1. Organizations

Transportation Guild

Civilian Corps

Perhaps the largest of all the dragon marked guilds, the Transportation Guild deals with both cargo and passengers. Tens of thousands of people work for the guild, preparing goods for shipment, running the lightning rail, maintaining the trade roads, and performing the many unseen jobs that keep people and goods moving across Khorvaire.

The Transportation Guild is responsible for lightning rail, caravan, and coach routes throughout Khorvaire, including the maintenance of trade roads and courier posts. Tariff agreements made with the nations through which its lines run fund the guild. Taxes paid by the settlements where stops are located go toward station maintenance. Passenger fares and shipping fees on the lightning rail, coaches, and caravans are used for general maintenance, salaries, and overhead, and to boost House Orien’s bottom line.

While the Couriers Guild is a valuable part of Orien’s business, the Transportation Guild is the house’s financial foundation. Nearly everyone involved with house operations works in the Transportation Guild at some point. Piloting a lightning rail is the most glamorous and prized job in the guild, but beneath every pilot are hundreds of guild operatives whose work keeps the rail running. Orien does not make its employment numbers public, but it is widely surmised that the Transportation Guild is the largest guild in Khorvaire.

The Transportation Guild’s teleportation services are typically available only at house enclaves. Once the province of nobles and the dragonmarked viceroys, teleportation has taken on a new significance for Orien in the aftermath of the Last War. In the age of exploration, a new class of adventurers and mercenary heroes often has the need (and the coin) to hire those Orien heirs with the greater or Siberys Mark of Passage. In particular, the greater teleport ability of a Siberys heir allows instantaneous travel from mainland Khorvaire to the wilds and riches of Xen’drik. Faced with the prospect of a dangerous, monthlong voyage across the Thunder Sea, many an adventuring party is willing to cobble together the 5,000 gp required to teleport directly from Sharn to Stormreach.

As they did all through the Last War, Orien teleporters continue to do a steady trade with the nobility and the dragonmarked houses. The politics of Khorvaire have never been in greater flux, and the ability to instantly meet with one’s allies—or just as instantly send spies into the court of one’s foes—is the foundation of the alliances and intrigue that make up the modern age.

All characters that are members of this organization.