Drow Ironclad Raethis

In the years after the fall of Daagsgrad the Drow states of Galthirith, Valnothron and Hansoliath had organized small raids against the newly unified state of Infrastructure. Pressed by one of the fairly regular small scale wars with the High Elves and not seeing the state as being particularly important at the time the forces that they sent was small and, after a probing raid on Borogskov by a squadron of frigates which was repelled by shore guns, were limited with raiding merchant shipping and fishermen. To the newborn Infrastructural Navy these raids were their trial by fire in which they proved themselves against foreign aggression and began to develop the skills they needed to fight at sea. To the Drow it was the first demonstration of how Infrastructural Technology would change naval warfare. There were many, including a fair number of senior admirals who were dismissive of the significance of these changes, but never the less there were a fair share of those who were not. There were those who wondered about the possibility of replicating these ships and in particular their use against the High Elves.

As such with various degrees of enthusiasm between 25 and 34 IA six Drow states began experimenting with steam engine technology. The state which made the most headway in this field was Valnothron thanks to the efforts of House Valcas who was willing to invest a considerable amount of their fortune into improving their facilities and in extracting Information from Infrastructure. Even before the first engagement between House Valcas had begun experimenting with steam engine designs based off reports of Infrastructural Paddlesteamers and Railways, starting in 21 IA with small scale prototypes and in 25 IA and government funding moving onto scaling these up. Through their first prototypes were failures by the winter of 28 IA they had managed to put together a working A-Frame engine which they put to work in their ropewalks and similar units being used to other industrial purposes. With the assistance of enslaved Infrastructural Engineers they were able to improve their designs considerably and more importantly the power to weight ratios and began experimenting with maritime steam propulsion in 30 IA. In autumn of 32 IA Valnothron's shipyards launched their first oceangoing steam ship, a freighter which made a transoceanic voyage under steam power in the spring of the next year. Their funding got a boost with the onset of the escort War. House Valcas completed the first Drow built steam powered warship in 34 IA, a small steam powered Brig that the Valnothron navy used for testing and training. In 35 IA they launched their first steam powered frigate and begun work on five more shortly afterward. In 36 IA they made the next step and launched the first non-Infrastructural Ironclad, the Raelthis.

The Raethis was a fairly small ship, being narrow hulled and about 40 meters long not including her frontal ram. Her hull was compose of Cast Iron plating, with with 77.9mm of belt armor above the waterline and 25.97mm of deck plating on her forcastle. Internally her structure is made of a combination of cast iron and wood. Steel was considered as a hull material but doing so was beyond the capacity of House Valcas's arsenal. In total she massed 1,300 tonnes. For propulsion she was outfitted with a double expansion steam engine with a maximum output of 900 kw driving a single prop and could attain a speed of up to 24km/h, though she is equipped with sails and has a runic circle for weather mages. Her armament included Four 20-Vaul Forward guns that had been reinforced and fourteen 10-Vaul cannons (seven port broadside, six starboard broadside and one aft chase) and a traditional ramming prow. There had been plans to outfit her with new 5-Vaul Breechloading cannons but delays in their development prevented this from materializing beyond one. She had a crew of forty Drow sailors, sixty slave sailors and a complement of twenty marines. The crew of Raelthis and the increasing number of steam ships has resulted in an increasing amount of specialization amongst the crews. As such House Valcas has turned to support the position advanced by Admiral Saljias ti'Kalvonin regarding reformation of policy relating to naval slave sailors.

Her name was indicative of her intended function: a sleek hardened arrowhead intended to pierce the Armor of the Infrastructural Navy. After a month of shakedown the Raelthis was committed to the attack on Daagsgrad. While she preformed well ultimately she was sunk under a hail of Infrastructural cannon fire. Even so before she set sail to join the growing fleet a fair amount of information was taken about how this ship worked and was taken into consideration. As soon as she was completed House Valcas received orders for three more ships similar to her as well as an enlarged craft of a similar nature. Her launch has also convinced three other Drow states to either peruse or accelerate their efforts at building their own ironclad warships.