Hi JeffEngel,
Most people on Trellheim are serfs or slaves of one kind or another apparently from the textev, because they have to support themselves agriculturally for that many people that far from anyone else.
3 pounds per day for 3 million people is 1.35 million tons per year which mostly couldn't be imported; the fertile land required for that much isn't that big [possibly around 21,100 square miles or much less than 1% of Trellheim's total land area], and since Trellheim was part of the day of creation, such land reclamation dates from then too.
We have hints of patrols against pirates of Chisholm, and burning out anchorages would certainly reduce the number of potential galley raiders.
Besides practical lessons against those who try to attack a convoy [maybe one pirate is left to report back on the colossal failure?] there are also the pirate spies on Chisholm, who would be among the first to recognise the deadliness of the RCN/ICN's then new war galleons.
We don't know if the RCN ever practiced anti-piracy patrols near Chisholm before the war, but they would have been mentioned when Sharleyan was trying to figure out a way to avoid helping destroy Charis, if they had owed such a favor.
Nonetheless, a good look at even the early war galleons would be enough for any seaman to know not to mess with them, so the pirates should have known from Sharleyan's marriage that times had changed.
I suspect once Sharleyan had returned if Cayleb hadn't first detailed a squadron to remain in Chisholmian waters and protect shipping, that an extra squadron or two might have visited the west Trellheim coast, possibly for buying slaves, but showing the new teeth and given warning what to expect.
People being people, I'm sure somebody still tried to grab something they shouldn't have, thus giving Sharleyan and the ICN the opportunity they wanted to come down like a ton of bricks.
Given how quiet things have been, most pirates took the object lesson to heart.
For Clyntahn, contacting the Trellheim pirates would be the first problem, then the negotiations would take time [which we haven't had any textev of yet], and given the distance and the Go4's poverty, what could the inquisition offer pirates?
"Well when we capture you after the jihad, we'll kill you pretty painlessly before subjecting your body to the punishment." [?!]
"We'll insist the Harchong won't pursue when you raid them." [?!]
"If you invade Chisholm, we'll recognise your territorial claims." [?]
Feel free to add your own.
L
JeffEngel wrote:lyonheart wrote:Hi Don,
I've posted a suspicion or two to the effect the Trellheim pirates may have already learned to leave the EoC alone due to possible limited punitive expeditions along the shore opposite Chisholm since 892, so that all the pirate kings left know the EoC, and Cayleb and Sharleyan in particular, won't tolerate what they got away with in the past.
Therefore if they have half the brains of the Raven Lords, offering to ally themselves with the EoC might be the best preservation policy available.
Of course it would mean giving up their slaves, so I wonder how many could or would.
L
Is there much or any slavery in Trellheim? I hadn't figured there was large-scale agriculture there to make it that useful.
And on the Trellheim side, well... it may be that they just haven't had cause to find out yet that they're totally outclassed anymore apart from being outnumbered. They've had plenty of one another to fight, no one's been paying them to go poke Chisholm in recent years, the Temple writ them off the naval program (apparently as a matter of scale rather than skill - flippin' Desnair got a Temple-subsidized navy after all...) - so it's plausible some Trellheimers have only a vague idea what's the current naval reality.
Certainly Clyntahn wouldn't mind getting them killed if it did
anything to Charis, and isn't a man to worry that being used that way alienates everyone on the receiving end. Still, Rayno managing him and Trynair and Duchairn just telling him no could beat those tendencies back.
I do see Trellheim - whenever it comes up for them, whether they learn the EoC is not to be trifled with the hard way or second-hand - as one of those states that is free to and likely will work out a modus vivedi with Charis just because it's worth it and the Temple cannot practically stop it. The same goes for the Duchy of Fallos, the Raven Lands (already more-or-less in that situation now), and the handful of people living on various oceanic islands.
