The creation of the first sky ship silenced the critics, catapulting the creator to stardom and raising her house to a place on the council. More ships proliferated, but these early ships were small, ad-hoc affairs. The military dismissed these sky ships as a waste of time, refusing to spare any men to help guard and defend what they considered a foolish venture. The many, often fatal, accidents of the early flights seemed to confirm this.

Forced to fend for themselves, a new breed of merchant-warriors arose – the Avertigos. Each was a master of battle and trade in their own right, with their own specialised skills and combat tactics to help them survive the skies and threats they met while trading – which were plentiful. An older Avertigo was rare, an unscarred one rarer. But with great risk came great profit, and an Avertigo who made their mark had their pick of crew and contracts.

As Avertigos became more experienced, they helped the creator to develop new ships, ships designed with flight in mind. A new industry was born, and ships grew, able to accommodate more than one Avertigo and their crew at a time. These new ships cut through the sky with speed and grace, making the world much smaller and filling all who saw them with awe.

The Avertigos revelled in reaching alarming heights, and new sky-docks rose up to meet them there, changing the nature of cities and trade. The merchant houses brought Avertigos into their houses through marriage, and would give their children furthest down the line of succession a ship to go make their mark. Those that survived were considered lucky, and only those that were successful considered worthy.

 

The military came to realise the value of Sky Ships, but with Bayanore fiercely guarded by the traders they had to resort to paying the merchant houses for access to the sky ships, and many left the military to chase their dreams of flight and glory. This led to a decline in the power and the influence of the military houses, changing the politics of the Dynasty and creating a new power structure.