Benacian Labour Reserve

Few would deny that the subjects undergoing service in the Benacian Labour Reserve do not endure their share of suffering on the long road to redemption. In spite of strict discipline, violence and abuse amongst the penitent labourers reportedly remains widespread.

The Benacian Labour Reserve is a conscription and penitentiary-based labour reserve of the Benacian Union; enrolment in which is regularly used as punitive measures. Sentences for mundane, non-political, crimes, passed by the various tribunals of the Benacian Union, are frequently commuted to a concomitant period of servitude in the labour reserve. Civic authorities have also been known to use the BLR as a dumping ground for idlers, malingerers, and the so-called unlawful poor.

The BLR is organised into penal labour regiments at the bailiwick-level, with penitent labourers being available to expend either in the furtherance of projects initiated by the civic authorities or else in support of the Benacian Union Defence Force and Benacia Command. These tasks can range from agricultural labour to battlefield obstacle removal work, but most commonly will entail the expenditure of the penitent on any number of ongoing construction projects.

Between 1702 AN and 1703 AN, a number of Auxiliary Labour Battalions were formed to receive an anticipated glut of Umraid prisoners who had refused to sign the Union Covenant and offer sacrifice to the Highest Divinity. In the end this surge did not materialise as the majority were instead deported to Transprinitica under a deal with Hurmu, and by 1716 AN the surviving Umraid detainees had been consolidated into a single regiment assigned to the BUDF for special taskings.

In 1706 AN 1,585,525 subjects were assigned to the Labour Reserve in lieu of punishment. The Labour Reserve forms a mobile contingent within the far larger body of Protected Persons (of whom there were 29,779,203, as of 1712 AN, in the UGB alone) who toiled as bondsmen within their bailiwicks of residence.

From the final month of 1707 AN onwards the illicit narcotics trade, that which occurred outside of Paradise Districts under the monopoly control of the Guild of the Lotus, was made subjected to heightened levels of official repression. Following an initial flurry of theatrical executions to mark the commencement of the newly severe policy, the manufacturers, suppliers, and consumers of illicit substances were to be transferred wholesale into the BLR along with their families, with the majority of these condemned to penal servitude at the Svordson Reform Settlement on Leng.

Since 1715 AN conscripts of the BLR who have survived to the end of the term of their commuted sentence have been transferred to the Humanist Institute of Thought Reform in Merensk for rehabilitation prior to their return to society.

Organisation

Penitent Labour Brigades

In the second month of the year 1717 AN, the Benacian Security Council established the Penitent Labour Brigades, a controversial programme that would conscript one percent of all adult males between the ages of fifteen and fifty from the category of Protected Persons within the Unified Governorates of Benacia. The lucky 295,200 men were transferred into the Benacian Labour Reserve for the next four years of their lives, a period that would test their physical and mental endurance, and push them to the brink of their limits.

The Penitent Labour Brigades were made up of 295,200 Protected Persons, who were selected through a draft lottery conducted by the ruling municipal corporations in each bailiwick of the UGB. These individuals were transferred into the Benacian Labour Reserve, where they would serve for four years as part of the penitent labor force.

The manpower levy was sufficient for the creation of forty-one Penitent Labour Brigades, twenty-three of which were attached to the ersatz divisions of the State Guard of the Unified Governorates. The remaining brigades were held in Replacement Pools, which were open-air encampments established throughout Lower and Upper Lywall. The purpose of these pools was to provide a source of replacements for battlefield casualties.

Each Penitent Labour Brigade was organised into six regiments, which included an Administrative Regiment, a Foraging Regiment, a Pioneer Regiment, a Depot Regiment, and two General Service Regiments. The penitents received two months of basic training, and were mostly unarmed while with their brigades, equipped only with tools appropriate for their work duties.

The Penitent Labour Brigades were watched over by blocking detachments from the Corps of the Gentlemen-at-Cudgels and the General Inspectorate of the Benacian Union Defence Force, whose purpose was to prevent retreat or desertion on the part of the penitents.

The living conditions of the penitents were far from ideal, as they were housed in open-air encampments established throughout Lower and Upper Lywall, where they would endure extreme weather conditions, lack of hygiene, and disease. The food and water supply was limited, and the medical care was minimal, which led to many cases of malnutrition, dehydration, and illness. The mortality rate was high, and many penitents died from exhaustion, exposure, or accidents while on duty.

Notable BLR projects

• Benacian Union Kalgachia Aligned Corridor Exchange
  • Restoration of the Tealsburrow Railway