Battle of the Blackstorm

**Nesarian Empire:**
28 ships of the line
1 Inquisitorial vessel
24 frigates
18 sloops
10 brigs
21 corvettes

**Republicans:**
14 ships of the line
15 frigates
20 sloops
11 corvettes

The **Battle of the Blackstorm**, also known as Blackstorm Battle, was the largest naval engagement of the Imperial Civil War, in which the Black Navy - a coalition of Witch-Pirates - was decisively defeated by a fleet commanded by Admiral Safera the Huntress which included vessels from the semi-independent Kingdom of Saveria, the Nesarian Empire and the Republican rebels. With a total of exactly 400 ships taking part, 129 of which were ships of the line, and a total of over 16,000 guns, it is not only the largest naval battle in Inecurian history by a significant margin, but it ranks as the naval battle with the highest individual gun count in history by over an order of magnitude. The battle was also the longest naval battle in Inecurian history, lasting an estimated ten hours from morning to sunset.

Though the battle led to the near-total destruction of the Black Navy and their reduction to a negligible threat, Admiral Safera took fatal wounds which she succumbed to barely an hour after the battle's conclusion. The coalition fleet also took heavily casualties despite decisively destroying their foe, crippling the ability of either the Loyalists or Republicans to continue the war against each other on the waves of Titan's Rift.

## Prelude

Though any gathering of the Black Navy would have drawn Admiral Safera into combat, as she greatly desired to annihilate the Witch-Pirate threat, Safera and the other fleets in the region made their way to Titan's Rift because of a strongly-worded Inquisitorial recommendation - that is, a thinly veiled order - to target the gathering taking place there, not merely because of its unprecedented size, but because the gathering was for the purpose of performing a ritual to shatter the dimensional barrier with the Dreadlands in order to bring the abominable Dread Titan known as Valkor the Depthlord into this world. This ritual involved the mass sacrifice of prisoners, harvesting their life-force to provide the magical energy necessary to tear open the fabric of reality, and the turbulent waves and dark skies this created gave the Battle of the Blackstorm its name.

Admiral Safera was recognised by both the Imperial and Saverian fleets in the region as being a highly experienced and skilled commander, and so she was entrusted with overall command. Republican vessels in the area also knew of the gathering of Witch-Pirates, and when they were informed of Imperial and Saverian ships on the move they sent a message inquiring if their purpose was to fight the Black Navy. When they confirmed that it was, the Republicans joined forces with them, and although at first there was a great deal of mutual mistrust, all sides recognised that the threat they faced was above any worldly politics.

The fleet that Safera managed to assemble under herself was huge, but so was that of the Black Navy, comprised not only of ships they had stolen or constructed but also a great number of so-called "Demon Ships", which were vessels constructed in the Dreadlands which often contained magical elements. The most infamous of these, and one of the largest and most powerful, was the flagship of Plaguelord Bulspag the Jovial, a putrid festering vessel covered in mould, pustules and buboes named *Rotweaver*. Since the ritual was already partially underway when Safera's fleet arrived to challenge the Black Navy, many of the Demon Ships she had to face were ones which had just come over from the Dreadlands, through the small but rapidly expanding dimensional portal.