SHIPYARD REPORTS
NOTES
The shipyard reports include mentions of superstitious rituals practiced by this particular company. These rituals may or may not be followed by other nasfaqg companies, a the cultural background of each company is unique.
The nails mentioned in the story are infused with small amounts of the appropriate chuubanite. This amount may or may not have a magical effect, but at the very least the nasfaqgian employees of the company believe that the nails imprint onto the ship a powerful blessing.
Context Clues:
Most words have explanations in the Context Clues section of Sarita's Journey, which is a precursor to these reports.
Heartflow - The name of the Eastern Nasfaqg strait.
Heartbight - A location and a city at the eastern shores of Heartflow.
Litany of the 19th - A culturally significant ritual practiced in the Serene Republic.
Ka-ti Mak - The original inhabitants of the Serene Republic area. Nowadays a minority in the nation.
LAUNCHING OF THE PINISI
One of Edelweiss Co. Shipyards, Southeastern Aggaya, The Serene republic of Nasfaqg
The floral smell of incense and scented oils mixed with the powerful odor of tar and sawdust, but even through both the smoke emanating from the city just a few mile to the north could still sensed. The setting sun painted the calm surface of the Heartflow with orange fire. A crowd had gathered around the slipway on which a freshly completed ship was waiting for her launch.
As the crowd watched in silence, three robed figures began the ritual, walking around the ship in step, singing their prayers to the three chosen goddesses in unison. After every few steps the priests stopped to pour a little bit of scented oil on their hands, and then gently applying the oil on the hull, imprinting the goddess' blessings onto the ship. Each priest blessed the ship a total of 19 times.
After the three priests had completed blessing the ship, the eyes of the crowd shifted to the shipyard overseer, a round well-dressed bald man with brown eyes, who stood on a podium flanked by a short immaculately dressed young woman with piercing jade eyes; the head of House Edelweiss herself. The overseer waited a few moments before he begun his short speech, where he thanked his diligent workers for their loyalty and hard work, the company leadership for their continued trust in him, and the crowd: investors, shipyard workers and their families, and passersby who had nothing better to do that evening, for coming to witness this very important ceremony.
After the overseer had finished his speech he handed an ornamental hammer to Lady Edelweiss, who accepted it with a graceful bow. Then the three priests led her to the bow of the ship, where one of them handed her a long bronze nail. In the light of the sunset, the faint blue glow of the nail was unseen by everyone but those who held it. Lady Edelweiss turned to the crowd, and raised the hammer and the nail as high in the air as she could, which elicited a round of applause from the crowd. After a few moments, she turned back toward the bow of the ship, placed the bronze nail against the bow of the ship, roughly at the waterline, and begun hammering. With each strike of the tool, little sparkles that shone with pale blue light flew off of the nail. This elicited more cheering from the crowd.
The Three-Blessed-Nails Ritual was an important part of a ship's launch. In it, three nails each infused with the power of one chosen deity were hammered into different parts of the ship, each location and deity granting the ship a different blessing. For this pinisi, they were
First nail, infused with the blessing of Gura, hammered on her bow at the waterline, so the ship would remain safe even in the roughest of waves.
Second nail, infused with the blessing of Kobo, hammered on her tallest mast, so the ship would be favored by winds and fare well in storm and calm.
Third, the last, and the most important nail, infused with the blessing of Risu, hammered on the Ship's Wheel, so her passengers would be protected by their goddess wherever they go.
As soon as Lady Edelweiss was safely out of the ship, the strong workers used their axes and hammers to cut off the ropes and wooden supports that held the ship on the slipway. For a split moment the ship remained stationary before her great mass won the battle against friction, and she began to slide down toward the bay. The tremendous splash was drowned by the cheering of the onlookers, some of whom had already begun drinking. The long arduous task was finally done, and the men had earned their short vacations until the next order would come.
Chestnut
Owner: /risu/
Builder: Edelweiss Co.
Shipyard Location: Aggaya, The Serene Republic
Ordered: early 1128 VTE
Begun: 14 January 1128 VTE
Launched: 7 March 1128 VTE
Completed: 21 March 1128 VTE
Tutelary deities: Risu (Primary), Gura, Kobo (Secondaries)
Fate: Remains to be seen
Chestnut has been completed! She is a standard pinisi which has been built to carry a total of eight (8) cannons, however as per the deal, none of the cannons were installed. Instead, wooden decoys were installed as a deterrent, as the ship would look armed to those looking at it from far away.
The ship was delayed by a few weeks, but no additional costs were endured by the Edelweiss Co.
No major workplace accidents happened during the construction of Chestnut.
Almond Tree
Owner: /risu/
Builder: Edelweiss Co.
Shipyard Location: Aggaya, The Serene Republic
Ordered: early 1128 VTE
Begun: 14 January 1128 VTE
Launched: 15 March 1128 VTE
Completed: 21 March 1128 VTE
Tutelary deities: Risu (Primary), Gura, Kiara (Secondaries)
Fate: Remains to be seen
Almond is a standard pinisi which, like her sisters, has been built to carry a total of eight (8) cannons. Also like her sisters, none of the cannons were installed. Instead, wooden decoys were installed as a deterrent, as the ship would look armed to those looking at it from far away.
The ship was delayed by a few weeks.
On the 15th of February, 1128 VTE, an improperly secured wooden beam fell on the shipyard worker Bernhard Dryden (31, male, Citizen, traced his roots to the Kaiserreich) killing him instantly. The offending beam was burned in a sacrificial ritual to the Phoenix Goddess, both to prevent Dryden's spirit from attaching itself to the beam or the ship, as well as to appease the Phoenix so that she wont take revenge on the ship, the ship's passengers, or the ship's builders for killing one of her followers.
A week after the incident, a chicken that had escaped from a nearby farmstead was found on the premises of the shipyard. The workers unanimously agreed that this was a sign that the sacrifice had been accepted, and thus Kiara was decreed to be the third tutelary of the ship.
Edelweiss Co. paid for Mr.Dryden's funeral expenses and to his widow a sum equal to a portion of Mr.Dryden's wages as per the contract between Edelweiss Co. and Mr.Dryden.
Garnet
Owner: /risu/
Builder: Edelweiss Co.
Shipyard Location: Heartbight, The Serene Republic
Ordered: early 1128 VTE
Begun: 20 January 1128 VTE
Launched: 21 March 1128 VTE
Completed: 27 March 1128 VTE
Tutelary deities: Risu (Triple)
Fate: Remains to be seen
Garnet is a large pinisi-style vessel that has been built to carry a total of six (6) cannons. As per the deal, none of the cannons were installed, and unlike the other Edelweiss Co. pinisi, Garnet does not have wooden decoy cannons installed.
Garnet has an expanded cargo hold which allows her to carry more passengers or cargo than her sisters.
The ship was completed on time.
No major workplace accidents happened during the construction of Garnet
On the day of Garnet's launch, the Litany of the 19th happened exactly on time. This was seen as a very good omen by the shipyard workers who thus consider Garnet to be blessed with great luck. It was agreed among the shipyard workers that a ship launched on a day of such a good omen needed no tutelage from multiple deities, so Garnet was triple-blessed in the name of the patroness of the Squirrelfolk instead.
Appleseed
Owner: /risu/
Builder: Edelweiss Co.
Shipyard Location: Aggaya, The Serene Republic
Ordered: early 1128 VTE
Begun: 24 January 1128 VTE
Launched: 21 March 1128 VTE
Completed: 27 March 1128 VTE
Tutelary deities: Risu (Primary), Moona, Iofi (Secondaries)
Fate: Remains to be seen
Appleseed is a standard pinisi which, like her sisters, has been built to carry a total of eight (8) cannons. Also like her sisters, none of the cannons were installed. Instead, wooden decoys were installed as a deterrent, as the ship would look armed to those looking at it from far away.
The ship was completed ahead of time.
A major workplace accident was narrowly avoided due to swift action from Serpher, a Ka-ti Mak worker at the shipyard. While Serpher was finishing up his duties, (cleaning the worksite at night), he noticed a smoldering fire that had been started by a fallen candle. Thinking fast, Serpher poured the contents of his cleaning bucket on the fire, extinguishing it and stopping a possible fire that could have damaged the ship and cost the company a small fortune. Serpher was rewarded accordingly for his actions, as Lady Edelweiss herself delivered him a letter of appreciation alongside a decently sized bag of coin.
No other major workplace accidents happened during the construction of Appleseed.
The shipyard overseer, having passionately researched aspects of Squirrelfolk culture and the divine relations of their deities, decreed that the ship's tutelaries shall be Moona and Iofi, goddesses commonly regarded as being closely related to Risu. Despite the protests from the shipyard workers worried over this deviation from the company tradition, the shipyard overseer did not change his mind. How his choice affects the fate of Appleseed remains to be seen.
Sapphire
Owner: /risu/
Builder: Edelweiss Co.
Shipyard Location: Sabatangan, The Nation of /risu/
Ordered: early 1128 VTE
Begun: 14 January 1128 VTE
Launched: 22 March 1128 VTE
Completed: 25 March 1128 VTE
Tutelary deities: Risu (Primary), Kronii, Mori (Secondaries)
Fate: Remains to be seen
Sapphire is a large pinisi-style vessel that has been built to carry a total of sixteen (16) cannons. Twelve of these cannons were commissioned from Moriji and installed on the ship, six on each side, leaving four cannons uninstalled. Sapphire is considerably larger than any of her sisters.
Sapphire was designed to be the flagship of the five 1128VTE Edelweiss Co. Pinisi. As such, she boasts a far more luxurious captain's cabin than her sisters do. The cabin includes a fine oaken table for maps, a soft Serene Republic style bed, and even an icebox that, if the ship's operators have access to ice or snow, can be used to keep food and drink cold for a few days.
The ship was delayed by a few weeks, but no additional costs were endured by the Edelweiss Co.
On 27th of January, 1128VTE a wooden beam almost crushed a Squirrelgirl working on the ship, but thanks to a nearby Edelweiss Co. worker's warning, as well as the girl's quick reflexes, she managed to dodge the falling piece of wood in time. The offending beam was hacked to pieces with axes and burned in a ritual that same evening, and both the Squirrelman responsible for tying the beam onto the pulley system and his supervisor were harshly reprimanded by Overseer Turner.
On 11th of February, 1128VTE, a drunken Clockman staying at the city wandered onto the shipyard after a night of drinking. A zealous Edelweiss Co. worker tried to get the man to leave, but the drunk was having none of it. The two got into a fistfight which was then broken by a group of Squirrelfolk coming to work on the ship that morning. Neither the Clockman nor the Edelweiss Co. worker had been seriously hurt, and a diplomatic incident was thus avoided.
On 3rd of March, 1128VTE, a Squirrelman accidentally tripped on a bucket of tar used in the sealing of the ship's hull. The Squirrelman was not seriously hurt by this, but to his horror he had to be partially shaved in order for the tar to be removed from his hair and fur. Out of compassion for this poor man, Overseer Turner gave him a partially paid vacation until his hair grew back.
Various other small accidents happened at the shipyard as the Squirrelfolk were learning to use Serene Republic tools and shipbuilding conventions, but none of them resulted in permanent serious injury. These accidents were the main reason for the delays in the ship's construction.
Kronii and Mori were decreed the second and third tutelaries of Sapphire since large portions of the ship were built using materials and tools from Moriji and Infinitum. Overseer Turner also justified his choice for the tutelaries by claiming it as a friendly gesture towards the two nations with whom he sees a future of cooperation.
Commissioning
Chestnut, Almond Tree, Garnet, and Appleseed are all sailing to Sabatangan, where they along with Sapphire will be handed over to the risuners by Overseer Turner. The Edelweiss Co. crews will stay at Sabatangan on a vacation until a company contracted ship will take them back home to the Serene Republic.