Cloud Traders

 

The Cloud Traders are welcome in a lot of countries, since they have a large amount of Falls and are willing to trade it. However, in Aldhir we will never accept them. What good does it that they can deliver vital resources if they use violence against Dragons and mistreatment of their own to get it. Profits should never come at the cost of one's conscience.

— High Sage Syronikir

  The Cloud Traders are a company founded by Gnomes and finds it's origin in the Crystal Valley. Today it is one of the most profitable companies in the world. This is largely due to their primary trading resource, Falls, which are plentiful in their home region.   The company itself is still quite young. Since the Raitin could only trade via a southern route or a small strip of coast in the north, they were not a major trading nation for quite some time. This all changed when airships were invented. The Cloud Traders were one of the first to make use of this new technology.  

 

   

 

Origin

  When the first airships started appearing in Niorath they were mainly used for military purposes. However, with the expanding demand for Falls and the large abundance of them in the Crystal Valley, it was only a matter of time before they would be used commercially.   The Cloud Traders was created during this time and quickly became the main supplier of Falls in Oneraga. Before the airships the Raitin were limited to only a few slow trade routes with other nations. With the new possibilities the Cloud Traders became an important part of the Raitin economy.  

 

Expansion

  Once they had grown in size the Cloud Traders decided to use their newly aquired wealth to gain the necessary resources directly. They started funding the creation of new mining settlement of which Orinaka was the first.   The living conditions in these settlements is rather poor even to this day. The main focus of the Cloud Traders is to make as much profit as possible and they are known to cut corners wherever they can.

   

 

Organisation

  The company was founded by the Takanara family and is still run by them to this day. They are, however, not the only people working for them and many higher positions in the company are even in the hands of non family members.   After the higher management positions the captains are held in the highest regard in the company. They are well trained, loyal and receive a very good salary. Crew members are also pretty well payed.   At the bottom of the company there are some lower tier management positions for the mining settlements. But the majority of the low income workers for the Cloud Traders exists out of the miners they employ. To the Cloud Traders they are seen as easily replacable assets.  

Other Resources

  The main income of the Cloud Traders is of course the Falls. However, over time they have expanded the goods they trade. One of the more lucrative items they sell are the clockworks of the Tenari. Since the Tenari themselves do not have a lot of accessible traderoutes they use the Cloud Traders to sell many of their goods.   Recently the Cloud Traders have also started in trading exotic kinds of wood. They have set up new settlements near the edge of the Mizarin Jungle to gather the wood found there. Especially in richer families this is considered a new must have trend.