On the Military Capabilities of the Dead Sea Collective

Much ink has been spilled detailing the terrifying might of the Collective. Chroniclers of past ages spared little in the way of superlatives in describing these raiders and sailors. In the words of Agobard di Amerigo they were "Like a storm on the sea, so fearful and furious were they that none dared oppose them, and all fled before their advance". His words are echoed by other writers of previous centuries who did nothing better than to embellish and sensationalize the exploits of Collective raiders. I will attempt here to dispel the myths established by my predecessors, and instill a more realistic view of the capabilities of the Collective and its raiders in the minds of my readers.
That the raiders of the Collective are superb seamen is not in doubt. Their command of the Northern seas has remained unchallenged since the Breakdown of Order. The focus of the popular imagination are the Ark Ships. These great ships are certainly impressive, but without the lighter more more maneuverable and far more numerous longships that can be launched from these great vessels the Arks would be little more than huge floating drains on the strained resources of the Ashen Islands .
The Longships are the true source of Collective might. These ships are large enough to carry a potent force of raiders, often 40 or more. They are excellent seafaring vessels, allowing them to reach any point along the coast, and have low enough drafts to sail up most rivers. With the versatility of oar and sail propulsion and great speed these ships can reach undefended settlements, raid them, and leave before defenders can be summoned in sufficient numbers. This, more than anything else inspires fear among the population of Renata. The idea that they are at all times vulnerable to raids from the sea and waterways is terrifying. However, the Collective's power is severely restrained by a number of factors.
Lack of Cohesion, command and purpose
It is well known that the formal head of the Dead Sea Collective Khalesar The Waterwalker is limited in his ability to control the various warlords aligned with him. From his seat at Ashenthorn the Waterwalker is unable and unwilling to police the many factions which compete for power among themselves. Rarely is the Collective able to organize any sort of common endeavor. Most raids are undertaken on the initiative of individual warlords and captains hungry for loot and prestige. As such most Collective raids are small, involving at most a dozen or so longships and a few hundred warriors. Even when larger raids are organized, such as the Razing of the North in the 19th century, or the attacks on our own Republic recently these affairs are lacking in common purpose and leadership. During the Razing of the North the Great Collective Army was not under the singular command of one warlord, but rather a coalition of warlords and captains of differing power all competing for glory and loot among themselves. Success on the battlefield can in such circumstances become a source of misfortune. Disputes over the loot taken from Galenest led to the the Great Army being split in two, allowing it to be defeated in detail by the Cobalt Order in 1872. The assembly of large Collective Forces also has the detrimental effect of removing from them their primary advantages, namely speed and shock. An army moves at the speed of its slowest component. Dead Sea Collective armies operating on land lack the training and cohesion of continental armies, and are easy prey for them. An example of this would be the raid on Drydale in 1986, when our forces were able to mobilize, and move to intercept the Collective Fleet before it could arrive in the city. Because Drydale is fortified the Collective brought Arks carrying siege weaponry to assault the city. This sapped them of their customary speed, and allowed them to be defeated on the beaches before a siege of the city could be mounted. It must from this be concluded that the Collective are terrifying and effective in smaller mobile groups, but are at a disadvantage in large scale military operations. In attempting to carry out such efforts they expose their weak leadership, remove their advantages, and allow the continental powers to confront and defeat them in a decisive manner.
Lack of resources and manpower
The Ashen Islands serve as the primary base of the Collective. The islands are too remote from the continent to attack in force. The rough northern seas especially protect the islands, as The Ordering lacks the ocean going ships nessecary to cross those seas. The islands are also rich in the materials nessecary for shipbuilding, and the shipyards at Oberalden are the only ones capable of producing Ark Ships using slave labour captured in the many raids. But the islands are not heavily populated, and like anyone the Dead Sea Collective's population are for the most part engaged in subsistence food production. Only a fraction of an already small population can take part in raids at any one time. Even allowing for foreign volunteers and freed slaves the numbers of warriors available for raids each season is rarely more than a few thousand. The largest ever army of the Collective after the Battle of Defiance Bay, the army which assaulted northern Pelagus from 1870 to 1872 numbered at its height around 9.000 warriors. It took the Collective a decade to recover from the loss of those warriors. The years 1873 - 1885 saw the lowest number of Collective raids on record. The hit and run tactics of the raiders is as much a necessity demanded by their lack of manpower as anything else. The Collective does not have the means or manpower to raise or maintain an army capable of challenging continental armies for any length of time.
Technological and logistical deficiencies
Lastly it should be mentioned that the Collective lags behind the other powers of Renata in terms of technology and production capabilities. The Collective is unable to produce steel weapon and armor in any capability. They produce little iron. They have little in the way of military tactics aside from the most basic. They have no understanding of military logistics or the arts of war. They do not have cavalry forces, and what siege equipment they do have is produced by engineers captured on the mainland. They export little of value except for raw materials and silver bullion. Their only advantage lies in the aforementioned shipbuilding capabilities they posses, and their mastery of the sea. Even these capabilities are now coming into question. The Cities of the Crimson Coast have proved capable of denying the Collective control of the Golden Sea, and new Apex technology has proven its effectiveness against even Ark Ships.
It is my hope that this short essay will go some way to dispelling from the minds of my students and readers the myths that have been imposed upon them by previous generations. It is my thesis that the power of the Dead Sea Collective peaked long ago, and that their long and slow decline will soon end with the end of their organization and way of life. It cannot come too soon.
Written By: Caspero di Galvini