Blade Maidens: Dead in the Water – 1

“The Mariner’s Guild runs a, forgive the pun, tight ship. With Kilzia resurgent and piracy on the rise, they know all-too-well the appeal of going into business for one’s self after weeks at sea. Which is why they ensure their punishments are terrifying enough to ward off such thoughts.

Of course, traditional methods such as keelhauling are still alive and well. Offering the false hope of survival to any who face it, with the Guild knowing all the while that the combination of razor-sharp barnacles covering the hulls of their fleet and the suffocating depths will kill all but the most miraculously hardy of souls.

But in recent years, new and terrible punishments have been honed and developed by Guild artisans. Powderjaunts are the most infamous of this new lot. The punished are forced to ingest a handful of sparkpowder, a somewhat recent innovation from Freehold’s alchemists, and are set to observe the ship from the shore of a nearby island. Unlike it’s alchemical cousin, black powder, sparkpowder is not triggered by flame or, ironically, sparks. It is activated by simple heat and motion. If the punished is able to make it through an entire day under Sulna’s gaze then they are welcomed back aboard. If not…well, the assorted pieces that were formerly their being likely have far greater concerns than employment.

I suggest we follow in their knowledgeable footsteps and apply such measures to our own naval forces, albeit where our climate allows.”

– A passage from a letter sent by Merchant-Prince Kalhart of Valfald, undated