Courier

The Messaging Emporium of Delivery Services is saddened to inform you that your package has been lost in transit together with our Courier and all their cargo. Please accept this recompensation of 1 gem(s) tied together with this message as our apology. If you manage to come across any information that may help us locate our lost Courier and/or their cargo, please notify the nearest Messanger Eyrie or any of our Couriers. We thank you for remaining loyal to our organization

— Memo from MEDS to the dragons and gryphons with insurance.

Career

Qualifications

Stamina, reliability, "clean history record" - no crimes or offenses committed, great memory and years of service as helpers in Messanger Eyries, learning both the travel routes and resting places.

Career Progression

Standard apprentice - junior apprenticeships which are served in helping organize letters, messages and cargo in Messanger Eyries. Later on, messages of small importance and short deliveries are dedicated to the Juniors with their reach and importance expanding as they progress on to Senior level where they are rewarded with the Courier tattoo and occasionally a mark of their station amongst the various Messanger organizations in The Continent. Master level couriers are entrusted to be serving their queens, leaders, or other high political figures and are amongst the most trustworthy and dependable of individuals one can find.

Payment & Reimbursement

Juniors generate 1 gem per day of work, Seniors 3-5 gems, Masters 15 gems per day.

Other Benefits

Meals are included and distributed to Couriers who are expected to travel across the span of several days as packs of provisions that they can eat when they camp or on the wing. Most Messanger Eyries tend to be also supplied with food and resources by the tribe that hosts them in exchange for their services. Messanger Eyries provide accommodation and food for visiting Couriers outside of their home tribe.

Perception

Purpose

The spread of information has always been quick in Midrast Wain, for news have wings here and Dragons and Gryphons both can travel great distances very quickly. Couriers fulfill this role with professionalism and reliability, something that can be questionable when dealing with individuals who you have never met before and this professionalism is guaranteed and in many ways contractually insured by the Organizations that employ these couriers.
If for any reason a Courier would disappear with your precious cargo, it would reflect badly on the Organization in question and as such, Organizations are very carefully training and cherry picking only the best of the best for their representatives.
Of course, not all of them do. And there are some individuals who work for much cheaper without any contracts or organization above them. But if you employ these dragons or gryphons, you run the risk of your cargo or letter never reaching the intended location or with greater delays.

Social Status

Couriers live almost an entirely different and secluded life away from their peers. Their extended periods of time spent either in Eyries or on the wing makes them seem as unapproachable and mysterious, however, despite being less desirable as partners due to their long absences, they are generally very well regarded for their services.
The supposed prolonged time spent outside of civilization also inspired numerous novelists and poets to come up with stories either humorous, tragic, romantic or horror where the main figurehead is a lone Courier stranded in a foreign land. Couriers of older age themselves oftentimes tell the best stories from their service and are an almost indefinite source of inspiration to draw from.

Demographics

4%

History

Origin

The world has always needed to transport items from one place to another. The specialized couriers and their Organization that would represent them first started to appear at the Age of Gods, around 450 BA, back when Dragons were not even in Midrast Wain yet.
The first couriers were Gryphons and it is perhaps because of them that a feather is established as a symbol of their tattoo and can even be found in crests of many of these organizations.

Beginnings

Beginnings were rather simple. Gryphons who proved themselves reliable when they delivered their goods to the correct place were given a tattoo by their masters, Kateraks as a proof of their loyalty and were provided a monetary rewards such as but not limited to - food, grooming sessions, mating privileges, trinkets or featherpaints. As years passed, gryphons started to become prominent in more areas that Kateraks deemed useful and so their species was slowly allowed to expand and take up different roles - namely military and artificing ones. Yet despite the ongoing war efforts with Ancients, Gryphons remained mostly a race of couriers for a long time.

Age of Strife

Years 100 BA and coming to the eventual Disappearance of Ancients in year 0 were devastating for gryphonkind. As a race of mostly lithe couriers, the arrival of Dragons and their fervent dedication to The Ancients caused many casualties and forced them to adapt. Kateraks changed the mating behaviors of Twilight gryphons in an effort to preserve both the ferociousness and swiftness of the gryphons
Diurnal gryphons were raised up to be the warriors, with strong adherence to the light of day and strength of body.
Nocturnal gryphons on the other hand were raised up to continue the legacy of couriers, yet make them as accommodated to travel and sneak during the night time, so as to avoid detection by the mostly diurnal dragonkind.

Modern Couriers

Nowadays, gryphons can be couriers regardless of their race, and dragons themselves slowly took over most of the defining factors that were used historically by their rivals. Instead of Kateraks rewarding successful deliveries and training young ones, dragons and gryphons themselves founded numerous organizations and are now setting their own rules, rewards and expectations.

Operations

Tools

A leather bag for written messages or cargo.

Workplace

Messanger Eyries and outside

Provided Services

Aside from delivering messages, Couriers also oftentimes serve as town criers, announcing recent local or world-wide news.

Dangers & Hazards

Being a courier is by no means a hazard-free environment, each and every single courier may one day be ambushed by Witless, Wild dragons or simply renegades who could seriously endanger their life or cargo.

Alternative Names

Newsbringers, messangers, criers, announcers, carriers, transporters

Type

Transportation

Demand

Demand is self-fulfilling to the point where Couriers who cannot find any work travel elsewhere and places with insufficient coverage attract Couriers from other areas.