Dromond

A dromond was a large warship related to a galley used for both war and commerce on the Sea of Fallen Stars. They were originally of Chessentan design but were also used by Mulhorand due to a long tradition of raiding and capturing ships from each other. The Alaor in Thay boasted a dozen deadly dromonds as part of its navy.

Description
The dromond was the largest ship in the Chessentan navy at 175 ft. (53.3 m) along the keel and 15 ft. (4.6 m) across the beam. It had two banks of 25 oars on each side. The smaller, lower bank were single-person oars while the upper bank required three persons on each oar. In this configuration, the minimum crew size was 200, and when configured for war it could transport another 200 soldiers.

Other dromond models were slightly smaller, at 100 ft. by 20 ft. and required only 100 oarsmen and a watch of at least 7. Such smaller-sized dromonds could only carry an additional 100 passengers in addition to the rowers.

The rowers were fully protected from attacks by a full deck. Fore-, mid-, and sterncastles could each be mounted with a large weapon (such as catapult or ballista) and a ram could be extended out from the bow just above the water line.

A dromond could raise one or two masts with triangular sails, but most of the power came from the oarsmen. Because of the oars and ram, dromonds were not particularly seaworthy. The large crew size, which made sleeping accommodations difficult, kept these ships close to the shore. They were thus most suitable for war. Their sailing speeds were two miles per hour in light winds, but they could reach speeds of three miles per hour when under the power of oars.

A drommond could carry between 90 and 150 tons of cargo.

A typical dromond took six months to build within a medium-sized shipyard. It was one of the most advanced galley designs and was difficult to build.