The Sindiath Line
The Sindiath Line is an elven trading group that specializes in transportation and boats for hire. Adventurers without a ship may find the Sindiath Line useful, either as passengers or as crewmen.
Structure
The Sindiath Line is structured as a military fleet with groups and squadrons under the fleet that makes up the whole Line, but administratively works as a corporation. Aspiring officers undergo training at the Elven Merchant Academy where they understand basic tactics to fight pirates and other threats, but also business administration. Each ship is a franchise, each squadron a corporate division, each battlegroup a corporate holding.
An officer will usually specialize in the academy into one of two tracks: defender and lineman. The defenders take on the role of protecting the shipping and passenger ships. While they may not make as much as their linemen colleagues, they attain more renown in their search for hostile ships to turn in for prize money. The linemen officers run the trading and passenger ships. They receive a bonus based on customer satisfaction and the amount of cargo or passengers they move in a quarter.
Assets
The Sindiath Line has over 300 men-o-war, supplemented with 115 hammerships and dozens of tradesmen. Few are aware of how large the Sindiath Line's fleet really is, although its ships are ubiquitous throughout the Known Spheres.
History
The Sindiath Line was established by one of the heroes of the First Unhuman War. Upon the defeat of the goblinoid races, the elves policed the spacelanes for a time, and their huge fleets were among the most powerful in the Known Spheres. However, the other spacefaring races, already sensitive to elvish haughtiness, soon chafed under elvish control. At the same time, the elves were unwilling to abandon their huge fleets, perceiving them as necessary to the security of the elven nations. Tensions increased, and a demihuman war pitting elves against men and dwarves loomed. Sindiath, an admiral of the elven Fleet, proposed a compromise. He offered to retire from the Fleet and to take a large portion of its ships into a private concern, the Sindiath Line, that would provide regular passenger service among the Known Spheres. The Line would still be spread throughout the Known Spheres, under elven control, but it would be a commercial presence, not a military one.
To the Council of Admirals, Sindiath pointed out the value of the Line for espionage. With ships in every sphere, the Line would be able to inform the Council of any issue that could affect the Elven Nations. After the usual period of elven reflection, the Council agreed. Sindiath himself is still alive and oversees the growth of new ships on Greela. Sindiath vessels are invariably commanded by elves, although they often have human and hadozee crews. Passengers may be of any race friendly to the elves (no neogi or beholders), and Sindiath vessels have a reputation for superior accommodations—at a corresponding price.
Allied
Allies: The Sindiath Line's greatest ally is the Elven Imperial Navy itself. Every ship of the Line is actually part of the Fleet and may be called back to duty on a moment's notice. However, since no Sindiath vessel has been recalled (except for the occasional short-term emergency) since the Line was founded, most people don't worry about their ship being commandeered in mid-voyage. The alliance between the elven Fleet and the Sindiath Line is actually more powerful in reverse. Pirates who regularly prey on Sindiath Line vessels may find themselves visited by an elven armada-ship or two, armed to the teeth on a pirate-hunting mission.
Hostile
The elves are bitterly opposed to slavers, so they aggressively fight the Chainmen. For their part, the Chainmen see the Sindiath Line as the spies for the Imperial Elven Navy on their efforts.
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