Post by New Dornalia on Jul 27, 2010 11:26:26 GMT -5
A Soviet poster celebrating the Stakhanovite "shockworker" movement of the 1930s, and its emphasis on hard, unyielding labor and "modern" methods of production. It's stylized art is now used on Red Star Cartridges produced by the Smiths.
The People's Acolytes Master Smiths are some of the finest journeymen craftsmen in the United Colonies. Devoted to the industrial arts, they are devoted to the manufacture of everything from lightsabers to custom cartridges for firearms and even art.
The Smiths themselves began as a simple, informal class of people who made lightsabers en masse for others in the PA, as the PA, seeking to break away from older models of Jedi organization, decided to issue standardized lightsabers to its members, barring the decision of individuals to make their own. The result was that a corps of logistics officers skilled in metal working set about making lightsabers, and in time, these were organized into the Master Smiths.
As the years went by, the Smiths branched out. Codifying their traditions into the Rule of the Smiths, they soon became an organized, established force in the People's Acolytes. With the increasing membership rolls, the Smiths opened the Master Smiths Academy, a subsection of the Grand National Academy, on Mars to train new recruits in the ways of the Smiths. And, with the ever-keen knowledge that the PA needed a more diverse source of income, the Smiths began branching out into commercial operations, beginning the sale of swords and firearms to collectors, both refurbished arms and reproduction models ranging from fully functional models to models suited for drill and "stage blade" work.
However, the founding of the Qiangquan School really got the Smiths revolutionized. It's emphasis on firearms and close-quarters battle resulted in the opening of sattelite campuses of the Master Smiths Academy on Luxembourgia and New Chicago to keep up with the demand of quality firearms and the beginning of match-grade ammunition production to meet the needs of the School. More Smiths appeared, and their ranks grew considerably, offering gunsmithing services to both layman and Acolyte alike, as well as fixing weapons and generally kicking ass and helping people out.
Additionally, the founding of the Qiangquan School didn't just revolutionize the way the Smiths did business. The School's more liberal approach to the Force set the stage for a revolution in the ranks--for within the Smiths was a conflict between rationalist thinkers, who were more interested in the Force as a tool in the greater practice of industrial arts, and more mystically minded Traditionalists who saw the whole thing as a spiritual exercise. This spiritual conflict injected new life into Smith rituals and brought new technologies and methods to the fore, but it also brought in a smoldering religious debate that persisted through the Recognition Wars, with Smiths dueling one another at the Battle of Hab 56, and into the era of the Full Unifications.
The latter turned the PA on its head, and caused the Smiths to really branch out. The wave of Anti-Force technologies appearing in Government Service and on the open market, a marked rise in suspicion and to psychic people, and a percieved emerging latent anti-Force prejudice in society at large made many Acolytes worry. It also spurred numerous developments, such as reforms of the Vanguard system, reforms in accountability systems, the dissolution of the International Brigades, and the rise of the Supper Club, a secret society that few have heard about, namely because it likes to be as secret as possible.
In the case of the Master Smiths, it caused a change in naming--gone was the Master Smiths Academy, and now was the Acolytes' Academy of Industrial Arts, a name chosen to sound less threatening to the populace at large. Additionally, it also caused the Smiths to try and get themselves into the wider public arena.
How?
Well, they run a company making match cartridges known as Red Star Cartridge Works, and also run Red Star Armory Works, a company that makes shooting supplies and firearms for sport and military/police use, as well as Red Star Gunsmiths--people that make really nice guns for presentations!. Included among their makes are high-quality M4 Carbines (some of the finest in the UCK) but also original bolt-action rifle designs such as the Model 900.
Also, they remain a big source of swords, and their AAIA schools, opened to outside students interested in learning metalworking and industrial design, are becoming high-quality facilities for learning the latest technological works.
The Smiths however, have the dubious distinction of not only being the "sellouts" of the PA in their efforts to present a good side to the community, but also they have much more positive links to their name.
Namely, their increasingly prominent role as a journeyman class of industrial artisans that can fix things of all sorts and build shit ensures they are a key component of the People's Acolytes logistics machine, keeping ships, guns, and blades running and doing good for the rest of society, grateful or not . And, their scientific and industrial works remain at the cutting edge of technological achievement, with several working at the Tennenbaum Institute.