closed | the pros and cons of privateering

[hassaran]

WHO: Yseult, Darras, Flint, Byerly
WHAT: Antivan intel prompts a discussion of strategy
WHEN: Now
WHERE: the Gallows
NOTES: n/a

[ Yseult has called the meeting, so it's her office they're in, the chairs before the (cold) hearth turned to face the sofa against the wall to make room for all four. Yseult has claimed the corner of that sofa nearest the window, where the occasional breeze can be felt. Everyone's here, everyone has a drink from her excellent-by-Riftwatch-standards bar cabinet, so she swallows a sip of rum and begins. ]

I have intelligence that the Antivan Merchant Prince Bonaiuto Cellini has two ships soon departing bound for Val Chevin. I think it's time we revisited the question of using the ships at our disposal for privateering.

Comments

[bouchonne]

Hm.

[ Byerly crosses his long legs, and swirls the brandy in his cup. ]

Well, it's not a move that'll make my life easier.

[ Which isn't a condemnation, nor a refusal; it's quite likely that the benefits are going to outweigh the drawbacks, in his opinion. ]

[katabasis]

If Cellini doesn't want his shipping raided, he should reconsider sending them straight through the Orlesian Navy.

[Faint breeze or no faint breeze, it's warm enough that every time Flint goes to raise his glass, he finds that his arm has re-stuck itself to the upholstery.]

That said, I doubt we could hope to capture both ships. Unless someone neglected to mention the twenty able sailors we're hiding under a rock, we don't have the manpower for it. We can hardly crew both the Walrus and the Reaper, much less work them both in a boarding action.

[staysail]

No, that'd be ridiculous, Commander. [There's just enough of a comedic pause, before Darras adds:] They're behind a rock. No easy escape from under a rock.

[He's perfectly at his ease in Yseult's office, with a certain self-assured languor in the way that he gestures toward one of the windows.]

Up the coast, there's my ship, still with her crew. I've been in touch, let them know of my new position with Riftwatch. A few of them will be considering staying on if we're intending to turn ourselves toward honest privateering. A better count than your present zero.

[hassaran]

[ Yseult lifts a brow, her gaze sliding from Darras to Flint in silent question. Good enough? ]

[bouchonne]

I never anticipated you being involved with a fellow who's this much of a ham, dear Scoutmaster.

[ That's said with almost a note of faint fondness, if you really listen for it. And he arches an eyebrow at Darras, like acknowledging, that really was a real stinker. ]

Can you conceal the origins of your fellows? It would not be a grand look to bring on real pirates to carry out our not-piracy.

[katabasis]

[Good enough, says the tip of his head. The look on his face says, I'm in physical pain.]

[hassaran]

[ Dryly, and ignoring the rest of it: ] Other than the real pirate we've elected to lead our forces?

[staysail]

[Darras first raises his glass with a little smirk, pleased to be ruining the moment. In agreement with Yseult--]

We've all gotten away with it so far.

[bouchonne]

A real pirate?

[ By claps his hand to his heart in mock-shock. Then, less facetiously: ]

We've been quite scrupulous about the rules of engagement so far.

[katabasis]

There's a ready solution for all of this. We sink the ships rather than attempting to capture them. Should word of the attack somehow get back to Antiva, we have the argument that the only profit retained from the venture was strategic. And it gives fair warning to anyone else who would try it again, and demonstrates to Orlais that we're ready enough allies at sea to win us an ally when it comes to pleading our case with the Viscount for why he should look the other way as we continue.

[He looks to Byerly.]

I imagine we'll need to ask his office for forgiveness once all is said and done. Or cut him in.

[hassaran]

There won't be anything to cut him in to if we're sinking the ships [ isn't disapproval of the idea; it's not anything, yet. ]

[staysail]

I'd think asking forgiveness with a crate or six of liberated cargo would be more appreciated. Or are we drawing from our stores to make that gesture to the Viscount?

[bouchonne]

[ Byerly is curious about this himself. He arches an eyebrow at Flint. ]

[katabasis]

Let us say it's on future endeavors. Or that we arrange some agreement with the Orlesian trading houses to sell first in the Marches and so subsidize the risk. Or we give him purview over of the merchant ships in the fleet. Which seems more likely? That the Viscount of Kirkwall, a city run on trade, can be bought with the cargo from two ships? Or that if presented with a narrow window in which to both protect his reputation as our host and curry favor with Orlais before anyone is the wiser, he takes it?

[To Byerly, shrugging:]

I'm confident you can find a way to make it sound less like blackmail.

[bouchonne]

[ That draws a laugh out of Byerly. But then he presses a hand to his heart; he, too, is confident of that. ]

[hassaran]

It's hardly blackmail in any case, [ says Yseult, glass rested on the peak of a crossed knee ] the Viscount chose a side in this war when he allowed us to stay.

I should think Antiva the larger and more immediate problem. Cellini's clerk implied this shipment isn't entirely above board, so it may be that his peers are willing to let this pass with just a slap on our wrists this time. But a wide enough campaign to please Orlais won't make us any other friends.

[staysail]

[With an expansive gesture with his glass, what she said--]

If it's well below board, they might be called smugglers by another name, if not another another name. And then they can't be surprised if they end up intercepted and raided. Might even be expecting it.

[katabasis]

[The tip of his head indicates some point ceded.]

Antiva won't stop throttle trade to Tevinter - legitimate or otherwise- until it becomes less profitable to do so. I don't see how we make that happen without support from somewhere.

[bouchonne]

A question to the very experienced and very legitimate sailors who have never broken a law in this room. What sort of manpower is needed to sink a ship, vis a vis taking one as a prize?

[katabasis]

Specifically for Riftwatch, and outside of the hands already required to crew? To sink a ship—[counting on his fingers] —Matthias.

[No second number follows. If it is an exaggeration - it doesn't account for the possibility that Cellini has taken advantage of the questions posed in the last eight years to find some freewheeling apostate or down on their luck ex-Templar willing to safeguard his cargo, or that a lucky shot of an alchemical grenade wouldn't neatly do away with their mage shaped guarantee of setting something on fire from a distance -, it's a negligible one. A question of give or take three mages, not thirty additional people all armed with whatever can be supplied them.]

To capture it? [A question for Darras:] How eager are Antivans to surrender when in the South?

[staysail]

[Philosophically:] Well, you know Antivans. Love the duel, hate the death that comes after. Surrender is practically scripted in the old tradition, and as long as we train our side to say and play their parts in it, we'll get along just fine.

'Course, that's if Cellini hasn't planned any tricks to break with that tradition. If he does, that'd be a mark against sinking or coercing surrender both, and we're not as like to know of it until we're up close. I'd imagine someone-- [Yseult, babe; he cuts a glance at her] --would have said if we did know.

[hassaran]

I don't presently have any information about Cellini's defenses, [ says Yseult, stoically showing no sign of the pain surely caused by all of the jokes being traded around her, ] that's not within my contact's purview.

[bouchonne]

In the lack of firm knowledge, then, a conservative path is likely advised. No risks. Let the mage loose on the ships, and keep our people safe.

[ He rubs his chin. ]

Capture would likely mean handing over the spoils anyway, no? Antiva would likely [ and here, in a decent Antivan accent - ] protest most strongly that they were not paid taxes on the shipment of these goods by Cellini [ and, back to normal ] and want to be cut in. Risk with little reward.

[staysail]

[The accent gets a grin out of him, which he drowns in his rum (even though Yseult has probably already seen).]

If we want to be friends with Antiva, aye. But the cut is as traditional as the raiding.

Still, if don't know what defenses we might be met with, and we've a guarantee that we can attack from a distance and take the day, seems that our answer is clear.

[katabasis]

Congratulations, by the power of committee we've dealt with two ships out of a nation of them.

[He tips his glass, a last beat of derisive humor.]

The question, if I'm interpreting our Scoutmaster's meaning correctly, is what we do about the rest of them. Regardless of how permissive the Viscount might be convinced to be, if we mean to make any impact on trade on the Waking Sea then it can't just be Riftwatch in pursuit.

[hassaran]

[ The shifting angle of Yseult's head is part confirmatory nod and part questioning tilt. ] We may plan to conceal our involvement but we must assume this will somehow come out. And when it does, everyone else will take it as a statement of purpose, so we should be sure that it is one.

[bouchonne]

And we should be sure, in truth, that it does come out.

[ A shrug. ]

Should we even conceal it, I wonder? Or should we make a grand statement the moment their prows slip into the deeps? We should not want to seem ashamed.

[staysail]

[Surprising to probably no one--]

I like grand statements. Always better to get out ahead and claim the credit first.

[katabasis]

Grand statements to who? The Orlesian Navy, Antiva, every merchant ship captain who might be persuaded that there's easier money in sport than trade? Llomerryn pirates?

[Unpeeling himself from the chair back to lean slightly forward—]

Forget Cellini's ships for the moment. The statement we should be preparing is that Waking Sea privateering - legally enacted and regulated, the profit from which is in part split between an allied force - is the preferable method of stifling trade to the enemy in Orlais when compared with a half dozen more extreme measures which might be arranged just as easily.

[bouchonne]

[ A shrug. ]

Or we show them one of those extreme measures.

[staysail]

[He shoots Byerly a glance, not even close to looking around at Yseult.]

Too extreme, and we risk losing the ground to be high and mighty over our legal privateering. If that's a risk Riftwatch is willing to take.

[Somewhat a question, even if it lacks the cadence.]

Sinking ships isn't extreme enough?

[bouchonne]

[ Oh. ]

I thought sinking ships was the extreme option. Did you have something more in mind?

[katabasis]

[Darras might not look to Yseult, but he does - sliding from him to her, then finally flickering over to Byerly. He takes a drink.]

For starters, we could be petitioning the Viscount to raise the chain and close the main passage altogether.

—Which we can't do, by the way, unless we also want to cripple the likes of Cumberland for the winter. But we don't need to say that part.

[hassaran]

The slight dip in Yseult's brows marks her as unconvinced by this suggestion. "Even a threat of the chain carries risks. Perrin Threnhold isn't company we want Riftwatch's name keeping."

[bouchonne]

Some consider Threnhold a freedom fighter who defended Kirkwall and the Free Marches against other nations' excesses.

[ He's not advocating for it, but: ]

There might be ways to make that work to our advantage.

[hassaran]

So now we're fighting for Kirkwall's freedom from Orlesian influence? We seem to be straying rather far from the question of Antivan ships.

[bouchonne]

Certainly not.

[ C'mon. ]

I'm merely pointing out that there are narratives that we can place ourselves within. I'd not recommend it, but if that's a choice that must be made, it can be dealt with.

[staysail]

Narratives are your business, I'd say. Businesses, [to the room at large, as he raises his glass to them each in turn. Yseult last.] Me, I'm but simple and so for myself, I can only say that I'm not here for Kirkwall. Riftwatch has some ships and some opportunity to make a statement with 'em. And while we're doing that, we might get ourselves some supplies, which, if I'm not mistaken, we need, and wound our enemies. Before we start raising chains and getting called despotic, I'd see us start there.

We wreck these two ships, show some power. Next time, maybe we take 'em instead.