NationStates Jolt Archive

this thread is part of the RP located here: http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=482052

Angermanland, in it's current cycle, is the result of many chaos cycles since the first contact with those outside it's borders. colonization of other lands, the discovery of new resorces and technolodgys, and trade with other great powers have lead to a great shif in the thinking of the people.

regretibly, the old master/aprentice system that once created some of the finest specialists in the world is no longer as strong as it was. and the local nobals have gained power at the expence of guilds and unions. however, high qulaity roads now make all land links where once only the main highways were passable when it rained, the Angerwrath cannal has been compleated, as have the ports of Angerwrath and Deepharour, while factorys produce many goods not previously available in decent quantity.

the military still makes use of many of the old inventions that came from the Aust and Spizanian wars, designed by the master inventors and Stratcoms, wise Deehow and dancer Pi.

though new technolodgy has been introduced, and times have changed, some things remaine the same. Angermanland is still The worlds capital of oddball technolodgy, and produces some of, if not the, finist ships in the world.

governance is carryed out in the same "keep balance, the prince's word is law" ad-hoc manner it always was, and it still works as it always did. people still follow the Way. the Royal palace is still as it was in Prince Chargone's time.

all though there were a few rough patches dureing the Years of Great Change, Angermanland and Terror Incognitia still maintain good relations, and as a result of this, technological advance in one rapidly leads to techonological innovation in the other.

the army has been re-orginized several times since the Austian war, but as it currently stands, Hawk, Eel, Rock, and Wheel troops are all still active, though they have undergone some evolution. new are the Catapo troops, armed with rifles and paired sword bayonets, trained in either the eel or wheel styles, with allowances made for the fact that their weaponary is not exactly what was orriginaly intended.

Summary:

Ruler: Prince Deavij uph Alpini

Seat of Power: the Royal Palace, Angerwrath

Population: 10 million

Main religion: very mixed, with the government really not careing so long as no religion causes problems.

Standing army: 5,000, the Prince's Own Guard. various factors result in the ability to mobilize any portion of the adult male population within a month, however.

Standing navy: 50 Behemoths class, and 500 Hellfire class combat ships, sundry other smaller craft includeing Master 2 class scout curriours [still the fastest ships in the sea, and updated with modern techniques] old but well mantained converted Incognitian frigates, and a smattering of Dominance class ships, mostly used for patrol and esscort dutys.

ok, this will get longer as i have more information to stick into it. much as in my PT referance thread. [yes, the first post in that was rediculoulsy long. i have no respect for the sanity of others, i know :) ]

**Tag**

Good to see my ships (presumably not the original ones :p are still put to good use).

If you've got railways, I may have to reconsider my decision to be just working on ironclads...no matter. Easily dealt with. And, I like the chaotic thing :D

Good to see my ships (presumably not the original ones :p are still put to good use).

If you've got railways, I may have to reconsider my decision to be just working on ironclads...no matter. Easily dealt with. And, I like the chaotic thing :D


ooc, just incase there is some ic later:

makeing iron float is rather different from makeing it move on iorn rails.

to be honest, my railways are faster than a moa drawn cart... or a horse drawn one i suppose. a single horse mounted rider may well be faster than them.

incidently: timberclads rock more than iorn clads :p not as fire-proof, i'll admit, but they float easier, and still have steam engines, i think, and stop cannonballs almost as well.

and they're more fireproof than a ship of the line.

thing is, iorn clads arn't really ocean going vessles, as such. much more at home in large rivers and the like.

heh. as for if those frigates are the originals or not.. how many times can the handle and head of an axe be changed and still be the same axe? i'd say at least one of them probibly is, by that logic. and considering that i was gaining such ships proportionaly to your gain of Master class ships of the time... ehh, mabey not the ones that were involved in spizania, i supose... *shrugs*

OOC: Finest ships in the world? Caladonn may have to debate that lol.

Still, we're likely to be friends considering our mutual ties to Terror, so things should work out.

OOC: Finest ships in the world? Caladonn may have to debate that lol.

Still, we're likely to be friends considering our mutual ties to Terror, so things should work out.

note how it says "some of, if not the"? heh. i also said the BUILD them. didn't say they had the most, or the best sailors, and so on..

i mean, in the napolionic era, the french BUILT the best ships, if i remember rightly.

didn't stop the british totaly outclassing them on a regular basis :D

note how it says "some of, if not the"? heh. i also said the BUILD them. didn't say they had the most, or the best sailors, and so on..

i mean, in the napolionic era, the french BUILT the best ships, if i remember rightly.

didn't stop the british totaly outclassing them on a regular basis :D
OOC: Yeah, I know, but I still can't stop contesting anything anyone else says navally :D.

OOC: Have I said me and Angerman are gonna have a war? Only a small one, mind you, and we'll return to friendship afterwards, but...

OOC: Have I said me and Angerman are gonna have a war? Only a small one, mind you, and we'll return to friendship afterwards, but...


may as well start it up now.

i could do with some IC stuff in this thread. set up the nutters in your nation, and bring on the fleets :D

Prince Deavij uph Alpini, 38th ruler since Prince Chargone uph Kant, hoped that his reign would last longer than most of his predicesors' had. dureing the Years of Great Change, few had lasted more than their garanteed three years, after Chargone himself had retired in his 50th year, at the age of 73.

at this point in time he was in his home town visiting his family, rather than in the capital. it was mid-summer and, in the old tradition, any and all who could would be returning home to family gatherings.

not much was really going on in the nation of Angermanland these days. things were ticking over, running themselves as the would. the Times of Great Change were behind them, and a new era was opening up ahead.

the local lords were getting a bit upity again, though. as they had supported him and thus brought him to the thone, they seemed to think he should do anything the requested, simply because they requested it. they should know better. the Way of the Prince was to do what was best for the nation. it would be nessisary to reduce their power and influence.

Chargone had used the trade guild and the sea capitans guild, as well as the guild of shipwrites and carpenters, to keep most of the various factions in line. if they had caused problems, they had rapidly found themselves cut off from the rest of the nation for most intents and purposes. and the trade guild had never taken kindly to smugglers.

but those guilds, except the shipwrites, had lost strength over time. a new set of political forces would be required. perhaps the enginers guild? they could level and build entire towns and citys with amazeing speed, these days. anyone who got too ahead of themselves would find the Prince's Own Guards raiseing their city and the engineers refuseing to rebuild it?

perhaps, but that would anger the citizens themselves, not just the leadership....

it was a puzzle and a quandry. a riddle wraped in an enigma tied up in a mystery. but he would find that balance. and Angermanland would find it's center point. and it would become truely great in the world, and truelly stable in it's own borders.

it would be so, because he was the Prince. his word was Law.

he had said it, and it would be.

High Seneschal Cadrez was a proud man. He had ascended the throne as the most capable son of his father, and had initially ruled with a fair hand. Of late, however, he had conceived of...extravagant dreams.
One was ruling without the Consilium's hands forever on the purse-strings of state.
"Jones, what progress with Aureus?"
"Well sir, we have enough Nesciae to pay the Navy and Army for 6 months."
"Marvellous. Fetch me the Admiralty."
"Sir."

A few minutes later, Jones the clerk returned with that august body.
"Your Majesty, why have you summoned us?"
"Because, Admiral Clarke, gentlemen, I have a job for you. It is time that the Angerman learnt a lesson. We have been in contact with them for centuries, and yet when have they paid us the proper respect?"
"Your Majesty, are you suggesting we attack our staunchest ally?"
"SUGGEST? SUGGEST? THAT WAS AN ORDER, ADMIRAL! FAILING TO FOLLOW MY ORDERS IS TREASON!. And you know where that leads!"
Surreptitously wiping spittle from his face, having had his monarch screaming into it, Admiral Clarke had had enough.
"In that case I resign my commission, effective immediately. You will have my letter of resignation tomorrow. Good day, Your Majesty."
This brought Cadrez down to earth for a moment. His most senior Admiral, widely considered the best seaman of his generation, and a man with a political support base, had just walked out on his government.
Soon flying again, on wings of barely contained rage, he turned on the remaining admirals:
"Are none of you such fools?"
Sheepish looks from around the room.
"From now on I shall issue orders directly to the flag officers commanding the relevant formations, and pray some of them have initiative and drive."
The Admiralty filed out. The political ramifications would be huge, but for now retained in elevated circles. The mobile vulgus (or mobb) was not informed, as it's passions were unpredictable and hard to control for any of the possible factions now coalescing.
Orders went via telegraph to Dunkennen, telling the Commodore of the Eastern Squadron, one James Byng, to sail with all speed, and follow the sealed orders given to him by a courier.
His squadron sailed on the next tide. Comprised of 6 third-rate ships of the line, each with 74 guns, 6 frigates with between 24 and 32 guns, two special vessels, of recent origin, rather slower than their companions, two bomb ketches, and a couple of master based communication ships.
__________________In the Captain's Cabin
"What!"
"What is it sir?"
"These orders, tell us to 'seek out and destroy' an Angerman naval squadron, one of their behemoth-ten hellfire formations."
"Your orders then sir?" from the First Lieutenant, looking questioningly at his superior.
"Well, we do it of course, the order has all the right seals on it. Sail...to meet the patrol that goes northwards out of Angerwraith."
"Ayeaye sir."

Sea Komander Jak Hawk stood on the raised rear deck of the Behemoth "Chargone". the ship suited it's name. not only was it the name of one of Angermanland's greatist princes of all time, it also ment, directly "Fire Lord" and could be represented with only a pair of charicters. short and to the point really.

surrounded by it's 10 hellfire escorts, and with a pair of Master 2s cruseing around somewhere in the squadron, or possibly between it and somewhere else delivering messages depending on the moment, the Chargone and it's compainions made for a large weight of weaponary, at least in terms of raw distructive potentual. the hellfires of it's squadron had been the first to recive the current round of refits, which finaly replaced their outdated balista with... well.. still outdated cannons, but they were an improvement. and there was nothing outdated about the cannons aboard the Chargone!


the marines busily drilled on the deck, and the crew went about their business, the same as on all the other ships in the squadron, as it patroled the waters on the rout between Angerwraith and the edge of Incognitian waters. there were 2 such squadrons, and they were spaced so that they passed each other at their runs.

as a rule, no pirate was crazy enough to atempt to go after ships on this rout. the odds of outriders from one of the squadrons detecting them were too high, and would bring the full weight of the squadron down upon them. so far, in history, no other nation had been mad enough to challange Angermanland in it's own waters either, the concentration of ships and the excessive use of fire had rendered it suicide untill recently, when cannon's range, accuracy, and power had increased sufficiantly to give the bigger ships a fighting chance.

or it would have, had the Behemoths not become so prolific.

there were now 50 such squadrons assigned in various places, mostly on anti pircey duty or guarding key ports.

as Jak was pondering this information, for no good reason other than bordom, the lookout attop the forward mast called out "Signal from the outriders. ships aproaching. Incognitian."

"very good, umm" damnation. what was the man's name? something pretentious for a lowly sailor. with a crew of 1500, and a full squadron to keep track of, it was somewhat beyond a sea kommander to remember the name of every man under his command.. though Deehow had managed to do it with many more... wait, that was it... "Deehow. carry on" of course. named for the greatest stratigest of all time, with the possible exception of his student.

Jak began giveing orders to the ships first officer "Tomias! close up formation, raise signals to the incognitians. greetings, why are you in our waters, you know, useual formalitys. make sure our course doesn't result in our fleets intermingleing, it's a nightmare to reorginize afterwards. oh, and invite the commander to join me for lunch if he has the time."

"very good sir" the First officer, a VesKom in his own right, would have been the capitan of the ship if he had been aboard anything smaller than a behemoth, but to be assigned to one was an honer, so he wasn't complaineing. as he began relaying orders to the apropriate Sekkoms, Sea kommander Jak simply relaxed and enjoyed the sun some more. his orders would be obeyd.

"Sir, Angerman Squadron ahead."
"Very good. This area is only on one patrol routing, so we can be reasonably sure of a free run at them."
They had been expecting this for some time. Therefore the ships had already beat to quarters. The signal book they had out was one known only to Incognitia, not the usual one shared with all her allies.
For now, the gunports were closed, but all else was ready.
The frigates were out in a loose screen ahead of the squadron, with the ships of the line in a loose collection in the centre, able to swiftly shake out into a line of battle.
The bomb ketches were behind the main squadron, ready to fire over it into the enemy.
The final two ships, heavy in construction, were ahead of the line ships, but behind, for now, the frigate screen.
"Signal the squadron. 'Enemy ahead. Action imminent.'"

"Sir! Masters report unknowen ship types... And the Incognitian signals don't mean anything by the books..."

"Unknown? that's ... odd."

"Indeed, Tomias, it's very odd. we're generaly kept up to date on incognitian shipworks. humm. and meaningless signals to boot." Jak paused for a moment, thinking.

"use military signals from contingancy Green Kea 3. all ships to standby, losen formation enough that we don't block each other's lines of fire. this doesn't seem... right."

"aye sir."

Tomais sent a nearby ensign for the code book and carried out the orders he was given.

"Sir, they're manouevring."
"As if they have an inkling...they aren't fools.
Give this signal from the usual book - give them a little notice.
"With deep regret, our orders are to destroy your squadron. Nothing personal, we are loyal to the High Seneschal.'"
"Ayeaye sir."
"Are you sure that you want to do that sir?"
"Lieutenant, these people have been our allies for three centuries! It is dishonourable enough to attack them thus, but to do so without even declaring ourselves before the first cannonballs fly is intolerable!"
"Yes sir."

The signal was kept, ready to be sent, until the line ships were within range of the Angerman squadron. At that point, they began turning off, as though to go around the other formation. The signal was raised, the gunports opened, and the first broadside unleashed.
At this point the timberclads, for that is what they were, with stripped down sails and reinforced decks, were heading directly for the behemoth, to engage it individually. The frigates would act to cover this, while the ships of the line looked to engage the dominance class.

as the signals were read off.. well, the lookout had time to read the intent befor the first boradside which, due to formation, didn't touch the Chargone

"they're attacking!"

"Bloody hell! run the signals up. all ships, engage!"

the responce to this combined with the cannon fire was rapid. the hellfires, well, those that hadn't been incapacitated, made use of speed and manouverability to come around on the ends of the Incognitian ships, opening up with their launchers and cannon. doing what they were designed for. rakeing and firey death.

that, however, was only 6 of the 10. of the remaining 4, one had been holled in the hull so badly it was alrready half under water, annother had had it's forward decks blowen out as the amunition cooked off, still a third had lost all three masts, by some utter fluke, and as such could only fire as fast as possible, and the fourth was... fleeing?

Jak's curseing would have turned the worst of ordinary sailors red with embaressment. the crew of that ship would be tried, hanged, and feed to the fish, if he survived this and had his way. no angerman ship had retreated without orders... EVER.

and the Chargone it's self began fireing. the strange looking, unknown class ships were headed straight for it, so it oppend up on them first with the launchers and rockets. the cannon opend up on the ship foolish enough to come at the behemoth from it's port flank, along with all the launchers and aft rockets on that side of the ship.

the forward rockets, forward starboard launchers, and the forwardmost 2 starboard cannon opend up on the timberclad approching from the bow. the ship also just kept right on sailing towards that one.

and Jak laughed.

Byng was impressed. They'd planned for this, even - very surreptitiously - practiced it. And yet...three hellfires heavily damaged? After one broadside? This was better than they had hoped.
The hellfire that was firing but not moving took a whole broadside from the lead ship of the line. The other two damaged ones were ingnored for now, as there were....bigger fish to fry.

While there was now only one active hellfire to each frigate, they would need support. One already had a fire a-kindling in the fore-top, and another was taking a beating on the gundeck as an unusual number of rockets hit their mark.
Where they had the opportunity, the frigates loosed broadsides into the hellfires. Where they did not, they used the carronades on deck. Firing a vicious load of grapeshot, these were...not to be trifled with.
Occasionally a line ship had a fleeting opportunity, and would let rip into a hellfire - as just now, with Redoubtable - but much of the time they too were reduced to carronades and chasers as they drew closer to the behemoth.

At the moment, the timberclads were battered but intact. Many of the rockets, even at this range, were flying astray. The damage from cannon was...less than would be expected, almost. And...while sailors were being lost on deck to the "boom tubes" and their loads, no fire had taken hold, and for now the decks held.
Maybe one more broadside, and they would be ready to hit back.

Finally the bomb ketches, behind the rest of the formation, commenced their...contribution. One giant ball each, to rip through an enemy vessel from top to bottom as it fell from a great height.
They were aiming at the behemoth, but for the first couple of shots, while they got their range, they were more likely to trouble the fishes.

ooc: i was assumeing a fleet broadside damageing the hellfires, not just one ship, if that matters.

IC:

this was.. not going well.

"bring the hellfires in. use their cannons on those wooden thingys. boom tubes on the other odd ship types.

and turn the Chargone to port. it's time to for them to see the full effect of a behemoth's broadside!"

the orders were obeyd. the hellfires broke off from attacking firages and went after the more unuseual shiptypes.

even damaged and sinking, the three hellfires that had taken a battering in the initial vollys were returning fire.


and then the Chargone oppend up... with everything.

some of the Incognitian's smaller ships were unfortunate enough to be on it's port side and suffer the cannon fire it brought to bare. but the real show was on the starboard side.

21 boom tube lauchers, 9 rocket stations, 28 cannons, and anything from the portside that could be hauled around to fire the other way without destroying their own rigging, mostly rockets, were fired off simultaniously into a pair of incognitian SOTLs. after that first broadside, each weapon fired as it loaded, at whatever target seemed most opertune, but it was still impresive.

and in amoungst the smoke from this, someing .. unuseual was happening.

"time to give them a shock, i think. inform Skom Aphallee that it's time for his boys to do their jobs."

on the bow, what appeared to be launchers were being lifted out of holes in the decks. much activity was takeing place around them...

and then, as the crew gave voice to a loud chant first heard on a battle field in aust some 300 years before, some 10 brave, bold, and arguably suicidal as there was no way they were going to be able to land at sea, marines were launched into the air... in hawk trooper harnesses and carrying acid bombs.

ooc: surprise. come on, the behemoth is huge, did it not seem just a triffle under armed to you? :D mwahahaha.

OOC: They already were, it's just one (Redoubtable) focussed on the demasted one.

IC: The refocussing of the hellfires could be dangerous; but to attack the bomb ketches meant going between the ships of the line to get there - close enough for not only cannon-fire, not merely carronades, but even rifle fire from topmen, sniping at captains, helmsmen, and other important targets.
And those heading for the timberclads were thus ignoring the frigates...a dangerous mistake, given that a frigate packed enough weight of shot to seriously hurt a hellfire.
A couple of the said frigates got...hurt...when the behemoth cannon opened up. In that boats were being launched, and manned, in a recognition of the hopelessness of keeping them going. One had already had a fire in the foretop.
"Signal the timberclads to fire"
"Sir".
These had felt some of the heat from the behemoth - after that, hellfire cannon was a picnic in the park, and they opened up a full broadside on three decks. The bottom deck was 32-pounder cannon; the upper two carronades; and from this distance the carronades would rip into the hull.
Each, on it's clear side, engaged in opportunistic fire against any hellfire in the right - or wrong - position.
The bomb ketches, one a little ahead of the other, fired again. The first shot had fallen short; this one looked to be going over. With luck the third would be on the money.
Two ships of the line, Redoubtable and Indefatigable, had felt the force of the behemoth's broadside-plus. While there was less weight of shot than in a broadside from one of their sister ships, there were explosives and the like.
Boom tubes were inflicting heavy casualties on deck, and ripping into the top deck, making those carronades that were intact out of action for having no crew, as all survivors were making sure fires didn't spread.
Rockets were...damaging. When they hit. The balance of those two factors made each rocket salvo no worse than an equivalent cannon salvo - the gun decks were getting hurt, but they were trained for this, and the cannon fired on.
"Sir! Hawks!"
"I see them. Signal all ships, use topmen on the hawks, otherwise ignore them. If the rest of the battle goes our way they are worthless, and they carry as much damage between them as a single boom tube."
"Yes sir!"

ooc: "They already were, it's just one (Redoubtable) focussed on the demasted one." <<<what is this refuring to, exactly? i'm just missing the connection there.

IC: some refinements to the ordinance carried by the hawk troopers had been made in the last few hundered years. and to the gliders themselves, for that matter.

for example, as the acid bombs had been redesigned and replaced. no longer did they have to burst apart and thus they could be sealed tighter. instead they were designed to be unstoppered and simply poor their conetense out of a narrowed "neck". this combination of factors mostly resulted in less accidents on takeoff while carrying the ordinance, but more importantly in this case, it allowed the hawk troopers to spread the contents more effectivly.

after circleing once or twice, the hawktroopers identified the command ship. it was the one giveing most of the signals. and they began their attack run. spreading acid from one end of the deck to the other. everything it landed on it began to burn through, with the exception of glass serfaces.

as for the hellfires, the first couple had been basicly torn appart while passing between the SOTLs, though they inflicted a fair ammount of damage for their size. after this the remaining four and a bit (miraculously, the one that had lost it's forward deck to magazine explosions was still functioning and fighting, if only at half weight and awkwardly) made use of their speed and manouverability to circle around, tacking and weaving so as to avoid as much damage as possible, to attack the incognitian fleet from behind.

the Chargone, however, had stopped firing. for a moment. then it turned and, fireing it's forward rockets and launchers all the while, sailed straight for the center of the incognitian fleet, those marieens who were not in the air forming up along the railings of the most opertune bording points.

ooc: a behemoth is probibly twice as wide as a SotL, due to the 'outrigger' hull arangement (each of those could be a reasonable ship in it's own right, given masts and sails, though smaller than a frigate)

OOC: Explanation is you asked i was assumeing a fleet broadside damageing the hellfires, not just one ship, if that matters.

So I replied that the broadside was against all of them, just Redoubtable specifically focussed on the one that was demasted but still shooting, aiming to take it out of commission entirely.

IC: Those on the deck of the Implacable, the flagship, had been...well, there was a word for killing one in ten - decimating. Killing or wounding one in two? The word wasn't there, but they felt the lack of it.
The Commodore had been ushered below just in time for his own safety, and the gundecks were in action. But only slowly could they get Implacable on the move, with the remaining men working together on the sails.

The frigates were hot on the heels of the remaining hellfires. Four, one significantly damaged, remained, so they were at a disadvantage, but they knew their role. Working as a pack, they closed in on a hellfire on one end, leaving it under the guns of at least two frigates no matter it's course.

The timberclads let rip another broadside into the behemoth (OOC:any RP of damage from the last broadside and this one?)

The bomb ketches had one more clear shot before the behemoth would be amongst their own vessels. They used it, this third shot having the right range at last.

And the ships of the line closed up. The behemoth could only board one vessel, looking like the Implacable, as both the closest and the most disorganised opponent; the remainder gathered round a little way out of boarding range. Each fired a broadside, frantically loading for when the behemoth hit, at which point they would begin pouring shot into it from close to.
Every marine contingent closed up; apart from the topmen, still firing, twenty on each ship of the line, apart from the Implacable, up at the hawks.

the hawks had one, and only one, surprise left. after this all they could do was try and land in the water, try and ditch their harness befor it draged them under and drowned them, and try and stay afloat untill a ship with something other than their death on it's mind came accross them. not exactly promiseing.

and so, judgeing the SotLs to be the most threatening opponant, they began their runs. each of them was carrying two sulpher bombs, and they used them. spread amongst the ships. this required greater precision than the acid bombs, and thus several of them were shot while delivering their loads. though only one was hit before dropping his bombs. and then they began the desperate flight and decent that was an atempt not to be killed by the sea.

the Chargone was... staggering, was the best word, under the various assults. it had lost it's forward port mast compleatly, and the sail, spars and rigging for the starborad aft mast were a shattered ruin, the aftermost masst had lost it's sail, but that had been replaced quick enough.

a large chunk of the center of the main deck had holes in it from carronades and bomb ketch shots. fortunatly, there was little actually there. uninhabited sleeping quaters, some stores... such damage Could have divorced the Chargone from any of it's masts, or even one of it's outer hulls. had it not been nicely centered.

the hull it's self, however, was still intact, and the ship still carried enough sail to move.

chargeing straight for the enemy formation, the bow of the main hull clipped the Implacable, and then the [port] hull slammed into the now turning SotL at an angle, shoveing it out of the way and spining it more. the cannons fired into the enemy's command ship on the way past, but that was it. the Chargone was after more dangerous pray now, and continued.

then it found it's self right in the middle of the enemy formation. which was good. and it oppend up with everything it had. after the first shot, however, the launchers started doing something unuseuall.

they were, after all, modified balista, and thus rather versitile. they now proved it by angleing down, and fireing grappleing hooks into the nearest enemy ship on each side. sailors, now haveing little to do as the ship was not going to move untill it sank or won, began haulling on the giant winch handles as soon as the rope stoped paying out.

Cap'n Jak was not above being evil and devious when nessisary.



meanwhile, the hellfires made full use of their unuseual designe. even fleeing the frigates they could bring to bear over a quater of their weaponary. and when those frigates somehow got along side the hellfires, it was just more targets as the beam weapons oppend up.

still, hits do damage. only one came through unscathed. the rest were in various states of dismemberment. masts ripped off, decks blowen out, hulls cracked.. an utter mess. mostly still capable of inflicting some damage, but not really any great use anymore.

that one that got through, however, was really all it would take to make a mess of the bomb ketches. and it set about proveing that fact.

The hawks were, in all honesty, a nuisance but no more. While a few men were killed, and a few more injured, by each sulphur bomb, this spread out amongst the whole squadron was...minimal. And the sulphur itself swiftly dispersed.

In making all but one of the hellfires unfit for further action, the frigates had spent themselves. Not one was still fully mobile. Four were still afloat, with three of those still capable of firing at anything within range, but not one was able to play an active role. This left the bomb ketches undefended for the remaining hellfire. Their only armament of any use now were a couple of swivel guns on each side, to each boat; and hand weapons. Fully capable of killling a few men, but their commanders expected both vessels to be taken or sunk before the line ships could intervene.

These ships were coming in for a most unusual assault, using the ballistae to fire grappling hooks. Obviously, the preference was to use their greater firepower, not encourage boarding, so men with axes were detailed to attack the ropes. None lasted above a couple of hacks, though more were likely to come.
While this was happening, of course, the guns were still firing. Five ships of the line, and, as they returned to the fray after being left behind, the timberclads, all focussed on the one behemoth in the midst of the firestorm.

The Implacable, still the squadron flagship, was not engaging the behemoth. Frankly, her decks were a shambles; her sails shredded; she had taken the brunt of the last salvo from the behemoth as well as much of the fire earlier in the battle. As far as the squadron was concerned, she was out of the fight...or so they thought.
When her flapping sails were - inexpertly - taken in, and she headed up towards the main action, it was a welcome shock.
"Come on you dogs! Victory is within reach!"
Byng was shouting to his men. Composed of the remaining men from on deck, along with men stripped from the gun crews, his working party was inexpert, but would serve to operate those sails that were still usable. And it would get his vessel back into action. He knew his men; knew they would have thought Implacable out of the fight. Seeing her return, with all her remaining guns firing, would boost the morale of the whole squadron.

with essentually all it's masts out of action, the behemoth's crew once again went for the unortodox. they brok out their axes and cut down their own masts.

partially this made them a smaller target verticaly, but more importantly, when chopped up, they would make good flotation devices when the ship went down, and all the random spars and things made ... interesting projectiles when fired from the various weapons around the ship.

the rear rockets oppend up on the Implacable, with the aim of finaly sinking the blasted thing.

"just die already!" was a frequently heard remark in this battle.

the gunners were basicly canabaliseing their own ship for unorthadox amunition. some of the launchers had run out of boom tubes and were now useing their grapples exclusively, with the aim of ripping down masts and sails, pulling them in as fast as they could in the hopes of reuseing them.

the hawk launchers in the bow were now launching sharpend bits of mast at anything in frount of the Chargone, and the remaining tube launchers only had a couple of shots left.

the cannons, however, were still going strong. there weren't as many of them as on an Incognitian SotL, but they were mostly still intact, remarkably.

and now the Chargone was turning, under the two masts it had left, with the intent of useing it's large size to bring it into contact with an enemy ship, or at least disrupt their formation.

the lone hellfire, named 'Demonixz Flyade', that had made it to the bomb ketches had sailed between them at an angle, and opend up with Everything it had. a full 30 each of boom tube launchers and cannon, half into each ship.

"well, Krat" he spoke to his first officer, useing his initial in a familiar manner "we're about to go down in history, one way or another. lets make it spectacular"
"yes sir"

and so the crew was set to double shotting the cannon, loading the remaining poweder barrles into makeshift adapters and fuseing them, and generaly makeing the next, and probibly last, salvo as devistateingly explosvie as possible.

The enemy were getting desperate. With one ship against eight, they had every right to be desperate.
Unsurprisingly, their makeshift ammunition was less effective than the usual kind; of more concern was their turning as if to head for a vessel. Those in the way made sure they could avoid the sluggish opposing ship.
Rather than firing piecemeal, on a signal from Implacable each crew, when the had reloaded, waited.
The next signal was to fire; with eight broadsides, the lightest being the Implacable's remaining crewed cannon, the heaviest at this range the carronades from the timberclads. All unleashed at once.
Byng had given up the ketches, regretfully, for lost, and the one remaining hellfire as a nuisance. As soon as the behemoth sank or struck her colours, this battle would be over.

all though the ships they were headed for moved out the way, the behemoth Chargone still managed to get into a good position to fire the doubleshotted cannon and the powder barrels.

a good third of the cannon blew up rather than fireing properly, and a couple of the powder barreles came back down on their own decks...

but the bulk of the barrels landed beside enemy hulls and most fo them detonated. and double shotted, the cannon shots that hit the enemy ships did rather more damage than useual. of course, by this time, the ship was utterly worthless. out of amunition, basicly dead in the water, and in no position to fight, the crew tried one last desperate gamble.. cutting away the decks to get into the hold easly, they haulled out 5 waka, all that was left. those who were willing, and capable of fighting still, just shy of 200, loaded up into them, whilst everyone else set about cutting bits of ship into rafts.

dumping all these 'boats' over the side into the water, the colours were struck, the crew evacuated, and the ship scuttled.

and the waka headed straight for the nearest SotL, grapples at the ready.

the Demonixz Flyade, haveing picked up a few odd crew from various ships, and seeing there was little it could do, looped around and headed for the rough position of the other patrol on this rout. well, where they should be at least. it would warn them on the way past, and then head for the capital to inform the Prince. this was NOT going to please him. at all.

ooc: i think at this point "just DIE already!" is an apropriate thought :D

OOC: Yeah, from my men not at them :p
IC: The enemy had struck one last, desperate blow. Double-shotted cannon were lunacy, even in their situation. And as for firing off barrels of gunpowder.....
Byng thanked the Lord, and he was far from alone, that the designers of his ship and the rest of his squadron had kept the armouries in the heart of the ships. If such a blast had hit them....
Fortunately launchers not designed for barrels of gunpowder were not very accurate with them. Those that had hit had caused carnage, having a similar effect on two vessels' top decks to the acid on Implacable, just with slightly fewer casualties and slightly more physical damage.
Meanwhile the double-broadside had caused, as you would expect, about twice the damage of a normal broadside. The most impressive effect was toppling one fore and one mizzen mast, along with more guns unseated, gunners and sailors killed, and damage to ships.
One unfortunate vessel, the Redoubtable, took several hits twixt wind and wave, and would be going nowhere for a while; not to mention committing all the men who could be spared to pumping.

When Byng saw the waka, to be entirely honest he laughed.
"They still use those things? They know that two or three solid hits and they're sunk, right?"
"Probably do sir, but they're desperate."
"Well, as long as they keep attacking...."
The fire could not intensify, but it might have seemed like it, since the target was now smaller.
However, some would inevitably get the chance to board. The marines and sailors of the surrounding vessels prepared themselves; the Angerman men would be heavily outnumbered wherever they hit.

at the end of it all, only one waka got through that rain of iorn. the rest sank, though less of their crew than expected actually died. the remaining waka, it's crew knowing they didn't have the numbers to board, instead crused around into the shadow of the nearest functional ship's stearn. the ship's name read "unicorn", and from this position, the incognitian guns either couldn't hit it at all or could hit it only by rakeing their own ship.

makeing full use of the axes that quite a few of the sailors were carrying, they set to work on dismantleing the rudder, lower sturn hull, and anything and everything they could get an axe blade or other weapon into and actually do damage.

it was really a last ditch manouver, but the more damage they did, the slower the fleet would be, and the more likely their brother squadron on this rout was to catch this Incognitian fleet's remains.

One waka remained. One vessel before picking up survivors, taking floating ships under tow, and heading for home ports.

The waka needed dealing with first, however. The Unicorn was under attack, and so remained where she was; and the Centaur stayed in company with her. Use of the main batteries was out of the question, but Centaur sailed a little closer, to use swivel guns and rifles on them.
In a more direct method, a small party of sailors were sent by a quick-thinking lieutenant to grab a barrel of pitch; they took it into, and through the captain's cabin, smashed the windows, then staved open the barrel and set alight to it before casting it out of the windows...onto the waka; spraying burning pitch as it fell.

The remaining vessels active launched boats to pick up survivors, of both sides, with no distinction made between a drenched Angerman sailor and a drenched Incognitian; the vessels themselves set about taking immobile but floating ships under tow.

the hellfire Demonixz Flyade had met the other patrol on that rout on the way back to the capital, and had informed them that any Incognitian warships were probibly hostile. the Sea Komander of the Crazetas Prince and it's accompanying hellfires determined that the best idea was to sail towards the 'boarder' and turn back any merchant ships he came accross, while destroying any ships that decided to shoot at him.

meanwhile, the Demonixz Flyade continued on to report the loss of the squadron to the Prince. he would not be impressed..

The pick-up of survivors complete, and the still afloat three frigates and several hellfires under tow, the battered squadron turned for home ports.
Then began the sorting of captives. Men from the Implacable were not permitted to take part, as they were assumed to be mad about the acid, and the chance of their finding a hawk pilot...
Each man was asked to state only his name, rank and name of ship. It would be...interesting...to see what they had picked up.

once sorted, the Angerman survivors of the engagement consisted of 800 sailors, a quater as many marines, and about 300 gunners of various types.

in amongst the mix were the capitans of 3 of the hellfires, various officers, the first mate from the Chargone... and the Chargone's capitan, the Sea Komander of the squadron, Jak Hawk. he proved to be a bit of a bother. he was calm and collected, and followed through the procedure, untill the crew of the ship he was on were distracted... then he made a mad dash for one of the trailing bits of rigging, intending to swing out and across into one of the still mostly intact and uncrewed smaller ships..

"This, my friends, is they day that you ALMOST caught Jak hawk!" he laughed as he swung up and out and..... slipped off the greasy rope into the sea, and had to be fished out again.

After his little escapade, Jak was brought to see Commodore Byng.
"Sea Komander Hawk, first let me apologise. I never wanted to see the day I had to fight your people; however I am a loyal servant of the Crown, and I had my orders."

After his little escapade, Jak was brought to see Commodore Byng.
"Sea Komander Hawk, first let me apologise. I never wanted to see the day I had to fight your people; however I am a loyal servant of the Crown, and I had my orders."

"well," Jak was dripping all over the Commodore's floor, and took a petty sort of delight in this small vengance "someone in your chain of command is more than a little crazed then. you just totaled aproximatly 1/50th of our Current forces. a number that can be made up with in a month, if the prince pushes for it. and at this point he probilby will, and then some. i do hope this doesn't turn into a full scale shooting war though..."

he paused

"oh, and you owe me about 60 Gold Crosses."

"What makes you think that I owe you money? This may well be a war, which both of us have prosecuted for our side to the best of our ability, how does that leave me owing you money?"

"What makes you think that I owe you money? This may well be a war, which both of us have prosecuted for our side to the best of our ability, how does that leave me owing you money?"


"well, not just me, but that's proibbly the total. funeral costs for dead crew, mostly. i'm pretty sure at the end of the day it'd balance out to being closer to one than sixty, though. because you have similar expences incured by me and my squadron, you see? and, due to a lack of formal decleration of war as of the time of this battle, i Could claime piracy and murder in an Angerman court. i mean, sure, you were under orders, but you were in our waters, with no formal declaration of war haveing reached the Prince."

he shrugged "i'm not going to, but fairs fair. heck, if you lost more men than i, i'll pay for Their funerals, if you want."

"Ah, I understand. The bodies of the dead are mostly lost, but we shall of course pay for a memorial. Whatever I think, our nation was the aggressor in this, we shall pay for the memorial."

"Fair enough. so, now what?"


************Meanwhile, in the capital **************

"THEY DID WHAT?"

"the Incognitians, sir, attacked the Chargone and it's escorts in Angerman waters. the Demonixz Flyade was the only ship to survive, and has come to report. aparantly they sent a signal befor they began. this was no rogue action, they were ordered to attack us."

"RIGHT! gather every squadron we can lay hands on. i'm leading this personaly. i want 5 behemoths sitting in their capital's harbour! we leave as soon as all is ready."

"it'll take a week to gather the ships"

"then we leave in a bloody WEEK, don't we? no go do it!"

... the Demonixz Flyade's captain had been right. the prince was not impressed.

ooc: better hope that master turns up befor he gets orginized. he's .... not happy :D

It had left swiftly; departed in actual fact before the battle; and sailed with all speed.
The Master 2 "Belle Alliance" had broken all records in sailing-time from Dunkennen to Angerwraith. She now pulled into Angerwraith harbour, warily, for something might have occurred, and news could have reached here already. They didn't know.

the reeaction to the appearance of an Incognitian Master was... not exactly friendly.

on the other hand, no one shot at or stabbed the ship or crew, and they were admited to the palace.

"so, you are diplomatic envoys from Incognitia, are you?"

"yes, your highness"

"and you bring me... what? perhaps a, somewhat belated declairation of war?"

cold anger blazed in the princes eyes. the fury and rage that drove the best wheel troops in battle, kept in check only by much effort and solid training.

"We bring you, your highness, an apology from our government. We bring you an offer of compensation for your losses, from our government.
And finally we bring you, if you wish it, an account both of recent events in our nation and their explanation; and why this led to an unjustifiable attack on your people."

"well, spit it out already! i would Love to know which idiot thought This was a good idea. apologies are meaningless. it is done. weither it is forgiven or not will depend more on what happend than what you wish had happend.

anyway, talk, talk already! what happend? which fool should be hung by his genitals from the tallest tree we can find?"

"Our late, not very lamented High Seneschal Cadrez thought it was a good idea. By bypassing normal procedures - no debate in the Consilium, no formal declaration of war - he managed to have a squadron sent, with orders to destroy the first Angerman squadron it encountered.
When this was discovered, there was...unrest. The Admiral of the Fleet resigned in protest, as he could not countermand the order. Cadrez attempted to have him arrested on trumped up charges, but he escaped, and this turned the Consilium wholeheartedly against Cadrez; when he tried to dissolve the Consilium the following day, he was arrested. Found guilty on charges of treason and subversion, he will by now have been executed.
Sadly all this came too late to recall the squadron, so Admiral Clarke, as a leading figure in the new government, sent us directly here."

"humm.... fair enough. but i better not lay eyes on the fool who followed such an order. what was this you mentioned about compensation? and squadron of ships, while it can be replaced in very little time, is still a substantial investemnt in terms of manpower and resorces.

and then there's the whole 'you stupid morons attacked us for no good reason' element... "

"The compensation? Well, the amount would have to be negotiated with the Consilium, but it would probably be aimed to cover the ships sunk, establishment of a fund for widows, cripples and orphans - or contribution to your own such fund, at your preference; and...other expenses incurred.

I could see an unwillingness to go further by those who opposed this action right from the start - Admiral Clarke particularly."

"fair enough. i shall go in person to negotiate this. the councils can run the nation well enough for a few weeks, i think. and it'll agrivate the fleet i called togeather less if they get to do something significant rather than just going home.

Chancilor!"

"yes, your highness?"

"start orgiinizeing things. i'll need full cerimonial dress, among the other stuff. we are bound for Niscea"

"yes, sir"

"as for you" he turned back to the ambasidor "you've convinced me not to attack your homeland. now it remaines for your government to convince me i shouldn't break all ties with them and take this nation down a different road."

"That is all I could have wished for at this stage. We shall go ahead to warn of your arrival."

"very well"

it still took a week for the fleet to assemble, preperations to be made, orders to be given, systems checked and double checked to make sure the nation didn't implode in his absence, that kind of thing.

and, once the week was done, the prince and his entorage boarded the behemoth "Devistation" and the fleet set sail for Terror Incognitia.

this would be the first time Ever an Angerman Prince had left the home islands. it had never happend before. this made it a somewhat historic event, and there was much flag waveing as the fleet sailed.

Belle Alliance was almost home by the time the Prince sailed. She at once passed the news to the telegraphers, so that preparations could be made in Nescia.
Meanwhile the squadron from the battle had arrived. The surviving Angerman ships were under repair, to be handed back to Angermanland when complete. Their crews were given the opportunity to fully engage in the repair process; and also to pick out some shiny new cannon from the Armoury, to better equip their repaired vessels.

Excerpt from the Crown book of Imperial History:

after analysis of the reports and performances of the Chargone squadron at the battle of Ruler's Folly, the admiralty deemed it nessisary to begin production of a third ship type, designed purely for such multi-ship actions. the hellfire had preformed it's role as a hunter/seeker admirably, but was not the right fight for a line combat ship. as a result, the Chargone had suffered horribly, being the only one capable of bringing sufficiant force to bear on a single target.

and so the shipwrites were sent to work, and came back with a new designe: the Vengance class.

with two gun decks, three schooner rigged masts, and 40 cannon arranged in broad sides, it was the most "conventional" ship class in the Angerman navey. in classic style, however, it was not exactly normal. for a start, it lacked a bowsprit. even the most forward positioned mast's natural position was to have the sail aft of it. also, the bow had been "capped" in much the same style as a battering ram, and for much the same purpose. the hull was similar to a friggate's, but with obvious Angerman streamlineing.

the end result was fast, manouverable, and could deliver quite a punch. it would be crewed by 200 saiolors, 240 gunners, 10 officers, 150 marines, and a capitan. 601 men in all.

it would take several months, but by the time all the Vengance class ships were compleated, the squadrons would be re-orginied to include 7 hellfires, 7 vengances, and 1 behemoth, for a total of 15 combat ships. the "spare" hellfires would then be assigned to esscort or seek and destroy/anti piracy missions.

it was well that Angermanland did not, at the time, maintain a large standing army. if they had, finding crew for the ships may have been something more of a challange.

by it's very nature, the Vengance was a ramming ship. for all it's weight in cannon, it's ability to charge in and rip a larger ship in half was it's key strength. more importantly, however, it was capable of supporting the behemoth more effectivly in multi ship actions than a hellfire was.

this would greatly strengthen the Angerman navey in the years to come.