Mehn Gunboat

**Key Features** | »Swivel Guns»Outboard Motor»Reinforced Deck»Ammunitions Cage (Well stocked)»Copy of "The Lighthouse at the End of the World" (to pass the time)

*"Hope?"*

*"A Songbird, Devoured by Silence."*

*"A Ray. Death."*

*"The Power of the Deceased."*

Translated from the songs of Lola Kiepja, the last Selk'nam

## Tactical Analysis

* **Where nobody else dares to go:** The Selk'nam is an odd take on naval warfare, instead of focusing on strength, resilience or range, this ship is meant to simply overrun any enemies by sheer numbers.

* **Whatever we do, let's to it fast:** Not only it is a ship meant to be deployed in large quantities, but it also has a great emphasis on sheer rate of fire, being able to drown enemy vessels under the weight of ordnance put out by its guns.

* **Forlorn Hope:** This comes at a price of course. The Selk'nam is actually pretty weak as a boat, being rather easy to sink, even if it comes on large numbers, it's particularly vulnerable to any offshore fire that may be directed at it.

* **Unlikely Survivor:** For the few Selk'nam crews who've managed to survive constant confrontation with the enemies, their experience mostly mounts up to becoming better at their designed roles, fire from their platforms is somehow even faster, and the Gunboat becomes capable of reaching speeds unheard of.

## Background

The situation of Tierra del Fuego is one of the greatest mysteries that the post war Federation has seen. Just as the counteroffensive that drove the Allies back to Argentina and beyond started, communications with the cities that are located there, both Ushuaia and Punta Arenas, as well as many more smaller localities, were completely shut down.

Though this was at first thought to be a maneuver of the rebels in an attempt to disable the attempts of the garrisons located there to suppress the rebellion, the fact that once peace returned the cities still remained silent was met with nothing but pure astonishment, what’s more, any attempt at trying to reach those places and reestablish contact. Even by hand, have been absolutely futile, with no patrols ever having reached the localities and survived to tell the tale.

Unsurpringly, the authorities of the Federation are absolutely aghast by the situation, not only are the citizenship absolutely wild about the situation, public demonstrations mounting up by the week demanding answers regarding the Patagonian question and the truth regarding the situation of the southern reaches of the country. Problem is, the authorities are as ignorant of the situation as the common citizen, and their fear is starting to show.

Concerns are truly great regarding this perplexing mystery, not only the loss in lifes is immense, but the complete disappearance of two whole cities is mind boggling, that however hasn’t stopped theories and actions to be done about the situation.

The military leadership, or whatever remains of it anyways, has already a public stance, having drawn the conclusion that this action is actually a self-perpetrated sabotage by the allies, having cut off their own lines of communications in hopes of mounting a base of operations at the southernmost extreme of the continent to then retake the territory once again in a surprise attack when the people least expect, they know of course this theory is almost completely implausible, the Allies not having the means nor the man power to actually pull off such an action, not to mention it simply wouldn’t make sense to simply self-sabotage territory that’s still regarded as part of the Alliance, nonetheless, this claim has managed to calm the animosities somewhat, as well as help the citizenship to drive them to a more constructive goal, to mount up the defenses against… whatever is waiting beyond the inhospitable reaches of the farthest Patagonia.

It’s no surprise that solving the question of what exactly happened with Tierra del Fuego and taking it over again, by force if necessary, is deemed a top priority amongst the Federal Military intelligence, after all, Tierra del Fuego is not simply an inhospitable piece of frozen at the end of the world, it’s actually a perfectly strategically located island that’s in an unrivalled position to control the trade amongst the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and even though shipping has dwindled in great manner since the construction of the Panama Canal, controlling the overseas trade routes still means great business, not to mention the importance of the control of this territory when it comes to controlling the flow of ships from enemy polities.

What is a surprise however is how much personal attention has the Vicar taken on the subject, having almost a complete involvement in the designing, crafting, building and training the crews of the new Selk’nam Gunboats, as they have been a new boat class specifically designed for the patrolling of the Fjords that compose most of the fragmented and isolated Chilean Patagonia.

The specifications the Vicar has given during the conceptualization and eventual consolidation of this new Patagonian fleet have often being oddly specific, frequently downright bizarre. Insisting on utilizing a handpicked selection of marines, all very native to the territory and very familiar with the landscape, their training have put much emphasis on coordination and speed, with hit and run tactics and tactical retreats being the main component of their fighting doctrine.

The gunships are armed with an emphasis on quick firing weaponry that’d be as easy as humanly possible to reload, swivel mounts being mandatory and the adoption of larger weaponry being deemed a complete waste of resources for this situation, what’s more, huge efforts were made to make these new boats as easy and cheap to assemble as humanely possible, with the intentions of figuratively infesting the waters of the southern islands with as many of these ships as possible, putting great emphasis on always having a radio handler active, just in case.

These, amongst many other eerily specific instructions have done nothing but increase the uneasiness the whole situation projects not only to the citizenship in general, but amongst the very ministers of the Federation, it’s simply rare for the Vicar to get involved so personally in a military Endeavour, normally considering the military life is simply not of her concern but, what’s got the people the most preoccupied is the mere fact that, unlike anything else where the Vicar has bothered to speak her stance on the subject, this time she seems to show genuine fear.

 **Detailed Information** | •