1. Organizations

Windwrights Guild

Civilian Corps

Most of House Lyrandar’s members work with the Windwrights Guild, which provides crews, dockside support, stevedoring, and repairs for seafaring and airborne ships. Any job on an elemental galleon or an elemental airship is prized over one at the dry docks or in the warehouses.

The Windwrights Guild also allows independent shipping concerns to pay for the right to fly the House Lyrandar flag and to get shipping contracts directly from the Windwrights. Most independent ship captains consider the Lyrandar flag to be a deterrent to pirates. Some think that it wards off bad weather, too.

The Windwrights Guild dominates the shipping trade. The core fleet of the guild is made up of the elementalbound vessels and airships of House Lyrandar, crewed by heirs of the house and providing speedy transport by water or air. However, the vast majority of the guild is composed of independent captains who need not be heirs of the house, or even half-elves. To earn the fl ag of the Windwrights Guild, a captain must pass regular inspections and pay house dues. In exchange, the guild connects him with customs and cargo.

Common belief holds that captains who choose to work outside the guild are likely to suffer “accidents” ranging from deadly weather to sabotage or piracy. Regardless of whether Lyrandar truly engages in such sinister practices, the rumor alone is enough to convince prospective clients to rely on guild shipping, forcing most captains to work within the guild. The sailors of the Lhazaar Principalities are a notable exception to this rule, and there has long been tension between the Windwrights and the eastern sea lords.

Windwright Captains

Windwright captains are generally independent operators, taking on private jobs from the wealthy and adventurous as they see fit. Their relationship with House Lyrandar is fairly loose, allowing them to come and go as they please as long as they continue to earn money. Windwright captains have respect for each other professionally, seeing their peers as the only truly worthy pilots, but rivalry and competition also exist.

While a windwright captain works for House Lyrandar, he reports his earnings and missions to a superior in the Windwrights Guild. Each captain has a handler assigned by Lyrandar, whose official job it is to make sure that the captain has a full slate of work.

When not on a mission, a windwright captain is probably caring for his ship or training his crew; with his skills and ship in high demand as they move from one daring adventure to another, though, such downtime is rare. During the travel portion of a standard mission, the windwright captain is typically keeping track of his ship’s course and overseeing the crew, only occasionally checking in with the helm to make sure the elemental understands its instructions. Should danger arise, the captain takes command of the ship personally, giving the elemental detailed directions for precise control. Once the captain has gained the lesser shipbond ability, he can even help fend off boarders while controlling the ship, allowing him to serve double-duty if the vessel is attacked.

Windwright captains tend to look down on the rest of House Lyrandar, seeing themselves as the ultimate expression of the house’s purpose. There is little love lost between them and the ordinary pilots who run Lyrandar’s cargo lines, most of whom see windwright captains as arrogant buffoons incapable of a hard day’s work.

Advancement

House Lyrandar only trains windwright captains from within the ranks of their own extended family, for one obvious reason—the Lesser Mark of Storm is the only consistent means to effectively control an elemental-powered airship or wind galleon. The house leadership all but demands that those bearing the mark try piloting a few times to see if they like it. Potential windwright captains will thus already have ties to House Lyrandar and will have served as a pilot on several mundane flights.

Those with some magic training and a natural gift for sailing will likely find themselves approached by their house superiors about becoming a windwright captain. A sense of adventure and a willingness to take risks are preferred; Lyrandar would rather find an adventurer with only token piloting experience than invite an experienced pilot with a reputation for caution to join the ranks.

Early on, house superiors keep you on a fairly short leash as they assess your honesty and loyalty; the loan of an airship or wind galleon is a major financial risk on their part, after all. They make sure you receive enough training to not crash your vessel into the side of a mountain or sink it as you leave the dock. They also want to be sure that you won’t try to stiff them out of their rightful tithe, so expect small tests of loyalty during your initial time as captain.

Once you have your ship, you are free to travel as you please; Lyrandar obviously hopes that you won’t spend all your time hauling mundane cargo. Instead, you use their ship to explore ancient ruins and bring back bountiful treasures of gold, magic, and dragonshards—of which they take their cut. Perhaps you hire out to some clandestine organization for a secret rendezvous, or to a wealthy merchant looking for protection as he travels. As long as money continues to flow into Lyrandar’s coffers, the house generally leaves you alone.