This article appeared in Tradetalk #2, pp. 29-31 (including illustrations I will try to get permission to put up here). I wrote it up to provide myself with the feel of Lake Felster sailing for a play-by-email PC (Gordan of Tortun) in Jose Ramos' Kustria game. My in-play experiences in Jose's version of Kustria are too good to lose, so I decided to adjust my earlier writing in order to include character POV descriptions of the events in Kustria. I am actually about a year late to come out with this stuff, but better late than never. Expect to see more about Gordan, his contacts, and his experiences. For a short introduction, check Jane Williams' Glorantha PBEM club pages.
The main changes here are the outline map of Syran and the Kustria description, which is an attempt to use the in-game material with Ingo Tschinke's background article. I will add other information if anybody has a campaign in the region and wants to include his stuff - important merchants, city descriptions, links to other homepages, etc. Just email me.
The great lake at the core of Safelster has always been of critical importance for the merchants and rulers of civilized Ralios. Here the art of Naval War has a long tradition, and has seen much practice except in the rare times of a unified Safelster.
Most important counties of Ralios lie upon the shore of Lake Felster, and so do many of their capitals.
The lake itself is over 200 km long. The width varies, between 28 km (from the south cape of Sentanos to the Tiskos shore) to 80 km (from the bay of Azilos to Tortun), but averages at 50 km. Visibility depends very much on the weather, but even on clear days a ship may ply the waves without sight of any shore. Waves are usually weak, less than half a meter on an average day. Navigation is done by the sun, the Red Moon, and coastal features.
The coast forms vary from rocky cliffs, some with treacherous underwater spikes, to marshy flatlands, or loam cliffs behind flat beaches full of hidden debris. Shoals are a danger, especially at the river mouths.
The only current through the lake of some permanent strength is the Tanier current from the upper Tanier River to the lake outlet, along the Kustrian coast. There is a steady, but slow current from east to west, caused by the Doskior and Helby Rivers, which increases only in Storm and Sea Seasons when snow-melt and spring rains swell the rivers.
It takes a hard winter to freeze over the entire lake, but this can last from early Dark Season well into late Storm Season. The Tanier current might remain open even then, but the Doskior and Helby currents keep waterways to Galin and Syran reliably open into the middle of Dark Season. There is an increased danged of drift ice throughout this time, though. Normal winters may see the shore regions freeze over around late Dark Season, but with the customary rise of the water level in early Storm season these sheets tend to break up and drift off, providing ice-free ports on the river mouths by Movement Week of Storm Season. In mild winters naval trade remains undisrupted, but this time is usually used by the ship owners for maintenance anyway.
Lake Felster is inhabited by multitudes of sea-weeds and sea-weed-dwelling creatures, tended by tribes of Murthdryami. The centre of the lake is deep (some even claim bottomless), and the goddess of the lake demands respect for her goodwill towards the human neighbours.
Fishing in the lake is quite satisfactory and provides a basic staple to the diet of the Safelstran cities. Carps, catfish and eels are the main catches, supplemented by an almost lobster-sized variety of the river crab which can be trapped (or traded) in murthdryami algae forests on the upper slopes of the lake bottom. Adventurous fisherfolk sometimes fish with about 400 m long lines in the lower waters of the central lake. The stygian creatures which can be caught there often look hideous, but often prove worth the effort, if not for food, then for lamp-oil and magical ingredients.
The vast majority of Felster ships fits this general description: A sleek hull, with rowers benches extending sidewards, holding a single deck of oars manned by one to five men each (depending on size, design, and purpose), stabilized by sword-like ridge along the length of the keel. Even trader vessels are built for speed, usually the only hope against hostile forces. All ships have castles fore and aft, often with additional turrets for spell-casting. Military ships generally have a ram, not underwater, but on level with the rowers' benches. The craft are shell-built, with clinker straking from split (not sawed) trunks fitted to form, then stabilized by the skeleton fit into the shell. The planks are tarred with several layers of pitch to hold off the inevitable boreworm attacks which limit the life expectancy of a lake craft to about 25 years, even with careful maintenance. Some shipyards use metal plating for more durability, but the metal rarely survives more than five years of immersion. (An exception are the royal Galin barges which use gold for plating the entire hull. Because of this fact, they are very coveted, and can move on the lake only heavily escorted. Still, of four such vessels only two are still in the possession of Galin, one has been taken by the Estali, another serves as state barge for the Duchess of Tortun.)
The (usually) single mast bears a single lateen-rigged sail which allows to sail rather straight course even east to west, against the predominantly southwestern wind. Coastal features make sailing under land tricky, though, so the sails are mainly used on the open lake only. Above the rig the mast bears an oversized shield showing the vessel's allegiance.
(This ship design is the heritage of the God Learner occupation, and imitates the general vessels of the Jrusteli. Since the Closing, such vessels haven't been used elsewhere.)
Fishing vessels are similar in form, though neither size nor sophistication. Usually they are spread dug-outs outfitted with one or two rows of planking and a few ribs for stabilisation. Most rely solely on paddles or oars for propulsion.
Naval tactics on Lake Felster are quite sophisticated - Jrusteli-devised maneuvers like the bow-to-bow ramming, the sheering rake through the rowers' banks, well-balanced catapult/ballista fire and magical firepower, grappling maneuvers not only broadside, but also with drop-bridges from the foreship to the aft, etc.
Usual naval combat encounters are between single ships, mostly a freebooter or war-galley against a merchant galley. Larger scale conflicts may see whole warfleets, supplemented by merchant galleys or mercenary allies, like the battle which drowned the last Count of Jorglaban and his Tinaros fleet against the fleet of Partania.
The kingdom of Kustria has only one major port, in the Old City of Kustria. [Ingo Tschinke's description is available in Tradetalk #2.]
The city of Kustria is actually two cities, the Old City (including the Tower of Xud and most of the port) and the New City with the royal castle and the tournament grounds.
This port is unusual in providing several areas for three galleys each which are walled separately and feature barracks. These are the tournament bays, part of the general design for the tournaments, and provide the attending counts or dukes with a safe place for their barges. These stem back from the rule of Ulianus III and lie outside of the city walls of the Old City (another security measure).
The Kustrian trade port controls the outlet of Lake Felster, and is visited by flat-bottomed river craft suitable to cross the Sodal Marsh from Orenoar, Tanisor, Dangim and Uron. Political tensions tend to keep the Lower Tanier River trade low-volume, although some merchants ply the marsh canals to Lake Bakaleel (aka Bakan Lake) and Orenoar to cater for the ever-lasting demand of iron armaments or raw iron from Old Seshnela.
The Kustrian fleet of six large war-galleys is described in Tradetalk #2, p.17.
Four shipyards do mostly repairs.
The city of Azilos is quite unimportant as a market, although import of foreign goods usually provides fair profits for traders. Native products are rather dull - agricultural surplus still sells, though, as provision to any of the numerous mercenary bands.
Only three shipyards are available.
Still recovering from the Chaos Monk campaigns, Tiskos is a centre of import.
Four shipyards offer services.
[For more info on Tiskos, check Paolo Guccione's webpage or Tradetalk #2.]
The city of Estali lies on the mouth of the lake's only major southern inlet, opposite to Tiskos-held lands. The port itself lies about five kilometres upriver from the river mouth.
One of the main industries of Estali is the ship-building, with lots of high quality timber shipped down from the Tarinwood year-round.
During the last years, the Estali navy has campaigned for supremacy on the lake under its self-styled Admiral of the Felster Lake. Prizes from numerous minor engagements and daring raids into even far parts of the Lake have helped to round up finances for the ever-growing fleet, but lately the Admiral has begun to give out letters of marque to condottieri or enterprising merchant houses as well. Most other lake fleets have come to dread the Estali banner. There might even grow a rare alliance against the Estali ambitions.
Traders paying for the "protection" of the Estali navy are interested in Manirian goods transported through Pralorela. Tarinwood timber is popular throughout the lake cities for its quality.
Thanks to a ready supply of prime timber, the port of Estali offers 12 shipyards, most of which cater for the Estali navy to keep the 15 war-galleys afloat.
Controlling the trade on Helby River, Galin is the other main port for goods destined to Maniria through Pralorela.
In proud Galanini tradition, Galin's vessels are ornated with gold plating and horse-head designs. The Galin navy is feared for its special fire-magics. These, and the recent alliance with Kustria, are the main reason why the port has not been cut off by the Estali navy.
Five shipyards are available.
At the mouth of the Doskior River, Syran controls much of the upriver trade into Naskorion, Delela, and even the troll-infested far east of Ralios. Light and flat-bottomed rivercraft ply the Doskior, but rarelybrave the open lake - not so much for fear of natural hazards but for the knowledge that the sleeker galleys plying the lake can outrun them easily, which makes their chances to arrive at their destination with their cargo rather slim.
The Merchant Guild of Syran has priority rights to purchase any goods traveling down the Doskior. Sentries and patrol boats along the semi-permanent pontoon bridge spanning the Doskior from middle Sea Season to early Dark Season make sure that no craft fails to register with the river port officials. The river traders carrying goods destined elsewhere often unload such cargo up to two days of travel upriver from Syran. The local barons profit from this smuggling activity, either by rounding up the offenders and claiming the contraband (sponsored by the guild, too), or by taking tolls. The River Port is situated along a bend in the river, just upriver from the pontoon bridge.
The Lake Port of Syran is a different matter. Separated from the Doskior mouth by a peninsula artificially prolongated, it has avoided the fate of so many riverine ports: sanding up. The port walls surround an area two kilometres long and up to one kilometre wide. The main entrance is flanked by ballista-armed castles which can fix a huge bronze chain between them to close the port. A separate section of the port, reserved for the ducal navy, has two smaller, similar exits into the lake and into the main section. It lies adjacent to the city's citadel, and houses most of the shipyards as well.
Both ports are separated from the city by walls, with guarded gates. They are legally subject to the count's and guilds' port authorities, and provide inns, entertainments and basic services to the common sailors who aren't exactly welcome inside the city.
Eight shipyards provide the necessary facilities to remove plants, boreworm-infested planks, and repair damaged rigs, as well as new vessels both for trading and military uses. At close terms, the city shipyards might outfit six new vessels per season, but more usually they turn out only one or two, spending most of their effort on repairs and maintenance.
Thanks to the Doskior River, Syran offers a rich variety of both civilized and barbarian goods, even troll-made speciality goods traded in Naskorion. The locally produced speciality are glass-wares.
The capital of Sentanos has a less glorious port than Syran, but serves as the fleet HQ nonetheless, due to the uneasy neighbourhood to Tinaros, whose leaderless barons tend to raid onto the lake as much as over land, or each other.
The port has only two shipyards, mostly occupied with the repairs for the Sentanos fleet.
The leaderless county has no functional major port on the lake, but three barons along the hilly and forested lakeshore of southeastern Tinaros have castles with small ports suitable for two or three fast galleys, both to provide relief in case of sieges and to have a base for raids against fat merchants - preferredly slow river boats from the upper Tanier on the way to the port of Kustria.
The capital city lies far on the upper Tanier River, and the former fleet of the late Count of Jorglaban had been launched from Tanora, the (long sanded) port directly on the river mouth, below the haunted castle which is said to have been the birthplace of Argin Terror.
The People's Republic of Wexten fields one communally commanded 90-foot war-galley, which rarely leaves the port.
Raymondo du Harm, called the Lake-Wolf, is a famous mercenary captain whose galley has turned many a battle with the vicious ramming spur injecting oil into the target vessel...