The Jarind
Jarind culture, located on the shores of the Sea of Ivae, has a long maritime tradition that has fallen off within the millennium. This is partly due to
their sedentary lives on Hârn and their eventual domination by the Pharic peoples who displaced them from much of mainland Lýthia and Hârn.
A true descendant of this maritime past is the Kingdom of Emelrene. The Yarili, are a nomadic people, developed advanced forms of skin boats to migrate
to the northern islands and ice packs of Lýthia. Their vessels are of two types. The first is an enclosed watertight vessel that was suitable for the
coldest regions of the inhabitable north; the largest of these vessels being capable of holding a small family within its shell while one or two of the
passengers paddled. The other vessel is an open framed vessel used to carry large loads along rivers and coastal areas of Altland and Ivinia.
The Jarind and Pharic peoples used a wide variety of ancient vessel types: skin boats, log boats and to a lesser extent rafts. By the time the Jarin
began migrating to Hârn they had already developed the log boat into a functional sea going canoe by sewing additional planking to the sides to
add depth; sometimes they also joined two logs together to form a wider vessel or added a transom to seal off one end.
The sewn-planked boat was developed using the skills learned in developing the log and skin boats used by the Jarin. It usually consisted of a central
dugout log, vary narrow and indistinguishable as a boat now, with planks being added in clinker style by sewing them together. The internal support for
these vessels was adopted from the skin boat in that they had light timber framing lashed to the planks to support the shape and provide some strength
to the vessel.
Contact with the Elder races of Hârn had a significant effect on the Jarin’s shipbuilding skills. From the Sindarin, and the early Jarin who
came into contact with them, they learned how to use iron nails to fasten the planks together and how to construct a plank keel. The plank keel being a
plank similar to those used on the sides but it was thicker and ran along the centerline of the vessel and replaced the traditional dugout core.
All the vessels of this period were oar powered and classed as Longships. During this period trade was to prosper between the Hârnic Jarin and
those in Melderyn. If not for continuing pressure from the Pharic peoples Jarin culture could have become a significant power within northwestern Lýthia.
The exception to the above trends being the Kingdom of Emelrene which has continued to maintain its own maritime traditions; to a lesser degree the same
can also be said for the descendants of the Jarin on Hârn. Although their vessels are not as sleek or as fast as the Pharic examples, the Emelrene
developed a reverse pattern clinker technique based on the plank-keel. These vessels were rowed at first and adopted a single mast with a simple
rectangular sail in regions closer to the Venarian Sea; some believing the sail was adapted by the Jarin in these parts from other Venic merchantmen
venturing into the coastal waters of present day Trierzon and the southern coast of Emelrene.
The Pharic
The Pharic peoples readily assimilated the shipbuilding skills of the Jarin who were only too willing to share their knowledge with them in the
beginning. As more and more territory on the mainland was lost to Pharic incursions the Jarin pulled back and shared less. With the invasion of
Hârn, and the Battle of Sorrow later on, the Pharic peoples soon came to dominate the northern seas as first-class seaman and shipwrights. By this
time they too had acquired the ability to build in the clinker style and became very adapt at designing extremely seaworthy vessels from which all the
northern designs would descend. One key innovation the Pharic peoples brought with them from the Venarian Sea was the use of a true keel instead of the
keel-plank used by the Jarin. Up until about 200 TR sails were not commonly used by any of the human cultures around the Sea of Ivae.
The Sindarin
Traditional Sindarin shipbuilding focuses on using specially grown timbers for the vessels. A true Sindarin vessel takes years to build, the Sindarin
being interested in the aesthetics and workmanship more than the functional design. Most of their vessels will never be seen or used by humans; their
main function being to transport Sindarin on their continuing voyage to the Blessed Realm. Sindarin ship designs have changed little over the millennia;
the Sindarin seeing no reason to change something that has served them so well.
Key features of any Sindarin vessel are its sharp clean lines, a prow that consists of a sharp raise beak, a stern that is more rounded with the stern
post curving around and forming some kind of animalistic motif, and their hulls are caravel straked. Their vessels usually have a length to beam ration
of 5:1 and a shallow draft allowing them to navigate shallow waterways. All of these vessels rely on sails as their primary means of propulsions.
Most Lýthian scholars assumed that the northwestern clinker construction is a direct result of contact between the Sindarin and humans; a major
difference being that many Sindarin vessels, although of shell first construction, use caravel style planking.
|
