Airships are not new to Dakaron, but they were mostly isolated ventures, single ships owned by individuals or their families who dealt in either cargo shipping (for a high cost), or aerial piracy (not as lucrative as sea pirates, but at least there was little competition). These ships were primitive, and were just as likely to fail or explode as they were to arrive safely at their destination. Many people didn’t bother with them, chalking them up as a dangerous novelty.
After the Eternal Day, however, two of the families realized that there was an enterprise that was begging to be exploited, and joined forces. The two heads of the families; Aldus Craghold of the gold dwarf Clan Craghold, and Juniper Tremaine (the human guildmistress of the Guildhouse Carroway), consolidated their resources and family wealth to establish the Carroway Shipping Partners. They bought, traded, and stole (and in some instances built from scratch) many of the airships that were in operation, and all of the ones that weren’t.
Using Craghold’s technological prowess and Chog contacts, they reassembled and upgraded the airships and outfitted them for heavy lifting. Tremaine wheeled and dealed with various governments and organizations and established trade routes across the Land, hitting most of the major metropolitan areas, and conscripted the Iron Squadron as a police force to deal with supernatural aerial threats, limiting loss of goods and ships. The Iron Squadron uses the battle griffons to escort the airships (which now number a dozen) to each destination.
Only the more lucrative Guild and Tradehouses use the Carroway Shipping Partners, as their rates are very expensive, but they come with a guarantee of delivery and safe journey. On occassion, the Carroway Shipping Partners transport paying passengers as well, and some of the airships are being slowly converted into luxurious personnel transports. However, under no circumstances will the airships deal with illegal person transport.
Carroway Shipping Partners maintain a neutral policy, willing to deal with anybody who has the coin. They keep order on their ships, and anybody who breaks one of their many airtime regulations risks a lifetime ban on their services for their House. CSP tries to keep eight of their twelve airships in the air at a time. They are manned by experienced captains and crews that are loyal to one of the founding houses. There’s also a contingent of about a dozen members of the unit of the Iron Squadron that has been assigned to the airship. The airships are on a shifting schedule of travel and maintenance. In addition, Clan Craghold is always looking to improve and update the technology and magic of their airships.
Clan Craghold is located in the northern mountain range outside of Pheronor. This is where Aldus has his workshops and massive shipyard. He also has private trade caravans that bring ores and tools from Masachog Mountainhome, overseen and manned by Guildhouse Carroway. Guildhouse Carroway was originally based out of Pennaligon, Karam, but Juniper pulled all of her assets from the city and moved the House’s headquarters to an unknown location. Rumors of a massive, master airship that never touches down have circulated to explain where she has gone, but Guildhouse Carroway still owns and maintains their actual real estate. Neither House nor Clan will divulge any information.
Craghold Airships are crafted from galleons and old dirigible airships, but reinforced with iron and brass. They typically have large wings (to glide) and giant vertically mounted propellers (for vertical propulsion), with sails to steer through the always windy upper skies. A Craghold Airship will also typically have several deck mounted ballista and javelin throwers in the hull. Most of the airships consist of five decks, including the main deck. The only things on the upper deck are forecastle and the officer’s cabins. The Iron Squadron and the accompanying feed and armory for their griffins and members are located in the forecastle, and the officer’s and captain’s quarters are in the stern. The next deck down is where the crew quarters and passenger cabins are located. The entire cargo hold is the middle two decks of the ship, with restricted access. The bottom level is stores and supplies for the trip itself. Only the captain and the quartermaster have keys and unlimited access to these levels.
The keel of the ship also houses a surprising failsafe should the airship be boarded and/or damaged beyond repair. Aldus Craghold is paranoid about having his technology fall into others’ hands, and so tasked his war wizards to build a self-destruction device into each airship. The captain is the only one who even knows this exists, and can invoke it at any time, such as if the ship is compromised. The keel is embedded with diamonds that hold 15-20 Large Storm Elementals. A command word shatters these diamonds, releasing the storm elementals. For the next five rounds the storm elementals proceed to destroy the ship and everything on it. For five rounds after that they attack anything in the area and scatter the pieces of the ship as far as they can.
The colonel of the Iron Squadron unit is aware of this failsafe, and is instantly alerted to when it is triggered, allowing him or her to gather as many members of his unit and the crew as they can fly safely and flee.
Shadows of Dakaron 