Would you mind if I offered another idea?

And bring in an equivalent to Old Sharlayan? Something like another neutral party. I'll think of a name for them. I'm hugely enamored of the Old Sharlayan aesthetic right now.

What with it being a nation of scholars, students, researchers and inventors. Maybe a contemporary of Dr. Gharlan? A Sharlayan League Aether-tech researcher. Rival schools perhaps kinda deal. And the Sharlayan league has sent my character as a kind of foil or attache to take part in the expedition.

He'd of course bring the latest in Sharlayan League research and healing gear. wink wink

Well that's what I'm thinking anyway.