Of all the tales of the Annwyn Empire none are more widespread than the stories of their mythical navy. The An were not only world-renowned sailors but powerful sorcerers and necromancers, using magic and craft to build ships of semi-mythological capabilities.
Rated and Unrated Ships
Not all ships in the Annwyn navy were special of course. The Ann divided their fleet into rated and unrated ships, with the rated ships ranging from small frigates of the 6th rate to massive 1st rate three deckers with a hundred guns. All rated ships were three-masted and square-rigged, while unrated ships were generally smaller and usually only carried two masts.
But while the physical differences between the two classes mattered, the magical differences were even more material. Generally, unrated ships were completely mundane and had no magical characteristics. However, the rated fleet was all heavily enchanted by the Ann Necrobards and extremely powerful.
Creation of a Rated Ship
Creation of a rated ships was consided the highest art of Bardic Necromancy. It started with the material they were crafted of. The hull and keel were always made of an extremely rare, hard and durable wood called Lignum Vitae. This wood not only had very desirable physical properties but was also essential for the enchantment that would transform the mundane ship into something much more.
Necrobards were involved with the construction of the ship from the minute the keel was laid until its completion. Runes and other magical sigils were inscribed on various parts of the frame throughout the construction process, in addition to the casting of spells and singing of magical songs.
The final spell that sealed the shipping, called Naming, was performed as part of the christening process and required a willing human sacrifice. These volunteers typically came from aging senior members of the navy, though sometimes members of the nobility who had broken sacred law or displeased the ruling monarch in other ways were offered this opportunity as a way to redeem themselves and as an alternative to execution.
While the ship was in dry dock, just before it being launched into the sea, the victim/volunteer was ritually bound to the prow of the ship below the waterline. Thus at the same instant the ship was launched into the sea, the victim drowned. At the moment of death, the spells of the necromancers latched on to the spirit of the victim and drew that spirit into the structure of the ship, possessing it and granting it a terrible vitality and a variety of other magical powers. The ship was then given a Name, which usually incorporated the name of the victim.
Enduring
A possessed ship was very difficult to destroy and, if given sufficient time, could regenerate most injuries, healing leaks, and punctured hull, knitting torn sails and rigging in a manner similar to the human body healing cuts and bruises. This power did have some limitations, it was slow, similar in speed to the healing of the human body, and unable to heal the most grievous injuries (like broken masts or keels) just like the human body cannot regrow a severed limb. But it still provided one of the key strengths of the Annwyn navy, allowing them to maintain their far-flung fleets with a minimum of logistic effort.
Annish Ships were also very resistant to fire, acid and other effects that would destroy them. They were also virtually immortal from a physical decay perspective, they were known to last for centuries.
Phantom Crew
The Naming enchantment that bound the Name to the ship did not end at christening, but rather continued over the life of the vessel. Any crew that spent significant time on the ship became Marked by the spell. If these marked individuals died while onboard, the necromancy latched on to their spirits and held them there, preventing them from passing on to their afterlife. The An called this The Duty and considered it a station of high honor. Usually these phantom crew were incorporeal and invisible, rarely seen to any but the most powerful of magics, however at times of great stress or danger they could manifest physically and aid the ship. The original sacrifice, the Name of the ship could also manifest and did so more frequently, consulting with the living crew and providing guidance.
In addition, while phantom crew only manifested in the physical world in times of great danger, they often appeared in the dreams of the living crew, offering advice and instruction. This ghostly tutoring played an instrumental role in maintaining the high level of sailing and naval expertise that An ships and crew typically displayed.
Jack Tars
Finally, the An had a method of permanently physically manifesting phantom crew. Annish necromancers and runesmiths created a special type of golem called a Jack Tar out of lignum vitae driftwood and the blood of dead sailors. These blank golems were vaguely human shaped but lacking in features, seemingly blank rough cut approximations of the human form. However the enchantment in them would eventually attract one of the spirits that made up the phantom crew, who would permanently inhabit it.
The appearance of the blank golem would change to match the appearance and dress of the deceased sailor, would animate, follow orders and in all ways be as effective as a living crew, in addition to being significantly more durable. They had two major weakness however, they could not speak (though they could sing the Shantys) and they could never set foot on land. In the event that they did so, the Jack Tar would immediately crumble to dust. Supplies of such wood were limited, as a result Jack’s were somewhat rare and rarely made up the entire ships crew, but most An ships had a few and some of the older ones had many.