Ship Folk

• marine-heavy culture (live most of their lives on ships where possible), ship-dwellers have higher status
• Slave owners
• Rule by strength, but respect intellectual strength and deviousness.
• Little institutional loyalty--every person for themselves. Generally cold-bloodedly honest--they rarely blatantly break their promises. But when they do, they'll let you know in advance. Unless the other path is safer and more advantageous. Prefer to reinterpret terms and conditions more favorably to themselves instead of actually violating the agreement. Work by the letter of the law/agreements, not the spirit.
• Organized into a Grand Fleet made of smaller Fleets, each led by an Admiral. 7 total fleets
  • 2x Advance Fleets (raiders and explorers)
  • 2x Supply Fleets (merchants and civilian supply, also handle much of the land-dwelling)
  • 1x Home Fleet (guards of the settled islands, also primary invasion forces)
  • 1x Creche Guardians (protect and maintain the creche where new sena'ka are born)
  • 1x Reserve Fleet (penal fleet, does scut work)
• Cruelty, arrogance, infighting.
• Mental discipline (because showing weakness in front of others is a risk for death).
• Rational--will surrender rather than die. Inter-fleet squabbles usually end with ransomed losers & payments.
• Don't breed fast (breed only in a few creches, artificially), so are loath to lose their own people. Reckless with the lives of slaves, however.
• Mostly have raided local settlements in the Great Rift area. Recently (~205 AC) established a foothold on Sentinel Island. Admiral I'kor'lai (admiral of the First Advance Fleet) has set out from there and very recently established a beach-head on the Noefran continent. Founded the city of Tarad'am at the southern tip of the Jungle of Fangs.
• Racial dance is twerking

Hierarchy

• Grand Admiral Ath'l'Poarl'la (mediates disputes, decides inter-fleet promotions).
  • Admiralty Board (oversees Fleet operations, designates hunting grounds, sets taxes on captures and sales)
    • Advance Fleet 1
      • Currently (250+ AC) led by Admiral Saris Ath'l. In 257, it enters open rebellion against the Admiralty Board and declares itself (and Sentinel Island) a new nation called the Free Fleet.
    • Advance Fleet 2
    • Home Fleet
  • Land Council (sets policy for landborne operations, slave auctions, new births of sena'ka, fleet assignments & food allocations)
    • Reserve Fleet (lowest status, construction/penal fleet)
    • Creche Guardians (tiny elite force who handle births, chosen for life)
    • Landsmen (including land-slaves, the very lowest status possible)
• Each fleet has a Fleet Admiral, who oversees divisions of 3-5 ships (or a city and its surrounding for the Landsmen, or a creche for the guardians). Each division has a Division Head who works with the captains of the ships or local heads as appropriate.

Technically, all non-sena'ka are slaves--they don't acknowledge any other status (and sena'ka cannot be made slave). However, there are slaves and then slaves. And meritorious slaves can be made honorary sena'ka, gaining freed status. There are even honorary sena'ka captains (but not admirals or fleet commanders).

Skilled slaves can own other slaves (who themselves can own other slaves). Damaging someone else's slave is an offense, considered equal to stealing from the one harmed. This is generally enforced by the offended slave's ultimate master, as it's considered an attack against them. However, slaves have very few protections against their own (free) masters. By custom, ship-borne slaves have much the same allowances as any sena'ka of their equivalent station/role. The only difference in practice is that slaves can be killed without massive retribution, and tend to be sent in as front-line fodder while the sena'ka hang back, as sena'ka rarely kill each other and killing a sena'ka is the worst offense a slave can commit.

Ship Hierarchy

Most ships only have a handful of sena'ka aboard. The captain and his key officers (the ship's mage and the sub-captains, of which there is always at least one, but the large ships have one per watch) are almost always sena'ka; the senior armsman is usually sena'ka. The ship's master (who handles the sailors) is much more mixed.

• Captain -- sena'ka
  • Ship's Mage -- sena'ka, although many are honorary
  • Sub-Captain(s) -- usually sena'ka, although many are honorary
    • Master -- mixed. Sometimes slave, sometimes sena'ka (especially on major ships)
      • Ratings (1st and 2nd) -- mostly slaves
    • Senior Armsman -- usually sena'ka, often honorary
      • Armsmen (1st and 2nd) -- if present, sena'ka
      • Armed Slaves