Trade in the Fever Sea


Skull & Shackles


I've found a few references to Saragava doing a bit of trading, with some other references to the colony becoming less profitable. I've also seen a few references to slave trading and exporting artifacts from the ruins in the Shackles and down the coast. But none of this would seem to account for all the trade ships, or seem to make pirating in the Fever Sea the least bit profitable.

So what are all the trade ships pirates attack in the Fever Sea shipping?


I've heard a few people wondering the same thing. But from the description in the campaign itself and of the shackles it seems that most of the piracy takes place north of the Eye, near Cheliax and the Arch and then the the pirates escape south to port peril.

Of course that doesn't fix the fever Sea problem, but from what I understand a lot of trade comes out of the shackles as well. Merchants buying goods from the shackles and heading back north.


To add a bit to that, there is all the wealth coming out of Bloodcove and Senghor. Bloodcove is the outlet for most of the Aspis Consortium's operations in the Mwangi Expanse, while Senghor is a metropolis supported by all the traders who can't (or won't) deal with the consortium or Sargava. Between them, there are probably more than enough ships for aspiring young pirates.


which begs the question why merchant ships do not run more heavily armed. Or with bigger vessels like the English East-India Trading Company ships, making capture far more difficult. Should be cheaper for the owners. A wise choice might be to let the ships go (crippled) after capture, otherwise owners will invest into heavily armed, convoy bound shipping.

If you feel safe about it, have Sargava be the northern trade stop for coastal trafic from southern, where goods from the south end of the world are traded. It's an open continent after all... would be alike to India with local coastal traffic running towards the larger Ports for "travel north"

But given the Sargava pays a hefty fee to the Pirate Lord's for safety, there might be trouble in this.

What might be nice (looking at the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean) would be a pilgrim driven economy


vikingson wrote:
If you feel safe about it, have Sargava be the northern trade stop for coastal trafic from southern, where goods from the south end of the world are traded. It's an open continent after all... would be alike to India with local coastal traffic running towards the larger Ports for "travel north".

I think that sounds like one of the better options and will probably make this assumption.

vikingson wrote:
But given the Sargava pays a hefty fee to the Pirate Lord's for safety, there might be trouble in this.

The Isles of the Shackles book implies that not all of the Pirates follow the "We won't pirate you" all of the time. It probably also only applies to ships flying the Sargava Ensign flag. But then again I don't have a reason why they (merchant ships) wouldn't all do this, except maybe to avoid Chelaxian Privateers.


TheCSpider wrote:


The Isles of the Shackles book implies that not all of the Pirates follow the "We won't pirate you" all of the time. It probably also only applies to ships flying the Sargava Ensign flag. But then again I don't have a reason why they (merchant ships) wouldn't all do this, except maybe to avoid Chelaxian Privateers.

Now that would be easy. Sargava charges quite a premium (trying to reimburse themselves for their protection) on ships, and flying the flag comes with some "papers", probably not all that easy to forge at the price required. Pirates pull up to you, show them "the papers". If you run, you already kind of showed you aren't "protected"...

nevermind pirates being "unscrupulous"

Besides, with Chelian attitude towards Sargava, flying the Sargavan Ensign too far to the north is just invitation to be plundered by the Chelians. As you said...
Which in a way would explain what chelian ships are doing so far south.... plundering^^


I would think most groups would respond to increased danger or piracy by travelling in convoys. The Spanish did this when piracy got out of hand in the Caribbean and the allies did it to protect themselves vs. u-boats.

In my campaign the party will run into ship convoys far more often than individual ships. and the ship convoy will always have enough fire power to drive off the party if they try to attack. The party will need to locate the rare single ship and that would be an easier target.

Dark Archive

Makes sense... especially during Fever Sea days, they won't be anywhere near big enough to try them on. That said, later on the PCs may actually get a fleet of ships, as opposed to just a single one, and at that point later on they could actually go after those convoys... which could potentially be handled as ship-to-ship combat between their ship and the flagship of the convoy, with perhaps some simplified rules for the other ships as they go at one another.


there is of course the problem that usually a convoy is only as good as the fighting ships escorting them. So who would send those ? And who would say... trust the Chelians ?

There will also be the question of coordination (this did not really work well for the spanish ), especially in a world where weather can be called up through magic... "what an interesting fogbank"

Contributor

vikingson wrote:


Now that would be easy. Sargava charges quite a premium (trying to reimburse themselves for their protection) on ships, and flying the flag comes with some "papers", probably not all that easy to forge at the price required. Pirates pull up to you, show them "the papers". If you run, you already kind of showed you aren't "protected"...

nevermind pirates being "unscrupulous"

A mere flag isn't going to dissuade any pirate worth her salt from boarding a ship. I would think that Sargava ship captains understand they must submit to boarding by Shackles pirates so that their bona fides may be verified. And yes, though they are a minority, some pirates consider anything afloat fair game. Pirates also prey on each other in the archipelago (though various treaties exist) and the unscrupulous merchants who head down into the Shackles to snarf up stolen goods cheaply know they run the risk of being accosted themselves on their return journey. However, the majority of piracy goes on north of the Eye, with the pirates using their superior seamanship and knowledge of the reefs to escape pursuit by national fleets.


Mike Shel wrote:
vikingson wrote:


Now that would be easy. Sargava charges quite a premium (trying to reimburse themselves for their protection) on ships, and flying the flag comes with some "papers", probably not all that easy to forge at the price required. Pirates pull up to you, show them "the papers". If you run, you already kind of showed you aren't "protected"...

nevermind pirates being "unscrupulous"

A mere flag isn't going to dissuade any pirate worth her salt from boarding a ship. I would think that Sargava ship captains understand they must submit to boarding by Shackles pirates so that their bona fides may be verified.

As I said : "show them the papers". Seemed obvious

Mike Shel wrote:
And yes, though they are a minority, some pirates consider anything afloat fair game. Pirates also prey on each other in the archipelago (though various treaties exist)

You realize treaties are worthless without an institution to enforce them, right ? And I haven't seen a High Council of Pirate Justice yet, nevermind any enforcers of it. And would Besmara even enforce such a treaty ?

Mike Shel wrote:
and the unscrupulous merchants who head down into the Shackles to snarf up stolen goods cheaply know they run the risk of being accosted themselves on their return journey. However, the majority of piracy goes on north of the Eye, with the pirates using their superior seamanship and knowledge of the reefs to escape pursuit by national fleets.

Why not on the journey in? Money/wares loaded are equally worthwhile plundering going into the Shackles. Especially since one is likely to trade wares "in need" within the Shackles.

Essentially, that's why places like Ilizmagorti seem to exist in the first place, right ? "Neutral" ports for selling and buying stuff, with a supervising authority which makes certain that things stay that way (and I guess one can trust the Red Mantis to be utterly serious about enforcing their livelihood by killing anyone breaking a supposedly neutral zone benefitting them). Same perhaps for Port Peril, but with an utterly problematic position deep within the Isles which will keep any wise merchant away. Plus, the boss here is a pirate himself - less trustworthy.

BTW, I do fail to see the Shackle's reefs benefitting anyone "north" of the Eye. Even in the Eye... are we led to believe, that the entire area of the eye is just one flat, low water zone, with reefs crawling up to the surface ? Like, say, the Florida keys ? Nevermind the carnage wrought on the reefs in such an environment....... Reefs benefit coastal smugglers and "laying in" merchants but that's about it... or basically anyone not within twenty or thirty miles, if the wind is standing in... How many miles are they supposedly extending ? Hundreds ? *shrug*
And the Chelian or Rahadoumi navy know their coasts less well than the pirates ?

Nevermind that reefs in tropical waters are ... well, less dangerous than those in the calm and balmy northern seas where one can't see more than a couple of fathoms down^^

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