The Ironfang Pirate Fleet

The Ironfang Fleet are a ragtag band of orruk, grot, ogor (and "other") sky-pirates that cruise the airways of the Mortal Realms, in a ramshackle flotilla of vessels that barely look able to fly, let alone fight. They prey on whatever merchant sky-shipping that they find sailing over the less-well-travelled areas of the realms, or on the edges of shipping routes between Free Cities.

The sky-ships need a constant supply of magical energy to keep them airborne. The source of the magic doesn't matter to the orruks and they will happily transfer the power from captured Endless Spells, artefacts of power, ley lines, or anything else they can get their hands on, into the hulls of their curmudgeonly vessels.

While the separate ships and their crews are all part of a single fleet in theory, they are (at best) a loose group that's riddled with internal rivalries and petty squabbles. Da Admrul can force them all to work together if necessary, but their co-operation never lasts very long.

• The Cleavermaws
  - Kaptain Mogrum, Weirdnob Shaman
  - Orruk Pirates from Shyish
  
  
• The Rotmoons
  - Kapitan daLeeva, Ardboy Big Boss
  - Orruk Privateers from Shyish
  
  
• The Ogresuns
  -Kap'n Salty Ogbad, Megaboss
  - Orruk Buccaneers from Shyish
  
  
• The Gloomwyrms
  - Kommodore Deffgit, Killaboss
  - Kruleboyz Pirates from Ulgu
  
  
• The Swordfyshes
  - Lord Krashhart, Warchanter
  - Ironjawz Pirates from Ghur
  
  
• The Plunderblades
  - Kaptain Borgoth, Megaboss
  - Orruk Pirates from Ghur
  
  
• The Portwreckas
  - Kaptain Ogdrog, Megaboss
  - Orruk Pirates from Ghur

The core of the fleet are the four ships that have sailed with the Admrul for the longest: The Rotmoon, the Cleavermaw, the Ogresun, and the Gloomwyrm. The Admrul's flagship is the Hogwasha.

Kaptain Salty Ogbad, of the Ogresun, and Kapitan da Leeva, of the Rotmoon have a history of frequently agreeing to help each-other but only for selfish reasons... so their accords have always fallen apart over small matters.

Kaptain Mogrum of the Cleavermaw has an "understanding" with Lord Krashhart of the Swordfysh, but they aren't what you'd call friends.

The ships sail independently for most of the time. They hardly ever see another ship of the fleet unless they meet by chance in a "friendly" port, such as Underside, Bilgeport, Smuggler's Joy, or Misthåvn. But occasionally two or more will come together for a mutual goal.

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Kaptain Mogrum and The Cleavermaws

Kaptain Mogrum was a pirate Warboss: brutal, but cunning. He had led his crew from the front; he was always first over the gunwales into an enemy ship and he had a reputation as a vicious, merciless fighter.

At some point Mogrum received a head injury in a boarding action - a Kharadron skypike split his skull. He was not expected to recover, so it surprised everyone when he woke up and exploded the cabin wall by vomiting up a green lightning-blast of Waaagh! power. The "fatal" head wound he survived had unlocked a connection to Gorkamorka and the Waaagh! energy that was generated by the orruks around him. His fundamental character was also changed: now he was cunning, but brutal!

Mogrum embraced his new role and his new powers when he found he could punch holes in enemy ships just as easily as he could scatter enemy crews.

Since this awakening the pirate orruks who followed him fully embraced his change (not least because he killed a lot less of them in fits of anger. Even if he killed a lot more of them in accidental explosions of Waaagh! energy... on balance it seemed better to them) and from then-on they all considered themselves experts in the fields of thaumatology, evocation and sorcery. 

They nodded sagely to one another as they described the magic around them in great technical detail (often using the wrong terms but they really didn't care). They pronounced judgements on the quality of the wizardry they witnessed and debated the relative merits of various spells.

The Cleavermaws spend most of their time trying to acquire new sources of arcane power, now that they are the Fleet's "experts". Whether that's stealing magical loot, tapping into ley-lines, or capturing Endless Spells depends on where they are and what else is going on.

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Kapitan Alunzo da Leeva and The Rotmoons

Kapitán Alunzo da Leeva was a dashing and heroic Orruk Pirate; energetic, capable and unusually quick witted. He started his career on the Almagorka Coast in Shyish, where both he and his crew acquired many strange local habits and mannerisms. He wore looted clothes with a preference for black (and lately the red-and-yellow striped trousers the rest of the crew had taken to wearing), black-and-gold enamelled armour, with a “used-to-be-white” ruff-collar, a pair of heavy pistols, and a coat draped over one shoulder as a half-cloak.

He was well liked by his crew as he got them in to, and out of, many scrapes over the years. But he was unpopular with the other ships' captains of the Ironfang Fleet - they saw him as an “upstart young pup”. He was also unfortunately prone to getting shipwrecked much more often than anyone with his skills should have been.

The Rotmoons may have called themselves Privateers or Pirates, but they spent more of their time acting like explorers than either. They searched the ruins of the Realms for treasures and artefacts from the Age of Myth. Their Shaman, El Doctoro, considered himself an expert on that long-forgotten era and often pronounced, with great complacency and authority, what a found treasure was or its magical powers. He was occasionally correct...

The Rotmoon itself was a small fast wooden skyvessel with no heavy guns. It had many crudely cobbled-together and jury-rigged repairs to its hull, since the shipwreck in the Harrowmark. Its bottom was covered in barnacles and weeds, its deck was covered in filth and its sides were loaded with baggage. There was always a disticntive line of red-and-yellow triangular “dags” painted along its sides; this was the only part of the ship's appearance that the crew took real pride in.

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Kap’n Salty Ogbad and The Ogresuns

There have been many ships called The Ogresun over the years: Most were under the command of Kommodore Deffgit, including the previous vessel that bore the name. The Kommodore sent his first mate, Salty Ogbad, on a quest to find and tame a Wyvern (but that is a tale for another day). When Salty returned successful, the Kommodore made him Kaptain of the Ogresun and retired from active duty, but only for a while.

The Ogresun was not a pretty ship: it was a huge, slow, slab-sided barge that responded badly to its helm and required its crew to work hard for every knot of speed. But the crew was enthusiastic and skilled. The top deck was loaded with row upon row of heavy duty mortars (or "lobbas") that had to be fired in rolling volleys, to avoid tearing the ship apart; they caused the ruin of many an outpost, town and fort.

The vast ship was not much use in a close fight on it’s own but it was always accompanied by a flotilla of small sloops and cutters. Any ship that tried to tangle with the Ogresun would quickly find itself swarmed by several boatloads of angry Pirate Orruks!

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Lord Krashhart The Swordfyshes

The Swordfyshes were sky-ship pirates from Ghur. They swaggered about port as if they owned the place, and no-one had ever told them otherwise. They were loud and boastful, and they all loved to tell one-another tall stories of their past victories and adventures. They relished adventure and excitement and would gladly board the Swordfysh and set off through a Realmgate into skies-unknown, just to see what would happen when they got there. The Swordfyshes exemplified the ideal held true by all Orruks that “Might is Right”. They claimed the biggest cut of the loot, the best weapons and armour, and they naturally assumed they had the best tattoos in the fleet.

As a whole they preferred to charge forward and get stuck in as quickly as possible, and they sailed the Swordfysh with the same attitude. To the extent that they had reinforced the ship's prow with a massive metal ram which they liked to use to plough the Swordfysh into the side of a victims' ship, then leap over the gunwales to board and fight on the enemy's deck. They had also looted some Kharadron endrins which they only used to get a burst of extra speed during ramming manoeuvres.

Lord Krashhart was a Warchanter explorer and adventurer who accompanied the Swordfyshes and led most of their shore-parties, boarding actions and cutting-out missions. He didn’t hold any “official” authority aboard the ship and always deferred to Kaptain Battendown’s leadership, but almost everyone seemed to follow him anyway.

He called himself the best sword, the best shot, the best sailor and the best smasher in the Realms. He wore a big hat with a bone hatpin and a teal feather, striped trousers, and a sleeveless jacket. He carried his favourite weapon: a Gorkstick (made from a long-handled blunderbuss!), and had a bag of "magic" bones, a pair of pistols and a small spyglass on his back. He was impetuous, brash and loud but he always seemed to be in a good mood and enjoyed everything he did.

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Kommodore Deffgit and The Gloomwyrms

The Gloomwyrms were umbral Kruleboyz Pirates from Ulgu. Kommodore Deffgit was old for an orruk, but only because he was clever. He didn’t ever let-on his full plans, he was sneaky and scheming and always had something devious going on. He was a dirty fighter and was happy to use tricks and traps and poison to get the upper hand.

He had been too close to blasting cannon for so long his hearing had gone, so he spoke too loudly a lot (often without realising it) and frequently shouted “Whatsat?” with one hand to his ear and made people repeat themselves - but he mostly did this to distract people and/or give himself a little more time. He was secretive and often took pleasure in cruelty, his kunnin’ and guile had always exceeded his physical strength. He wore a big broad-brimmed hat with the front folded-up held in place by a bone hatpin; a dirty old dark grey sea-coat with tentacles painted round the ragged hem; an eyepatch; a scattering of rusted and mismatched armour plates including a scareshield-like red belly-plate. His preferred weapon was an axe hakka and he was always festooned with loaded blackpowder pistols.

The ship’s bedraggled appearance was not the result of some disaster or accident. It had not been caught in a terrible storm, or blown off course onto rocks. It was simply the Gloomwyrm’s normal state. The ship was just as dishevelled and ragged as her crew.

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Kaptain Borgoth and the Plunderblades.

Under the command of Kaptain Borgoth, Megaboss, the Plunderblades were a rowdy bunch of inexperienced sailors. But they were handy in a fight, so the Kaptain tasked Docker Goff with getting them at least "capable" when it came to the skills needed aboard a sky-ship.

They always seemed to get in each-other's way, pulled on the wrong ropes, or misunderstood their orders in new and unexpected ways.

Borgoth was known for his formidably loud and commanding voice and was often described as jolly, booming or "larger than life". But he was equally capable of still, brooding menace, hearty bonhomie and explosive rage.

He always fought with a massive sword-like Boss Choppa and dagger, and wore a Kharadron rifle (that he used as a pistol) at his side. He favoured a big bicorn hat with tentacles and an orruk-skull for decoration. He was very proud of his big bushy beard, and spent a lot of time fussing with it. An unrolled navigation chart/map was pinned to his back, and while no-one was completely sure if he knew it was there, they also didn't want to ask... just in case he didn't.