Thedas: The New World
Disclaimer: Dragon Age owned by Bioware
Language Notice: At Certain points there will be excessive swearing and certain Symbols that may offend certain viewers. Viewer Discretion Advised
Note: This is an AU (Alternate Universe) where Eurasia and Thedas Exist on the same planet. Certain things will be different and others will be the same. Thedas takes the place of the New World and it is discovered in the Early 16th Century by a Spanish Exploration ship called the Pinta. In This AU Europe has no mages or magic because Europe is devoid of Lyrium. However in Asia there are some sources of Lyrium which caused the Mongols to venture out of Asia and conquer much of Eurasia
I have checked the Fanfics on and I cannot find a similar story or idea written yet for Dragon Age. I have had this idea in my mind since I got Dragon Age II about nine months ago. I remember first getting Dragon Age II after excessively playing Shogun II Total War.
To those of you who have played it, I am sure you know what I mean when a certain ship arrives and you get your first Nanban Quarters.
Well anyway the moment I saw the mission that was titled 'Blackpowder Promise' or something like that, my head just spun this idea of what it would be like if a Spanish ship landed on Thedas. After revising what i have thought in my head i decided i would gain the courage and write this down.
So that is the premise of my fanfiction. What if a Spanish ship landed in Thedas?, just imagine the impact on the story, the impact of trading, new technology, new ideas, new ways of thinking, new religions, newly devised ways of killing your opponent. Fortresses that once defended your kingdom will now be at the mercy of concentrated artillery fire. Now that would change the story, after all, would the battle of Ostagar have been changed if there had been but a few Cannon blasting those dark spawn to hell, or perhaps a line of well drilled halberdiers and pikemen turning the darkspawn's rushing momentum against them and right into the spear point!... But no, the fereldans had to rush out of formation and charge towards the Darkspawn, because that is the most tactically sound plan.
1510 AD
-Somewhere in the Amaranthine Ocean-
She was the La Pinta, the painted. The hundred and eight ton Nao was armed with one 24 pounder culberina as well as two half-pounder breech loading guns of the last century. The culberina was mounted permantly on the right side of the forecastle away from the out-jutting mast. The Pinta was laden with cotton, velvet and a small quantity of medium quality saffron that Eduardo bought from the Venetians. These goods were to be traded in the Orient for a plethora of unimaginable goods, spices, gold, silver or gems from the far regions. Eduardo really hoped that there was an Orient, that there was a fabled 'Cathay' and that it was not a fairy tale made up by the great Marco Polo.
There was one other vessel, the La Belladona, but during a foul wind the caravel was scattered about three days hence and she was presumed gone below with all hands lost. Eduardo was not going to spend precious resources or time to change direction and mount a search, as that would bring his ship forward of the wind and slow the Pinta down to a snail's pace.
Eduardo de Cordoba was not having a very good day; he repeatedly checked his mariner's astrolabe as well as his quadrant to get more accurate reading's before he mentally marked out accurate mathematical readings within his head. Eduardo checked his compass and noted that the ship was heading in a Westerly direction. Eduardo smiled at the fact that the Pinta was on course, a great difference from the past four days where the wind changed direction and Eduardo had to take a South easterly course to avoid being scattered by the winds of which the Belladona was. Eduardo grimaced that nothing ever goes to plan the way that they were meant to. Remembering the precise mathematical data that Eduardo stored within his head, he wrote down on his navigational rutter.
Eduardo disliked navigating the ship, it wasn't even his job in the first place. It was the Italian Peruchio's job in the first place but the spineless goat was probably availing himself to the Castilian wine held below deck.
Eduardo took the time to stretch his legs as he barely moved after hours of Mathematical guesswork.
Eduardo was good with mathematics when it came to siege cannon since he had learned extensively when he was barely sixteen how to load, fire, fix, and calibrate a siege cannon just like the bombards used during the siege of Grenada. Eduardo knew how to mix the right amounts of charcoal, sulphur and saltpetre to create artillery grade powder. Eduardo learned mathematics from a Studia Generale (University) in Salerno, Italy, although he was also taught Theology and he studied briefly in medicine. Eduardo received a bachelor's degree in Mathematics.
At thirty-two years old, Eduardo was content to reach middle age. He owned a medium sized manor house and he was descended from minor Castilian nobility that dated back since Cordoba was conquered in 1236. Eduardo's true love was of the sea and what lay beyond. The stories told around campfires between his brothers as well as reading aloud the tales of Marco Polo enamored Eduardo with a fascination on exploration. Eduardo wanted to visit Cathay (China) ever since that moment.
"Rodrigo Martinez at the wild geese... he"
Eduardo was disturbed from his thoughts when he heard the sounds of a Viola da gamba, a lute and a bagpipe as well as a chorus of voices sung in cheer. A nearby soldier had his helmet held against his knee which he struck with a small wooden stick to emulate a drum.
Eduardo scratched at the back of his neck before he set down all of his measuring implements and began to step down from the aftcastle and onto the deck.
"Thinking they were cows, he whistled. He!"
Eduardo instantly recognised the song; it was Rodrigo Martinez, a famous folk song about the fool gooseherd who thought he was a cow herder. Eduardo knew this song as well as most other sailors and it was a personal favourite of his, so Eduardo decided to join in with the singing.
"Rodrigo Martinez so handsome, your little geese the river carries away, he!"
"Thinking they were cows he whistled at them, he!"
The crew members began tapping their feet onto the decking.
"Rodrigo Martinez so strong, your little geese the ford carries away, he!"
"Thinking they were cows, he whistled at them, he!"
The song ended and everybody on the deck cheered and where in high spirits.
Eduardo knew all too well though that this trip could very well end up in disaster unless they can find landfall and replenish their fresh water supplies soon otherwise they would all perish in less than two weeks.
The Pinta had been sailing west for two months trying to find a new route to the Orient now that the heathen Ottomans and their Islamic bastards blocked off the spice route to Europe. The Ottomans charged outrageous sums of money for any goods for silks and spices and they were the life blood of the European economy. Iff the Kingdom of Castile were the only European power with the ability to send ships to the Orient, then the Kingdom of Castile would become the new prominent power figure in European politics... not to mention one of the richest kingdoms in all Christendom.
Eduardo was broken from these thoughts by the booming voice of the heavily bearded Boatswain who shouted out on the deck then rang on the Nao's bell, awaking the sleeping crew held below decks.
"Approaching vessel!"
Eduardo rushed to the side of the boat to see what the source of the commotion was. On the horizon Eduardo saw the flashes of candle light from a ocean-going vessel. By Eduardo's vague guess it was probably about a kilometer out.
Eduardo quickly pushed and shoved through the onslaught of rushing crew members before reaching the boatswain.
"Tell the gunners to grab their hand guns and their implements, then tell the crossbowmen to grab their arms. Tell the soldiers to arm them selves with padding doublets and to grab halberds or pikes to repel boarders"
After issuing his orders to the boatswain, Eduardo ran back up to the Aftcastle and leaned his chest against the wooden rafter beam on the starboard side of the ship. Newer details emerged from the gained height of the aftcastle which allowed Eduardo to notice that the vessel appeared to be long and shallow. The outline looked similar in shape to a galley which would probably be crewed by many men and possibly slaves. The galley had its sail lowered against the wind. Eduardo quickly righted himself off the wooden rafter beam before he shouted out orders to the crew.
"Dust off that Culberina and get her primed and ready, then drag and assemble those old breech loading guns out of the hold and put them on the forecastle. If they come in for boarding use small shot."
Eduardo paused for a moment before issuing orders to the soldiers, crossbowmen and arquebusiers.
"Soldiers, use your pole arms to sweep the enemy from our decks. If they get in close switch to arming swords. Arbalesters and Harquebusiers gather on the aftcastle and forecastle and await my orders!"
The assembled pell-mell of soldiers and sailors rushed together to their assigned positions. Many of them were wearing loose assortments of armoured padding jack's or barely buckled brigandines, whilst assembled crossbowmen and arquebusiers wore their off-coloured quilted gambesons and kettle helmets that were barely secured to their heads.
Everybody on the deck held out their fists high into the air and shouted out one chant repeatedly.
"For Santiago, for the holy father, for Santa Maria and the holy child, for King Ferdinand and Castile!"
"Castile!"
"Castile!"
"Castile!"
Only three people did not applaud, and those where the two Italian's and father Domino. Peruchio de Milano was the main Navigator and a master ship builder who stood with an arquebus in his hands and wearing his barely secured iron cuirass attached to his thin frame. Then there was Luigi de Florencia, an experienced pilot, an ex galley slave and a veteran of the Reconquista who held in his hand a Halberd. He wore a padding doublet with his sallet helmet with the visor up. The last person was father Domino, a large franciscan monk who stands at 6'2. Father Domino is a kind and loving soul who is sworn to a life of poverty. His hair is black and tonsured in the correct style.
Eduardo quickly shouted out to the three foreigners.
"Peruchio, Domino, Luigi… up here!"
The trio quickly heeded Eduardo's words and ran up the stairs.
"What is it that confounds you and your crew?" spoke Peruchio in confusion.
Eduardo pointed to the horizon with his right hand to the quickly approaching Galley.
Luigi saw the galley and grimaced, probably remembering his past life as a galley slave to the Barbary pirates who skirted the mediterranean coastlines.
"From the looks of it I would say there is a crew of sixty at best to a hundred at worst!" spat Luigi.
"Yes that was my fear as well, we are but with a crew of thirty nine. Where once we were with fourty three but four are dead of the pox. We are outnumbered possibly three to one. Let us pray that they are without cannons or similar" replied Eduardo who scratched his beard in stress.
Eduardo was suddenly struck with a malicious idea.
"I remember buying a store of grenado's and fire rockets for the expedition just for this scenario were we ever to find cruel natives. Mayhaps we can bare the devils firey asshole on our enemies and smother them with smoke and flames"
With that idea in his head, Eduardo issued an order to Luigi.
"Luigi, change our course and get our foredeck in line with the vessel"
Luigi thought through that order for any holes but could find only one drawback, it would bring the Pinta out of the wind and slow the Pinta down to a snails pace, but it was a sound plan, especially when it brought the galley in line with the forecastle's gun.
"An excellent plan bringing the gun about their ship, but it will pull us out of the wind"
"To hell with the wind Luigi, if they mean us harm i want my guns upon them. I will not be boarded from the sides and have my guns useless, i paid many florins for them and by god i will use them!"
Eduardo turned to see as a group of crewmen rushed out with a large iron barrel as well as a large iron cup. Eduardo knew then that they were bringing up bits of one of the breech loading guns. These crew members rushed through until they reached the forecastle before dropping their load and rushing back into the hold to reclaim more pieces.
Luigi used his great muscles to force the rudder to move the ship and get her within the direction of the possibly hostile galley. If the Galley proved to be hostile then they would blow it out of the water.
Eduardo watched the galley carefully.
The galley seemingly spotted Eduardo's ship and changed their course. Eduardo could tell because the galley had raised her sails and she was picking up speed whilst the Pinta snailed away against the currants and the wind like an over packed mule.
Eduardo constantly ordered for changes in the Culberina's elevation as the galley came ever closer with the Pinta.
"Boatswain, tell the gunner's to lower the quadrant of the cannons by one degree"
The Boatswain rushed toward the gunnery commander and told him the orders. To lower the gun's elevation one of the gunners grabbed a mallet and began to beat upon a wedge of wood holding the barrel until the elevation changed.
Eduardo returned to looking out over the Pinta, waiting anxiously and praying that the enemy were not too numerous.
Eduardo turned around to face the forecastle and saw that one of the breech-loading guns was fully deployed and had a gunner filling up the iron cup with gunpowder before tamping it off with a small plug made of wood that was hammered in with a wooden mallet.
Eduardo returned his gaze back upon the galley, it was now about 800 meters distant.
Luigi turned around to face Eduardo before speaking.
"That galley will be here in two minutes, or maybe a scant three if we are lucky"
The galley came closer still and upon reaching the 700 meter mark, Eduardo ordered for the gun crew to lower the elevation of the culberina.
"Lower elevation by naught five a degree"
The gunnery chief quickly set to work.
Eduardo turned his eye toward the crew on the deck and on the Aft and forecastles to see if they were ready to repel boarders.
The short answer was… they were. They were holding onto their halberds, spears, poleaxes and other staffed weapons. They had their swords in their scabbards and some had bucklers on their hips in case they had to rapidly switch from polearms to sword and buckler. Eduardo even saw as a few people prayed to god silently whilst they readied themselves. Eduardo also noticed out of the corner of his eye a soldier carrying out a wooden box filled with grenado's, small clay grenades around 7-9cm in diameter filled with blackpowder and a soldier dispersed them out to nearby arquebusiers who held them on the side of their powder horns so that the grenado's would not be facing the side where the match cord will be facing when the arquebusier would reload as they would have to remove the match cord to refill the priming pan.
Eduardo stopped looking outwards and returned to gazing at the enemy galley. Domino was standing in a corner surrounded by kneeling soldiers with their hands held in front of their noses. Eduardo began to kneel alongside his men and held up both his hands to his chest and lowered his head down as Domino said benediction.
Eduardo prayed silently to himself. "Lord, see us through this day and through this journey that we may preach to the heathens and natives of the lands… Amen"
After the prayer was over, Eduardo returned to the starboard side of the aftcastle and continued looking at the approaching galley which was now about 300 meters away. As the ship came closer and closer with each moment, more details of the ship could be seen such as the appearance of flags with what appeared to be a skull with a red slash through the middle of the skull.
"The Heraldry is unfamiliar to me, do any of you notice it?" spoke Eduardo as he turned around to face the two Italians.
Both Italians studied the flag for a moment before Peruchio replied.
"No, it is not Heraldry that I know of. It is not European nor is it Islamic, could it be from the fabled Cathay's or even from the Zipangu's?" *1
Unexpectedly, the sound of impacts against wood played out against the deck followed by shouts of pain. Eduardo realised that his ship had been attacked by an enemy crew of archers. Shafts of arrows found themselves embedded against decking, and from the vertical positioning Eduardo knew that they were firing indirectly at a high angle.
The arbalesters, crossbowmen, arquebusiers as well as all the soldiers and crewmen on the decks of the Pinta took refuge beneath the short side walls that flanked the Pinta, praying that they would not be struck down in foreign waters so far away from Spain.
Up on the aftcastle, Eduardo quickly gave the order for the Crossbowmen to load their arms.
"Crossbowmen... get ready to loose!"
Some of the arbalester's raised their chins against the thin walls to peek at their opponents before they pulled out their steel windlasses and began to wind up their crossbows. The soldiers on the deck began to line up on the starboard side of the deck and readied their staffed weapons as the approaching galley reached the two hundred metre mark. Several other soldiers held out their shields or bucklers into the air knowing that a ranged attack would commence sometime within the future, their previous military experiences from the reconquista or the Italian war's had taught them that.
That sound, the same sound as arrows struck wood quickly reverberated throughout the Nao. It was the whistling sound of the arrows approaching the ship which came from the enemy galley. The arrows embedded themselves on the hull and spiked themselves into the floors wooden decking. From what Eduardo had seen, there were no deaths however there were a few minor injuries from several crewmembers. Some arrows pierced through chain links in peoples armour or going through padded cloth but nothing that could kill a person. The arrows noticeably either bounced or glanced off of the steel and iron plated armour, however the arrows did cause some bruising injuries on men in plate armour. Eduardo guessed from the penetration ability and range of the attacks that their opponents where using bows with anywhere upwards of a one hundred pound drawback weight, similar to a weaker version of an English Longbow.
The Italian Luigi raised out his right hand with his thumb and two middle fingers lowered and shaked his hand from side to side whilst he shouted out insults. "Cornuto… I will fuck your wives you spineless dogs!"
As soon as Luigi was done with his crude ranting, he turned to look upon Eduardo before speaking.
"I think they plan to ram into the Pinta"
Eduardo quickly turned to face the deck before he shouted down orders to the cannoneers.
"To hell our enemies go... fire all cannon!"
A third rain of arrows descended down upon the Pinta. There were no deaths but the injuries where steadily increasing and the penetrating power of the arrows where getting more powerful with each metre that the enemy vessel closed in on the ship.
A scant second later, the twenty-four pounder culberina and the only fully assembled half-pounder breach-loading gun gave out their ferocious roar's, as they issued breaths of fire and pouts of smoke.
And then there was a fourth arrow rain. As before there were no deaths but a few took some severe injuries. One man took an arrow through the cheek and Eduardo knew that he would probably die in less than a week through infection. Iron suits of plate received minor denting but suits of steel plate or suits of brigandine construction received barely a scratch as the arrows glanced off the armour with a 'ding'.
Once the galley reached the one hundred and seventy metre mark, The Pinta began to show its teeth as the crossbowmen holding their crossbows leaned up against the wooden rafters before they held out their arbalest's at a thirty degree angle and let loose.
-Aboard the enemy galley-
Saarec exerted plenty of force on the oar as he rowed.
Saarec was one of many oar rowers propelling the large forty-metre long galley forward. The ship was against the wind and so the sails were lowered and the rowers were put to work.
Saarec sighed as he took another pulling motion to propel the ship forward before raising the oar out of the ocean and into the air before Saarec would again lower the oar and pull against the sea to further the ship along. It was back breaking labour and took plenty of strength. Saareec decided to take a small sip of water from his water gourd which he held around his chest via a leather strap. As soon as Saarec drank a few sips, he replaced the cap of the gourd and lowered it back to his strap and then rested his arms against the oar as he relaxed his leg muscles.
After about few seconds of resting his aching muscles, he saw and heard the voice of the red haired captain who was an Orlesian ex-noble and now the captain of a pirate ship belonging to the raiders of the waking sea.
Saarec was a recent Tal-Vashoth after he lost his soul weapon. Knowing that he would be killed, Saarec deserted the Qun and joined the pirate vessel as a sell sword and was hired with barely a second glance from the captain, probably because Qunari are renowned for being excellent warriors.
There was a growingly heated discussion between the captain and the crew. From Saarec's limited knowledge of Orlesian, Saarec slowly translated out small snippets of conversation.
"Should we intercept that ship..." spoke one sailor.
"I haven't seen a ship design like it before, those sails are oddly shaped" replied a pirate.
"There is a defensible position on the aft of their deck; if we board it we may receive several casualties from defenders using it as cover" spoke an experienced mercenary.
"That red crisscross, is it heraldry?... I 'aint never seen it before" replied another pirate.
"What's with that weird off-cut sail on the back, i have never seen a sail like that on a ship before" replied a third pirate.
Saarec decided that he would take a quick peek at the vessel before returning back to rowing.
Saarec noticed just as one of the sailors said, that the sails towards the back of the opposing vessel were diagonally shaped, something that Saarec had never seen before on a naval vessel. Saarec wondered how the triangular sail would perform in the wind, fortunately the wind favoured the galley as it changed coarse to intercept the new ship. Saarec later guessed that the opposing ship was very small and probably only had a crew of about forty to sixty, whilst the Crew aboard the galley were about 100 strong.
"It looks like a new vessel type to me. I have never seen a ship designed like that, i say we board the vessel and bring it back home. I am guessing we could make some good money selling off a unique ship" spoke the captain.
"Aye" said the assembled group together in a chorus.
"Oarsmen… full speed ahead" Shouted the captain.
Saarec took the cue and began to lift up his oar and began to row back and forth, back and forth and so on.
After what felt like hours of rowing, the sound of arrows being nocked and of taut bowstrings sounded throughout the ship. On the captain's order, the sound of arrows sent careening sounded forth like a trumpet call to battle. It was a suitable term then, now that a battle was about to occur and with an unknown vessel as well.
After about another forty seconds of rowing, Saarec heard the noise of taut bowstrings followed by the loosing of arrows.
This continued another two times before a new sound emerged... and then Saarec saw as the rower's deck was surrounded by wooden debris. Saarec turned to see that a watermelon sized hole had emerged from the wooden hull... and a gigantic ball of iron had continued its way until it embedded itself on the superstructure of the galley and cracked it. A moment later that wooden structure gave way and fell, dropping a small section of the galley downwards and crushing about ten rowers to death.
Saarec knew what he was dealing with, he had seen similar impacts before. The opposing vessel were armed with cannon, powerful cannon. The Cannonball had not killed anyone but the damage it did to the ship itself was staggering.
At that point, the captain had enough and shouted out to his crew.
"Take the fucking vessel, i want everyone onboard killed like the whores they are"
Saarec knew that such a small vessel would be hard to hit especially at night. It also meant that the crew on the enemy vessel would be more packed together. If they were poorly armed and armoured 'Like this crew were', then they would suffer many casualties, if they were armoured like a military vessel however,'then they would be barely injured from this distance'
The archers aboard the galley pulled out another arrow from their quivers, nocked them and then pulled the bowstrings back until it reached the side of their cheeks like they did before… and then they let loose. The sound of another swarming volley of arrows sounded throughout the ship
The captain smiled as he was sure that his archers would have sent hell throughout their enemies ranks, little did he know that his enemies where well trained veterans armoured in armour that rivaled what many of what those on Thedas wished they could have.
"Nice work, one more volley then we board the buggers!"
His soldiers cheered for a moment while his archers nocked their arrow's, they then altered their bows by a few degrees to level with the enemy vessel better, then set their arrows loose again.
The crew of the galley met face to face with a volley of their own to suffer as a stream of thick steel crossbow bolts met flesh and hull in an instant. Saarec saw with slight terror as the steel bolts inflicted many deaths and injuries to the crew. Saarec watched as one archer took a bolt through the back of his skull and saw that there was still a bit of the bolt at the front of his head even though he was wearing a plated helmet. Saarec also saw as one of his nearby oarsman literally had his hand pinned to his oar as a crossbow bolt struck through it.
In all his years Saarec had never seen such a powerful crossbow devised before. It were as though these crossbows were the rival offspring of ballista.
The galley was rocked by a new impact... another cannon blast emerged from the opposing vessel.
It struck low, dangerously low.
As if to confirm Saarec's notion, a shout emerged from the lower deck.
"Captain, we've sprung a leak. It was a rock the size of a big orange that came through and split into pieces. It killed two men and struck a third!"
Morale aboard the ship plummeted drastically and whatever courage the captain had left him at that moment.
"By the vale!"
Most sailors grabbed boarding axes and cutlasses and began donning simple garments for protection whilst several other sailors began collecting several sets of nasty looking grappling hooks for boarding.
As the galley neared the enemy vessel, Saarec began to see what the enemy crew looked like. Several of them seemed to be wearing strange suits of armour with well-shaped helmets that looked to have a strange bit that could be raised or lowered to cover the face. Others were dressed in simpler and less intricate designs, whilst the soldiers on the top's of the tower like contraptions seemed to have worn simple padded armour save for their hat like helmets. Saarec saw what appeared to be several men bent over reloading their crossbows and saw as others began striking what looked to be flints from the sparks generated.
After several moments of looking, Saarec saw as a plume of fire approach the galley, or rather it was until the object veered off course then hit the water no more than forty metres shy of the galley.
The crew laughed and the moral was raised, or rather it was until another of those strange projectiles was launched. This second projectile also veered off courset, but instead of hitting the water it flew straight up into the air and exploded into a shower of brightly illuminated flames accompanied by a large BOOOOM.
People looked out in shock, which was then followed on by expressions of fear as another of those strange projectiles came forth. This one did not veer off or tumble. It penetrated into the galley's deck and embedded itself against the hull for a moment, there was a tail made out of rope that was burning rapidly towards a container attached to the shaft of the arrow like projectile. A moment later the device exploded in a shower of heated sparks and a huge BAAAAANG that caused a ringing in Saarec's ears. The deck was covered in sparks and flames that catched onto stray rope and sail cloth before burning fiercely.
It took a few seconds before the ringing in Saarec's ears stopped but when it did the ringing was replaced by large crackles and pops and Saarec saw as invisible projectiles tore away at people's bodies. Nothing could stop the projectiles except for solid steel armour but even then the damage was so severe as it defaced the suits of armour and made them next to useless. Saarec threw his oar to the ground and stood up to look at what caused such destruction.
Saarec saw with his eyes that the enemy vessel was covered in smoke, until a slight southerly breeze cleared the smoke from the ship and Saarec could clearly see what caused such death. Men held what looked to be a large cylindrical object with a match on one end, similar in shape to a crossbow but without the tiller. He then watched as the front row cleared from view and another row of men came out and they took aim with their weapons. A figure with brightly coloured cloth shoulder puffs held out his hand, which he lowered after a few seconds… signalling to the men to fire their weapons.
Four people were killed outright and another two where severely injured. One man clutched the stump that was once a set of five fingers turned into two, his index finger and his thumb, he moaned loudly before falling into shock.
Morale aboard the ship plummeted and people began to duck and crawl around haphazardly trying to avoid getting hit, whilst other sailors began to trip over the injured or dead or scared people. In certain parts of the ship blood became a slipping hazard whilst other sailors tried to combat the flames that took hold of the rear of the ship caused by the unusual projectile weapon.
The second row of men on the enemy vessel then took hold of their weapons and began to step back whilst a row of crossbowmen took to the front row and they too took aim. they let loose a volley which, this time caused few casualties or deaths as people cradled and hid behind bits of decking to protect them from the oncoming steel bolts.
For now the vessel appeared to be free of enemy projectiles. The enemy crew were busy as they took the time to reload their weapons.
Using this percieved opportunity the captain quickly took advantage of this and began to take charge of his men, this raised the crews morale massively but they were still scared.
"Archers, take aim on their castle like tower"
The archers quickly ran out of their hiding spots and took aim, but they were never able to fire as a new round of explosions came forth from the enemy vessel.
Men on the sides were throwing out rock like objects that had one end lit. they struck against the galley before sliding around and falling through the decking before exploding and sending bits of clay shrapnel each and every direction. The explosions did little damage to the hull but they were horrible against men, tearing away at skin and flesh and leaving fierce burn's.
Saarec for the first time in his life felt something akin to fear when he saw whole sections of men get torn apart as bits of flesh and gore all about the galley.
"Gaatlok… Gaatlok"
Saying this repeatedly he caught the eye, or rather ear of the captain.
"Gaatlok, you mean blackpowder... are we dealing with Qunari!"
Saarec nodded his head down. "No"
"Then how the hell did our enemies get it?"
Saarec shrugged his shoulders.
The Captain quickly ran to the deck and shouted
"One hundred gold and seventy-five silver to the man that secures a cannon on the enemy vessel"
The damaged moral of the vessel rose again. Men took out their cutlasses or boarding axes and other such arms. The oarsmen quickly rushed to the dead to pick up arms, every one eager to secure the money before someone else got it first. Saarec himself was marvelled by how humans changed so quickly when money was offered and inwardly grew sickened at his fate of becoming a Tal-Vashoth. Saarec too went to a dead crew member and took his weapon, a boarding axe.
The Captain quickly retreated to the back of the ship and locked himself in his quarters whilst he left the sailors to fight for themselves.
The men aboard the galley were sixty strong. On the opposing side they probably numbered at less than forty... Saarec knew the enemy were out numbered, but the enemy were well armed and well supplied.
-Aboard the Pinta-
Eduardo shouted out his orders to the Crew as he stood firm at the helm and commanded his men like any experienced commander would
"Swordsmen to the flanks of the Halberdiers. Halberdiers to the centre in ranks two men deep, do not let the god-cursed bastards on this boat!"
Eduardo jumped to the defence of the Pinta. Even though he was unarmed he insisted on leading the men in the defense.
The Pinta and the enemy galley were about equal in height, which meant that the boarding would be made much easier for the enemy crew to board, but boarding would still be difficult when your enemy had two ranks of halberdiers presenting a wall of deadly spear and axe points towards the relatively lightly armoured galley crew.
Eduardo watched as his Halberdiers made mince-meat out of any would be attackers, and after the third attempt to board the Pinta, the enemy crew gave up and raised their hands in surrender.
Eduardo saw a creature that really set Eduardo's teeth on edge. It was a large, hulking man with a set of two horns.
Eduardo realised that he had found something that Europe would want, verifiable proof of the oddities that lay on the voyage of discovery. All of Europe and by extension the Pope would be very interested if they could capture and convert a 'Native' to the mother church. Realising this he turned to his men quickly.
"Men, capture that being but do not kill him by any means, he is to survive the journey and see the Pope. He will make it in one piece or by god i will punish the man that kills him. Other than the captain of that ship, the rest can be killed. They are little better then god-cursed pirates and an impediment to all good and honest people... let them rot in hell!"
His men obeyed, they began by capturing the crew.
Eduardo saw as one man grasped an enemy native about by their neck before a second man stabbed them through with a halberd to their chest, killing them in seconds as they stuttered about on the ground. Eduardo laughed, they were like capon's before the slaughter... they lost their balls and now they were losing their lives.
Edited at 4:04 a.m on the 13/04/2015
*1: China was known as Cathay back in the late medieval-early renaissance period, the name is attributed to Marco Polo who called China Cathay. Zipangu is also attributed to Marco Polo, as that was the name that he gave Japan. He is also claimed to have said that Japan was one of the richest islands in the world with a large quantity of valuable gems and silver.