Bulldrek v3.0

Okay - this isn't complete yet, but I did want to get you, my players, some information on the ship where you'll be spending most of the game.

Captain Gregory Jessup found The Maryland in the ruins of the Baltimore docks seven years ago, after the battles between the Halgrode Dwarven Conclave and Lincoln's White City Army. The ship had been built nearly fifty years before that, a restoration project to show off American shipbuilding from the Revolution.

She had been in bad shape then, weatherbeaten and infested with vermin. The sails and rigging had rotted down as well. It took a six months of work to make her seaworthy, during which time she was towed south to Port Savannah. There, kitted back out with weapons and a full crew, Jessup took up privateering, ferrying expensive cargoes and clippering to the Texas Ports.

140’ length, 26’ draught, 1,680 sq’ of sail. The Marlin was based on the frigate, and would have carried sixteen guns and had a crew of 80.

Defenses: The Marlin’s carrying six ballistae on swivel deck mounts and four armored cannons on the fire deck.

Other Boats: There are four lifeboats and two longboats on the ship. One Longboat has a boiler engine. The Marlin also has an airskiff for lookout duty.

She’s fast for her size, as Jessup has taken to privateering and moving expensive cargoes. She's also got a technomagical steamer engine for emergencies.

What's the beneath decks? Particular rooms/etc?

I know, I know, I'm picky, but I need know "living" areas for people...especially with my character, considering that I'm cleric/rogue with high diplomacy skills...

And much importantly how much free reign do I get with my kitchen? What sort of storage for supplies, any coolers with perpetual cold spells, the usual? Water? Cisterns?

I am trying to get an idea what I have to work with.

Fine. That'll do, Caz.

I'm going to my cabin to do some research while the rest of you Nancies figure out where to hang yer doilies.

Cazmonster claps his one good cybereye on Paul.

Kitchen says you?

We FreeJacks be callin' it a galley. ye'd best hop to unless ye'be wantin' te pay the devil his due on a basis regular says I!

The Marlin be a Frigate and a damn fine one at that. She's got a full top deck, and a fire deck above the main waists. Command Staff's berths be to the stern, with four staterooms, the pilot's maproom and the officer's mess. The crew's berth's be for'ard with two large rooms devoted t'quarters.

Cap'n Jessup's galley t'aft be well provided for last time he was among the Hoodoo down Barbados way savvy. There be a fine Catholic-blessed cistern of pure water and a fetished locker what keeps vittles from goin' bad for months at a time.

Ship's Doctor, last time we had one, kept a stateroom, complete with Earther medicines and hypodermics. Never did take well to those but they kept the scury from me, says I.

Yar...be there room to store my books be there? Fer to have a Wizard on board ye' need to respect her space ye' do. Ship libraries with dere bungee cords should do just fine.

Awww Yeah, I lurve the internet, it gives me all manner of nautical goodness.

You should lurve it as well, says I.

Lurve it here.

Lurve it here as well, laddies.

There's a crew of sixty aboard the Marlin, less than a full complement when she was built, but more than enough to run full rigging and keep her in shape.

I am holding my next post off for just a second, should I wait till everyone has been "summoned" or can I just put myeslf in the Captains State room?

Feel free to put yourself in the stateroom. I'd rather click the plot along than have it drag.

crew of 80...in other words... half of the crew are going to get liberties.

Hmmm...

I'd best refer to Kuk.

More importantly, what is the structure of command on the boat?

Cazmonster wrote:There's a crew of sixty aboard the Marlin , less than a full complement when she was built, but more than enough to run full rigging and keep her in shape.

FlameBlade wrote:crew of 80...in other words... half of the crew are going to get liberties.

Hmmm...

I'd best refer to Kuk.

Two thirds of the crew Flamage, and it's Juk. Kuk is orcish for "simpleton".

Chain of Command - and this is all pretty casual, except for the first two.

Captain
First Mate
Ship's Mage or Ship's Cleric
Bosun
Pilot
Gunner
Quartermaster
Cook

Whoops. No offense to Bethyaga. Somehow, I was thinking Kuk, not Juk.

Anyway, I'm gonna to edit the post slightly....

Hmmm...I'll use Kuk over at Bulldrek sometimes...

I'll deliver few liberties to Bosun, Pilot, Gunner, Quartermaster, and Cook for them to distribute to those who deserves it. Yes, Paul, that means your cook gets to deliver some liberties

And of course, ONE liberty to First Mate for him to give to those of his choosing. (I'll do this in a post shortly, but if anything happens to me due to that car, Caz, you know what to do. Apparently, there is a drain somewhere in my car that is sucking my battery, so the car is in the shop now, so it's going to be a while before I recover, because it's stressful for me now. I'm just lucky enough to be on computer now.)

The coast guard maintains an old school tall ship, the barque Eagle. My brother, who's going to the academy, crewed it this summer down in the caribbean. The coasties learn the old ways of sailing, and all that, and actually learn celestial navigation and all that at the academy. The Eagle could definitely be a force to be reckoned with in the world of S&S. Heck, they were in the S.M. Stirling's Nantucket Trilogy

Damn, the Eagle is a big boat. If I think about it, there's two easy ways to go with her.

One - The Gold Dragon Lincoln got his claws on her, and she's the flagship of the White City Union.

Two - Some bad guys got ahold of her and she's the terror of the high seas.

I'm betting she could have carried forty or so guns.

[Edit, i was wrong.]I guess at this point I should ask if I have any actual messmen who work full time in the galley?

Well, considering its original crew knew how to work it with or without the GPS system, it probably came through the event itself pretty well. The Coast Guard is in the Department of Homeland Security, so what do you do when your homeland doesn't exist anymore? They'd probably be some sort of law-and-order outfit, but I might see them coming under control of Lincoln, depending what kind of a guy he is.

Is there any rough map I can see that outlines new territory?

Maps? Yeah, that would be cool. Right now, the only real mapping I've done is with Wisconsin.

As far as replying to your post - Lincoln was a terran human, a young man working in Washington DC, and trying to do the right things in his limited role somewhere in either the House of Representatives or the Senate (maybe somewhere else even - I wanted him to be able to see how the system works and be very frustrated with it). As everything falls apart (things like Arch-Republican Transmogrifican Fever victim Dick Cheney siezing and dying on the floor of the Senate) he remains there, and is one of a bare handful of folks who do. Eventually, the Transmogrification Fever gets him too and he transforms into a Gold Dragon. With the power at his disposal, he protects Washington DC and does everything he can to make it work the way the founding fathers meant it to work.

That's cool. I think the he would end up with the Eagle, then. I didn't know whether he was a selfish dragon or a basically good dragon. If that's so, then maybe the bahamas are dangerous but lucrative, and the chesapeake is suicide.