This RP has been in my mind for a while, but I have struggled to think of a name, so Strongwater's Armada is the best i can come up with, suggestions welcome I know there isn't much detail involved in the current OP, but I will make it more detailed in the OP of the actual RP.
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It is 2 years after the Oblivion Crisis, and Cyrodiil is still in turmoil. With the Septim line dead, and no heirs whatsoever living, the Elder Council has assumed political command. The Council had sent much of its army patrolling the northern lands, as both Skyrim and Morrowind showed signs of invasion, with increased weapon production and army recruitment. This was possibly one of the worst mistakes they had made - with less guards in the Imperial City, it was open to more crime. One certain pirate, who went by the name of Captain "Half Eyed" Strongwater, took advantage of this. Now, Strongwater had many pirate connections, so he planned to overthrow the Imperial City with an army of criminals. He had a personal grudge against Chancellor Ocato for ordering the execution of his brother, who was not involved in crime. Strongwater summoned his pirate allies, from the bays of Summerset Isle to the harbors of Vvardenfell.

He massed a small army in Topal Bay, where he also called bandits and marauders to aid him in his battle. As the fleet sailed north, up the Niben Bay, Leyawiin guards ordered their branch of the Mage's Guild to mentally contact the Arcane University and warn the Elder Council of the approaching fleet.. Now, the guards of Leyawiin set up a blockade, as they had their own ships. But these ships were old and could only hold the armada for a short while, until the Imperial City had upped it's defenses.

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You, the players will play as either the Pirates, and their bandit/marauder allies or the defending force of the Imperial City. that can be either militia, members of the Imperial Legion, mercenaries or any other fighting force that has a reason for aiding them. You'll start in Leyawiin, in the middle of either the naval battle in the Niben, or a massive war-band of bandits making their way towards Leyawiin, who encounter militia.

This is the first RP I have hosted for a LONG time, so any help will be appreciated

Finally! I've been waiting for an rp to use my Khajiit, Two-Face Ojenjii. I could find this very interesting and a lot more vibrant than the typical zombie, vampire rp trend thats taken over the forums. I'd like to see some black flagged ships and white crossbone skulls. Have you thought about involving the Blackwood Company? They do have the forests near the Strid River which could be an awesome means of smuggling contraband and things of that matter from Valenwood. Also, Anvil is home to a small pirate vessel. Would it be too much to ask for an uprising there as well? I'd like to rp as Ojenjii starting a revolt and capturing the southern coastline. If it's too impractical I'll understand.

I would join, I actually now have a lot of time

Although it's going to be incredibly hard to decide if I want to be a Pirate or a Marauder... Grr!

When you say ''or a massive war-band of bandits making their way towards Leyawiin, who encounter militia '', do you mean good militia (With the Emperor) or bad militia (With Strongwater)? I wouldn't mind playing a band of Criminal-Militia fighting against Imperial control.

Name: Korvan Broodikus
Race: Dunmer
Gender: Male
Age: Twenty-Seven
Birthsign: The Lady

Hair Color: Black
Hair Length: To his shoulders
Eye Color: Red
Skin Color: Gray
Special Appearance: Scarred body from beatings

Class: Bard
Major Skills: Instrument (Mandolin), Short Blade, Unarmored, Speechcraft, Stealth
Minor Skills: Mercantile, Alchemy, Illusion, Marksman, Bardic Knowledge (Knows a lot of stuff, both useful and useless)
Faction: Pirates (Unwillingly, he is a slave)

Armor/Clothing: Tattered Gray Pants, Slave Bracers
Weapons: None
Instrument: Masterwork Mandolin (intricately carved wood, strings are magically tuned and never break, the wood is reinforced by magic)
Misc.: Journal, Ink, Quill
Septims: None

Biography: Born in Balmora to Kalarn Broodikus and one of his servants, he was a smart child. He was always given the best, his morning meal tended to be flin, a large kwama egg, and scrib jelly on bread. His afternoon meal would be greef, scrib jelly on bread, and hound meat. His nightly meal varied, but it was always with only the finest foods. He was clothed in fine silks fit for lords.

His father gave his son turned to the age of fifteen, his father requested his son join the Imperial Legion as it was tradition in the family. When Korvan declined, his father backed off about the subject until his sixteenth birthday when he said Korvan would join. Once again Korvan said no, and his father went into a rage. He banished him from their home and sent him into the streets.

Korvan purchased a mandolin with the little money his mother had given him and started playing in taverns. It wasn't a luxurious career, but it kept him from going hungry. He was commonly employed in local taverns, until news of his great skill got out. Once people started to discover he was great at using a mandolin he got more regional, then national, then jobs in the finest inns in the Imperial City. He once got a job at Uriel's birthday ceremony.

Finally Korvan purchased passage to Morrowind to play for Vivec himself. However on the way a band of marauders killed the carriage master and the other passengers. As well-known as Korvan was, the marauders knew they'd fetch a fine price for him. They took his clothes except for his pants, put slave bracers on him and sold him to Captain "Half Eyed" Strongwater for a large bounty, they gave him back his mandolin.

Korvan had to play or else they'd beat him and starve him. He was beaten anyway, and fed very small amounts. When one of the pirates accidently dropped it near a dirty spot, Korvan got to eat it. Whenever a pirate spit in another pirate's drink, Korvan got it. Whenever a pirate was mad, Korvan got the beating.

He has heard that they're going to make an assault, and he prays to the Tribunal, to the "good" Daedra, to have them free him. Living on the boat with the pirates has been hellacious, and he cannot live with it much longer. He prays that they'll free him, if they don't he may spend the rest of his life with the pirates, something he has no desire to do.

Heck I'll take an ordinary militia man!

Zalphon this is a planning thread. I don't think we'd post a character sheet on this one. Did you even ask for approval to post it up?

Forgot actually, but if he declines, I'll make a new one, and my character sheet isn't uber AT ALL. Besides, I can just copy/paste to signup thread.

With something like a week's warning and the ressource of the Imperial City to call for, an even somewhat competent commander can make things extremely nasty for a fleet that's bottled up in a river (even if the Niben is a rather large one). Several options :

- dropping sh?p-sized 'caltrops' into the river (three strong beams assembled by their middle, three weighted ends the other sharpened)
- use the existing bridges to set a strong barrier
- fireships sent downriver - whith a whole fleet penned in a river (and how many pirates captains are skilled in river navigation ?). It can quickly snowball into even more burning ships floating downriver and a few extra obstacles

And thats only a few minute's worth of reflexion on defenses. Even if the pirate fleet manages to break through to lake Rumare, how would pirates and bandits (very few of them trained for that sort of things or even to operate in units) handle city walls. Poorly I'm afraid.

A somewhat similar situation would be Pari's siege by the vikings in 885. It didn't go well for the vikings.

Manu, I forgot Bravil would probably send down fire ships and such, so perhaps a warband of marauders could attack it while Leyawiin is being attacked, because that battle could go on for a while.
Jerod Kayne, I meant some with the "Good-guys", the Imperials. That just means some Leyawiin guards, or something, which the players would RP.
Lord Dren, you have some sweet ideas! I guess a small uprising in Anvil would be good, but on land it is a far way away from Leyawiin, Bravil and the Imperial City. By sea it's further, you'd have to go around Valenwood and Elsweyr. But we could encounter the Blackwood Company, and ither rob them, or ally? You'll have to wait and see in the RP ^^

All the better reason to let our sea-dogs take the scenic route. They could take the Strid River. It seperate the noth-northwestern border of Valenwood and Cyrodiil. They'd get as far as right below Skingrad on the map. They could use Blackwood company spiessmugglers as a means of getting goods from Skingrad or where ever, to the Strid River. Plus it cuts right into the heart of Cyrodiil.

Hmm, that could be possible, but then wheres the naval battles? I intend to have a lot of boarding. I suppose if you only play as pirates, it could work going around the provinces, but there are players who want to be the guards. So I doubt that would work.

Perhaps, skip a few more years after the Oblivion Crisis, Leyawiin is a pirate town. The naval battle is in Bravil, then they get to the Imperial City, and its a mixture of navy and land battles.

Im just thinking about the militia. There are tons of ways the pirates could do things, but there wouldn't be enough militia activity in them =/ Unless we want it to just play as pirates...

Sign me up, I think this is a heck of a lot better than all the other crud any old monkey could post up, I'll have to make sure to think about it more and give suggestions. Two thumbs up so far!

It seems like a sound idea, though I agree that the pirates are almost doomed to lose as it is. Perhaps add some more suspense by having the pirates suddenly show up in the Niben, attacking Bravil, and then later move towards the fully armed Imperial city with much more realistic reinforcements on the pirate's side. You can choose to play it out or skip it, but the same goes for Leyawiin, you can have a fight be for that too.

Another tip, it looks to me like you're going to be spread way too thin as far as player's go. Say you somehow get fifteen players, and about 10-12 are on the pirate side (which will probably happen, because people prefer the bad guys). You then have maybe seven people in the actual crew, and five mercenaries. If each of these guys are just run of the mill pirate soldiers, they will be one of what would have to be hundreds. However, there is an easy solution: don't change your RP, change the players. Be sure to tell them to be admirals, captains, and other important leaders. It then becomes more of a war RP, with each person leading a unit, which if you don't like then you can try it the other way, but I don't like the looks of each person being a grunt. Just some friendly advice, you can disregard it if you'd like, but I just wanted to throw it out there.

Good luck, it looks good :goodjob:

I think it sounds like a good idea. But like Darkom said about everyone possibly, wanting to be pirates? Well you could sign me up as a Legionnaire or maybe a Bandit? Either one will work for me.

*plays lute*

*cough*

Pirates will lose...

*cough*

:)

Thanks, I guess that could work. I suppose they could own their own ship, and small crew like you suggested. There would be about a hundred ships anyway, which would have about 20 men on each. I think I'll skip it a few more years forwards, but still, like you said, make them suddenly appear.

However, even if the pirates are doomed, there should be a third party somewhere in there. The formerly suggested blackwood company was all but obliterated after the Fighters guild took control again. Marauders and the like are already busy allied with pirates, so might I suggest the Khajiit army?

It would make sense, since the Khajiit are still mad about Leyawiin (sp?) being taken over along with the River Valley. Their army would have the upper hand, the recently conquered territory is isolated, days away from support, and the Empire still focusing on the North, it would be too perfect to resist! (lightbulb moment)

20-men ships sounds rather on the small side to me, especially for pirate ships who tend to have somewhat oversized crew for boarding and manning their prizes. As an example, Francis's Drake's most sucessful flaghsip, the golden hind, was a two-masted ships 37m long with a 80 sailors crew..

If we look at earlier naval types, Christopher Colombus ship's were 20-25 meters long, with crew ranging from about 25 men (on the thinner, faster caravels) to 40 mens on the more roomy Santa Maria, a carrack. The viking longships started at about 25 mens for the smallest, up to 80 for larger specimens. Viking merchant ships had much smaller crew, from 5 to 10, trading manpower for cargo.

The galiot, typical of small pirate ships of the Barbary pirates, was a row-and-oar ship with a crew of 50 to 150 men (between 1/2 and 2/3 of them being rowers) according to size.

Hmm. I don't know much lore about the Khajiits, (SP?) could someone give me a minor overview? Perhaps the Blackwood Company could make a comeback...

I've read a bit about khajiits on in-game texts, I believe "mixed unit tactics" refers to the Khajiit fighting force. There's also a rare text containing loads of info about khajiit, and the name goes something along the lines of lhnldsnbjiawrjkl (not really, though there is such as book, I've seen it)

Khajiit live in Elsweyr, (bordering Leyawiin (sp?)) and just by talking to the locals, you'll find the legion took conrtrol of the river valley from Khajiit hands, and the countess is currently trying to 'Imperialise' the town and flush out the minorities.

Due to the Khajiit's natural battle thievery and battle instincts, it would only be ridiculous not to include the Khajiit in this RP/story

Edit: found theaFAVsl;g book, it turns out to be: http://www.imperial-library.info/obbooks/ahzirr_trajijazaeri.shtml

A humorous (or supposed to be) text on Khajiit ideaology. I think it portrays them quite well actually.

Sign me up, I love these kinds of RP's and I have the perfect character for it.