Afanis: The Beginning. Austritaria Only.

[Afanis]

12 of April 1641. The Britarian Age of Colonisation, somewhere in the Austritarian Ocean.

A ravaged ship floated on the sea. With its sails torn to parts, it had become unmanageable. It had been days since the last pieces of salt pork had been handed out to the surviving crew members of the rudderless rendered vessel.
A light breeze set in from the south, causing the ship to slowly drift towards a tiny island in the distance. As the wind blew stronger, the water grew rough, and the waves got higher.

There were 19 people left on the ship, 11 sailors, 5 merchants, a couple of soldiers and a cabin boy. Of the 73 men who boarded the ship three months ago, only a handfull survived, and those that didn't get washed away by the storm died from starvation and fatigue afterwards.
The Vroen, named after the epynomous river, was a Britarian merchant vessel heading for the Isolated nation of Vici Minerva. It had lost its main mast in a terrible storm trying to cross the Austritarian ocean in search for trade opportunities.
It was the age of colonization, and trade was flourishing as the Grand Britarian Kingdom was establishing one colony after another.

Fortunately for the crew, they would never witness what was yet to be declared the bloodiest and most gruesome war Austritaria had had for centuries.

Floating towards the island, the survivors of the Vroen began to doubt wether or not the beach they were about to land on provided a better chance of survival than the vast and seemingly endless sea that brought them there.

To be continued...

[Geniocratics]

Admiral Albert Seaworth stood near the helm of his galley, the Dragoness, and looked longingly into the deep blue waters of the Austritarian Ocean. His frock jacket was caught by the wind and danced on his back in the ship's general direction. The Dragoness wasn't the largest of his ships, his largest was the Kraken's Challenge, but he had lost that at Port Haven when some marines burnt it into the shallow waters. Albert was no longer an Admiral, it seemed. Not only because all he had was one ship remaining, but because of his dishonorable discharge. "You ran away from the fight," he remembered the Fleet Admiral telling him, "You ran away leaving four of the Empire's ships!" Seaworth tried to explain to him that the battle was lost against Vici Minerva's larger, stronger fleet. But the Fleet Admiral had none of it. "You ran, leaving your men to die. It seems only fair that you suffer the same fate. Guards!"
Two marines armed with muskets came in and each reached for an arm belonging to Albert. Before they firmed their grasps Seaworth swung his left hand to the right of his waste and pulled out his gilded cutlass. He pulled it across his body, while spinning anticlockwise, and slashed the chest of the guard to his left, leaving a deep gash gushing with blood. The other guard aimed his bayonet at Seaworth and thrusted, but before he could stick him, Albert knocked the end of his musket aside, raised his sword and brought it crashing down into the man's left shoulder, going deep into his torso. The guard silently fell to his knees and Albert kicked the body off the end of his sword. He looked at the Fleet Admiral, who was stood up, with sword still at hip. He reached for his sword but Seaworth pushed him back into his seat and bolted through the door.
The port was smelly, noisy and chaotic. Sailors and marines were offloading boats while seagulls flew overhead squawking. Seaworth began to run for his ship, the Kraken's Challenge, when a guard slammed open a pair of window shutters and shouted, "Stop that man! Arrest him! Seize his ships!" Albert's run turned into a sprint. He saw sailors and unarmed marines fresh from the sea drop their cargo and run at him. He also noticed a small squad of armed marines storming the Kraken's Challenge. He panicked; his ship seized and men coming at him from every side. Seaworth kicked off the ground in a sprint and unsheathed his cutlass once more. He bore it in the air as he ran and the few men in front of him had suddenly lost the bravery to challenge him. A man from his right threw himself onto him and grabbed tightly around his shins and Seaworth went crashing to the floor. He kicked the man in the face twice, broke free and was once again running. He saw the Dragoness only a few peers away. He heard a fight on the deck of the Dragoness and made his way up the gangplank to assist.
The Dragoness had a crew of 220 men: 100 marines, 100 deckhands and 20 others. Two marines were locked in combat in front of Seaworth until he stabbed the enemy marine in the back. Some crewmen saw their Admiral on deck and lifted the gangplank out of place and let it fall into the water. Others began to open sails while others were still locked in the fighting. As they were departing muskets were unloading on the peers but only chipped the woodwork of the Dragoness. As they were twenty yards outside of the harbour Seaworth noticed the Kraken's Challenge was ablaze, thick smoke rising and swirling in deep grey plumes.
The last of the marines were either dead or had yielded. The crew's marines and deckhands took their weapons and marched the men under the deck towards the prison cells. The second in command, 'Whiskers,' named for his black whiskers - which he never seemed to shave but never seemed to grow, either - approached Seaworth. "What's happened, Admiral?" His tone was well spoken but heavy with deep breathing and fear.
"They've branded me a traitor, for abandoning the battle." Seaworth's own voice was just as well spoken as Whiskers', yet deeper and well suited for bellowing out commands.
"Tha- That's crazy!" he proclaimed, "If we didn't flee we would have lost two more ships and five hundred more men!"
"I know, it's ridiculous."
"Well what do you intend to do, sir? We have but one ship, no allies and little cargo to trade for gold."
"What happened to the Britarian silks and the wines we had?" Seaworth looked directly at Whiskers.
"We unloaded the silks and wine before we were boarded, sir."
"Damn it to hell! I'll have to think about it. I'm going to my-" Whiskers interrupted him.
"Ser! They're chasing us! I count three war galleys!" He was right, three large war galleys were in pursuit. Albert laughed loudly. "What's so funny, sir?" asked Whiskers with a hint of reprimand.
"In all the confusion they sent three huge, lumbering war galleys to chase us. We're hardly a swift vessel but we'll easily lose those ships." And so they did. The ships had been in pursuit all night, until a violent rainstorm ravished the sea. Seaworth could have swore he saw a galley tip sideways into the sea, nothing he was particularly happy about as they were still his comrades, but it meant life for a little longer. By the morning, the two remaining ships were out of sight and they had escaped their chase. Sadly, they had also lost four men to the storm.
So here he was, Albert Seaworth, staring deeply into the deep blue waters of the ocean. Whiskers stepped up beside him. "Do we have a course of action, sir?"
"We do. We are sailing for new lands, Whiskers." Seaworth turned and put his hands on Whiskers' shoulders. "We're going to claim a vast island in the name of Geniocratics!" Seaworth let him go.
"How do you know such an island even exists?"
"The map charter, Gunter. He heard it from merchants in ports of Minerva and Britaria that there was an island in the middle of the ocean, unclaimed! Where is Gunter?"
"He was onboard the Kraken's Challenge, sir. I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault. It's not all bad news, however, I still have the maps on me." He reached into his sleeve and pulled out a creamy coloured map with the rough drawings of Austritaria on them.
The trip was much shorter than expected. Despite the storm, they had been travelling in the right direction and the island was soon on the horizon.

[Grand Britaria]

"Captain, there it is!"
The Blue Dawn was in sight of land. Will could see it from where he was, clinging to the rigging. The blue hulled ship sailed closer to the mysterious island where the Vroen was believed to be wrecked, it's crew anxious and ready to fight, be it against tribals or another civilised nation. "There's no knowing what manner of men be on that island, lads," Captain Islesby had told them all. "It could be full of tribals lookin' to stick ya with their spears, so keep yer blades sharp and yer flintlocks loaded!"
They'd be sent on a search and rescue mission to find the Vroen, which hadn't arrived in Vici Minerva with the supplies it was supposed to have. Naval experts seemed to think that the ship crashed and was wrecked near this new island. Will had been told that, anyway. For all he knew they could be going in search of new lands to plunder, or maybe Captain Islesby was actually a devil worshiper and had come here to sacrifice them all!
But Will had been told they were to go and find the survivors, so that's what Will would do. He still kept his flintlock loaded though, just in case.


OOC: sorry for the quality of my post, it'll improve once the RP picks up

[Geniocratics]

"Put 'em with the others!" Whiskers commanded. "They're Britarian so don't treat them too nicely!" He laughed and others picked up the laugh with him, carrying the ship wrecked crew off the the prison cells. But their merriment was soon at an end.
"Captain! Two ships off the coast! They're flying Genio flags!" He pointed at the two lumbering galleys not a mile off coast.
"We can quickly build some makeshift defences and hold against them, Admiral?" Whiskers suggested.
"Aye, we good. But they'd be too few of us left to do anything with this island. We must try to persuade them to take the island." Seaworth ordered his men to make defences anyway, just in case, and kept some screw on the ship to man the cannons. As the bigger ship, the Sister's Guilt, got closer, the captain bellowed out of his loud-hailer, "Drop your weapons and peacefully board my ship and none will be harmed."
Seaworth answered back, "Join us in the colonization of this new island!" he started, "There are riches and discoveries to be found that can make you a famous and rich man!"
"Don't play games with me, I have orders to bring you back to Port Haven!"
"Conquer this island for the name of Geniocratics with me and my name will be cleared and you shall be a rich man and all else will be forgotten! I'll even give you my ship!" The captain of the Sister's Guilt didn't answer back for a while. Seaworth hoped that he was discussing his proposals with the captain of the Golden Beauty. But he was also worried that they were instead preparing to annihilate them all where they stood. "Very well." he eventually called. "Lower your weapons and we shall help with your conquest." All men lowered their arms and the crewman and marines of both the Sister's Guilt and Golden Beauty peacefully marched off the gangplanks.
That night they cut down a quarter square mile of trees and set up tents, started repairs on ships and began making the frameworks of small wooden cabins. The three captains talked a lot that evening, almost as though nothing happened back at Port Haven. Seaworth learnt that it was the Longtooth's Bane that was swept into the ocean. The captain of the Sister's Guilt was called Wilhelm Wolfhaven and the captain of the Golden Beauty was named Josef Greenfield. They decided to send the Golden Beauty back to Port Haven on the morrow to request more ships, support and supplies for their conquest for the good of the country.