Boat/Ship Survival in Felarya

Hello All,

I was curious if there had been any thoughts around the surviveability of boats/ships in Felarya. Specifically, if we assume the sort of "adventury looking" wooden sailing ships that seem to be the preferred style, how would such a craft/crew have a high enough probability to survive, that it would actually make sense to build and man it? Such a craft would be too slow to outrun any sort of giant sentient or non-sentient predator, but would still very costly and complex to build. Maybe some sort of magic deterrent? Have a mage on board at all times? Stick to waters too shallow for the larger critters to pursue them?

I had tried to come up with a logical defense/deterrent system for the steamer Manatee, but just wondering how a more primitive craft is supposed to survive.

Of course the answer could well be "They are not supposed to survive at all. They are supposed to be cooling looking vehicles designed to deliver large quantities of tasty bipedal snacks to eager merfolk." And that answer is fine too. Just curious.

Uhmm ... If we talk about theory, it can be like that;
1.- The boats are small enough not to notice the attention of predators
2.-The boats do not sail much by the sea, they only sail a few kilometers
3.-The boats can be armed for the defense, can even have as "smoke bombs"

I do not think that making one is expensive, you can even improvise it to sail in the sea.

Size could be an issue. It really determines the size of the predator as well and how often they are near the surface. Of course such a craft would only be able to sail close to shore.

The general consensus is that we want to have ships that can sail Felarya, but in practice they'll never work and we should just forget about the concept altogether. In my history here I actually haven't seen many attempts to try and brainstorm a way to make it work, only people quick to shoot it down.

I imagined larger ships would have to require rune emplacements under the belly which can be used to mimic underwater cannons or something. Like, maybe a huge powerful electrical field enough to stun whatever comes near the bottom. Of course that also depends on the strength of the electrical field and the size of the predator. Though if the predator is too big it might not be interested due to lack of sufficient nutrition. That's my thought.

Honestly, I see this one coming down to "its up to the writer what they want to do."

"These people are out on a ship over dangerous waters. How will they survive?" is really not that different to "These people are out in the dangerous jungle. How will they survive?"

Now, in the spirit of the question, there are many ways a writer can produce safety measures for their boat-travelling Felaryans. The ship could be well defended by both practical and magical means. Cannons have always been a typical means of ship defense. As mentioned, a mage or other hardy adventurer could be on board. You do occasionally see seasoned adventurers in these situations that have mastered survival in their element.

You could also entertain the idea of having a friendly predator escort. Not all preds eat humans. Not all preds disregard humans as sentient beings. You can come up with all sorts of reasons why the pred is helping the ship.

Other than avoiding deep water, there really ain't that much you can do to stop marine predators if you're on a motherfucking boat. Boats don't taste that good, but if a predator feels like getting curious about the ship... then you're gonna have a bad time.

So long as you avoid getting found, you're probably gonna be okay. If you will be found... then you're gonna have to either outrun the predators or simply stay out of reach.

It's a known fact that diesel engines can be heard for quite a ways in the sea, and they greatly upset dolphins and whales. Nonetheless, the fastest fish, the ocean sailfish, can hit up to 70 mph. So long as you're somewhere around that speed, predators will eventually have to let you go. They can't hunt you forever, they gotta rest too, and they certainly shouldn't be moving at that speed for extended periods of time. So even at the speed that ocean liners go, a bit under 35 mph, you could be okay (barring a determined predator who happens to find a way to get exactly in the way of your ship). I believe windjammers might also be able to hit those speeds on wind alone. There's also magic.

If you can't travel at a safe speed, then you're gonna have to remain stealthy or make sure you go around for short periods of time so predators don't have the opportunity to get to you once they find you. There can't be 250-foot mermaids covering every single square foot of water; if there were, sailing would be downright impossible.

Hey, thanks a lot for all the thought and answers.

I had tried to tried to incorporate a "logical" deterrent system for the Manatee, which appeared in a prior chapter, but got the feeling that it was a little too technologically advanced, and many folks didn't quite like that (I assumed tech from about earth ca. 1900). Although I had incorporated the predator escort in the story as well.

In my current chapter I wanted to describe the other boats in the harbor, which would be assumed to be more "typical" Felarya.

Based on your comments will probably go with the "avoid being seen" and sticking to shallow waters... maybe some simple "one shot" distraction/deterrent device. Something like a big firework.

Anyway, thanks again for your feedback and input!

Cheers!

That actually raises a good point about the practice of hunting and the methods of trying to stay safe. Illusory, mobility, and other general utility spells, enchantments, and engineering used in clever ways is likely a better method to dealing with predators than brute force. Of course such should be expected. Though I wasn't going to think that trying to make your entire ship invisible would be possible, that never occurred to me. However, like in the forests and jungles, stealth is your best friend. Though out in the open waters that is much harder. You're bound to be seen unless you really CAN find a way to make your entire ship invisible.

"Seen" ought not be the problem here, Bael. Water has a faster extinction than air for most wavelengths; every 100 metres your signal intensity drops by 2 orders of magnitude. This effectively makes you invisible in water past 500 meters, unless they peek-a-boo outta the surface.

It's acoustics that gets scary in the water.

Stabs wrote:

It's acoustics that gets scary in the water.

Yup. Which makes a mechanically driven vessel something of a double edged sword. Faster and more flexible yes, but easier to detect. Score one for sailing vessels. Hmm... lot's of sail area that would make a great canvas for the Felaryan version of a "dazzle" camouflage scheme.

Or if you are closer to the coast, and an aquatic predator would see you against the background of the coast, perhaps a more conventional camouflage.