Ships

Ships take a variety of forms, depending on their intended use and who constructed them. There are, however, a number of common designs.

Oar-driven vessels

Within the Chaska and Phiora seas, long galleys with low freeboards are the most widely used vessels. While most have sails and use them when possible, nearly all are also outfitted with rows of oars so that they can continue even in unfavorable winds. Most have two or three banks of oars, though some have even more. These ships can be expensive to build, and are generally maintained and looked after carefully to ensure they see decades of use at a minimum. Merchant vessels rely on their sails more than their oarsmen, to save costs and increase cargo space, while military ships and pirates do the reverse - for those that prioritize speed, more oarsmen are invaluable. Most ships, especially mercantile ones, prefer to hop between ports rather than make single long voyages. These ships see use in the Kilche Sea as well, but are not extensively used in oceanic waters. While they can excel in calm seas, storms and other adverse weather conditions pose dangers to these ships due to the low clearance from the waterline to their decks. Pirates in the Sea of Khoros are some of the few who risk using these ships regularly in rough waters, though in the past Tamkaranu has also sent small fleets of these vessels on oceanic exploratory missions. Those who can afford to do so sometimes replace their living oarsmen with constructs or undead, or simply magically enchant them to move themselves.

The peoples of Rothurland use a type of ship vaguely similar to the Chaskan galleys but unique in many aspects of its construction. Unlike the Chaskan ships, these longships only use a single row of oars at most but feature larger sails. While some are constructed from planks and other pieces of wood like most ships, the people of Rothurland have a long tradition of shipbuilding that uses the region’s unique redwood trees. As these trees are extremely large, boats can be carved out of whole sections of felled trunks. Though very difficult to do well, this results in single-piece hulls that are extraordinarily durable and waterproof (repairs, however, can become significantly more difficult). All longboats are designed to be as light as possible and sit low in the water, so they can be used in the open ocean or in rivers, and picked up and portaged when necessary. Due to their long sleek hulls, longboats are quite fast, though they can be outpaced by Chaskan galleys that are particularly configured for speed.

Oar-driven vessels are common around Kea Racha and the Mhasmuth Ocean as well, though of different designs. These ships usually make use of outriggers for added stability, though they keep most of the benefits and downsides of Chaskan galleys. They differ greatly in their construction, however, usually making use of lashed-lug hulls. Vessels in these designs are used entirely as warships - they trade cargo capacity and range for a high maximum speed and the ability to navigate well in both shallow and deep waters.

Sail-driven vessels

Sailing vessels with fully battened sails are used most commonly in the open ocean, as well as within the Kilche Sea. These designs originated out of Kea Racha and are constructed of a variety of woods, generally of whatever is locally available and well suited to the purpose. Sails are cloth or occasionally thick, treated papers. Hulls are usually compartmentalized into small sections that can be easily sealed - this type of ship is well-suited to long voyages and rough conditions, as they can easily continue even when relatively heavily damaged. Of the common seagoing vessels, these are by far the largest. While on average larger than the typical Chaskan galley, the largest of these sailing vessels are truly massive; some Pela Huban merchant ships are over 600 ft in length.

Among the tengu of Meklaw, vessels with distinctive slanted triangular sails are commonplace. While they stuggle somewhat in rough conditions, they are easily constructed, repaired, and replaced. These ships can operate with comparatively small crews, another advantage they hold over the galleys. Some people living around the Chaska Sea have adopted these vessels from the tengu, but generally only use them for short range transportation between nearby ports.

Freshwater boats

Boats intended for use in rivers or lakes come in too many forms to easily generalize. Small barges and low hulled craft are the most practical and therefore are widely used. Many regions have unique takes on these designs. In Khapesh, for example, boats designed for use in the Aur River are made of bundled reeds, sometimes using tar for additional waterproofing. In most of the world, however, freshwater vessels are made of whatever type of local wood is convenient and of sufficient quality.

Other types

Numerous other types of vessels are built for specific uses, some quite unlike the basic design of a typical ship.

• Whaleships are biological ships used by the underwater communities of the Chaska Sea.