Courier Ships

Swift Passage in the Storm

Crossing Worlds, Changing Lives! Sail the Warp Waves aboard the Rosegolds, the finest Couriers to ever take to The Seas! Enjoy luxury cabins, sweeping Warp beauty, and a journey so swift your only wish would be more time to enjoy! United Lines, Uniting Worlds.
— From the travel brochures of United Lines, the foremost passenger and mail Courier of the 12 Worlds back in the 130s.

Courier ships, once upon a time, marked the absolute pinnacle of Trans-World transportation. Their graceful lines and powerful drives propelling them between the 12 Worlds, carrying their fair loads of passengers, mail, or sheer cargo, these vessels were the prides and glories of the Trading Companies of old. During their golden days, it seemed new speeds records were being broken every few weeks, as journeys across the vast perils of the Warp the once took half a year were being done in half a month.

Origins

Such ships as these first found their footing not with the merchants and traders who they'd serve so faithfully, but within the Fleet of the United Commonwealth Navy. The technologies that would be so integral to their successes were once the closely guarded secrets of the UCN's Ship Construction and Naval Research Offices, and the first Couriers, dubbed the Clipper-class, would take to the Seas in the summer of 96 A.S., almost a century ago.

Service To The State

In Naval service, the ships would form the vital links between the United Commonwealth government leadership in Bardin, Albion, Weslich, and other places, and the rest of the nations and peoples of the UC. At first, they would only carry the most important government and military correspondence, on matters of vital UC interest, but as their numbers and size grew greater and greater, their usage grew until they became the express communication mode of choice for the United Commonwealth. Of such importance were the Couriers to the very existence of the Commonwealth, it would be said that a nation would not be accepted unless an Express Courier was able to carry a letter to its shores from the Commonwealth Central within the fortnight it was sent. Trade and commerce, law and order, the very execution of the duties of state within the vast borders of the United Commonwealth would grow dependent on the efficiency and security of this class of ship.

War Winning not-Weapon

The first occasions during which the Couriers would be put to the test would be the Chainbreaker Campaigns. In them, the United Commonwealth and its allies sought to bring about the absolute and permemnt destruction of the practice of slavery anywhere in the 12 Worlds, a task which required incredible feats of command and control to be accomplished constantly, as the combined forces of several dozen warships and thousands of troops had to be synchronised across all Worlds. The Couriers played a key role in this mission, ferrying documents, orders, and key personnel with terrific speeds which constantly unnerved the opposition, keeping the forces against slavery in the initiative. They formed the vital links in the military chain that freed millions of souls from the shackles of slavery, though their fame in service would often be overshadowed by their flashier, armed colleagues in the Fleet.