RPG Evolution: Gilded veils and high-seas sails

Picture by Fayzullah - A blindfolded suitor is brought before a princess (recto) | Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=76144724​

In Western literature, the legendary wealth of the Eastern seas is largely viewed through a third-hand lens—specifically, the predatory exploits of English pirates like Henry Every and his 1695 plunder of the Ganj-i-Sawai. However, a closer look at the historical record reveals a major naval superpower: the women of the Mughal court. Operating from behind the sequestered screens of the imperial zenana, these royal noblewomen managed vast commercial empires, owned lucrative shipping fleets, and financed massive infrastructure projects.

The Trailblazing Tycoons of the Zenana​

The pioneer of this maritime venture was Empress Mariam-uz-Zamani, the chief consort of Emperor Akbar and mother of Jahangir. A Rajput princess by birth, her elevation to the status of imperial matriarch granted her immense wealth, which she utilized to break traditional gender barriers and engage in overseas trade. She ordered the construction of the Rahimi, which was built at the Khizri Darwaza on the Ravi River near Lahore. Displacing between 1,000 and 1,500 tons, the Rahimi was the largest vessel operating in the Red Sea. Known to Europeans as "the great pilgrimage ship," it served a dual purpose: transporting up to 1,500 Hajj pilgrims annually from the port of Surat to Jeddah and Mocha, while carrying immense cargoes of indigo, cotton, silk, and spices.

Far from being a mere passive investor, Mariam-uz-Zamani was an active, calculating participant in market forces. She personally funded indigo plantations in Bayana, even commissioning a stepwell with her own money to irrigate the crops. When an English merchant named William Finch had the audacity to outbid her representative for the Bayana indigo harvest in 1610, her fury directly influenced her son, Emperor Jahangir, to freeze out the English ambassador, William Hawkins, ultimately forcing Hawkins to pack his bags and leave Agra.

This legacy of female enterprise was expanded by Empress Nur Jahan, the wife of Jahangir. Highly shrewd and competitive in administrative and economic affairs, she operated around the physical restrictions of the zenana by utilizing her brother, Asaf Khan, as her chief maritime agent to export goods from Surat to the Arabian coasts. Nur Jahan’s economic footprint extended inland as well; she established extensive riverine trade routes along the Yamuna River, commanding Agra's trade duties and funding major public works such as the Nur Mahal Sarai in Jalandhar to safeguard traveling merchants. She was so economically dominant that she earned the rare distinction of having gold zodiac coins struck in her name. Similarly, Princess Jahanara, daughter of Shah Jahan, managed the flourishing port of Surat, using its vast trade revenues to fund her household expenses and maintain her legendary gardens.

The Rahimi Reckoning​

The immense scale of these noblewomen's fleets inevitably placed them at the center of international geopolitics. In an era where European maritime powers like the Portuguese utilized the cartaz system—a mandatory, heavily taxed shipping license—to enforce a monopoly on the Indian Ocean, Mughal vessels had to navigate hostile, highly militarized waters. This delicate balance collapsed during the infamous Rahimi Incident of September 1613. Despite possessing a valid Portuguese pass, the Rahimi was seized by Portuguese forces under Governor Jerónimo de Azevedo near Surat. The attackers plundered the vessel's rich cargo of indigo, cotton, and jewels, took 700 pilgrims hostage, and dragged the flagship to Goa, where it was eventually burned in the harbor.

The Portuguese underestimated the political leverage of the ship's owner. Mariam-uz-Zamani’s outrage prompted swift, decisive action from her son, Emperor Jahangir. The Emperor ordered a complete suspension of Portuguese trade, seized all Portuguese assets within the empire, captured the Portuguese-held city of Daman, and shut down Jesuit missionary activities. This aggressive response permanently crippled Portuguese influence on the Indian subcontinent, marking the decline of their long-standing power at sea and paving the way for their eventual eviction from the region.

Furthermore, these noblewomen were adept at playing rival European powers against one another to protect their economic interests. Recognizing the constant threat posed by the Portuguese navy, Nur Jahan strategically aligned her mercantile operations with the rising power of the English East India Company. By favoring English merchants and granting them trading concessions, she secured naval escorts for her fleets, bypassing Portuguese blockades and ensuring the uninterrupted flow of her luxury exports.

Unveiling the Master Class​

Inspired by the Mughal Empire, an "Empress Mother" can operate as a high-level patron, issuing imperial decrees (firmans) and deploying her agents to protect her trade networks. Her royal court features highly influential women who command fleets, deploy agents, and alter the geopolitical map of the campaign without ever leaving their sanctums. Dungeon Masters can easily build a multi-session campaign arc using three distinct adventure hooks inspired directly by these historical dynamics:

• The Indigo Outbid: Instead of a standard tavern brawl, the players are hired by the Court Vizier to secure a rare, magical dye crop harvested in a remote valley. A rival merchant guild has sent their own arrogant representative to outbid the Dowager's agents. The players must use social skills, corporate espionage, or targeted sabotage to ensure the crop is secured, earning the favor of the Archmage Dowager.
• The Sovereign Retrieval: A hostile naval alliance has illegally seized the Dowager's flagship, holding hundreds of pilgrims hostage in a heavily fortified port. The players must slip past the harbor defenses, infiltrate the seized ship, neutralize the guards, and sail the massive vessel out of the harbor before the enemy can burn it.
• Riverine Blockade Run: The PCs are tasked with escorting a cargo of luxury silks and gold coins from the capital to a distant province. They must clear out river pirate syndicates, negotiate with corrupt toll collectors, and dismantle magical blockades designed to disrupt the empire's internal economy.

Charting New Waters​

Incorporating the historical reality of the Mughal shipping magnates allows Dungeon Masters to present players with complex, multi-layered challenges where economic leverage is as deadly as a broadside, a market insult can mobilize an empire's army, and the most formidable admirals are found behind the elegant screens of the imperial court.

Your Turn: Tell us of your shipping empires in your campaign!

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Assuming auto-correct did you wrong in the last line of the 2nd paragraph changing Mecca to Mocha. That said, there are some coffee shops I'd travel a long way to drink their drinks...

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Your Turn: Tell us of your shipping empires in your campaign!

Hope to hear of others' shipping empires. I've never done it, but thought about it frequently...

Oh - and edited to add - would love to hear what rules system people have to make sailing ship to sailing ship combat interesting to a party of adventurers...

 

[EzekielRaiden]

In a meaningful sense, my players' PCs live in a "shipping empire", after a fashion.

My Dungeon World game is set in Al-Rakkah, the titular Jewel of the Desert. It's inspired by the Thousand And One Nights, the Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor, Al-Andalus, and many aspects of the Golden Age of Islam.

It's the main, largest, wealthiest, and singularly most powerful city-state of the region--arguably, its "capital", even if the other city-states emphatically don't see it that way and technically are more total people than Al-Rakkah, when taken collectively. It has ships coming and going from all parts of the known world at nearly all times--and, ironically, the very first captain that the group chartered a voyage with was, in fact, a woman.

Al-Rakkah has an army and navy etc., but it primarily works through soft-power networks. The most prestigious Waziri mage (=Wizard) universities are in Al-Rakkah. Although Al-Rakkah is not the spiritual capital of the region--that would be Kafer-Naum, the Temple-City--it is definitely 2nd place, and the fact that the Sadalbari runs from the eastern mountains, past Kafer-Naum, and down to Al-Rakkah on the coast, definitely doesn't hurt the spiritual influence. Almost all of the richest people in the region call Al-Rakkah home...or at least they do their tax evasion taxes there. It is ruled wisely and well by Thuriya Salah al-Din bint-Karim Zaman sitt-Rakkah, Padishah Sultana of Al-Rakkah and its Islands and Environs. She usually prefers the simpler "Sultana Thuriya", and has inherited much of her late father's intelligence, tenacity, and charisma. All--ally and enemy alike--hope that her mother's calm nature wins out, and she doesn't fall into the creeping paranoid madness that consumed the end of her father's once-illustrious reign.

 

[payn]

Traveller's Pirates of Drinax is essentially a political quagmire of shipping lanes. A desolate sprawl of space that once held a massive empire, now serves as cheap labor and a buffer zone between two modern day empires weary of war. The PCs as residents get to choose whether to rebuild the empire through diplomatic relations of the former states, or by pirating the space lanes and exacting tolls that the modern-day empires find less inconvenient than sending a fleet to clear the space lanes.

 

[Schmoe]

This is great! I haven't seen much discussion of how economic interests can drive politics or events in a game, so I found the discussion of the Mughal interests enlightening and inspiring. Thanks.

 

[Minion X]

Are Gorean social mores making a comeback? "See how much happier and productive women are in the bondage of the harem behind veils and screens."

 

[CF07]

Assuming auto-correct did you wrong in the last line of the 2nd paragraph changing Mecca to Mocha. That said, there are some coffee shops I'd travel a long way to drink their drinks...

Actually Mocha was an important trading city in that era famous for trading coffee.

 

[Stormonu]

Looking at my own campaign, my western major shipping power is Saltbrine, which consists of a number of city-states that build ships and plies the western waters to trade. As I look at my write-ups, I realize I haven't detailed them very much. Due to extensive pirating against them, they have developed the Granite Fleet, with ships made of actual stone that are highly resistant to the cannons of the pirate Dragon Armada. They vie with Millos, who has the secret of smoke powder and ships of their own (and thought to be behind the Dragon Armada, considering they have smokepowder weapons), but the Millos are not so much traders as they are explorers and conquerors, ala Spain in the 1600's.

In the south seas, the primary shipping power is probably Ksiki Con Corridon. Again, I haven't written up a lot of details; they have Hulks as their primary ships (think modern cargo ships, but made of wood and brass), and they trade a lot of spices, rare woods and exotic they import from islands to the south of the continent. They used to use slave labor for their ships, but a fairly recent revolt stopped that practice and Ksiki now pays islanders to run the ships (but tends to secretly run up the islander's debts to keep them working for relatively little gain in the end).

In the east, there is no great shipping power; it's mostly freelancers who have to contend with the twin terrors of Battlegroup Redblade and the Bloodtide. The Boodtide is modelled after Nemo's Nautilus and Battlegroup Redblade is a relic of an ancient past and is literally a WW2 style battleship fleet that patrols the waters hunting for an enemy that died hundreds of years ago (and because current sailing ships don't have the ability/knowledge to transmit a "friend" indication, they're all see as viable targets to sink).

As for the north, Silkna Kingdom is probably the master of shipping, merely because it is the largest nation facing that sea. Once again, I've very little details about their sea power - other than they prefer airships to actual sailing vessels.

Looks like I may need to spend some time expanding on all this; as much as I love pirate lore it's a bit surprising I haven't put much thought into my own campaign's shipping lanes and sea power.

 

[Tonguez]

Anyway I did a series of adventures set in Melaka and the Majapahit Empire and a strong Mercantile campaign inspired by the Ayyavole and other South Indian trade guilds that operated between the 9th and 14th centuries.

In particular my "500 Lords of the Vaniyaga" Campaign (unfinished) comprised a network of interlocked trade networks spread across the coastal ports of the Mahasegara from Outremer to the Straits of Melaka to the Old Continent, all bound by the Vira Balanju Dharma (the Law of Heroic Traders) and the Dan Nakya (Council of Auditors).The climate of the region is largely tropical and the peoples have been blessed with rich foods and spices, perfumes, gemstones, textiles and all manner of beasts.

The two emblems of the Vaniyaga are the White Umbrella, carried by the Heroic Traders when conducting business with the rulers of the nations in which they trade or public temple processions; and the 7-headed Naga Raja used on official seals of the Vaniyaga and as an entranceway to many Vaniyaga built Temples.

Anyway the PCs started in the Port of Tanjuvar in Pandya Nadu where they are invested into the Vira Balanja and commission by the Patanaswami to travel to the Port of Takola in Shangri La (home port of the Gokhong Apemen) to collect a new Jong (ship) which they will then deliver to the Port of Melaka and establish a new Trading House in order to build further trade opportunities with markets across the Old Continent.


PC Options:
The Vira Balanja (Heroic Traders) includes

• Exporers & Diplomats who actively seek new opportunities, exploring by land and sea and developing relationships in each new port they visit.
• Builders & Merchants who establish a Trade center for participation in local markets under the Vira Balanja Dharma (Law of fair trade, cooperation and generous giving)
• Priests & Warriors as the Vira Balanja provides mutual support and protection against piracy and barbarians. They also assist with building temples, canals and irrigation networks.
• The Dan Nakya (Council of Auditors) charged with enforcing the laws of the Vira Banaju Dharma, viewing the records of business, identifying cheaters, and protecting both buyers and sellers.

Anyway after dealing with some stolen guild seals and securing a crew in Tanjuvar, the PCs sailed to Takola and discovered in under attack by pirate raiders. The PCs assist the local Gokhong, venture in to the jungle and rescue prisoners before paying tribute the temple of Hanuman Vayuputra.

Defeating the raiders and securing the Jong, the PCs traveled south, did some trade and minor exploration, gained a stowaway princess, explored a haunted island and then encountered a Sea Dragon who demanded tribute before letting them pass into the Straits of Melaka.

We got to the Port of Melaka and negotiated with the Raja to build a Trading House but had to deal with some spirits first. Unfortunately the adventure then went dormant...