Ship-To-Ship Combat

[eyelessgame]

In an attempt to spur some IA conversation: what should ship-to-ship combat be like in this universe? I don't plan to limit myself to the implications of any given game system, but instead mean to muse about what level of magic/technology would be cool in this particular universe, and then bend it around whatever mechanics IA uses. I want

Comments

[eyelessgame]

The way magic traditionally differs from technology, story-wise, is that magic tends to be one-off (that's why it doesn't wind up benefiting society as a whole like technology does) - thus it's hard to imagine sailing ships being routinely equipped with magical shielding dinguses. Also, that only certain "special" gifted people can do magic (as opposed to it being a trade like carpentry - that's why there's a difference between having a ship's carpenter and a ship's wizard - then again, would a trade have been considered that different, back in Ye Olde Tiemes?)

Yet it's not hard to imagine a society where you really did have to placate the gods before each sea voyage, and said placating really making a difference (e.g. Glorantha). So this is becoming a more major question of how Ia is structured: is magic "mysterious and remote", done by wizards in isolated castles and heroic adventurer/scholars only, or is magic also a form of technology, routinely used as an asset by companies and lords, for everything from law enforcement to shipbuilding? I will need to decide.