Armada of the Damned

The Armada of the Damned is a fleet of death ships crewed by the undead. Their first crews were revenants of the Borillisk Empire (790 - 1131). They were the accursed of Godhead, bound to carrying out his revenge. In 14 Temporal 1130, the first ship of the dead, products of the Godhead Curse, set-out for revenge. They carried out the will of Godhead against the Kal-Oneans, wiping out his people in the Sahuld Blockade.

Over the ensuing decades, the crews of these deaths ships have changed to whatever they came across, those that fell replaced with new stock. As new crews and ships were added, the grievances, racial mixes, and nationalities changed considerably. The rules of the Godhead Curse, extremely powerful magic, were not designed for these types of changes, leading to a fleet of ships that ravaged the coasts and shipping lanes of the Sea of Mourning and the Pearl for more than a century. When under a strong captain, the fleet can be controlled as if born for the role.

When the Armada of the Damned is being controlled, the ships have a high operating skill, with undead commanders made from the crews of captured ships, the best of the lot for the role. The best of these get more powerful, becoming known as the Masters. The fleet also has the Damned Marines for boarding actions and attacking coastal settlements.

The ability to escape an action going bad is her greatest strength.

- Jairall, from a ship journal of Godheads Revenge - "Mind of a Hunter"

In 1266, the marauding of the Armada of the Damned came to an end. The arch-mage Razzir Tîr and a team of air elementals attacked the fleet's flagship, killing the undead captain of Godheads Revenge. Razzir and others sailed the prize into the Tintibulus Chute, hiding the flagship at a secretive outpost on a faraway world.

Like it always does, the defeat of the flagship caused the other ships to immediately sink to Poseidon's embrace. This is only temporary though, for when Godhead sails again, another fleet will rise to join her.

- Razzir, from the journal Many Plans, Not Enough Time - "The Armada Plan"

In 1457, Godheads Revenge was brought back from the waters of Tintibulus. Taken by a group named Black Banner, it was on a path to once again bring terror to the seas.

In the Black Tide War (1465 - 1486), Godheads Revenge and its fleet of undead crewed ships were under the command of Admiral Jairall. After the Black Tide War, the Armada of the Damned was the backbone of Bloodtusk's (1465 - 1807) navy.

When Admiral Jairall was killed in the Battle of Bloodtusk Bay (1800), the Armada of the Damned sunk beneath the waves. Some say the death fleet awaits the call of another daring captain.

Including Godheads Revenge, the Armada of the Damned never has more than 31 ships. Crewed only by the undead, ships of the Armada vary considerably with fishing, merchant, and warships. The make-up of the fleet's undead crew is also racially diverse with nationalities of peoples from across the islands and coasts of the Sea of Mourning and the Pearl Sea. For a time in the Black Tide War, the fleet had a pair of Grimsuvelth Trawlers crewed by skeleton, zombie, and hill giant wights.