Draconic Couriers Incorporated
Shipboard merchants play a vital role in the day-to-day work of a skyship, as they pay the ship's berthing fees whenever it makes port in lieu of paying rent. In return, they are granted access to customers all across the Shattered Realms. In smaller island communities the docking of a skyship is often a major event, as there will be a buzz of excitement over what kind of business might be on board for them to peruse.
However, this system is not without its flaws. Many merchants who make bespoke items may require a number of days, or even weeks, to complete an order. If their ship is not going to in port for that length of time, it would leave them unable to fulfil their order.
This is where the Lunar Dragons come in.
Not beholden to shipping schedules, or jobs from the Skyfarer's Guild, the Lunar Dragons freely roam the skies at their own will. They often will stay close to passing skyships in the hope of overhearing a good story, and so can be enticed in by the shipboard merchant, who may ask the Lunar Dragon to deliver their order.
Lunar Dragons, having little regard for the mortal races, would not do this work for free, so the merchant will tell them the beginning of an enthralling story. At the climactic moment, the merchant will pause the story, and promise its conclusion to the Lunar Dragon upon safe delivery of the order. The Lunar Dragons' yearning for good tales outweighs their disdain for mortals, and so they will carry out the delivery in order to hear the story's completion.
Draconic Couriers Incorporated (DC Inc.) capitalised on this, setting up a depot in each city and large town in the Shattered Realms. The Lunar Dragons deliver their items to the nearest depot to the customer, who will then hold it until collection, at which point they will notify the merchant so that they can complete the Dragon's story.
Even this system is not without its flaws, however. Merchants are always under pressure to come up with new and interesting stories, which fortunately tends to come with the territory of travelling with skyfarers. If they tell a Lunar Dragon a story they have already heard before, the dragon will be unlikely to courier the order, or - worse still - accept the item, and then drop it in the ocean out of spite. This has given rise to a salvage industry around the Sunken Collective, and a large part of their national trade deals in salvaged magical items discarded by Lunar Dragon couriers.
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