Cole Pieters is the cruel and despotic owner of the mine where Mags worked as a child miner. Cole is motivated by greed so spends very little feeding, clothing, provisioning and sheltering his miners and kitchen staff. To keep costs down, he collects any abandoned or orphaned children, and the generally unwanted, and forces them to work in the mine. Money provided by the Crown for the care of the orphans goes into Pieters’ pocket.
Any adult workers are paid a pittance, after Cole has subtracted costs for food and board. Most child miners don’t survive to reach their sixteenth birthday due to the harsh working conditions, malnutrition, and physical and emotional abuse. All of Pieters’ workers are petrified of him as rebellious workers have been killed by Pieters and his sons either by planned accidents in the mine, or publicly beaten to demonstrate Cole’s authority.
Cole releases Mags to Herald Jakyr after the Herald threatens to return with the Guard and investigate the workings of his mine. Jakyr carries out his threat and undertakes an investigation. As a result, Cole and the Pieters family are removed from the mine, Lord Astley takes over the administration of the mine, and the child miners are taken in by a temple.
After Mags tells Dean Caelen about meeting Master Soren and talking about the mine, Caelen speculates that Soren will intervene with the case against Pieters and it’s likely the Pieters family will be forced to work at their own mine.
In the series[]
Cole Pieters is mentioned or appears in the following works:
- Foundation, Collegium Chronicles, volume 1
- Redoubt, Collegium Chronicles, volume 4
- Bastion, Collegium Chronicles, volume 5