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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Scotley" data-source="post: 3001743" data-attributes="member: 11520">OOC DiscussionOCC: Scott your last post really got me to thinking about MIchael and his character.....Given his past and that of his closet confederates I dont see Michael as having a ton of bases as I originally had thought......they could be wiped out and his people put at jeporady...having his family wiped out by jeasouly people etc would reinforce this desire...however he is in a pickel given his hatred of the sea and all things dealing with sailiors...I also see Michael as keeping his people close for mutual support. Further, great wealth only will bring grief as what happend to his father.........so Michael would not be interested in becoming another Carnimacar...while money is important lol i see Michael as putting enought together to be able to trade successfuuly when he can, thus the cargo capicty for the ships..as well as enought to keep 5 Mother Establishments going for a source of potiential recruits. With the exception of the Tregeran Shipyard, I think Michael will restrict his invesments to protable wealth or in bank deposits, sight drafts. All very logical...In regards to a spy network, I think Nicholas can do that from a distant.....but more importantly he is to be our chief revenger at least initally......so while he will lay the ground work i see the overall network as being very slowly built......As for the communication,,,, a serious of books like we discussed for people to write in and it showing up in the master book on board the ship would be the most cost effective.Yes, the spy network was important early on and we both lost track of it in the events at hand. Nicholas' roll as revenger was largely ignored as well since he was 'off camera' for nearly a year. Simple enough to correct both omisions. The books are not well known, but used by many masters and captains to keep in touch--this makes them less expensive than more exotic means. Finally in regards to the ship....the openings to the various holdings would be dangerous,,in fact very dangerous for Michael and his crew as it gives outsiders a way into the heart of Michaels defenses......thus i have chosen not to go that route as the cost would eventuallly be prohibitive and the money could better be spent on the ship...Yes, those wheels started turning immediately for me. A very secure and heavily armed ship containing great wealth...with dozens of doors scattered much too far and wide to be properly protected. I was salivating at the posibilities. (Cue evil DM laughter here...)This brings me back to the ship.....With all this in Mind, the ship is being reconfigrued...it's outer design will not change but the interior is going to be reconfigured with the addition of 4 more cargo decks and 4 more for living areas......increaing the cost by about 20,000gp.Some would remain unfished of course as there would not be a need for the space just yet...but their would be ample room in time to infact support a modest size town of perhaps 1500 residents with room for libaries, training rooms, labs, forges,etc....all of course rescued and owing loyalty/fealty to M. Storm and compayVery interesting posibility though the cost sounds low.MORE THOUGHTS <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Scott, I thought it may be helpful if i gave you some frame of reference information along with my other ideas......At the Battle of  Traflaga the Spanish ship of the line Santisma Trinidaded mounted 130 guns on it's three decks and fired a broaside = to 1500 pounds of shot....it was crewed by a little over 1500 men and had storage capicty for 6 months at sea before it had to replinish...now having said this it was the largest ship ever floated for it's era but its lenght was just over 220 feet with a width of 70 feet.Now back to my baby <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />While thinking about my ship and it's design i came across some startling questions with which i need to annoy you...1. Giving the fact that it is an island empire with limited land mass suitable for crops and livestock...how is the empire feed? What about the price of food stuffs and especially cattle which are land intensive to raise..I realize that there are tons of small islands but i dont see them as being able to support a huge population base....I realize there has been a famine thus reducing the overall population but how is the food stuff suppiled to what is still an extensive fleet.......I am guessing that some crops and herbs are grown on the floating islands that travel with the fleet and that some ships etc have small gardens.....The empire does suffer on occation from food shortages, but it has a few advantages as well. The presence of the Druids allows for much higher yields from crops and health of livestock than could be expected in a traditional mideval agrarian society. Thus, less land is needed. Additionally, like island nations such as Japan more than half the food comes from the sea. Fish, seaweed, and all sorts of seafood are the staples of the empire diet. Beef is for the royalty and nobility. A commoner might only eat beef a couple of times a year--in a good year. Cattle are more common in the Western Reach and the Shield Arm which are the main providers of food for the empire. Mutton, goat, poultry and pork are more common requiring generally less land and fodder than beef. Most ships do maintain small gardens, and as you say citrus is important to sailors who eat mostly dried or salted fish. Most ships keep a few goats as well as fowl aboard for milk, cheese and eggs. Dried beans and peas as well as ships' buscuits are common fare as well. Some ships sport thorny berry bushes along the sides both as a food suppliement and deterant to sea living predetors that might try to climb aboard. Grape vines on masts are not unknown as well. Dwarves and Orcs have long had techniques for growing food underground various fungi are the staple of the dwarven diet, while orcs prefer to feed the mushrooms to beasts and eat meat. They are particularly fond of game animals love to hunt predetors, both above and below ground. Thus my idea that ideally, my ship should proably have a special deck or two devoted to gardens and small citrus trees etc...nothing fancy just something to walk thru and relive the boredom of what will most likely be endless days at sea.An excellent idea and likely needed to support the 'small town' concept. Some of the Dwarven techniques for growing underground would be helpful here; though much could be accomplished with skylights, windows, reflectors and shade tolerant plants.  2. Many times and in many of the post you have mentioned the great plague...just how bad was it.....i am getting the impression that like half the population was killed....? Where there any particualr areas hard hit..Ah yes the Fey Cavall (Elven Raiding Ship as it is known because it is widely believed to be a product of Elven Magic) is a magical plague. About a third of the population was lost to it, but not all were killed. Many of the dead arose as undead. Many of the victoms were transformed. Some became beastial and went mad attacking friends and family. Others became harmless beasts. Men with dog paws, cats eyes, cows hooves other mutations that didn't make them dangerous so much as handicapped. Lots of these were killed for few that they might become mad and attack or that they were carriers. Those that remain have been forced to live in gehttoes, reservations and work camps in some places. Others can be seen begging on street corners. It is widely believed that many have become thieves and criminals of various sorts. They are generally shunned by all. The plague struck pretty uniformly. Fear that it could be spread like other diseases led to the wealthy and powerful isolating themselves and trade or travel slowed to a crawl. The plague was resisent to all but the most powerful of cures. (Only 7th level spells and above could overcome it.) 3. What happened to the tons of orphans that survived the plague?In general the plauge killed the old transformed the strong into deadly beasts and the children into weak animal hybrids. There really weren't that many orphans though enough to create work houses, orphanges and huge foster program. The thinking also lead me to really think thru my concept of a floating village so to speak...I like it......Intially, Michael will only be able to  afford the boat and the extradimensional space....I have it down to roughly 2500 gp per deck Instead of having them finished out in steel and wood I was thinking about making the interdimensional space finished with bricks and stone....this would reduce the cost, make it inherently more sturdy and fireproof as well as defensable...it also allows for traditional building configrations...but still within the confines of the ships dimesnions........i mean with the price of metal and wood, a double course of bricks for the wall has to be cheaper than wood or steel planking....Several decks that i Know i want to create are as follows"A garden deck with 20 foot ceilings laid out like a formal english gardenA garden deck with 10 foot ceilings devoted to herbs, mushrooms and fresh vegetiablesA smith deck with four forges........A bathing deck with hot and cold baths a sauna, a steam room....also on this deck would be facilites of recycling and purfing the water so it could be reused.A galley deck complet with bakers oven........A live stock deck....devoted to poultry......with a ten foot ceiling......and using 4x4 x4 cages the ship could carry enought poultry to be self sufficent in fresh eggs and be kinda self sufficent as far as fresh meat goes....A live stock deck devoted to a few cows, sheeps and pigs.....these would have to be stocked on a regular basis but it would allow for fresh meat on occasion for everyone as well as a steady stream of fresh meat for Michael, the officers and upper level crewmembers.A cold storage deck...think meat locker.....that would allow for the long term storage of meat...the way the ship is designed...there would be two huge freezers and 4 large refrigators to keep things fresh.....Three water decs storing fresh water......ideally the water is going to be stored in brick cisterins with tile interiors....to reduce the chance of spoilage...but regardless there will be charms of water purity and sweetness aboudning the room and containers.......By my calculation one deck 500 tons should let me store ,using the measure of 1 gallon = 5 pounds,100 tons of water or 200,000 gallons of water for a grand total of 600,000 gallons. Thsi seems like a lot of water but if were eventually talking about a small village it is not that much....with a crew of 1000 it would mean, using the average of three gallons per person, would only allow for the ship to be at sea 200 days before it ran out of water....which is more or less in line with the ship designs it is based on.One deck devoted to arms, and martial equipment......One manufacturing deck so ballista bolts etc can be customised etc....and other custom equipment can be made....No i have not forgotten abou the gnome gadgeter i wanna hire eventually <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />A Holy Deck.....with 4 large shirnes...that services can be held in by the various religions...A Hospital Deck...gonna have to have this one for sure <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />IN closing...NO i did not have anything better to do this evening <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>[/QUOTE]

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