Kahu
Kahu is a young woman of the Populat class, serving as a labourer in Arc Welder Factory N77 in Harmegis. Though not the best worker on her shift, Kahu was able to enter the glot economy in the same way as many within Claslat: private enterprise. Not a particularly masterful cook nor seamstress, Kahu proved a popular lover, finding her way beneath a blue-painted depiction of Noi.
It is that depiction which first brought Kahu into contact with the Alchemical Exalt Vigorous March of Progress. The Jade Caste and his lector companion Len were walking the depths of the Maker’s Anvil, discussing the planned content of an inspirational mural. Kahu approached them to offer herself in exchange for tutelage in painting so her wares might be best advertized. Though neither took her up on the offer at the time, both were impressed by her drive and cleverness, March seeing it as proof there were minds amongst the Populat as keen and capable or more so than those of the power-monopolizing Tripartite. Kahu’s resulting art, though she did not have the space or materials to create a luxurious work, caught the eyes of prospective customers: a sensual message with draw greater than raw beauty ever would be.
But the life of a glot prostitute is never easy, and success brings dangers all its own. Kahu’s commercial success brought her to the attention of Basta, a Populat labourer who had escaped the factory floor through corruption and intimidation to dominate the sex trade in the area. Thugs in his employ, bribes, and alliance with a member of the Economicat (particularly the bureaucrat Rensky) ensured Basta could extort a cut of the profits from the prostitutes in his domain, and the businesses nearby. Workers who objected found themselves faced with disadvantage at work, and tended to suffer a massively higher proportion of industrial ‘accidents’ than their peers.
Kahu’s popularity reduced the business to the highest-priced whores in Basta’s stable, and thus his profits. Thugs were sent to demand that Kahu hand over nearly all of her glots each day, or face terrible consequences. Kahu, a strong spirit (and perhaps given ideas by too many study circles with revolutionary lectors and Alchemicals), attempted to counter this by banding together her fellow harlots… if they defied Basta together, he would be unable to make them all vanish, and his extortion could be ended.
Having worked with the local Populat, Vigorous March of Progress and lector Len were aware of Basta, but he had broken no laws… Claslat did not, after all, have ordinances against extortion when it came to the glass market, and the criminals of Claslat were careful to never leave obvious evidence implicating them in any deaths. But when Basta tried to put down Kahu’s nascent trade union by sending thugs to blacken her face, the Jade Caste could not leave the matter alone. Though not a master combatant, there was little that a human thug could do to stop one of the Alchemical Exalted, leading Kahu and a horde of angry shopkeepers and prostitutes inspired by his example. Backed into a closed alley, two thugs begged mercy and confessed their involvement in myriad extortions and murders ordered by Basta. Their lives were spared by the mob, and they were turned over to the Regulators, their admissions showing Basta and his gang had exceeded the legal void of the glass market and broken the laws of Claslat.
Somehow forewarned, Basta and his closest gangers attempted to flee with what wealth and assets they could carry, but glass chits and rat-fur coats have little value outside the city walls, and the dangers of Autochthonia presumably consumed them.
In the void left by Basta’s flight, Kahu emerged as a person of significant influence… rather than fighting against the evils of a single glot-boss, her Union of Pleasure Workers emerged as a way for the local prostitutes to protect themselves from any new boss who might attempt to dominate them. While fees were low, the Union did not need to worry about funding luxuries and continuous relaxation shifts for its leader, and so its coffers have proven able to match the glots invested by greedy bosses trying to push into their domain… that an Alchemical Exalt is known to have some involvement with the Union is another form of deterrence. The Union has also worked to join its members together in study circles and sharing information on clients who have proven dangerous, and business stalls in the area not directly related to the sex trade have begun to be admitted so they might benefit from the mutual protection it allows.
Vigorous March of Progress is intensely proud of Kahu’s goals and accomplishments, attempting to assist her when her efforts encounter difficulties, while she provides the Alchemical with knowledge of events in the glass market and the Populat workers involved with it. An Alchemical associate, however, is a double-edged sword… while the members of her Union and those who experienced the abuses of Basta know the truth of her accomplishments, as she attempts to advance into new regions she encounters those who think her success and her Union are merely her name attached to the work of an Alchemical lover... a belief encouraged by glot-bosses who fear her encroachment might see them share Basta’s fate.
