Ships have been built for untold millennia in Aloria, by Races and Cultures modern and long lost. It is likely that the Seraph, and the civilizations that followed them, used sea vessels for some period of time, and the same is true of their successors in the last two millennia of Aloria. The vessels of the Allorn Empire dominated the seas for years and in their wake, the Ailor have come to dominate the seas with a variety of vessels often based off of Allorn designs. However, other Races are not entirely excluded from the naval sphere, and many of their vessels are of equal quality to those of the Ailor.
Important OOC Note: These vessels are aesthetic for background lore and rarely affect progressions. Players who claim to own one should be realistic on what they possess, and be aware the specific features or traits of any of these Ships does not factor into World Progressions.
Ships
Sloop-tier
Anglian Pramm: The Anglian Pramm is a shallow-draft vessel invented and used by the Anglians for transportation for centuries in their many rivers and marshes. Excellently suited to such work, it can support small amounts of livestock or cargo with ease, and can either be operated by pole, or with a small sail, both aided by a simple rudder.
Daen Tartane: Tartanes were developed shortly after the Cataclysm by the early Tierravera Ailor as a vessel for fishing and navigating the eastern coastline of Westwynd. The design has been refined over time, and is still used by fishermen and local merchants, but it has also become well known as an excellent smuggling vessel. It has a small size and rigging of two sails, one for each type of wind, making them well equipped for various conditions.
Cearden Shallop: Heartland Shallops were pioneered by the Ceardens of Corontium, primarily as methods of transportation. Using the Anglian Pramm as a base, the Caerden Shallop is equipped with an array of seats, and is most commonly used to ferry passengers along rivers or lakes. At certain points, the vessel has also been used as a military landing craft, and it is also famous for being used extensively in the exploration of Fendarfelle.
Ceardian Cutter: Cutters are similar to the Shallop, but are much older, and originated as simple row-boats for early vessels. However, with the emergence of harbors and ports, Cutters were largely designed for speed and the transport of small numbers of people and supplies to and from anchored vessels. This remains their primary function, though in certain regions they are also used as fishing boats. They often possess oars in addition to one or two sails that can be stowed, if not completely taken down.
Eastern Dhow: The Songaskians inherited much from the Sariyd Empire, and one of them was the Dhow, a vessel once designed to roam the rivers of Farahdeen. While most of Farahdeen's rivers are now dry, Dhows are still used, though primarily on the coastline for fishing and the daily local transport of goods and people by both Songaskians and Qadir. The vessel uses one, highly vertical lateen sail.
Asha Mabyr: A sleek and narrow vessel, the Mabyr is a smaller variety of the Henbyr, the primary vessel of Asha Corsairs. Mabyr, by comparison, are generally used for less militaristic endeavors, most often fishing or the ferrying of goods, but some, with well trained crews, can be made into impressive scout and raiding craft. Most only have a single lateen sail and a pair of oars.
Tallship: The Tallship, sometimes also called the Longship, is the hallmark of the Velheim Ailor. It has been used for at least 800 years in all sorts of capacities and varieties, though some characteristics always remained. With a shallow draft, a tall, singular mast but a build that makes it excellent for oceanic travel, the Tallship became a feared, worrying sight in Aloria for over 200 years when the Velheim were at their peak, often raiding and taking from others. Today, Tallships are far more standardized, and represent a piece of living history.
Yacht-tier
Galleon-type
Nau: The Nau was designed by the Tierravera Ailor and is perhaps the only vessel to waffle between designations as a Yacht-tier or Snow-tier. Today, the consensus is though, that the vessel was certainly a precursor to later Snow-tier vessels. The Nau was made for mercantile and exploration sailing, and during the golden age of the Kingdom of Lusits, it achieved both goals spectacularly. It is still commonly used today by their people, in addition to other regional Ailor groups, and has high respect in Aloria for its efficient, swift design.
Peth’sella: The Teledden had many vessels during their age of supremacy in Aloria, but the Peth’sella remains the longest lasting design, dating back millennia. Designed for general use, the ship was and still is now capable of being both a war or trading vessel. It can have up to three sails, and oars on each side. At the height of the Allorn Empire’s slaving operations, slaving vessels consistently made use of large banks of oars to demonstrate to the slaves the fate that awaited them (while also propelling the ship). In the modern-day, many still use oars (though not as many as in the days of the old Allorn Empire) in addition to sails, but military craft often make use of sails alone.
Ceardian Cog: Ceardian Cogs were some of the first Ailor warships built and conceived within Corontium in the early decades of the Regalian Navy. Tired of using old, rather antiquated crafts, Ailor shipwrights developed the Cog, before rapidly moving on to produce Snow-tier vessels. The Cog was exported to other areas of Aloria, where it became synonymous with Ceardian interests, as well as other nations scattered in the region. The vessel has a single mast and a square sail, and is largely used today as a merchant vessel though it can be outfitted with more modern weaponry.
Xebec-type
Asha Henbyr: The Henbyr is the primary vessel of the Asha people, and largely used in their raiding efforts against the tradelines of the Elves and Ithanian Ailor, and sometimes, the Regalian Empire as well. They are ancient ships, originating back perhaps thousands of years, and one of the last remnants of the fallen Dewamenet Empire. The vessels are sleek and possess up to three lateen sails alongside banks of oars. Unlike the oars of other ships though, Living Metal manipulation allows the Asha to not slave away as they did centuries ago.
Kathar Boneship: The Kathar have many terrifying things to use against Aloria, but their vessels of war are some of the most impressive and awesome. Appearing similar to the Henbyr (perhaps due to Asha captured and tortured for their secrets by the Kathar), Boneships are markedly different in their larger size, the constant presence of three lateen sails, often use of slave-manned oars and unique decorative features. Boneships are grafted with literal bones and skeletons, and are made of black wood, producing a frightening effect. ((This vessel cannot be acquired, captained or commanded by player characters at present in the Lore.))
Normal-type
Joloffan: The Songaskian Masaya is not well known for their navy, but once they did have an impressive vessel at their command: the Joloffan. Taking what they had learned from their Sandmaws and experiences with the Dhow, the Songaskian Empire built a medium-sized vessel capable of shipping large amounts of cargo, from troops to grain. However, in recent years, Joloffans have become an exotic sight as two wars with the Regalian Empire destroyed many of these vessels and the Songaskian ability to build new ones. The vessels have up to two lateen sails, one square-rigged sail, and an extensive cargo space below decks.
Ithanian Providence: The Ithanians are not well known as shipwrights, heavily borrowing from the Elves and surrounding Ailor Cultures for their maritime efforts. However, around 185 AC, with their borders secured and protected by the Regalian Empire, the Ithanians produced the Providence as a vessel for their maritime pleasure-seeking. An exotic craft, often made or accentuated with pale or white woods, the vessel is sleek and elegant with multiple decorative features and usually capable of holding some 30-odd people, with crews as small as five individuals included among that count.
Snow-tier
Frigate-type
Anglian Frigate: Anglian Frigates make up the bulk of the Regalian Navy. These so-called light frigates tend to carry around 40 cannons. Despite being called the Anglian Frigate, most of these frigates are produced in Rosendale, as Anglia lacks moderate shipyards. In order to captain a Frigate, one would need to have a second-rate naval commendation.
Girobaldin Fregat: The Girobaldin Fregat is often used as a reconnaissance vessel, sporting only 16 cannons, but in turn, remaining considerably lighter than all other ships in this tier, and thus faster. The Girobaldin shipyards favor smaller, faster ships over the heavier battleships of the north, and as such, most scout vessels are made in Girobalda. In order to captain a Fregat, one would need to have a third rate naval commendation.
Ship of the Line/Twodecker-type
Calemberg Third Line: Calemberg Third Lines are the first responder battleships that favor cunning, offensive, and blitz tactics. The ship is relatively light, but manages to sport 52 cannons. What’s curious about Calemberg Third Line ships is that their wooden parts always look very dark, even in absence of paint, due to the tree material with which these ships are made. In order to captain a Third Line, one would need to have a first-rate naval commendation.
Calemberg Second Line: Calemberg Second Lines are the main coastal offense ships that favor troop transport, as well as long-range fire capabilities. These ships hardly ever engage in naval combat as they are primarily used for coastal bombardments and naval assault support. Despite being heavier in tonnage than the Third Line, Second Line ships only sport 22 cannons, though of a very heavy caliber. In order to captain a Second Line, one would need to have an offensive naval commendation.
Normal-type
Brigantine: Brigantines were designed by Tierravera Ailor relatively recently, in 210 AC, after their exposure to the Girobaldan shipyards founded a few decades earlier. The vessel they produced is considered by them, and most other Tierravera, to be the pinnacle of naval vessel design. In practice, it is most commonly used for mercantile endeavors as a modern ship, outpacing the Nau in size and often firepower, though not being as fast given its large size.
Anglian Fluyt: The Fluyt was designed by Anglian Great Works to serve as an exclusively mercantile vessel, suited for cargo runs alone. This original purpose was well served by the three-mast, many-square-sailed vessel that the shipyards produced, and to this day, the ship remains the staple symbol of Anglian grain shipments across the Regalian Archipelago and Aloria (though it can, of course, carry goods other than grain). However, the ship can and has been equipped with canons to serve in a military capacity, or to help better defend certain hazardous routes.
Anglian Nautknight: Anglian Nautknights are the true beasts of the Regalian Navy, providing a terrifying amount of firepower, as it boasts somewhere around 162 cannons, a mixture of heavy and light cannons. Anglian Nautknights are rarely ever deployed unless the Regalian Navy is required to defend a key position since these ships are so large and heavy that they are impractical for chasing enemies down. Nautknights are few in number and rarely produced in the Anglian Great Works, the only drydock large enough to allow construction of Nautknights. In order to captain a Nautknight, one would need to have an Imperial High Command commission.
Elven Sanjasor: The Sanjasor is seen as the crowning achievement of the naval efforts of the Allorn Empire, another ship like it not being built until the Anglian Nautknight centuries later. Sanjasors were highly complex military vessels, and often served to support slaving operations across Aloria, as well as help “solve disputes” between the different coastal principalities of the Empire. It was best known for its cannons, which existed before the efforts of other Races, and used Magic to function. However, with the collapse of the Allorn Empire and the Wildering that followed, the methods and techniques of how to build Sanjasors also faded. By last count, only sixteen such vessels remain in Aloria, the count being twice that in 300 AC, but warfare with the Regalian Empire, the Dread Empire, and a single bizarre incident have made these vessels highly prized by the Elven leaders that remain.
Trivia
There are a variety of vessels used by the distant Sihai of Jadeheart, however they are rarely seen in wider Aloria given that continent’s distance from even Farahdeen, making the transport or sailing of such craft over the entire journey unsuitable.
