Maelstrom: Elvish Fleet part 3

· Captain Thotirath Raeronna (LG dawn elf female Cru10 Leos): A crusader
of Leos, Thotirath enjoys violence and the heat of battle, sometimes too
much so.  Her ship, the Man-O-War Thaethil, is entirely crewed by the
faithful of Leos, with at least a half dozen other crusaders and priests
of Leos.  The Thaethil was sent out during the Second Unhuman War and
was involved with almost a score of battles and skirmishes.  She
returned heavily damaged but a crew full of converted elves from other
spheres.
· Captain Rulin Westlin (CG human male F12 Swashbuckler): A scoundrel at
heart, Rulin is one of the highest ranking non-elves in the Fleet.  He
earned his commission, the Hammership Star Jouster, after several
successful missions for the Fleet, including uncovering a slaver's den
and the destruction of a neogi deathspider.  Rulin is quite lively at
parties, often stealing the spotlight and sometimes the hearts of
impressionable young elf maidens.
· Captain Alextaur Flaremane (LG centaur male F14 Myrmidon): One of the
Fleet's most reliable mercenaries is Alextaur, a distant relative of the
King of Taur and captain of the Moray Eel Longspear.  He commands a
Grand Lance the Fleet hired four years ago and has no less than seven
Moray Eels under his command.  His centaur and satyr crewmen are loyal
to the Fleet as the pay is good and action plentiful.  Alextaur is a
skilled tactician and warrior.
· Lord Knight Eiloro Kethvan (CG half dragon (dawn elf/bronze dragon)
female W8 Geomancer): Hailing from a rich merchant house of Dovewood,
Lady Eiloro knows Pearlspace quite well, having traveled to every world
and every major spelljamming port before her 80th birthday.  Her
familiarity with the sphere, it's customs, and people made her a natural
choice for assignments there, eventually earning her a position as a
diplomat.  She holds great respect in the courts of some human
kingdoms because of her dragon blood, which she uses to secure favorable
treaties for the elves.  Eiloro doesn't like Lord Cyallian, whom she
considers dangerous.  Lady Eiloro has an unusual ability to calm and
sooth reptiles as a ranger calms beasts.
· Lord General Throawler (CG hadozee male F10 Marine): The Fleet's
regiment of hadozee is led by General Throawler, a beast of a hadozee
with a nasty temper and a talent with a halbred.  Throawler's hadozee
regiment is stationed at armada castle Katas and number roughly 400 or
so.  The regiment represents the single largest force of hadozee the
elves have, and they often use it against enemy bases.  A favorite
tactic is to drop the entire regiment behind enemy lines with
invisibility, where they can use their superior mobility to inflict
heavy casualties.  Throawler hates court functions and avoids them at
all costs.  He feels like a kept animal at parties and at court, despite
how anyone actually treats him.
· Lord General Tialam Jaualvin (CG twilight elf female W10 Weather
Mage): General Tialam's commission is the Sonspace Sky Cavalry, a force
of one hundred mages and fighter mages astride giant eagles.  Tialam is
quite temperamental, which has kept her from being promoted on several
occasions.  Tialam is further handicapped by the legacy of the previous
commander, who's incompetence decimated the force half a cycle ago in a
campaign against a human kingdom.  Originally, the Sky Cavalry numbered
almost four hundred riders and eagles.
· Master Mage Lanae Zaemarbael (NG dawn elf male W14 War Mage): The
primary helmsman aboard the Wildspace Warden is Lanae, the fourth royal
prince from Aldavilya.  Lanae is a younger brother to the current king
and acutely aware that he will likely never ascend the throne and
instead seeks to wield great political power through the Fleet.  Lanae
wishes to be the next Admiral of Twilitespace, but is currently
satisfied with the power he currently has.

Raw Recruits
        The Elvish Fleet is enormous, with almost twelve thousand members.
It's membership changes on a weekly basis as old warriors retire and
young bloods sign up.  The NPCs listed below are commanders that PCs can
commonly encounter.  The list is far from complete, as there are
hundreds of officers throughout the Fleet.
· Captain Savas Makeel (LG human male Pal9 Paramander): Savas is a rare
paladin who can cast mage spells instead of priestly magic, though his
abilities are only beginning to blossom.  His ship, the Last Survivor is
a squidship from a now-vanished society in another region of wildspace.
Savas is sponsored by the Fleet and has several letters of marquee.  The
Fleet uses Savas in situations where elven ships dare not travel, such
as many parts of Banesun.
· Knight Shanes Feralonik (CG dawn elf male F8/W9 Bladesinger): Admiral
Rolinda's personal bodyguard is Shanes, a native of Dovewood.  Never far
from Rolinda, Shanes is surprisingly warm and friendly.  He uses his
warm exterior to put visitors off-guard and not consider him a threat.
Shanes would die to protect Admiral Rolinda and once served as a marine
on her ship when she masqueraded as a pirate.
· Knight Arnavel Fissan (CG dawn elf male R8 Falconer): One of Admiral
Rolinda's pleasures in life is the sport of falconry, introduced to her
by nobles seeking favor in the Fleet.  Because she has little time to
care for her falcon, Rolinda employs the services of the ranger Arnavel
to care for Redbeak, her Whitefeather falcon.  Arnavel is usually found
at the Spires of the Stars but sometimes travels to other worlds for
sport in untamed wilderness.
· General Hommard One-Ear (LN giff male F10 marine): When the Fleet
needs to hire giff mercenaries, their contact with the hippo-soldiers is
General Hommard, who gladly sets about the task of raising the needed
units.  General Hommard is about 60 years old and badly showing his
age.  He hopes to die gloriously in the Second Unhuman War, preferably
aboard an exploding ogre ship.
· Herald Garoro Cyiat (CG half-dawn elf female T6 courier): A common
contact with adventurers is Garoro, a half-elf with fairly plain
features.  Garoro knows taverns very well, often dressing as a male
sailor when making contacts.  She can make herself quite attractive if
she so wishes with the proper dress, and will wear her uniform if she
wishes to make that impression.  Garoro has dealt with dozens of
adventuring parties and has sixth sense about how to best approach
groups to hire or otherwise manipulate them into working for the Fleet
(or furthering the Fleet goals).
· Pilot Eleti Beskonna (NG twilight elf male W(I)6 War Mage): A flitter
pilot in the Fleet, Eleti is used to transfer messages between ships
around Ethwold.  Sometimes he couriers people between ships and has been
involved with at least four battles and a dozen skirmishes.  He has
nicknamed his flitter the Lyonnia after his girlfriend.
· Captain Phar Mzin (CN half-twilite elf male F7 Corsair): The waspship
Bounty Taker is Captain Phar's ship, which prowls Songspace in search of
pirates.  Phar has letters of marquee on a dozen or so ships, but is
willing to share any reward for those willing to help take down ships
larger than his own.

Methods and Activities
        With a fleet of almost two hundred and just over twelve thousand
sailors, warriors, officers, priests, and mages, and agents, one wonders
how the Fleet is able to pay for it all.  It is able to do so through a
number sources of revenue.  Almost all elvish merchant houses pay a
small annual tribute, usually about 5% of their profits.  Many
non-elvish merchant houses likewise pay a tribute in exchange for Fleet
protection.  All Fleet-protected ships fly the flag of the Fleet
Protectorate (a gold flag with a Man-O-War emblem upon it) and any
pirate that attacks a Protectorate ship can expect swift retribution.
The elves have had problems in the past with some abuse of the system,
but those Houses caught abusing the Fleet name are permanently shunned
by the Fleet and their allies, something that has cost several Houses
dearly once pirates learn of that the House no longer has elvish
protection.  Additional tribute comes from elven nations that depend on
spelljamming for a good part of their trade, of which Aldavilya,
Dovewood, Ithil, Simlam, and Tra'dethari are the most prominent.
        Another source of income for the Fleet comes from the pirate ships they
capture.  Captured ships and helms are either added to their own fleets
or sold to friendly merchant Houses.  Most, if not all, non-elvish ships
in the Fleet are former pirate vessels.  Magic items captured from these
ships are distributed among the Fleet.
        The costs the Fleet incurs are rather small.  Rarely do they need more
than a half dozen new ships to replace damaged or destroyed ship a
year.  Aldavilya provides the Fleet with plenty of replacement ships at
cost.  The ships grown at Aldavilya require little more than annual
trimmings and shaping once planted and can be produced for next to
nothing.  Helms are grown with the ship by High Mages, so the Fleet need
not deal with the Arcane often.
        The Fleet has many interests to protect and has a large military to
accomplish just that.  Ships are stationed at key locations throughout
the Maelstrom to protect the most valuable assets of the Fleet.  Many
nations closely tied to the Fleet can count on at least one Man-O-War to
be within a day's travel.  Elven patrol ships prowl the space around
their nations, usually no more than two days distant.  The heaviest
patrols are around Avalon where as many as a dozen Men-O-War are on
patrol at any given time.  Surprisingly, patrols are very light around
Hidden Haven as the elves don't want to raise suspicion that they are
hiding anything in Sherall's Comet.  A powerful fleet is stationed at
Hidden Haven in case someone does stumble upon the city.  Deep space
patrols, that is, patrols beyond two days travel from a base, are rarely
taken as centuries of experience has taught the elves that the vastness
of space makes such patrols pointless.

Agent Abilities
        Members of the Elvish Fleet do not have any special or divine abilities
beyond those normally granted to their character class.  The deities
Therina and Orion are considered the patrons of the Fleet, and many of
their priests serve aboard elven ships.  Officers are highly trained as
all are required to graduate from the Academy where they learn to read
and write elvish if they could not before, leadership, tactics, and ship
maintenance.  Because of their training, all officers have at the very
least elite morale and the leadership proficiency for free.

Resources
        The Elvish Fleet has nearly unlimited resources of all sorts in the
Maelstrom.  Hard coin is easily available from a multitude of sources,
and most captains and all admirals could lay their hands on whatever
coin they require.  The Fleet maintains its own smiths to craft weapons
and armor but usually buys the bulk of such goods from the dwarves.
Manpower is no problem, as Avalon is a thriving elf world with many
young, adventurous souls eager to sign on.  Additionally, the Fleet is
just as likely to hire humans, dwarves, and hadozee as well to fill out
crews.  Numerous powerful mages are also in the hire of or are loyal to
the Fleet.  Many magical items find their way into the hands of the
captains and admirals.
        In the Maelstrom, the Fleet numbers about one hundred elvish Men-O-War
of various designs, fifty ships of assorted designs, and seven Armadas.
Twilitespace has the largest concentration of elvish ships, and is where
the Fleet maintains its headquarters.  The Fleet can also conscript the
local elvish ships in times of dire need, easily doubling or tripling
their forces.  The Armadas, of which there were to be one per sphere but
four are usually encountered in Twilitespace, are highly magical ships.
The armadas have been treated with many magical enchantments that seem
to bend the bounds of magic a bit, making them extremely dangerous to
assault.  Each ship carries its own unique enchantments, and each is far
more powerful than any other ship of similar size.
        Elven ships are always equipped with some magical items, in addition to
the helm, no matter the size.  More than half of the ships carry
planetary locators and roughly one fifth of the artillery weapons used
by the Fleet have magical properties.  Ships ten tons and larger have a
wizard locked scroll case with at least two scrolls per every ten tons
of the ship's size.  Scribed upon the scrolls commonly include improve
rating, create helm, magic missile, ship invisibility, create air, and
fog cloud.  Ships fifty tons and larger will have some means of
communicating with other ships and headquarters, either by a crystal
ball, magic mirror, or a spellcaster with the appropriate spells.
        Officers are armed with at the very least exceptional weapons, and many
bare magical weapons and/or magical armor.  Mages of 4th level and above
will have a ring of protection or bracers of defense.  Ships with
priests will have a shrine where they can pray and recover spells,
though the shrine may be little more than a cabinet on smaller vessels.
Higher level officers often have many magical weapons available to them,
many trophies won from past battles.

Areas of Operation
        Ships of the Fleet can be encountered in any sphere of the Maelstrom,
but are rare in Banesun or Tyrspace.  Both spheres have few native elves
and Banesun has many enemies of the Fleet, requiring a light hand.  The
Fleet has agents, be it elven, human, dwarven, dracon, or hadozee, in
almost every major spelljamming port.  Some agents are visible, such as
ambassadors, local captains, and their staffs.  Other agents are less
obvious, who work as spies for the Fleet.  The Fleet's network of spies
is quiet extensive giving the Fleet access to almost any information
they desire.  They use their spies to track the movements of pirates,
slavers, and military ships, whom are considered the greatest potential
foes of the Fleet.
        The main bases for the Fleet are found in Twilitespace, with lesser
bases in Songspace and Pearlspace.  The headquarters are found at Hidden
Haven, a city buried deep within Sherall's Comet.  Hidden Haven has
extensive repair facilities and armories as well as the towers of
several retired mages of power.  Supply bases in Twilitespace can be
found on the third moon of Ethwold, the nation of Simlam on Ethwold, the
moon of Avalon, the nation of Ithil on the third moon of Artimis, and
Therfel, a moon of Chaos.


Allies and Enemies
        The Elvish Fleet has numerous allies and even more enemies.  Most
dwarvish nations are at least neutral to the Fleet, and many have close
trade and defense ties with the Fleet.  Human nations on good terms with
the Fleet include the Kingdom of Solran, all of the Middle Kingdoms, the
Kingdom of the Bright Lance, the Sunflow Republic, the Travelling City,
and the Empire of Chu.  The centaurs and satyrs of Tyrspace are also on
good terms with the elves, allowing them to travel and trade in their
ports in exchange for a virtual absence of elvish military presence.
Hadozee are almost universally considered elvish allies or work for the
Fleet, even if that is not so.  The Fleet often hires Giff and very
rarely hobgoblin mercenaries but they are not considered allies, just
mercenaries.
        Enemies of the Fleet are to numerous to count.  Prominent enemies
include the illithids of Banesun, the Drow of Diamondspace, the Bane
Elves, the neogi, the hobgoblins of the Turtle Isles, the Horrid Empire
ruled by the fiend Dalacon, the warmasters of Zorruth, virtually every
pirate in the Maelstrom as well as many privateers, the Church of
Nemesis, and most recently the Scro.  Against so many foes, it is
fortunate that their enemies are divided and feud with one another and
cannot devote resources to try to bring down the Fleet.
        Beyond the Maelstrom, the Maelstrom Elvish Fleet does not engage in
diplomatic efforts.  They have treaties with some elvish nations, but
have little interest in expanding their power or influence beyond the
Maelstrom.  Unfortunately, enemies of the whole Elvish Fleet are counted
among the enemies of the elves in the Maelstrom.  Fortunately, most of
those external enemies do not have the reach to affect the Maelstrom
greatly.

Status Quo
        The Fleet seeks to keep the trade lanes open between various elven
worlds and colonies.  With the outbreak of the Second Unhuman War, the
Fleet's task of protecting elven colonies and assets has become
increasingly difficult.  Beleaguered fleets in distant spheres have been
indirectly draining away ships, troops, and money from Maelstrom Fleet.

--
Adam Miller