Reaching for the sky

Mirrax is an neither an elected or inherited title. Rather, the previous Mirrax bestows it upon their successor. This odd system results in something of a meritocracy, where a Mirrax selects a few candidates from her captains, and when they are satisfied, passes on the title and retires.
Not many people remember the previous Mirrax. Like Ironclad Goods and Services, Mirrax Marines were someone you paid when you needed them for something, and ignored at all other times. Some remember him as a reserved man with a big belly, and a fondness for old tomes and treasure maps. Others recall him simply as a neat signature at the bottom of a cargo manifest.
At the time, even fewer people had heard the name Abitha Terribeth, his one and only captain. Her job was to patrol the archipelago off the coast of Doren’s hold, to discourage pirates from interrupting the lucrative dwarvern trading route.
When the old Mirrax died, Abitha took his place without any fuss. Some were worried she’d be an illiterate thug, no better than the pirates they hunted. Those worries were neatly allayed by the middle aged woman with frizzy red hair and a calm, commanding presence.
Mirrax wasted little time in expanding the Marines’ operation, hiring on first captain Fi, then Aurn, and finally Killingsworth. Up until that point, Mirrax Marines had been essentially a mercenary company; a cheap way of loading your ship up with soldiers who would happily fight off any pirates, thugs or weresharks that dared threaten your vessel. Mirrax worked to reverse the marines’ relationship with Ironclad Goods and Transport. Instead of them hiring her soldiers to protect their boats, she instead hired their boats and transported the cargo herself. This worked out better for everyone; IGT was no longer liable for lost cargo, and the Marines could choose their own route and way cost against reward
Under Abitha’s tight control, the Marines flourished and profits began to come pouring in. Mirrax herself remained something of an enigma; she clearly wanted to amass wealth and power, but had little interest in exercising either. There is a persistent rumor that Mirrax is a dragon, disguised as a human. It explains her temperament, her intellect, her love for gold and power and her ability to remain youthful in spite of years on the deck of ships under the hot sun. There is  second rumor that the first was manufactured and distributed entirely by Killingsworth. Both deny the respective rumors.
Still, what Mirrax’s goals are remained shrouded in mystery. Like Glodsson and Shades, she has amassed considerable personal wealth, as well as a posse of powerful heroes. The best insight one has was at the “Wind Fair”, hosted in Dejune to celebrate something-or-other. There Mirrax was introduced to the crew of the Marid, a wind-djinn ship from the plane of air, and money changed hands.
Killingsworth knew that Mirrax was building a fleet of four new magically-powered vessels that would be able to brave open waters and quash the rising pirate threat. By the time of the wind fair, three were completed: Aurn’s Dogslicer, Fie’s Aquaholic and Killingsworth’s own Gutpunch. Mirrax’s Sharknarok was due to be completed a few weeks later, as she was obviously planning on customising and improving her flagship.
But what had Mirrax bought from the Djinn? An estimated one-to-five hundred thousand gold pieces had changed hands, and Mirrax had disappeared from the public eye.
On the 360th day, a teleportation field opened above Greyton,and a monster appeared above the battlefield. An airship - made of two djinn-ship hulls, connected by the inverted hull of the Sharknarok.
The Lobstrocity (as brightly colored writing on the side proudly proclaimed) is a sight to behold. While wind-djinn ships rely on the natural currents and magic to do a lot of the heavy lifting, the lobstrocity had to make do with manpower. It takes 150 marines to even get the ship moving, with a further 100 being needed to operate it with reasonable efficiency. There was space for a further 200 troops, bringing its capacity to 550 total.
The ship was controlled entirely by arcane circles and magic sails, much of which was ironically fueled by manual labor with massive devices of balsa, copper, leather and silver to essentially construct a quartet of giant magical bellows which provided the ‘planar air’ that powered the rest of the ship. 10 bassiste bristled from each hull, ready to rain merry death on those below.
All was not well however, as the Lobstrocity’s maiden voyage had shaken much of its inner workings loose. The ship moored above castle grey, while the hundreds of crew rushed around making spot repairs so the vessel could be airworthy before the next wave arrived.
At the helm stood Lady Abitha Terribeth Mirrax as she watched her men work, occasionally arbitrating solutions when repair crews began to work at cross purposes.
As for why she had opted to aid Greyton as opposed to the many other locations willing to pay for her help, she would be heard to remark that Shades had brought this upon himself, which didn’t really answer the question at all.