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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Bob Aberton" data-source="post: 703390" data-attributes="member: 1518">I don't care much about the cultural details too much, but some things dealing with naval/maritime developements:I would hope they have invented sails by now.  I would imagine that in their battles with the Jongans they encountered some difficulty with their dolphin skiffs, for example:-Tow-ropes breaking in the middle of battle; perhaps another ship ran over them, perhaps they just got too stretched.  A broken tow rope would leave a dolphin skiff or whale ship dead in the water.-Vulnerability of the tow animals.  Charm a tow animal, sic it on its own vessel, you've got the makings of a disaster.-Tow animals tiring out.  You can't drive a wagon twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, but you can sail a ship for years on end.-Unsafe in bad weather.  As above, a broken tow rope would leave a whaleship dead in the water during a storm, with disastrous consequences.  Also, the tow animal might get panicked by having a multi-ton ship being thrown around in the water near it.With their woodshaping skills, I see them discovering sails, developing them, and becoming a prime naval power.A hull, deck and mast could be woodshaped out of one piece of wood - making it many times over as strong as a conventional vessel.Masts could be made taller, and taller still - ships could begin setting topsails above their mainsails, then topgallants, royals, skysails, ringtails...The complex arrangement of ropes could be handled by a small crew of mages memorizing nothing but Animate Rope...</blockquote>

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