A relatively new trading company that finds its origins in Twilite Space. Since its creation twelve years ago, it has expanded greatly and is now trading in a half dozen spheres.
The Stars was founded when five "city states" unified their spelljamming resources for the common good. They realized that by pooling their resources, they could earn more money and have a greater reach than alone. At first, they merely traded between themselves, but as their explorer ships pushed deeper into unknown space, they found new markets for their goods. A few minor city-states have since joined the Stars, adding more ships and resources to the Stars.
For the most part, the Stars' fleet is used to ship goods from one trading partner to another. Some ships explore other spheres in search of new markets and trade opportunities.
Clyn Shoal: The only major settlement on the cold moon of Kzundra, Clyn Shoal is a rough and tumble city. It lacked spelljammers of any sort, but became a founding member of the Stars because of a long-standing trading agreement with Greywolf. It exports a great deal of furs, gold, gems, and food. Imports include better weapons and building materials (especially wood). Clyn Shoal is also noted for being the source of some of the best mercenaries hired by the Stars.
Greywolf: As the largest city of the moon Wolven, Greywolf enjoyed much prosperity as the center of trade and commerce. It was because of this prosperity that Greywolf was able to afford to build its trademark Sealships to explore the rest of the sphere. A founder of the Five Stars, Greywolf's main contribution to the organization is trading ships. Most of the deep traders are Greywolf Sealships.
The Lateen Empire: Not really an empire at all, the Lateen more resembles a collection of dales or small towns. It is a string of inhabited asteroids connected by a massive plant, none heavily populated. The Lateen provide food for the Sun's Girdle, the asteroid belt that it lies within. It is also a major builder of ships, and its ships handle most of the Stars' trade within Twilitespace. The Lateen helped found the Stars to gain the money and magic they needed to expand to other asteroids (recently, their home asteroids are becoming somewhat crowded).A
The Starhammer Clan: The Starhammers are a fleet of dwarvish citadel ships. Its dwarves pound out valuable metal weapons, armors, and trade goods that are highly valued in several spheres. The Starhammers lack the ships to trade beyond the Sun's Girdle, but does make the goods that the other members of the Stars use to trade in other spheres. It became a founding member of the Stars to gain access to new markets.
Open Slot: This last trading partner is open for the DMs' development.
Silvenstar: The proud and magical city of Silvenstar is the chief city of Phoenix Space. As befits a frontier city in a sphere that is in the process of rebirth, Silvenstar is a rich and vibrant city. Its joining of the Stars was both an economic and political decision. For all its wealth, Silvenstar lacks a large number of spelljammers. All of her spelljammers are system traders, with little left to trade with worlds in other spheres. Silvenstar desperately needed goods that were lacking in Phoenix Space, which the ships of the Stars could provide. In return, the mages of Silvenstar provide many of the magic items used by the Stars.
The Duskherd: In the distant Drakenstar sphere, vast herds of kindori whales drift in the space between the worlds. One of these herds has become the home of to a large tribe of wilder elves. This tribe, the Duskriders, dwells in the shrub forests that cover the backs of the huge beasts. Though approaching the Duskriders was dangerous, the Stars gained a valued trading partner. The Riders can extract kindori oil easily, and use methods that cause no harm to the beast. In exchange for better weapons and food, they trade oil, several nearly unique medicines, and beautifully crafted wooden statues and art pieces.
The Hoof and the Claw: A new city, the Hoof and the Claw is a joint venture of the various "centaur" races. Mainly the home of Dracons and Centaurs, the city is located in the cold reaches of Winter Space, in orbit above the frigid world of Wyste. It pays lip service to the Stars in exchange for trade goods, ship access, and protection. Whether this city will remain with the Stars or break away depends upon how it and the Stars develop.
A large number of ships that have joined the Stars are independent traders, who were not directly tied to any one city. They make a living shipping goods between the various city-states, as well as shipping to non-member ports.
There are currently ten independent traders who have joined the Stars, but more have expressed interest in joining. The majority of the ships of the Stars are directly tied to a city-state, and thus are not considered free traders.
Goals: Trading and exploration are the chief goals of the Five Stars. They want to earn enough money to expand their fleets and become a powerful trading cartel. Much of the money that they do earn is put into improving their cities. Clyn Shoal, for instance, has added small parks, a school, and a beautiful temple. Organized crime has yet to infiltrate the Stars as the majority of the members are loyal their cities and the Stars first. Many hate crime of any sort, and will fight any attempts by crime bosses to infiltrate the Stars fiercely. They want their money to be earned honestly.
Another aspect of the Five Stars is adventuring. Many prominent members are adventurers at heart, and are often struck with wanderlust. Exploration is thus a major goal of the Stars, who want to discover just what is really out there.
Current Missions:
The Future of the Five Stars: The Stars will likely grow slowly all across Known Space. They are good terms with many other power groups of space, including the Elvish Fleet; the Smith's Coaster, the POTS, and the Sindiath Line. It is likely that several small city and nation states will join the Stars in time, expanding their markets. In time, this trading group will most likely become a Hansondonic League of space, becoming a powerful economic force.
How to Join: Not any city-state can join the Five Stars. In fact, they prefer approach a prospective trading partner cautiously rather than be approached by a city. A prospective city must meet the following criteria: an active interest in spelljamming, a "good" alignment outlook, a defensive or peaceful political stance, and a strong government. Each of these requirements is important; the Stars want to keep away from such undesirables as the Zhenthial Keep and the Horned Society.
Individual merchants have a slightly easier time joining the Stars. They must swear an allegiance to the Stars, base their ship at a Star sanctioned dock, fly the Stars' flag, and follow the simple code of good conduct. New merchants must pay a one-time entrance fee of 2,500 gp, and all independent merchants pay an annual fee of 1,000 gp. All of these fees are paid to a special fund, which is used in the financing of new escort ships.
What One Gets: All ships flying under the banner of the Five Stars must pay annual dues of 1000 gp. In return, the merchants enjoy the no trade tariff law that applies to all Stars' cities. Any member ship can trade, tariff free, within member city. They still must pay normal docking costs and some taxes, but none of the "special spelljammer taxes" that plague many groundling ports. In addition, they can request an armed escort when traveling in space. Any ship that requests escort must pay 2000 gp for the service, which pays for standard costs and salary for crewmen.
Escort Ships: It is a given fact that space is very dangerous, and ships that travel alone become targets for pirates. The Stars have discovered this fact, and have taken to finding the best and most reliable mercenaries and patriots they can find. Once a reliable group is found, the Stars either hire them, or invest the money to outfit a ship for them. Mercenaries that the Stars hire most often have their own ship, so are most often hired for a few missions.
More likely, the Stars will find a group of willing adventurers and outfit them with a small ship. Such groups do not own their ships; instead, they merely crew them. All escort ships created in this manner are the property of the whole of the Stars, and receive their orders from the founding members. If the crew of the escort ship decides to steal the ship, they would find themselves hunted men. As noted before, the Stars are on good terms with numerous powerful organizations, which would be quick to help hunt a renegade ship down.
Escort duty is rarely a boring assignment. The men and women who are given escort ships by the Stars spend a great deal of time at Mercenary Retreat, and are only called when a ship is traveling in dangerous territory. All escort ship crewmen are paid a monthly salary of 12 gp, while officers are paid 100 gp monthly. Most do not join for the money; they join for the adventure.
