Work In Progress Munrian Man-o-War

[Dreadheart]

Ship Name: Munrian Man-o-War
Credits:

• Header

Type: Seaship
Purpose: Warship
Consolidation Thread: Requires 20+ Conso
Architect: Iron Cult
Description: The Man-o-War was a revolutionary design meant to combine power and endurance in a deadly combination. Her usual designs were from two to three gun decks, usually propulsed by three to five masts and square sails. This ship class brought heavy artillery cannons in the high seas, and hosted entire units onboard for ship-to-ship boarding actions, making them the "heavy cavalry" of the seaborne warfare.

ATTRIBUTES

• Main Stats
  • Defence: Very High
    • Defensive Elements:
      • Thick Oak lumber plank Wale
      • Fortified Quarter deck and forecastle with spiked rails.
      • Internal wooden lock on Gunports
  • Speed: Low
  • Offence: Extreme
    • Offensive Elements:
      • 112 32-pounder breachloader cannons.
      • 12 Rail-mounted hand-cannons
  • Durability: High
  • Scarcity: Provincial
    • Emder
    • Friezond
    • Beema
    • Danaghar
    • Noram
    • Byrpaun
    • Celitta
• TvM Requirement: 5xX

Strengths
- Guns Blazing. The Man-o-War has heavy load of cannons, allowing for local firepower superiority and devastating volleys.
- Battlefield Deck. The large size of the vessel's deck allows for line infantry deployment, while the height difference between that and the forecastle provides additional layers of covering fire from elevated and fortified positions.

Weaknesses
- Easy target. Due to the size and her low speed, the Man-o-War can be a tempting target to enemy ships or shore artillery, unable to perform much maneuvers to avoid volleys.
- Fireship. Although built to take on punishment, if the enemy somehow manages to start fires onboard the gun decks, or even worse, pierce through to the ammunition storage belowdeck, the ship can be torched, or worse, explode, by the sheer volume of black powder stored in her.

Historical Information
The Munrian navy had always been a marvel of naval architecture and war engineering. Due to geographical restraints, and perpetual threats from the Empire of the Abyss and the vikings of the Kraken Sea alike, the Munrians developped various ship designs throughout the centuries to face the threats. Seaborne Artillery was initially frowned upon, as not many guilds were able to fund many cannons onboard ships and those who did, required the much needed space to carry goods from and to the distant ports they called.

The Free Guilds of Munria eventually funded the creation of a navy meant to provide escort to merchant convoys, shielding from pirates and other threats so as to promote trade with the South. By the time the Iron Cult launched their Invasion of Emder, the Free Guilds had made significant breakthroughs in naval engineering, with most ships sailing the Kraken Sea being equipped with some type of black powder guns. A fashion that was quick to spread across the sea, to Gallia, Pottaun or even the Isles, significantly reducing the pirate activity.

The Iron Cult, quick to invest in revolutionary designs for the construction of a new High Seas Fleet, delved into different designs that were highly focused on fleet engagements, devoted to naval warfare, as well as troop transports, with which they could ship entire armies across the sea. The Man'o'War was the first of the groundbreaking innovations, bringing a massive firepower to bare, serving as a powerful warship as well as a naval bombardment vessel.

The first Man'o'war, Bane of Heresy, was launched in late 923 AWH, and proclaimed to be the first warship to bombard the Sparnish ports in the Holy War against @Marcus Aumont and his Empire of Espada.