Chapter: Storms at Sea
Information relevant to the 7th chapter of The Masters
sketches and information about barans
A baran—one of the few uses of Quya that has been retained in the text of the Stone Dance—is a type of warship galley as shown in the first page of diagrams
The diagram below shows how I derived this class of ships from a comparison with ancient oared warships—specifically, triremes and quinqueremes. Among other things, this allowed me to deduce speed and handling characteristics
Barans are formed into squadrons attached to one of the three Cities of the Sea of which the greatest, Thuyakalrul, has perhaps a hundred
Each baran has three masts and can also be driven by oars—for which purpose a complement of more than 400 sartlar is permanently maintained in the lower holds. The masts can be ‘shipped’—that is, lowered—to allow the vessel to be manoeuvred into confined spaces
The purpose of the barans is to keep the sea lanes free from pirates, so that the merchants of the Cities of the Sea can obtain the rare and exotic merchandise that the Masters covet and consume
the Northern Sea
a detail from the Three Lands map showing the stretch of sea that the black ship must cross to bring Carnelian and his companions from the Hold to Thuyakalrul
