Imperial Sailing Trip (IC | Private)

[Kingdom of Derita]

Aukusa City,
Aukusa Bay Area,
Celestial Empire

The wind blew fiercely on the docks of Aukusa City. The harbor was a riot of color, sounds and smells, though it was held at bay from around the Imperial berth. The city, indeed the entire empire seemed bright with color after the events of the previous week, the final burial of the late Emperor Andeja III, a full year after his unexpected death in the Andejanes Archipelago. His body, preserved in a glass coffin by his dutiful wife, Marijani d’Aurelains had, perhaps ironically travelled a great deal more than the late Andeja III ever had in life to Imarati, Patuania, Colfico, and Nemidia before finally sailing back home to rest with offer preceding eight monarchs of the empire on the Isle of the Emperors.

Thus the official mourning period had ended and a new brighter chapter of the Celestial Empire began. And at the center of this new chapter was it’s young emperor, who, six months away from his majority was still a child, and though the regency remained firmly, if not popularly in the grasp of his grand uncle the Duke of Alencon, this still left a role of great importance to his mother, Marijani d’Aurelains, who’s adventures and campaigns had earn herself a fearsome reputation. One made all the more curiouser by the man who had sailed her back to Aukusa City and now planned to sail her away, Emperor Minixus of Nemidia.

It was not just Marijani who he intended on carrying away it seemed either. At the insistence of her aunt, Catherine d’Aurelains, Queen Dowager of Genes, she, Marijani’s two children, and at the young Emperor’s own insistence as not to be stuck on a boat only with female relations and fellow monarch, his friend Keoni Rohan. Marijani had agreed, and fearing that the size of the party might grow even further if there was any sort of delay quickly hustled their party to the boats towards the waiting Harmony of the Seas.

[Nemidia]

Aukusa City
Aukusa Bay Area
Celestial Empire

The Nemidian colors fluttered lively in the wind, the brilliant white sails of the Harmony of the Seas folded, for the moment, as her stark white hull sat majestically in the water, its V-shaped design giving it excellent hydrodynamic qualities, even for a ship of her size. However, the ships crew was busy, helping to lift the boats that approached it up, and to the deck, so that their occupants could board, and the boats stored in their normal place.

Minixus stepped onto the wooden deck of the ship, which, while the surface was wooden for appearance, underneath was a durable steel plate. He smiled as he stepped back onto his favored ship, it had been an...interesting time in the Celestial Empire, although he had hoped to have gotten a bit more done while he was there.

[Royal Genes]

Aukusa City
Aukusa Bay Area
Celestial Empire

Queen Dowager Catherine marched into the deck of the Harmony of the Seas, confident in each step aboard the vessel. She was well and familiar with boats as she had met her niece on many many times before. She would never let Elisabeth know, her younger brother’s eldest but she had always thought Marijani her favorite niece. Catherine had been sad when Marijani lost her husband, a pain Catherine herself knew, but she also knew that she had loved her Andeja much more than Catherine had lived her Frederick.

Thus this entry into the picture, on the tail end of her other adventures, of Minixus of Nemidia, the monarch of a small island nation known for sheep and keeping to themselves naturally piqued the interest of the Queen Dowager. Catherine may only be an aunt, but Marijani lacked a mother and the two of them were cut from the same Aurelains cloth.

The Queen Dowager was a impressive woman, though over seventy years old she barely looked a day over fifty five same her elaborately styled stark white hair piled high atop her head in curls decorated generously with diamomds. She wore a black vintage dress with puffy shoulders long sleeves and a high collar, a sheer over skirt embroidered with small silver star bursts.

[Kingdom of Derita]

Marijani stepped gracefully onto the deck of the Harmony of the Seas, part of her happy to be leaving the Celestial Empire. Save for her children and family, she had been shocked to find that there were not mean who had particularly missed her. To most it seemed they were quite smitten with their new emperor and had no interest in being reminded of their old one. Marijani was a setting sun and they were all facing towards the rising one.

The Mother Empress had found too that fashion, which she had once dominated, had moved on with out her. Apparently empire waists were back in vogue for ladies and all the men were wearing these oba suits with breeches and mandarin collars. Determined not to be left behind, Marijani wore a white silk empire style dress with a short white jack. She still wore her hair in the tight braided mourning bun, but forgone the long veil.

“Do we have to go?” Asked Ziyanda not for the first time as she followed after her mother, her flats touching down on the wooden deck. The teen princess had asked the question several times before they’d arrived at the ship. Ziyanda wore a similar dress to her mother, colored in regal purple, and with silver embroidery on her sheer over skirt. Her dark black hair was pulled into thin box braids that were allowed to tumbled down her back and over her shoulders

“You are already on the ship,” Marijani said in response. This received only an eye roll from Ziyanda.

“It’s a nice ship,” Andeja said encouraging as he watched the crew move about. Andeja stood tall, particularly next to his little sister and Keoni, though admittedly less so next to his mother and his grandaunt’s deceptively tall hair. Andeja had a bit darker skin than his already melanin rich sister and mother, while his thick curly hair was particularly dyed purple, something that had greatly shocked his mother upon her return. He wore a simple purple mandarin collar shirt that matched his hair and black breeches that stopped a bit below the knee and showed off plaid socks and his boat shoes. He was joined by Keoni, who was dressed almost entirely the same, though his hair wavy and parted down the middle so that it framed his face was half purple and half black.

Andeja didn’t understand why they were going on this trip, but unlike his sister who seemed entirely opposed to it, Andeja was happy to go along with it as it seemed to make his mother, who he had missed over the last year, happy.

[Nemidia]

Minixus watched the others boarding the ship, on the deck, it was clear that the ship was more than a normal clipper, indeed, Minixus had outfitted it to be more of a floating embassy than a cruise liner, even if the difference at first glance was hard to determine. Near the center of the ship was a pool, while not as large as those on a dedicated cruise ship, it was large enough to afford luxury, and had several sets of pool chairs around.

Minixus turned to his guests and said “The servants and crew have already loaded your things and brought them to your rooms, you may go to them if you wish, or stay on deck and observe as we get under way.”

Minixus then turned and made his way to the ships helm, which was in an enclosed compartment near the front of the ship, indicating the vessels more modern origins than its propulsion would indicate, and he turned to the ships first mate. “Once we are ready, raise anchor and make way to the mouth of the bay, then set out on our course at full speed”

“Yes my lord”

[Kingdom of Derita]

Marijani nodded, and as the only one of the newly arrived party to have been aboard the ship before hand, waved a hand for the others to follow her to the room. Ziyanda, who had raised an eyebrow at the emperor’s use of the word servant which seemed as outdated as the ship, crossed her arms. She did admittedly glance over the deck and the luxuries that decorated, particularly the pool. But like most girls her age, and added to her rank as the Princess Imperial, she was determined to remained unimpressed, so she merely huffed and followed after her mother.

Andeja began following after his mother and younger sister, but was stopped by Keoni who nodded towards the departing figure of Minixus towards the front of the ship. The two young men nodded, seemingly telepathically concurring and followed after Minixus.

Andeja, emboldened by his troublemaker of a best friend, had long arrived at the conclusion that as the Celestial Emperor, there was no one who could tell truly him what to do, not even his mother, and Keoni was always quick to remind him of that status. Besides Andeja was curious about the ship, having not much experience on sail boats having spent most of his last years in the inland waterfall ladden capital of Gaosa. He and Keoni walked into the helm, Andeja glancing around with curious eyes. “Interesting.”

[Nemidia]

Minixus studied the map in the helms room carefully, but noticed the two out of the corner of his eyes. There was several instruments laid out on the table, including a stopwatch, a magnetic compass, a protractor, a sextant, an astrolobe, and there was an instrument panel next to the ships wheel, displaying a speedometer, a angle of ruder meter, and, surprisingly, a radar screen, which betrayed the presence of the ships small Diesel generator for generating electricity for the ship.

Minixus checked the path they were going to take again, and then compared the mental image in his head with what allay before him, as he looked out towards the bay, mentally laying the path out over the image of the bay in his mind, and simply nodded with a thoughtful look in his eyes. Minixus had been carefully to very accurately study and learn the arts of maritime navigation and travel, so as both to give himself a better understanding of it, and for the practical applications of it as well should he need to use it. He then turned to the emperor and his friend and said “Do either of you know how to plot a course using these tools?”

[Kingdom of Derita]

Andeja shook his head as he walked over to Minixus, his interest piqued by the various devices and the panels of the helm, zipping over like a moth to a flame towards the center of navigation instruments. With a fascinated grin Andeja picked up the astrolabe and held it up to his eye in order to study the instrument. "Not in the slightest," said the Emperor cheerfully. He recognized the compass, protractor, and stopwatch and knew how to use all three, but in relation sailing, he was entirely lost as to how they may be incorporated, save perhaps the compass.

Keoni wrinkled his eyebrows as he looked over the map and then to the bay, and then back to the map, and once more to the bay. The Aukusa Bay was a particularly careful place to navigate through. It was wide and had naturally deep water, and was well protected from the waters of the Western Ocean, which was why it had become such a bustling trade port and the largest city in the Celestial Empire. But it was also intersected with the river delta of the Aukusa River, dotted with mountainous islands and various channels, which was why places like Vatoria Island on the north end of the bay had been a base of piracy and had even evaded the control of the Celestial Empire for a century.

That wasn't to mention that it was constantly filled with ships, motorized vast cargo ships, mega yachts, speed boats, towboats, or colorful sailed junkers, dhows, and canoes, water taxies, and gondalas ferried people across the river channels further east, or between islands to the north.

"If this were about ten times smaller and an outrigger, sure," Keoni said with a grin. As he was part Mantaran, the group who lived at the very southern tip islands of the empire, and whose had generated the likes of the Colficoan Royal Family, Keoni had had the respect for the ocean not only flowing in his blood but engrained in him by his parents. (It was a great irony that the duchy his grandfather held was entirely landlocked). But their method of sailing couldn't have been more different from the Nemidian.

"You will demonstrate wont you?" said Andeja with a smile, though it toed the edge of a question and a statement.

[Nemidia]

Minixus nodded and said “The difference in size is less of an issue than you might think, you just have to be more mindful of what is at the bottom, and of what is in front, a larger vessel takes longer to slow down, so you have to be mindful to not put yourself on a collision course, but that is easier than you might think.”

He looked to the helmsman with a raised eyebrow, and the man answered quickly. “We are ready to depart, all boats are loaded and stowed.”

“Very well, bring us to maneuvering sails, and bring us out slowly.”

“Aye sir, Maneuvering sails!”

A similar statement was repeated by the deckhands and hen the crew, as they handled the sails, letting only the back sail up, its white fabric filling with the wind as the anchor was raised, and the ship began gently coasting forward, the knife like front of the ship barely making a ripple at such a slow speed, but it gave a hint to the true grace of the ship at speed.

Minixus nodded to the helmsman, who began maneuvering the ship out into the bay, away from where the ship had been docked. The helmsman then spoke through the radio, to the two escorting destroyers that has followed the ship, informing the two small warships that the ship was moving.

Minixus turned back to his two young guests and then said “the first tool I’m going to use is not on the table, but instead handing from the main mast, I’m going to use the flags of the ship to tell which way the wind is blowing, right now it’s blowing towards the bay, so th maneuvering sails have to be angled in such a way that they catch enough wind to move the ship out.”

[Royal Genes]

Catherine pulled a fan from her sleeve, raising an eyebrow at the sight of the sailing ship’s superstructure, or general lack of one, despite its amenities. The Queen Dowager was amongst the view people alive on the continent who could remember the world from before the Great Collapse, and thus knew just how far they had all fallen. There were often times that she envied the young people, who knew no better.

Catherine fanned herself as she followed after her niece and grandniece, letting the boys go off to the helm. As the mother of two sons, Catherine knew that there were simply times when boys would be boys, emperors included, fascinating over their cars and ships, something that she found had changed all that much over the years.

[Kingdom of Derita]

Andeja looked up from his inspection of the astrolabe. He tossed it back and forth between his hands absentmindedly as he looked up at the mast to try and see the flags. He tilted his head like a puppy trying to understand a new trick.

“How could the sail be used, even at an angle if the wind is bowing into the bay?”

Keoni shrugged his shoulders. He knew that it was possible, and that it worked, but he didn’t really understand how, and didn’t care much to. “Something, something, math stuff,” Keoni provided helpfully. The only thanks he received from his friend was an eye roll.

[Nemidia]

“Well there is a math explanation for it.” Minixus said “but it actually has more to do both with the weather, physics and the waters current. Firstly, we are helped by the current flowing out of the bay and into the ocean, and secondly, the sail at that angle catches just enough wind to move the ship forward at a relative creep, just enough to get us out of the bay, where the ship can turn and angle itself to what a better grab of the wind.”

The ship slowly creeped its way out of the bay, however it was not ungainly or cumbersome, instead turning with grace whenever the helmsman slightly turned the wheel to adjust the ships course.

[Kingdom of Derita]

“Interesting,” Andeja said, looking at the waters of the bay as the sailing ship cut through the smooth dark blue waves colored by the sentiment and other byproducts of humanity that followed into it. Andeja turned his attention back to Minixus as they moved out of the bay towards the waters of the Western Ocean.

“What happens if there is no wind at all? Do you just have to let the current take you? But what if you are in a place with little current, or none at all?”

[Nemidia]

"The ship has an emergency generator for such an occurrence, powered by diesel or even alcohol if the situation is dire, which powers a small set of screws, they are not particularly powerful, but they are enough to sustain the ship long enough to reach better waters. However, even in a situation where the ship may need to wait it out, she carries enough food and water that it normally isn't an issue on a normal voyage, and she has a radio to call for assistance if it does become an issue."

The ship began exiting the bay, and as she did so, the helmsman turned the wheel, bringing the ship to face parallel with the coast, and the helmsman nodded, and the ships first mate yelled out "Full sails."

Across the ship the order was repeated by the deck hands, and the ships sails each unfurled, and as they did, with a better angle with the wind than they had leaving the bay, filled with the moving air, and the ship began to steadily move forward at an increasing speed, wakes of water beginning to form at the ships bow, as she sliced through the water at an increasing pace, the water flowing past the ships stark white hull as she passed effortlessly through it.