Helmsman
Qualifications and Career
Helmsman is the name given to the navigator on a Welkinship. In small Welkinships, the Helmsman can also be the Captain of the airship. Helmsmen is a relatively new profession in Alven. Airships or Welkinships are a rather new invention brought over from The Frencal Republic only thirty years ago.
Tinkerers in Hollyholm were the first to build Welkinships in the clanlands. Soon, the craze for airships took off all over the country with The Arkivon now leading the development of the new invention.
Helmsmen used to be enthusiasts, tinkerers or adventurers. Nowadays, the profession has become the purview of career people: Arkivens (the Circle of the Welkin) or even former ocean-going ship captains finding a new source of income in the skies.
Helmsmen fall into two categories: either the helmsman is a Rune Wielder or just a human navigator. Rune Wielders can help power the magical artefacts that can be harnessed to the airship. Powered by an object of power, the Welkinship's size can be increased, and the airships can also move faster and safer.
This kind of airship is a lot rarer than 'normal' ones. The Arkivon has got the lead with magically powered welkinships as they have access to the Alven power rods and many Rune Wielders. Some Lowside clans, such as Clan Glassader and Clan Hawkspaar have also developed their own magically-enhanced airship using other clan heirlooms such as rings of power. The Spaar is a famous Welkinship of that kind - powered by the Hawkspaar's Crystal.
Payment
Being a helmsman can command a very good salary indeed. Knowledge of welkinships is still very rare throughout Alven and an experienced Helmsman is rare. Rune Wielders are even rarer, especially if they are not Arkivens. Most Rune Wielders are born within The Clanbearers' families and are destined to enter the prestigious Arkivon and/or The Sanctuary.
Even the few Rune Wielders born outside the influential families of the Clanlands are generally recruited and sponsored to enter either of the organisations. Very few Rune Wielders grow up outside of the clan society. Some might have been born out of disgraced, former clan chieftains' families on the Lost Coast Cant.
Others might be descendants of clan leaders who followed The Old Ways. In any case, a Helmsman who can read and power runs is a rare thing indeed and can ask his or her own price on a Welkinship.
Demographics and Social Status
Helmsmen are traditionally issued from either the merchant (tinkerer's) class or, if a Rune Wielder, the upper crust of Alven society. However, as the number of Welkinships increases across Alven, ship captains might also be draughted to pilot the Welkinships.
The salty sailors and their crew are a recent addition to the people of the skies. Whatever their demographics, Helmsmen still possess a romantic charm. They are usually seen as dashing adventurers. This vision of the Helmsman is starting to change as the profession becomes democratised.
Provided Services
Helmsmen fly to all the corners of the continent. The Welkinships are the only means of transport that can transport people to the northern extremes of Alven. The Gazettes have publicised Bluhill Rushwood's expedition to The Lostlands and The Farlands of Alven a few years ago. Since then, the potential of the Welkinships as means of communication and transport has been explored.
The Arkivon now possesses a fleet of 10 welkinships that crisscross the length and breadth of Alven to carry posts, people and important passengers to their far-flung outposts.
Hazard
Flying welkinships is still a dangerous business, especially if the airship does not possess an object of power to counteract the effect of storms. A few Welkinships have famously crashed killing their Helmsman and crew. Flying into the frozen north where some flying creatures of mythical proportions can become a problem.
Legality
Last year, the first attack in the air took place not too far out of the port city of Illicen. It is the first recorded act of air piracy recorded to this date. It will not certainly be the last.
The story was once more very well publicised by the Alven gazettes. According to the reported story, a Welkinship flying out of the independent port of Illicen boarded the Clear Skies, an airship belonging to the Guild of Tinkerers out of Hollyholm.
The ship was equipped with an object of power - it seems that this was the pirate's target all along. The Adder's Vial was stolen from the ship's cockpit. Happily, the crew remained unharmed once the object was retrieved.
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