
She smiled and said, “Our slogan is ‘Work for a better life.’ Our secretaries have visited places like Sargon and Columbia in recent years, so we know a thing or two about them. They said Columbia was nice, but not everything it was cracked up to be.”
“For example?”
“This is just what I heard from them, but they said Columbia was cold, impersonal, and its deserts were more barren than ours. Plus, we’re doing every bit as well as the Columbians in Sargon!” The tone of her voice went up a notch. The topic seemed to have touched a nerve.
Everyone at Sunvalley Industries is immensely proud of the company’s work in Sargon and Bolívar. This is more than just about abstract pride; it is also intrinsically linked to their quality of life. Sunvalley Industries gets many local applications for its job postings in Sargon. Compared to the turmoil outside, life in Sunvalley may be boring when there is no batball match on, but it is also peaceful and stable.