Basic Information:
This discipline represents an alternative to Air Sailors and Sky Raiders for air ship based adepts. It is designed to have a more mercantile orientation than either of the previous disciplines.
Synopsis:
The Air Trader discipline represents the merchant marine adepts of Barsaive and Thera's air fleets. They are often employed by merchant houses wealthy enough to possess their own air ships or governments which run their own merchant fleet. Air Trader adepts are uncommon at best in most regions of the world, but are flourishing in the fight to reestablish the lifelines of trade destroyed by the Scourge.
History:
The Air Trader was once one of the most common disciplines followed by adepts earning their living in the skies. The Orichalcum Wars and the hard times leading up to the Scourge brought great wealth to the Air Traders, but as the skies became more and more dangerous they found their numbers dwindling as fewer and fewer Namegivers choose the Air Trader discipline. All of the airmen disciplines suffered during this time as Namegivers everyone turned their minds away from the skies and toward their underground kaers. Those Namegivers who still choose to follow airborne disciplines found themselves more often drawn to the Air Sailor or Sky Raider disciplines, seeking the battle skills that would afford them a better chance of survival against the dangers of the world.
When the Scourge began the Air Trader discipline all but disappeared in most places, it's mighty ships grounded for centuries. Here and there the occasional Master or Journeyman looked forward to seeing the sky once again, often putting their talents to use as common merchants during the long dark years underground. Many kaers forgot that they ever existed, some were thankful to be freed of the greed driven "Sky Mongers" but most simply relegated them to the past, one of the many disciplines lost to the dark of the Scourge.
Since emerging from the kaers, the Air Traders have made slow but steady progress in rebuilding their once mighty aerial network of trade. Though still quite rare in most parts of the world, the Theran's have once again begun to recognize them as a viable discipline as have several city-states in nearby lands.
Important Attributes:
Dexterity, Charisma, Perception
Racial Restrictions:
Obsidiman
Karma Ritual:
???
Artisan Skills:
Embroidery (Sail), Tatooing, Wood Carving
Talents:
(Items with emphasis are Discipline Use Talents)
First Circle:
New Talents:
The Read Skies talent is used help navigate the often dangerous skies. It is an enhanced sense which is part weather sense and part observation. An Air Trader can use Read Skies to anticipate and avoid dangerous weather and other hazards, track other air ships and navigate through distant skies.
Special Notes:
Training:
The Air Trader's were once a highly organized discipline with many traditions which bound and shaped them. Much has changed in the years, but they still follow many of the same or similar practices.
Ritual of the Ghost Master:
Half-Magic and Talent Crisis:
Except where otherwise noted, all original material is Copyright 1998-2002 by Blair A. Monroe and Kama D.S. Monroe.