Glass fleet

For many years the multiple shipwrights of Rumen had been attempted to reverse engineer the ships that had been captured from the Askegri, Several new techniques would be pioneered across the time before finally having created a new ship that could carry several tons of cargo whilst being able to sail in the wind no matter its direction and resist the high waves of the open sea, something that no other ship across the Erigiresh could do. Officially the design was only allowed to be used by Kisurani merchants however the sail design had worked its way into the hands of Drukai companies too although being unable to sail too far from the city of Dorgoil before going mad it was mainly used on riverine ships.

The old Mailk Nanuk had been funding a grand voyage to the wild north for their riches in glass and advanced weapons that he had been greatly interested in whilst he read about the voyages of the Enkidi all those years ago. The current Maliki, Mangkur was adamant that her fathers wish of a voyage north should still go on to show that the Kisuran could not be stopped when the people where determined to do something, sending a clear message to the Republic of Urudik that the unification war would not end with the murder of Nanuk. Resources would be gathered and an advanced fleet sent out to secure provisions and supplies across the planned route a month before the grand fleet would raise anchor and follow after them.

The day the ships where ready to leave was one of celebration and parting and the hundreds of men who would man the ships said goodbye to their loved ones for the last for many years and the last of the cargo was loaded up. The trade goods onboard consisted of rich tapestries, fine pottery of jars and figures of the gods, many tons of gems and other metals that they had heard where very valuable in the north and finally countless amounts of ornate bronze armour, daggers and other weapons encrusted with valuable stones and animal hides.

The crew was made up of a mixture of men and women, many who followed the word of Ilkhur and had moved all the way from Kisuran to take part in the journey. A large minority would be worshippers of the traditional pantheon and a handful of human Zog worshippers and Werran converts from the city of Rumen where also among the roster. The Werran preachers where valued for their ability to speak the language of the Jordans but had been told that should they attempted to convert crew members any involved would be punished severely.

At midday the fleet would leave port, with fireworks being let off and huge celebrations taking place at this apparent future dominance of the northern savages. The fleets captain, Az Anem, would also share this belief, with his ships being armed well with bombards specifically designed to take on other ships and hearing about how Juhvenese ships where no more advanced than those that sailed the rivers he called home.

## Part 2

A handful of men shood on the deck of the ship Kalef, talking about many things such as their lives back home, what lay ahead of their journey and what not. After a while the ships Werran translator and priest would show up and the group would break apart and go their separate ways, leaving Kapa and the Werran, Tarû, standing next to each other with a heavy silence setting in between them. Eventually Tarû would break the silence and ask “Why does the rest of the crew want nothing to do with me?”

This took Kapa aback by how forward he was with the question. He spent some time trying to think about how to best answer the question whilst Tarû would carry on, “Like I haven’t hurt any of them or done anything to their expense”

“I imagine its gotten something to do with how easily you where able to turn your back on the true gods so easily. Many would rather have you burnt or tossed over if you weren’t important to the mission.”

“I don’t see anything wrong with my faith, its no different to the Kisuranis and their isolation of Ilkhur above all other gods.”

“I mean that’s not what they worship, they just think all gods are Ilkhur and don’t try and run a sword through you if you don’t agree”

“And I believe that your gods are inferior to Arkhas”

“That’s it right there, you Werrans or Arkans or what ever you go by just think your soo much better than the rest of us. Always on about your glorious crusade against the gods and how you will vanquish your enemies with divine powers”

The Werran was quite for a bit, and Kapa would go look out over the violate waves that accosted the Karuthen coastline, wondering how many days it would be before they could get back to land again. Tarû would come back by saying “And yet no one hates those who worship the gods in Varsha”

“Yeah because most have better reasons to hate them” Kapa shot back, “And no one really knows what gods they like to believe have they have the favour of”

“Yeah that’s true. Well how could I at least go about making some people like me then, I don’t want to spend this who voyage cooped in my quarters during my down time”

“Drop the religion talk and just be normal I guess, invite some people you like back for a drink or something”

“Aye that could work.”

The 2 would talk for a few more minutes before going their separate ways, Tarû eventually finding some people he could call friends and becoming about as tolerable as he could.

## Part 3

The massive armada would soon make its first stop to collect supplies in a port city in Karuthen, the small canoes of the local fishermen being utterly dwarfed by the Kisurani ships, the fleet being so large they couldn’t all dock at the same time, with many vessels being forced to anchor off the coast with smaller row boats being sent out to resupply them. This would take several days with them being forced to stay several more days in the town than they had planned for. During this time the towns markets would be full of Kisurani sailors buying and selling personal goods for trinkets they could take back home with them.

By the time the fleet was ready to sail it had been over 3 weeks since they first arrived and they where now severally behind and holding up traffic into the port. The last ship would leave with the sight of many a trade man and whore house owner waving away the men that had made them rich enough to retire. Once again on the open sea the fleet would try its best to regain lost ground, making quick progress across the summer sea on their way to darlinia.

## Part 4

Outside the winds where whipping the top of the sea into a horrible rain, battering the fleet with the elements. Men battled the winds and waves to keep the ships on course, getting soaked to the bone whilst they did and the hulls of vessels being patched continuously. Inside his mess room the captain of the ship Kalef was having tea with one of his junior officers, mixing the strange leaves they had collected in Karuthen with some hot water. Leaving the leaves to mix into the liquid the 2 began to talk. “How long do you think this storms going to go on for?” the officer asked.

“Not sure, I heard they don’t last too long in this sea, so maybe a few more days at most. Still I hear the storms west from here get much worse, waves the size of a ship to fight against”

“How’d you know that? No one has gone west and come back alive”

“I managed to acquire some books when I was on campaign years ago, some small library outside Enkidu had copies of these books written by a Kingdom on the north. Claims they sailed all the way across the world from the far west”

“That is truly a great feat, does it detail how exactly they where able to do that?”

“It doesn’t really, just focuses on their history in the north. The author does mention that the ships they used where the size of cities and could carry 20,000 men with enough supplies to sail for a year without resupplying”

“That truly is amazing, if you have this book with you I would love to read it, if you allow that is”

“Feel free, I’ve read it through a few times now. I must ask that you only read it in here though” the captain said, standing up and heading to open a locker at the foot of his bed, swaying as the boat rocked.

The book was bound it a thick leather cover with delicate parchment carefully inscribed with a fine array of ink foreign characters unlike anything the Officer had ever seen. The captain also handed him a version written in Eriaz, “I had to translate that myself y’know. Spend years getting all the language manuals from a trader in Elderline, translation might be a bit rough in some places but it all seems right”

“Thankyou very much sir, do you know what happened to these peoples? I don’t recall the first voyagers having ever seen a ‘Moleman’… what is a mole man meant to be?” the officer broke out in a chuckle, soon joined by his superior.

“I suspect it was a limitation with my translation abilities, could mean anything if I’m being honest.”

“And like I was going to say, did the Enkidi sailors meet these sailing people?”

“I don’t think so, may very well have just sailed further east after a few years.”

“Yeah that would make sense. I think the teas ready now” The officer said, reaching for his cup and passing the captain his own.

“Lets hope this is worth the gems I spent for it eh”

## Part 5

On the approach to the Darlinia canal a handful of the local galleys rowed out to meet the fleet and guide them through. The canal would cut an estimated 2 weeks off their travel time as it cut across the Darlinia peninsular, a very valuable asset for the local lords who could tax any and all ships that passed through. The ships that had first come through and paid the way for the rest of fleet behind them, giving away mountains of gemstones, with their stone cargo getting more and more valuable as they headed north they would need to spend less to get further.

The first few ships would start to file through the narrow water way, looking out at the mighty canal as the vessels where hauled by trains of horses and donkeys. The few hours it took to get through gave most of the crew a lot of time to relax and spectate the strange jungles and mighty stone fortresses that lined the waters edge. A handful of tribesmen where seen, skittishly hugging the tree line looking at the insane size of the masts and sails of the Erigi vessels, utterly dwarfing the handful of other ships that made it through on the same day.

About 12 ships got through on the first day, with another 18 getting through the second day. On the third a bit of a problem would occur, as communication mistakes lead to dispersed arrow fire from a local garrison. This happened because of the inability to effectively communicate and being forced to rely on hand signals. 2 men would be hit with an arrow each before the men where ordered to stand down, as an attempted to try and make up for the incident the ships where given a refund of gems equating to about 10 passes through the canal. 3 more days would be spend passing across the canal with the ships taking on new supplies on the other side before eventually carrying on north, with warning of pirates further along not being headed due to no one knowing what the locals where yelling about.

## Part 6

As the fleet cruised through the Trisk Sea in a fine mist many looked out at the calm waters and would thank their gods for not giving them another storm. However they would have other plans as soon men on lookout would start calling out about ships on the horizon and not long after galleys would piece the fog and start demanding something in a foreign language. The fleets Werran preachers would holler out in High Vechtese saying that they didn’t understand and that the ships had come from the Kingdoms of Kisuran and Yianushir and where just sailing through. The situation would rapidly deteriorate from here and the outer most vessels of the Erigi fleet where the recipients of massive spear sized arrows maybe 15 feet long and heavy enough to punch through the wooden walls like they where paper.

A quick retaliation would follow with the ships bombards being quickly loaded and shot, a hail of small iron rounds shredding through the attacking galleys but seeming to leave their enemies unaffected moral wise. Large ropes that where attached to the arrows that where embedded in the Erigi ships began to pull taught as the smaller enemy ships dragged themselves closer. Once close enough the pirates would throw up ladders and begin to swam a few vessels, armed with iron weapons and leather armour they would quickly tear through the unprepared Kisuranis as they scrambled to get their own armour on and draw swords.

Onboard the ship Zarad the fighting would be fierce, the first row of attackers being able to force their way onto the top deck. The Erigi would put up a good fight but as their Drekas where getting armour on and their weapons prepared below decks the ill prepared bombard crews where pushed from the deck of their own ship. Inside the lower levels the Dreka would prove helpful as they fired their weapons into the oncoming enemy before dropping their firearm and replacing it with a shield and a sword then charging in. These men where much more effective with their own iron swords and heavy bronze armour proving extremely effective at cutting through the savages that dared attack their ship.

This would only slow the pirates onslaught and eventually the ships captain would be forced to try a new strategy. As their attackers ship was effectively bound to their own he was able to see its army of rowers attempting to keep pace with his half raised sails, just then an idea crossed his mind and he order the sail to be dropped fully and that his ship turn to port, the side the galley was stuck on. This resulted in the much larger Kisurani ship pulling the galley brutally forwards and then cutting it in half with the bow of the Zarad. The snapping of wood and the screams on the sailors filled the air whilst across on the other side of the fleet another section of the pirates ships where set alite and had their gunpower stores detonate.

This signalled to the pirates that the battle had been lost and would attempt to retreat, but as re-enforcements arrived on the ships where the fighting was yet to end they would end up trapped and either surrender or take their own lives. A debate would be had as to what to do with the criminals with it eventually being decided that they should be sold into servitude. The Kisurani sailors would be persuaded by their Yianushiri and Ashurani compatriots that this would be ok as the men where not civilised as they where.

## Part 7

The Erigi fleet would eventually arrive in the city of Predstad, where supplies and repairs where undertaken, many sailors where excited as they where entering the final stretch of their journey. Leaving the city having taken on a myriad local goods and language manuals and carried on their journey north. Few issues where encountered as they cruised past the Bay of Lemqin and carried on south and 2 months after leaving Predstad the Kisurani fleet would arrive in the city of Harda.