Pólvora

Pólvora is the IRL Spanish word for powder, which in this case being used to describe gunpowder.

Gunpowder in this universe is unrefined and dangerous, however it does have an interesting history in Tandeli

Gunpowder first reached Tandeli during the Waldren Occupation via trade ships. No one really found much use for it at first, not even Waldren because it was so inefficient. Good for blowing up large structures and not much else.

However, the people who wanted Waldren out realised that since Waldren weren’t using it, they could. If they used it right, they had a potential advantage.

Waldren was slowly getting pushed out of other Kingdoms, and so the rebels in Tandeli got their hands on some gunpowder, which they called Pólvora, similar to the word for ‘powder’, and used it as a bit of an intimidation tactic. Stations with large cannons were set up along the coastline to attack Waldren ships (the cannons were too big to go on ships at this point).

The ingredients are possible to get hold of in this part of the world (charcoal, sulphur, potassium nitrate), it’s just expensive and sulphur has to be imported.

After Waldren left the stations stayed active for a few years before being dismantled, the gunpowder was put into the hands of the Builder’s Guild, and the cannons given to the Royal Guard and the Navy to see if they could do anything with them.

Cannons got put to one side for a while, being deemed too large, too unwieldy and too dangerous to use properly. Smaller ones had been made, but it was still seen as too dangerous.

The powder was given to the Builder’s because sometimes you need to demolish some before you can build. It doesn’t get used very often, if ever, and is mostly forgotten about. Until the next rebellion.

During the revolution it was mostly gunpowder used as intimidation, with the hint that they might have cannons (they didn’t).

The gunpowder they had was still too destructive for precise attacks. The only real time they got to use it is right at the end on the Old Castle in Triti, which is mostly a distraction for Roman, Thomas and a small group to get in and deal with the Queen.

Since then it has been relegated to Navy use in small cannons, which was how the Navy retains it’s speed. Light cannons, limited ammunition. Really only enough for two cannon blasts.

That being said, it is still dangerous to use, so if a cannon is fired, there is a high chance that ship will be going down as well, either from damage or the ship tipping over from the force of the explosion. Therefore, only a few ships in the Navy are equipped with canons.

Training ships have prop cannons, but in a group patrolling the coastline or escorting/protecting a trade ship, only one out of five ships will have cannons, one on each side of the ship. These ships look identical to the rest, so if the group does come under attack, the attacking party wouldn’t know which ship had the cannons until it’s too late.

Cannons are fired well above the water level to lessen the damage, so that if the ship can limp back to a port it can be repaired and rebuilt. The protocol for a cannon fire is for most of the crew to abandon ship as discreetly as possible, leaving the captain, battle master and gunners. The gunners are made of volunteers among the rest of the crew, since not many would opt for such a dangerous and rarely used role from the outset, the gunner’s are literally in the line of fire and are at risk of severe injury.

No, the cannon itself is not expected to come out in one piece either.

And that’s really the only military use we have for it, blowing up massive structures, and no one’s really needed to do that for a while, so it’s just not been used since then. No one intends to use it, and Tandeli is the only place that it has any kind of presence.