Black Ice Couriers

In the Eternal Frost, where a three-day journey can become a death sentence and entire patrols vanish into whiteout storms, there exists an organization that does not fail. The Black Ice Couriers are the shadows on the snow, the footprints that appear where no living thing should survive. They are whispered about in taverns and cursed in fortress-cities, hailed as saviors by desperate settlements and condemned as criminals by those who value control over survival.

They do not swear oaths to nations or ideologies. They do not choose sides in the wars between the Order of the Last Light and the Iron Hand Regiment. They simply deliver—medicine through killing blizzards, intelligence through enemy lines, contraband through locked borders. Their price is coin, their reputation is iron, and their presence is a paradox: universally needed, universally mistrusted.

In a world where hope, order, and savagery clash in the frozen dark, the Black Ice Couriers represent something else entirely: the ultimate, chilling pragmatism. Where others see deadly storms, they see cover. Where others see impassable terrain, they see routes unknown to their enemies. Where others turn back, they push on.

The legend is built on one terrifying truth: they do not fail.

Public Knowledge

What Everyone Knows

They Are Swift Beyond Reason

A Black Ice Courier can cross distances in impossible time. A journey that takes a well-equipped patrol five days, they complete in two. Some claim they've seen couriers traveling at night, during the worst storms, when even the Frostmarked refuse to venture out. Their sleds move like black knives through the white, silent and swift.

The secret of their speed is the subject of much speculation: enchanted runners that melt the ice beneath them, knowledge of ancient imperial tunnels, pacts with frost spirits, or simply unparalleled skill and courage. The Couriers themselves never explain, and survivors who've tried to follow their routes often don't return.

They Work for Anyone

The Couriers are utterly neutral in word, if not always in deed. They've delivered supplies to the Order of the Last Light and intelligence reports to the Iron Hand Regiment. They've transported cultist relics and refugee children. They don't judge their clients' morality—only their ability to pay.

This neutrality makes them both invaluable and despised. Every faction uses them, and every faction knows their rivals do the same. The Iron Hand tolerates them because logistics requires it. The Order cooperates because sometimes only the Couriers can reach isolated communities. The Iceclaw Raiders kill them on sight, but even Raiders have been known to hire them when desperation demands it.

They Never Break a Contract

Once a Black Ice Courier accepts payment and takes possession of a package, that delivery will be completed. They do not negotiate. They do not make excuses. They do not fail.

Stories abound: a Courier delivering a letter through a literal wall of Iceclaw Raiders, arriving with three arrows in their back. A package appearing at its destination despite the Courier's frozen corpse being found miles away—suggesting they passed it to another Runner before dying. A medicine cache arriving at a plague-stricken settlement on the exact day promised, despite the road being buried in an avalanche.

Whether this perfect record is due to skill, magic, or simply survivor bias (the failures don't return to tell their stories) is unclear. What matters is the reputation: if you can afford the Black Ice, your delivery is guaranteed.

They Are Silent and Anonymous

Couriers rarely speak more than necessary. They arrive, verify the contract, take the package, and vanish. Some wear dark, weather-beaten gear with frost-covered scarves hiding their faces. Others blend into crowds at trading posts, indistinguishable from common travelers until they produce the black ice shard that marks them as Runners.

Most operate under call signs rather than names: "Windcutter," "Frostwalker," "Silent One." Their true identities remain secret, and attempting to follow a Courier back to their base is considered suicidal foolishness.

How to Hire Them

One does not simply approach the Black Ice Couriers. They approach you—or rather, their agents do.

In major settlements like High Hearth or Farrow's Rest, certain individuals known as "Fixers" operate in the open. They might run taverns, manage trade posts, or work as independent merchants. If you need the Couriers' services, you mention your need carefully to the right people, and eventually a Fixer will find you.

The negotiation is straightforward: What needs to be delivered? Where? When? The Fixer quotes a price in tangible currency—stamped silver, rare medical supplies, specific scavenged technology, or actionable intelligence. Hope and promises are not valid payment.

If you accept, you pay half upfront. The package is marked with a black wax seal. You are given a contract token, a small chip of dark ice that will melt when the delivery is confirmed. You do not ask what route they'll take. You do not ask who the Runner will be. You do not ask to see inside the package again.

And then you wait. The delivery will arrive, or you will receive confirmation of receipt. The black ice token will melt. The remaining payment will be collected.

It is that simple, and that absolute.

The Courier's Code

Though they rarely speak of it openly, the Black Ice organization operates according to a strict internal philosophy. Outsiders have pieced together the main tenets from observation and the rare defector:

• The Contract is Absolute — The package, the destination, and the deadline are the only truths that matter. Personal feelings, politics, and morality are irrelevant.
• Discretion is Armor — A Courier never speaks of clients, contents, or routes. Silence protects everyone, especially the Courier.
• The Cold is Our Cloak — The deadly winter is not an enemy but a tool. Master survival, and you can use the worst storms to evade your enemies.
• Payment is Proof — The world runs on scarcity. Only tangible assets have value. A contract is real when payment is secured.

Breaking these tenets results in immediate expulsion or worse. Rogue couriers are hunted down with the same ruthless efficiency the organization brings to deliveries. The Black Ice does not tolerate betrayal—it's bad for business.

Dangers and Warnings

Do Not Open the Package

Whatever you're transporting, it's not your concern. Couriers who succumb to curiosity often disappear. Whether they're killed by their employers, by what's inside the package, or by the organization itself is unclear.

Do Not Try to Follow Them

Many have attempted to track Black Ice Couriers back to their waystations or discover their secret routes. Almost none succeed. Those who do sometimes wish they hadn't—the Couriers' "Black Sites" are rumored to be defended by more than locks and walls.

Do Not Break Your Contract as a Client

If you hire the Black Ice and fail to pay the second half, they will find you. They are patient, thorough, and utterly implacable about collecting debts. Communities that have defaulted report visits from quiet individuals who methodically inventory everything of value, then depart with "payment in kind."

Do Not Become a Liability

The Couriers protect their reputation above all. If you threaten to expose their routes, their Fixers, or their methods, you become a problem. Problems are solved efficiently and permanently.

Rumors and Mysteries

Are They Connected to the Old Empire?

Some scholars notice that the Couriers seem to know too much. They navigate terrain with imperial precision, operate from locations near old military installations, and possess technology that shouldn't exist anymore. Are they descendants of some pre-Fall organization? Scavengers who stumbled onto a cache of knowledge? Or simply very good at their jobs?

The Couriers never comment, and asking too directly is unwise.

Who is "The Dispatcher"?

All contracts apparently originate from a single, unseen authority known only as "The Dispatcher." No one has met them. No one knows if they're one person, a committee, or even still alive. Yet the network functions with eerie coordination, as if guided by a single, calculating mind.

What's in the Black Sites?

The hidden waystations where Couriers rest and resupply are the subject of wild speculation. Some say they're heated by ancient geothermal taps. Others claim they're defended by animated constructs or bound spirits. A few insist they're connected by secret tunnels running beneath the entire continent.

What's certain is that no one finds a Black Site unless the Couriers want them to.

Why Don't They Rule?

With their resources, knowledge, and reach, the Black Ice Couriers could potentially dominate the wastes. Yet they remain in the shadows, content to facilitate rather than control. Some say it's the Code—power attracts attention, and attention is death in their line of work. Others whisper darker theories: that they're playing a longer game, manipulating factions against each other, ensuring no single power ever achieves total dominance.

If true, it raises a chilling question: who benefits from the eternal stalemate?

Notable Figures

Silas, Station Master of the Greysteel Warren (Rumored)

Supposedly an imperial-era automaton reprogrammed to serve the network. Known for repairing sleds with scavenged parts and speaking in clipped, formal tones. If Silas exists, they represent a living link to the pre-Fall world—and all its forbidden knowledge.

Mara, Wayfinder Prime (Confirmed)

A Frostmarked woman who can allegedly predict the Frost's movements days in advance. She trains new Runners and scouts new routes. Those who've met her report an unnerving calm, as if she's at peace with the frozen hell around her.

Jax, the Turncoat (Active Threat)

A former Black Ice Runner who broke away to work as an independent. He uses the skills the Couriers taught him for pure self-interest, taking jobs the network refuses. He's a dark mirror of what happens when the Code is abandoned—and a rival the organization would very much like to silence.

Relations with Other Factions

Order of the Last Light

"Clients like any other. Their hope pays as well as coin."
The Order uses the Couriers to reach isolated communities and deliver supplies. The Couriers ensure the Order isn't completely wiped out, as their idealism prevents total societal collapse (which is bad for business).

Iron Hand Regiment

"Our most frequent and reliable client. Order requires logistics."
The Hand employs the Couriers extensively but resents their independence. The Couriers take their coin and occasionally sabotage their overreach—leaking plans to rivals, arming dissidents. Balance must be maintained.

Iceclaw Raiders

"Predators who understand only strength. They are prey or employer, nothing between."
Open hostility. The Raiders kill Couriers on sight when they can catch them. Yet even they sometimes hire the network when no one else can deliver.

Frost Cults

"Useful clients. Their faith makes them predictable. Their desperation makes them generous."
The Couriers deliver cult relics and ritual materials without judgment. Cultists appreciate the discretion and pay extremely well in scavenged artifacts.

Joining the Black Ice

The organization does not recruit openly. They observe. Fixers and Wayfinders watch for individuals with the right combination of skill, nerve, and self-reliance: independent couriers who've survived impossible runs, disillusioned soldiers from major factions, lone survivors who've crossed the wastes without support.

If they're interested, the invitation comes quietly—a coded message in a ration tin, a whispered offer in a tavern corner. Accepting leads to the Trial Run: a low-value, high-difficulty delivery designed to test skill and character. Will you open the package? Will you abandon the contract to help refugees? Will you sell information to a rival?

The correct answer to all these is no.

Success earns you a place in the network and a Runner's call sign. Failure usually means a quiet, frozen death.

For Travelers and Scavengers

If You Need Them

Find a Fixer. Pay in tangible assets. Do not haggle. Do not ask questions. Trust the process.

If You Meet Them in the Wastes

Give them space. Do not follow. Do not ask where they're going or what they're carrying. A polite nod is acceptable; conversation is not expected.

If You're Offered a Job

Understand what you're agreeing to: solitude, danger, absolute loyalty to the contract above all else—including your own life. If you can accept that, and if you survive the Trial Run, you'll have a place in the most reliable organization left in the frozen world.

You'll also have given up everything else.

Related Articles

• The Endless Winter
• The Day the World Broke
• High Hearth (Major Settlement)
• Farrow's Rest
• Order of the Last Light
• Iron Hand Regiment
• Iceclaw Raiders
• The Silver Company (Rival Faction)
• Sleds and Winter Travel
• Frostmarked (Ancestry)
• Frost Madness

"They say the Black Ice can outrun death itself. I don't know if that's true. But I've seen them arrive when everyone said it was impossible, deliver when everyone said it was suicide, and vanish when everyone said they couldn't escape. Maybe they can't outrun death. Maybe they just know routes death hasn't found yet."

— Torvin Half-Frost, Scavenger, Year 28

"The Contract is Absolute. The Cold is Our Cloak. The rest is just noise in the storm."

— Black Ice Courier's Code, Traditional saying