[Brigands] Merchant Ship Sunk by Pirates and Mermen

[Lunerith]

Forty-fifth brightening of Aperitus, Longest Winter, Era XVI

A merchant ship bound for Taralon from Narim was sunk by a group of pirates and mermen wreckers. The event was witnessed by a lighthouse and has struck fear into the hearts of royal merchant ships because of accounts from the few surviving crew members. An authentic naval Brig, flying imperial military colours, offered to escort the merchant ship and thus fooled other imperial ships into staying in port. However, once they were out of reach and sight of naval ships, they lowered their upside down Aelyrian flags (a sign of crisis, ed.) and raised their pirate flag: Black Aelyrian wings on a sea of red!

They then opened fire, taking out the merchant ship's mast and sails, as well as punching a deep hole in its hull. After this, some of the merchant crew fought valiantly, but were either slain or captured, while the rest of the crew surrendered and were taken onboard the pirate Brig, along with many valuable goods. It is believed that they will be stripped of their visas and sold as slaves, so this reporter advises great care when purchasing slaves in the near future, as they may be innocent citizens of the empire, merely caught up in an war led by a rabble of rebels, and so not barbari, but true citizens of the kingdom.

The ship remained afloat as the pirate Brig sailed away, at which point mermen wreckers showed up on a giant turtle, surfacing, stripping the derelict merchant ship of everything, including its wood and sails.

Merchant ships in the kingdom fear for their safety near the border of Enamoria and in Enamorian waters and are informing officials that they are not capable of transporting valuable goods as efficiently as they used to, due to the growing severity of the situation. It is believed that imperial merchant ships feel the same.

Could the growing threat of piracy unite the kingdom and empire in a common strife? Or will it serve as a wedge that will drive a deeper division between what should rightfully be united under one flag? Only time will tell.

Thanks to Spikey Bushes, Crimson and Trinity. Spikey Bushes for mentioning the giant turtles. Crimson for coming up with them and Trinity for having Narim!

[Kenkuroi Mithania]

*GASP*!!

Are those Toro-toros!? Being put into RP already? :O

[Kakita Miyuki]

Maybe sea Totoros?

[Keldon Elsdragon]

So Trinity twacked me when I asked this... buuuut.... if Narim is being blockaded by naval forces... how does a merchant ship leave Narim for Taralon.... how does a ship flying the imperial flag (our enemy) sail the water with 200 royal ships in the water....

*waddles away and whistles*

Its a moot point and I like the announcement... but am just curious! :P

[Trinity]

This was posted / decided prior to the fact where I laid out where the forces are. Daltina's Classis is only 10 ships too, perhaps something got by. Nothing is fool proof. *shrugs*

[Lunerith]

200? Then there's something I want to know, because I was told there were 10 from Daltina and 80 from Archadoon.

Regardless, as Trinity said, this was before the ships had been properly deployed

[Spiky Bushes]

	Third Royal Classis (Leaden Classis): AFSs Praetor (200 crew), AFS Valiant (200 crew) + 8 more frigates. Fifth Royal Classis (Northern Lights): AFS Ironside + 69 frigates

As per here.

[Ragman]

It's hard to effectively block a port completely. The vessels would have to stay a distance away to prevent the land-based weapons reaching them, and to be honest, a ship won't be able to stay far away from a port for them to be replenished with supplies. 200 ships out at the same time would require a vast amount of time and resources, not to mention manpower and everything. There will also be ships required to guard and maintain the main supply routes, and the closest port for the Navy now would soon to be PA (Since it seems Daltina might also be joining the rebellion?), if you judge the distance, it's quite a stretch. So that means even if 200 vessels are deployed, there won't be 200 ships patrolling at the same time. It's stupid. Any basic military commander would keep a portion of the ships as reserves for contingencies. Which brings the number down to even less.

As per modern doctrine, at least a third of the force is usually kept as reserves.

So if a ship sails near the coast, it would be able to sneak pass the supposed blockade. Plus if they do it at night, it's almost impossible to detect them. Honestly, this isn't the modern world with sonars, radars and stuff. In the dark, it's almost impossible to detect movement, etc.

Also if you really want to play in the realism, with the spate of pirate activity rising around, you'll think the Navy would be much more jittery, especially when the resupply ships come to resupply the vessels in the frontline, and would surely invest a large protective force to guard the supplies.

Just my opinion anyways.

[Trinity]

There are 80 ships total in the Sherian waters blockading the West and South and awaiting orders from Alexis to either move or have another Classis move into the East to cover Taralon, because the Phondra Anchors have turned coat.

Here is the Royal Navy in Sherian Waters IC. A picture is included to show the blockade, as well as numbers.

Alexis is informed Here.

You guys are terrible at getting numbers right >_< 200? 80 and 10? Gah ! lol.

[Lunerith]

Thanks Trin

Anyway, yeah, there's enough leeway for one ship to slip through and guess what? It got sunk by pirates, arr!