Behind the High Walls

from Science in Action

Since Loukas is (very) briefly on a ship in chapter four, I thought I'd (very) briefly talk about them. The above picture is the Olympias, a replica of a Greek trireme and looks quite a bit like the new ships Cyrian admires so much. Situated on a peninsula as they are, it behooves the Edessans to have a strong navy -- and they've got one of the strongest. The Edessans have strictly sail powered ships used as merchant vessels, but when it comes to speed over short distances, nothing beats the light, sleek trireme.