VROOOOOSHhhhhh
Everybody on deck braced themselves as the ship made contact with the ocean. As always, the ship's bow entered first, splashing the foredeck with seawater and giving the unfortunate sailors who had lost bets the night before an unwanted shower. The sudden deceleration from the angled dive might have been uncomfortable and rough to deal with, but it was better than landing keel first.
At first, it would seem rather counter-intuitive to do it this way. Landing with your bow at a slightly upturned angle would disperse the force of impact over a greater area, extending the duration of the deceleration and giving the crew a more favorable angle to brace against, but there were some major problems and dangers associated with that.
Problems and dangers associated with the way these vessels were constructed.
The exterior planks and primary support beams that kept the ship watertight and in tact were aligned lengthwise along the ship, meaning that concentrating the force perpendicularly on only one end would induce an extremely undesirable moment force. This force threatened to crack the keel and bend planks out of alignment every time it was present, and would introduce some level of permanent deformation even if nothing failed.
The chance of failure was low, incredibly low, but that only considered a single landing in this way. Further landings meant further deformations, which in turn increased the chance of a failure. With how often these ships were expected to land, this would very quickly become an expensive practice.
This didn't mean that going in bow first was without danger either, but it was far harder to send a ship this size flipping keel over deck than one might think. So long as the captain kept a relatively straight course at a relatively shallow angle, everything would more or less be okay. There were still stresses and deformations associated with landing this way, but it is far harder to break a beam by pressing along it's axis than it is to break it by bending it. All ships had a service life, no matter how well they were maintained.
"Are you alright Cayzi?"
"I'm okay."
Kayes had positioned Cayzi between himself and the railing they had chosen to brace against, using his body as an added layer of security for the boy.
"Good. Captain, please prioritize docking over everything else. I understand you want to check the ship's status, but this matter is incredibly urgent."
"I understand. ALL HANDS, SAIL FOR PORT!!!"
"SAIL FOR PORT AYE!"
The captain of the ship stepped away from the collection of wheels and levers that constituted the helm, allowing his helmsman to assume control. His role in that position was done, now he needed to supervise the crew as they went about the shift from void-rigging to marine-rigging. He was more familiar with this ship than anyone else present, so if there was an error he would see it.
"Cayzi, stay here where you won't get in the way. I'm headed up to the bow to look for shallow spots."
"Yes sir." Kayes ruffled the boy's hair once more before he left, leaving him hugging his book bag tightly to his chest.
Deftly avoiding the crew as they changed the rigging and adjusted their knots, Kayes eventually ended up on the bow. He wasn't going to be looking for shallow spots though, there was someone dedicated to that role. He was instead searching for ocean debris, something organic and fresh out of the water that would give him an idea of how bad everything really was. Nothing had washed up when they stopped at that fishing village and asked for directions, but now he was spoiled for choice.
At least he was spoiled for choice if you considered different strains of seaweed to be distinct enough to be separate choices.
Still, seaweed was organic, and it appeared that it was still alive. Grabbing a strand from a pile someone was clearing off the side, he swung it around a bit to get the excess water off. Content with the level of moisture, he placed his thumbs about a finger's length apart and ran a strand of split down the length. The results were immediate.
A line formed on the surface of the plant, a more healthy shade of green amidst an oily dark mass. This was the path the strand of split had taken, and it told him more than he needed to know. This seaweed wasn't naturally this dark of a shade. If it was healthy and had a sufficient amount of split, it would sport a shade of green more like that of the bright green line.
The situation was far worse than he had been led to believe.
Flora and Fauna of the land being put in such a weakened state due to deficiencies in an environment's split concentration were not uncommon. Even on some Holifanian planets life was not particularly strong, and the concentration in certain regions could fluctuate with time. His home world was like that, every five years seeing a precipitous drop in concentration for three months, a time during which it wasn't uncommon for plants and animals to just die. The ecosystem was practically built around it.
What was happening here was incomparably worse.
Unlike the land, the split which marine life used was concentrated in the water. Air, gasses, have a much higher capacity of split in comparison to a liquid, be it by mass or volume, however liquids were far better at retaining split. They were so much better at it that it wasn't even a comparison. This presented problems if you wanted to draw in split from your surroundings, you would have to work much harder to separate it from the water.
This difficulty translated to life-forms that required a lot less split in comparison to their terrestrial counterparts. For a a creature of the land, doing something similar would be nothing more than a death sentence, should the ambient split concentration drop for whatever reason, they would find themselves weakened and eventually dead in no time. There was a secret to how the aquatic beings could tolerate this, something incredibly simple.
The concentration of split did not fluctuate much in large bodies of water.
At each and every point of a single contiguous ocean you can expect the ambient level of split to sit at around the same concentration. It wouldn't be a particularly high concentration, but it wouldn't change by much if it at all. Large bodies of water were just that effective at retaining split.
What did it mean if seaweed of all things, seaweed, found itself with a dearth of split? It meant that the ambient concentration of the split in the air had been at or below that concentration for such a long time that the water had released enough split to match it.
These people, the Nekh, had been living on a planet with a planetary average split concentration unsuitable for fucking seaweed! What's worse, they had probably been living at this level for well over a century. If the briefing he had received before he left was anything to go by, they had been suffering for far longer.
Part of Kayes wanted to kick himself for not noticing just how bad it was, but for the most part he understood that it would have been impossible for him to figure out without doing this. The concentration was just so low he couldn't see a difference. It was sort of like how it was difficult to see the difference in the height of things when viewed from above, the difference between 1 and 2 is quite small when compared to 1000.
"Bishop?" One of the deckhands responsible for clearing the debris approached him.
It was only natural for him to be curious. A Bishop, one of the highest ranking members of the Holifanian Theocracy, was crouched on the floor inspecting seaweed with grave concern plastered on his face. It would be stranger if he ignored Kayes.
"Hm? Ah, sorry. I was just inspecting the status of the sea life here." Kayes casually threw the slimy green plant over the side of the ship. He had gotten what he needed out of it, and he would prefer it if the crew didn't learn what he had. They were a superstitious bunch, sailors always were, and there was no saying what they might do if they found out. "I thought it prudent to check on it given," Kayes waved his hand at nothing in particular, "this."
"O-oh. Well, as long as there's nothing wrong." The crewman went on his way. There was work to do, and Bishop Kayes had proven himself to be someone who didn't warrant their concern.
Finished with what his initial goal, Kayes moved towards the ship's bow. He had told Cayzi that he was going to look for shallow spots, so he might as well give him the impression. This would be a good time to think. He casually leaned forward against the bow railing, staring blankly ahead at the slowly approaching city. His mind was occupied not by the why's, but by how's.
He knew why this planet had fallen into a state of total decay. Anybody with half a brain would figure it out. The star was no longer providing a sufficient amount of split to facilitate the propagation of life. Did he know how or why that had happened? No. Did he have any guesses? No. Was it relevant to finding a solution? Absolutely not.
That was a star, the penultimate force of nature that even gods feared. To think that you might be able to influence it in any way without expending an impossibly large amount of resources was foolish beyond words.
He was more curious about how life had persisted on the ground. Split was a vital component to sustaining life alongside food and water. How was it possible that an ecosystem had managed to live on in spite of split gradually being drained away? He supposed it was possible that the lifeforms here were naturally used to incredibly low levels of split, but certainly they weren't used to levels this low. Even the seaweed was built to live in an environment with more split than this.
Perhaps it was to do with how slowly the split had decreased in concentration? He vaguely remembered it being mentioned that their star's decline has been happening for hundreds, possibly thousands, of years. Perhaps it had been so slow that only life which was most efficient in its allocation and use of split survived to have descendants? That would probably explain some of it, but at a certain point you had to reach a point where it just wasn't possible to sustain life.
Unlike humans, animals did not ingest the majority of their split by breathing, it was absorbed through their food. 'Sustenance' with less split was not as nutritious, didn't feel as filling, and was not as healthy as an otherwise identical piece of 'sustenance' with more. This wasn't as much of a problem for humanity, most were given instruction during their youth in the ways of absorbing split from the atmosphere, but you would definitely notice a difference in results over a long period of time.
Regardless this dearth introduced a vicious cycle. Ecosystems with a lesser concentration of split did have as many producers, plants and such, owing to the decreased level of split. These 'base' foods did not have as much split, so the next tier of consumers would have to eat more in order to maintain an equal level of health and strength as their peers, meaning they either had to accept being inferior with regards to split or they had to get that much better at finding food.
This was one of the biggest reasons that Verdant Globes were so highly valued. Not only were people raised on them stronger by virtue of higher split concentrations, but you didn't need as much food from it to sustain a population, meaning it could be exported with a relatively large profit margin. This meant more people, more money, and a better army.
How had this place managed to support an ecosystem, one that was struggling but still very much there, without consuming itself into the ground? He didn't have any answers for that question, and he wasn't going to be finding one any time soon - they were almost at the harbor.
Shaking himself out of his contemplative state to find himself flanked on either side by spotters, he decided that it was high time he returned to the rear. It wasn't a good idea to leave Cayzi alone, even if he would never cause trouble. He was still only a boy. Besides, when it came time to negotiate with a harbormaster, Kayes would have to be their representative. This was a diplomatic mission, and the Theocracy dictated that certain policies be followed to maintain their diplomatic stance in the eyes of others.
He trusted the ship's Captain, but a Bishop was simply more familiar with what was expected from such an interaction.
"Bishop Kayes, we are coming up on the pier." Kayes furrowed a brow upon being told this. It was standard practice to wait for the harbormaster to signal them in before docking at a capital port.
"Shouldn't we wait for permission?"
"Sir Bishop, there isn't anybody there."
"What do you mean?"
"Take a look for yourself. I haven't seen a single person on any of the docks since we moved into visual range. I don't think anyone is coming."
Kayes did as the Captain had, and scanned the harbor. He was right. This place was eerily vacant. This was the biggest city on the planet, presumably hosting one of the largest ports as well. For a trading center this large, it was strange to not even see one person.
"ALL HANDS, WE WILL BE DOCKING OURSELVES." The Captain didn't let Bishop Kayes respond, taking the initiative to set the crew into motion. "I REPEAT. ALL HANDS, WE WILL BE DOCKING OURSELVES."
He was met with a series of 'aye'-s and 'yes sir'-s as the deck once more sprang into motion. Ten men stood patiently along the port side of the ship, evenly spaced in pairs with each pair handling a single rope. As they moved closer to the dock, one man of each pair leapt out to the pier with the help of split. They hurriedly wrapped their ropes around the docking stakes, giving themselves some slack as they jumped back to the ship.
Once back aboard, their partners took a hold to the rope and began to pull. The ship slowly began to drift towards the dock under the influence of their heaving, more men joining in on the fun as slack became available. The whole process took only a minute, the end of which was announced by the clattering of a gangplank being laid across the remaining gap.
"Well Bishop Kayes, me and my men will stay aboard the ship until such a time as we are granted permission to set foot on foreign soil. I wish you the best of luck."
"Thank you. I only hope we haven't been sent too late." Bishop Kayes gave the captain and crew a thankful nod. "Cayzi, let's go. It will be night soon and we can't afford a delay."
cakeonfrosting NERD CHAPTER!!! NERD CHAPTER!!! EVERYBODY WATCH OUT, IT'S A NERD CHAPTER!!!
Yeah, sorry about that. This one was also supposed to be around 2k words, but I realized that this would be the ideal place to put our first landing (watering?) as well as illustrate exactly how fucked this planet is. I probably spent way too much time thinking about how a water landing would be performed with a wooden boat.
VROOOOOSHhhhhh
Everybody on deck braced themselves as the ship made contact with the ocean. As always, the ship's bow entered first, splashing the foredeck with seawater and giving the unfortunate sailors who had lost bets the night before an unwanted shower. The sudden deceleration from the angled dive might have been uncomfortable and rough to deal with, but it was better than landing keel first.
At first, it would seem rather counter-intuitive to do it this way. Landing with your bow at a slightly upturned angle would disperse the force of impact over a greater area, extending the duration of the deceleration and giving the crew a more favorable angle to brace against, but there were some major problems and dangers associated with that.
Problems and dangers associated with the way these vessels were constructed.
The exterior planks and primary support beams that kept the ship watertight and in tact were aligned lengthwise along the ship, meaning that concentrating the force perpendicularly on only one end would induce an extremely undesirable moment force. This force threatened to crack the keel and bend planks out of alignment every time it was present, and would introduce some level of permanent deformation even if nothing failed.
The chance of failure was low, incredibly low, but that only considered a single landing in this way. Further landings meant further deformations, which in turn increased the chance of a failure. With how often these ships were expected to land, this would very quickly become an expensive practice.
This didn't mean that going in bow first was without danger either, but it was far harder to send a ship this size flipping keel over deck than one might think. So long as the captain kept a relatively straight course at a relatively shallow angle, everything would more or less be okay. There were still stresses and deformations associated with landing this way, but it is far harder to break a beam by pressing along it's axis than it is to break it by bending it. All ships had a service life, no matter how well they were maintained.
"Are you alright Cayzi?"
"I'm okay."
Kayes had positioned Cayzi between himself and the railing they had chosen to brace against, using his body as an added layer of security for the boy.
"Good. Captain, please prioritize docking over everything else. I understand you want to check the ship's status, but this matter is incredibly urgent."
"I understand. ALL HANDS, SAIL FOR PORT!!!"
"SAIL FOR PORT AYE!"
The captain of the ship stepped away from the collection of wheels and levers that constituted the helm, allowing his helmsman to assume control. His role in that position was done, now he needed to supervise the crew as they went about the shift from void-rigging to marine-rigging. He was more familiar with this ship than anyone else present, so if there was an error he would see it.
"Cayzi, stay here where you won't get in the way. I'm headed up to the bow to look for shallow spots."
"Yes sir." Kayes ruffled the boy's hair once more before he left, leaving him hugging his book bag tightly to his chest.
Deftly avoiding the crew as they changed the rigging and adjusted their knots, Kayes eventually ended up on the bow. He wasn't going to be looking for shallow spots though, there was someone dedicated to that role. He was instead searching for ocean debris, something organic and fresh out of the water that would give him an idea of how bad everything really was. Nothing had washed up when they stopped at that fishing village and asked for directions, but now he was spoiled for choice.
At least he was spoiled for choice if you considered different strains of seaweed to be distinct enough to be separate choices.
Still, seaweed was organic, and it appeared that it was still alive. Grabbing a strand from a pile someone was clearing off the side, he swung it around a bit to get the excess water off. Content with the level of moisture, he placed his thumbs about a finger's length apart and ran a strand of split down the length. The results were immediate.
A line formed on the surface of the plant, a more healthy shade of green amidst an oily dark mass. This was the path the strand of split had taken, and it told him more than he needed to know. This seaweed wasn't naturally this dark of a shade. If it was healthy and had a sufficient amount of split, it would sport a shade of green more like that of the bright green line.
The situation was far worse than he had been led to believe.
Flora and Fauna of the land being put in such a weakened state due to deficiencies in an environment's split concentration were not uncommon. Even on some Holifanian planets life was not particularly strong, and the concentration in certain regions could fluctuate with time. His home world was like that, every five years seeing a precipitous drop in concentration for three months, a time during which it wasn't uncommon for plants and animals to just die. The ecosystem was practically built around it.
What was happening here was incomparably worse.
Unlike the land, the split which marine life used was concentrated in the water. Air, gasses, have a much higher capacity of split in comparison to a liquid, be it by mass or volume, however liquids were far better at retaining split. They were so much better at it that it wasn't even a comparison. This presented problems if you wanted to draw in split from your surroundings, you would have to work much harder to separate it from the water.
This difficulty translated to life-forms that required a lot less split in comparison to their terrestrial counterparts. For a a creature of the land, doing something similar would be nothing more than a death sentence, should the ambient split concentration drop for whatever reason, they would find themselves weakened and eventually dead in no time. There was a secret to how the aquatic beings could tolerate this, something incredibly simple.
The concentration of split did not fluctuate much in large bodies of water.
At each and every point of a single contiguous ocean you can expect the ambient level of split to sit at around the same concentration. It wouldn't be a particularly high concentration, but it wouldn't change by much if it at all. Large bodies of water were just that effective at retaining split.
What did it mean if seaweed of all things, seaweed, found itself with a dearth of split? It meant that the ambient concentration of the split in the air had been at or below that concentration for such a long time that the water had released enough split to match it.
These people, the Nekh, had been living on a planet with a planetary average split concentration unsuitable for fucking seaweed! What's worse, they had probably been living at this level for well over a century. If the briefing he had received before he left was anything to go by, they had been suffering for far longer.
Part of Kayes wanted to kick himself for not noticing just how bad it was, but for the most part he understood that it would have been impossible for him to figure out without doing this. The concentration was just so low he couldn't see a difference. It was sort of like how it was difficult to see the difference in the height of things when viewed from above, the difference between 1 and 2 is quite small when compared to 1000.
"Bishop?" One of the deckhands responsible for clearing the debris approached him.
It was only natural for him to be curious. A Bishop, one of the highest ranking members of the Holifanian Theocracy, was crouched on the floor inspecting seaweed with grave concern plastered on his face. It would be stranger if he ignored Kayes.
"Hm? Ah, sorry. I was just inspecting the status of the sea life here." Kayes casually threw the slimy green plant over the side of the ship. He had gotten what he needed out of it, and he would prefer it if the crew didn't learn what he had. They were a superstitious bunch, sailors always were, and there was no saying what they might do if they found out. "I thought it prudent to check on it given," Kayes waved his hand at nothing in particular, "this."
"O-oh. Well, as long as there's nothing wrong." The crewman went on his way. There was work to do, and Bishop Kayes had proven himself to be someone who didn't warrant their concern.
Finished with what his initial goal, Kayes moved towards the ship's bow. He had told Cayzi that he was going to look for shallow spots, so he might as well give him the impression. This would be a good time to think. He casually leaned forward against the bow railing, staring blankly ahead at the slowly approaching city. His mind was occupied not by the why's, but by how's.
He knew why this planet had fallen into a state of total decay. Anybody with half a brain would figure it out. The star was no longer providing a sufficient amount of split to facilitate the propagation of life. Did he know how or why that had happened? No. Did he have any guesses? No. Was it relevant to finding a solution? Absolutely not.
That was a star, the penultimate force of nature that even gods feared. To think that you might be able to influence it in any way without expending an impossibly large amount of resources was foolish beyond words.
He was more curious about how life had persisted on the ground. Split was a vital component to sustaining life alongside food and water. How was it possible that an ecosystem had managed to live on in spite of split gradually being drained away? He supposed it was possible that the lifeforms here were naturally used to incredibly low levels of split, but certainly they weren't used to levels this low. Even the seaweed was built to live in an environment with more split than this.
Perhaps it was to do with how slowly the split had decreased in concentration? He vaguely remembered it being mentioned that their star's decline has been happening for hundreds, possibly thousands, of years. Perhaps it had been so slow that only life which was most efficient in its allocation and use of split survived to have descendants? That would probably explain some of it, but at a certain point you had to reach a point where it just wasn't possible to sustain life.
Unlike humans, animals did not ingest the majority of their split by breathing, it was absorbed through their food. 'Sustenance' with less split was not as nutritious, didn't feel as filling, and was not as healthy as an otherwise identical piece of 'sustenance' with more. This wasn't as much of a problem for humanity, most were given instruction during their youth in the ways of absorbing split from the atmosphere, but you would definitely notice a difference in results over a long period of time.
Regardless this dearth introduced a vicious cycle. Ecosystems with a lesser concentration of split did have as many producers, plants and such, owing to the decreased level of split. These 'base' foods did not have as much split, so the next tier of consumers would have to eat more in order to maintain an equal level of health and strength as their peers, meaning they either had to accept being inferior with regards to split or they had to get that much better at finding food.
This was one of the biggest reasons that Verdant Globes were so highly valued. Not only were people raised on them stronger by virtue of higher split concentrations, but you didn't need as much food from it to sustain a population, meaning it could be exported with a relatively large profit margin. This meant more people, more money, and a better army.
How had this place managed to support an ecosystem, one that was struggling but still very much there, without consuming itself into the ground? He didn't have any answers for that question, and he wasn't going to be finding one any time soon - they were almost at the harbor.
Shaking himself out of his contemplative state to find himself flanked on either side by spotters, he decided that it was high time he returned to the rear. It wasn't a good idea to leave Cayzi alone, even if he would never cause trouble. He was still only a boy. Besides, when it came time to negotiate with a harbormaster, Kayes would have to be their representative. This was a diplomatic mission, and the Theocracy dictated that certain policies be followed to maintain their diplomatic stance in the eyes of others.
He trusted the ship's Captain, but a Bishop was simply more familiar with what was expected from such an interaction.
"Bishop Kayes, we are coming up on the pier." Kayes furrowed a brow upon being told this. It was standard practice to wait for the harbormaster to signal them in before docking at a capital port.
"Shouldn't we wait for permission?"
"Sir Bishop, there isn't anybody there."
"What do you mean?"
"Take a look for yourself. I haven't seen a single person on any of the docks since we moved into visual range. I don't think anyone is coming."
Kayes did as the Captain had, and scanned the harbor. He was right. This place was eerily vacant. This was the biggest city on the planet, presumably hosting one of the largest ports as well. For a trading center this large, it was strange to not even see one person.
"ALL HANDS, WE WILL BE DOCKING OURSELVES." The Captain didn't let Bishop Kayes respond, taking the initiative to set the crew into motion. "I REPEAT. ALL HANDS, WE WILL BE DOCKING OURSELVES."
He was met with a series of 'aye'-s and 'yes sir'-s as the deck once more sprang into motion. Ten men stood patiently along the port side of the ship, evenly spaced in pairs with each pair handling a single rope. As they moved closer to the dock, one man of each pair leapt out to the pier with the help of split. They hurriedly wrapped their ropes around the docking stakes, giving themselves some slack as they jumped back to the ship.
Once back aboard, their partners took a hold to the rope and began to pull. The ship slowly began to drift towards the dock under the influence of their heaving, more men joining in on the fun as slack became available. The whole process took only a minute, the end of which was announced by the clattering of a gangplank being laid across the remaining gap.
"Well Bishop Kayes, me and my men will stay aboard the ship until such a time as we are granted permission to set foot on foreign soil. I wish you the best of luck."
"Thank you. I only hope we haven't been sent too late." Bishop Kayes gave the captain and crew a thankful nod. "Cayzi, let's go. It will be night soon and we can't afford a delay."
cakeonfrosting NERD CHAPTER!!! NERD CHAPTER!!! EVERYBODY WATCH OUT, IT'S A NERD CHAPTER!!!
Yeah, sorry about that. This one was also supposed to be around 2k words, but I realized that this would be the ideal place to put our first landing (watering?) as well as illustrate exactly how fucked this planet is. I probably spent way too much time thinking about how a water landing would be performed with a wooden boat.
