Headquarters and Stables of the Ostrosaurus Express
Outside the city walls of MercTown is a large fenced in compound and stables of the Ostrosaurus Express. Inspired and named after the legendary Pony Express of the American Old West, this business serves as an independent mail and small package delivery service that mainly operates east of the Mississippi River and parts of the southwest.
The Ostrosaurus Express is not a shipping company, rather it functions as a private mail carrier for hire. In return for a reasonable shipping and delivery fee (10-1000 credits depending where the item is to be delivered, with most fees ranging from 40-200 credits) the company delivers letters and small packages no larger than two feet in diameter and no more than 20 pounds to destinations throughout the east and parts of the southwest. Packages and letters are carried by a single rider on an Ostrosaurus. While the Ostrosaurus Express is virtually unknown in the
central part of the country and CS held territories, it has a long history in the east. At present the company is known throughout the Magic Zone, MercTown, Dweomer, Magestar, Stormspire, Lazlo, Nelli, Lazlo, the GAW city-states, Arzno, Los Alamo, El Paso and numerous minor kingdoms and towns throughout the region.
The company is the brainchild of Ronald Pickett, an explorer, scholar and adventurer from Lazlo who was captured by Simvan on one of his treks. During his two years of captivity in the New West, Pickett came to admire the Ostrosaurus and learned to ride the monstrous beast. Later, he came upon the creature again in Dinosaur Swamp where he carne up with the idea of using them as steeds to deliver mail and small packages to the tiny communities and towns scattered throughout the east. Over time, the territories covered expanded to include parts of the southwest and select northern communities like New Lazlo and Lazlo. The Ostrosaurus Express was inspired by stories he heard in the New West about the 19th century Pony Express.
Ostrosaurus Express helps to connect communities separated by wilderness and hostile territory in the form of mail carried by lone riders. A full 60% of the steeds are Ostrosaurus, with the rest made up of robot horses, normal horses, Fury Beetles, dinosaurs and other exotic animals. Animals are used instead of vehicles because the creature can navigate dense woods and rugged terrain better and quieter than a bulky vehicle. Animals are less invasive in wilderness settings; people will notice a vehicle arid the noise or tracks it makes, but an animal? The tracks of an animal, even one not normally found in that region, are usually ignored and quickly forgotten. Moreover, a lone rider can easily slip through a region inhabited by hostile forces undetected on an exotic animal, where a vehic le might raise an alarm or unwanted attention. In addition, the riding animal provides the rider with companionship during long journeys.
Ostrosaurus Express is headquartered in MercTown and keeps a large stable and corral in the Outskirts northwest of the airport. However, the Express company has established a series of Ostrosaurus Express offices or depots scattered along the Mississippi River from Missouri to the Gulf of Mexico and from MercTown to the east coast. In the last three years it has added southwest depots and delivery routes. MercTown was chosen for the HQ because of its central location to the expanding operation, and because mercenaries use the delivery service to get letters to friends and comrades or in backwoods towns, kingdoms and combat zones, as well as family back home.
The MercTown HQ consists of animal pens, stables, an administration and logistics building (with giant wall maps and computer screens), bunkhouses for riders, a mess hall, and a dispatch office. At any given time there are 36-60 riding beasts and 20-50 riders at the MercTown office resting between and waiting for their next assignment. Riders rotate on a regular schedule, and usually this works out to a week's worth of hard riding followed by a week of down time! Although Express Riders try to follow pre-established routes whenever they can, all are skilled Wilderness Scouts or equivalent OCC or RCC (ie, Psi-Stalker, Ranger, etc; 4-8th level average experience). All are skilled in navigating and surviving the wilderness and tracking down mercenary groups in the wild.
NOTE: these are taken from the Palladium Games books. Buy them to see more!