Vai Ilnarem
Appearance
Weighing 700 tons, the Vai Ilnarem is small four-deck carrack-sized vessel known as a Cavark and crewed by 200. Named after the Isles of Vai in the Vos Manti archipelago, a large cluster of western islands. It is well looked after and usually runs with white sails, holding three green stars across them. Though a trading vessel, it has 4 average ballistas on each side, a large one each end, four Onagers, and a complement of 30 crossbowmen, as well as a small guard of Westward dwarves.
Crew
Part of the Silverrun Merchanteers, and owned by Clan Tarstone’s Hold in the Vos Manti archipelago, the Vai Ilnarem has four sister ships, mostly found in the Nahas ocean area. The crew is a mix of Vos Manti Humans, Nashanti, Westward Dwarves and others found local to the Vos Manti Isles.
Named Crew:
Lookout: Tadarie Valandere, a city elf, and Veil Order Tracker.
Deckhand: Benethor, a hairy-looking large human who speaks in slang.
Quartermaster: Mr Landear, a burly-looking human, who knows every curse word known to man or beast and is always irritable.
There are usually a few order of the veil members aboard, moving from one mystery to the next.
Life Aboard
Everyone works hard, the quartermaster doesn’t allow it to be otherwise. There are long journeys to faraway places and often the promise of adventure along the way. The order of the veil members often depart on errands and meet back up with the ship at a later date. In their downtime, Seasonal Frunket Tossing is a favored pastime aboard ship, where Westward dwarves toss other species at festivals. Nashanti acrobatics and many upbeat Vos Manti songs are also common. In fact, the ship is lively and a small tightly community in itself. Travelers are welcome as long as they pull their own weight aboard ship because, everyone works, nobody quits.
Notable Features
As well as the three green stars on the flag, of note there is a ship bar and seating area near the captain's quarters, so he can keep an eye on what goes on there. The cargo hold is the largest deck, and there are a few officer's quarters on the upper ones. While the Westerward dwarves have a shrine to various pantheons on the lower decks, alongside them the Nashanti bunks are gypsie-like but unlike most others are exceptionally tidy.
For weaponry, the onboard ballistas have some custom modifications to better puncture and rip wood on a hit, and the Onagers can be fitted with shard shot to wound enemy crew, or flaming material to burn ships, though this is only used as a last resort. For the most part, the trading vessel will try to outrun large vessels where possible, it is still vulnerable to small and faster pirate ships.
The quartermaster is something of a legend, rarely speaking at anything but a shout. When he’s off duty he’s usually resting his voice and not saying much of anything.