Imperial Elven Navy

by Paul Westermeyer document last updated on the 15th of July, 2003 Realmspace has remained a stronghold for the fleet throughout the Second Unhuman War; indeed for a short period Lionheart (secret HQ of the IEN) itself orbited Garden. Lacking a planet dominated by goblinoids Realmspace escaped the bloodiest battles of the war, these occurred instead in places like Winterspace and Greyspace.
The Realmspace fleet fought several small battles, but always with the advantage of numbers; in fact the Elves did not lose a single Manowar within the sphere.
There are two major elven settlements in Realmspace, both are on the surface of Toril, Evermeet and Evereska. Both allow vessels crewed by elves to land, but forbid non-elves from landing.
The IEN plays a part in policing both of these blockades and maintains an ambassador to each nation. Many elven merchants take advantage of their monopoly of trade with these realms.
There are essentially two elven fleets within Realmspace. The first is the Evermeet defence force. Consisting of 6 "Ruathimaer" (Starwings) this fleets sole purpose is to defend the airspace of Evermeet. It is aided in this task by squadrons of elves mounted upon giant eagles and pegasi.
The Ruathimaer are essentially slightly smaller Manowar, capable of landing on water. They are crewed by the elite sailors of the Evermeet navy. These vessels are not IEN ships, instead they are in the direct service of the Queen of Evermeet and never seen in Evermeet and Toril. Evereska is defended by squadrons of giant eagle and pegasi riders as well, but also depends up on the IEN for defence.
The second elven fleet within Realmspace is that of the IEN. With the recent lull in the Second Unhuman War it is believed that this is the largest elven force in the Inner Flow- a fact which constantly worries its commander. This fleet consists of 7 Armadas, 1 Monarch-class Armada, 50+ Flitters, 12 Menowar, 1 Radiant ship, 5 Eel supply ships and about 1400 elven crew.
This powerful fleet is commanded by one of the most colourful elven officers, Admiral Icarus. A swashbuckling elf, Icarus' tactical skills are part of the reason the Realms fleet suffered so few casualties in the during the war. He usually maintains the fleet in four different groups. The largest group consists of nearly all the Armadas, about three Men-O-Wars, the Radiant ship and the Eel ships. This fleet is usually commanded by Icarus' second in command and cruises the more remote (and thus less travelled) regions of the sphere. The second group is actually six or seven of the Manowars patrolling individually throughout the space here (paying special attention to Garden and Selûne's Tears). The third group is usually in close orbit around Toril, hovering above Evermeet or Evereska while the crew rotates through shore leave in thirds. This group is never more than 1 Armada and 1-2 Menowar. The final group is Icarus' flagship Armada "Arrow of Justice" and 2 Menowar. Icarus' patrols randomly through the sphere, maintaining communications with his other ships through both magical and psionic means. His group is the one must likely to be discovered around the mysterious new nebula or raiding a neogi asteroid in Selûne's Tears.
Icarus maintains excellent relations with the groundling elves of Toril, his fleet never "finds other business" as IEN fleets in other spheres have been known to do when the Elven Nations attempted to draw them into groundling affairs. Icarus considers Queen Amluraril his sovereign, and will obey her orders accordingly. Luckily for him there has not yet been a conflict between her orders and those of the Elven high Command.
Icarus is also less xenophobic than many elves; this has filtered down to many of the elves in his command. On a practical level this has led to several joint missions with Code Helm against the Illithids on Glyth and a working alliance with the Realmspace fief of the Company of the Chalice.
He has very uneasy relations with Wa, a recent five year truce was broken when a Tsunami attacked and destroyed a Sindiath line Manowar. Wa has claimed, amazingly enough, that the vessel was being used by the drow to smuggle contraband into Wa itself. Stunned by this obvious lie, Icarus is giving thought to why the Emperor of Wa might wish to go to war with the IEN. Considering the size of the Wa fleet this is currently his greatest concern; a war with Wa would likely leave his fleet unable to perform its other duties within the sphere.
Bibliography War Captain's companion: Book 1 Elves of Evermeet Books 2, 3 and 4 of the Cloakmaster cycle Captain Icarus AD&D Trading Card SJR2 Realmspace Forgotten Realms Boxed set Spacefarer's Handbook