The couriers of the region serve three roles.

First, they carry messages and cargo from island to island. Since their ships are the fastest around, save only the Modrons, they do this quite well.

Second, just about anyone can book passage on their ships, allowing relatively quick transport from one island to another (traveling from one end of the Archipelago to the other takes a month this way).

Third, they also ship prisoners to the Archipelago's penal colony, the Isle of Sandwich.

The courier fleet has the most detailed maps of the region, which they refuse to share with anyone but their most trusted customers.

All of the fleet sailors are trained in an odd martial art based on the idea of kicking an enemy around, usually overboard and into the arctic-cold waters, where death comes swiftly. Their most highly trained fighters also know pressure points quite well. The captains are well known to do more damage with their bare hands than most could ever manage with a knife or sword. In essence, they've trained themselves so well that their bodies are weapons.

The Couriers began as the navy for the Old Kingdom that once ruled the entire Archipelago. They privatized and moved their families to uninhabited islands when the kingdom came upon hard times and was unable to pay them. They moved most of their people to the pair of islands known as The Sisters, as well as the Spine.

This privatization of the fleet spurred the kingdom to fall apart.

All of this occurred two hundred years ago. Fifty years after that, about a third of the fleet broke off and became Pirates.

The Couriers use just about anything they can get their hands on, but are particularly fond of elven designed ships, due to their high speed.

The vast majority of the fleet is a mixture of fishing boats and elven sailboats. These small vessels are used mostly for delivering mail. Their two or three man crews usually run between two islands only, where they exchange mail with others, based on where their messages need to be delivered.

Larger ships are used for delivering heavier loads and passengers. There are a few warships in the fleet; these are used to enforce trade blockades and the like. They also serve as escorts for the freight and passenger ships when they have to pass through Pirate territory.

• Sailor Captain
• Sailor First Mate
• Sailor

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• Sailor First Mate.gcs
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