How can you have sea trade in traditional fantasy setting...

How can you have sea trade in traditional fantasy setting, when the seas are full of manly mermen who would sink any ship to plunder its riches?

airship trade, treaties, armed convoys.


Look at WW1 and 2 for trade ships going through hostile waters.

>armed convoys
>Look at WW1 and 2 for trade ships going through hostile waters.

WW1 and WW2 was still airbreathing people vs. airbreathing people. Mermen would have huge homeground advantage.

>treaties

Surface kingsoms of traditional fantasy settings are shit at maintaining the rule of law, the land is full of bandits and monsters, why assume seas would be any different. Besides, what would mermen want from the surface?

Pay them off to kill each other

>traditional fantasy setting, when the seas are full of manly mermen

they are not, stupid fish people are always rare

>when the seas are full of manly mermen who would sink any ship to plunder its riches?

The seas are also full of large sea monsters who EAT manly mermen and don't always register wooden ships as 'food', so it balances out.

>implying merfolk have any seriously cohesive culture

For fucks sake they can't even forge metal. Merproofing a ship is as easy as coating the bottom in a layer of friggin' copper - which people already do.

They're also easily removed by dropping charges into the depths and blowing a powder charge. The shockwave concusses or kills them nearly instantly.

Merfolk are fucking jobbers.

Ignoring the fact that this is a stupid fetish thread that you started just so you could post that picture, it does raise a good question: how do you have sea trade when the seas are full of hostile monster, and not just humanoids but shit like krakens and dragon turtles that can easily fuck up a ship. How do you defend against that?

>he's worried about mermen

Since this is another "Depends on the setting" thread, why don't we ignore OPs faggorty and instead just show how we went about Merfolk in our own settings, that way maybe somebody gets something useful out of this discussion.

We cannot get by simply by mocking faggotry. We must overcome it, and turn it into useful nutrients for fagosythesis.

Armed merfolk escorts, trade routes through friendly mer-kingdoms or uninhabited areas, blind luck same as avoiding IRL pirates. If you think merfolk can patrol every single inch of the ocean you are drastically underestimating how much fucking water there is.

They don't have much reason to, they live in a vast, resource rich region and many of the goods you can get off ships wouldn't survive underwater all that well. Also they're too busy getting their shit pushed in by Sahaugin

Honestly I'm pretty sure if mermen were a threat during WW2, we would have barely any marine life now because they would've preemptively dumped extra toxic shit into the mermen-populated areas or something. Can't even have AA guns underwater.

What good are land-people riches underwater?

That, or they'd not do it because they don't want their homes depth-charged, and to keep the trade of fish for worked metals going.

>For fucks sake they can't even forge metal.

How about them mermen having whole archipellagos stuffed with human slaves to do the forging?

In my setting mermen is just a term land simpletons use to vaguely refer to intelligent sea races and they also lump a lot of fey into it

In worlds with high density of weird shit in the ocean the trade is only possible thanks to them as it pretty fucking difficult for land dwellers to install a proper system and modify the sea enviroment to procure safe roads

At the very start of sea trading this is a huge problem, but since merfolk have little to no technology because of their environment they end up being outclassed pretty quickly by new ships and weapons.
Most merfolk decide to cut their losses and start guiding ships and making maps for humans in exchange of protection, terrestrian technology and money they can use with other terrestrians.
They quickly become integrated in coastal communities, maybe even being recognized as citizens by more open minded ones.
Magically gifted and stupid merfolk still try and plunder though, so merfolk start working as mercenaries protecting cargo. Soon terrestrians realize Merfolk warfare could be useful in wars and they're accepted in the army.

I could keep going but i guess you got my point.

Sounds like it’s time to free some slaves. We’ll get loot, women, kill a bunch of merfolk, and be considered heroes so we’ll really be able to jack up our prices. Sounds great.

>pic of deep one in suggestive pose
>no huge cock and a pair of massive balls

The artist had one job!

>What would merman want from the surface?

Whatever they've been plundering for, in this scenario.

Clearly they're recessed inside. Deep ones arn't perpetually horny you know?

But do they have dicks?

I have a future campaign in the back of my mind, taking place on the high seas. I haven't addressed the issue of all the magical sea life at all, and am curious to see what others have done.

How do you intend to do that when they are on an archipellago in the middle of the ocean that is unlikely to be on any map and is heavily patroled by elite merman guards, merman wizards, flying ape mercenaries and magical wards that cause airships to drop like a rock?

Trade with the Mermen, duh.

>Look at WW1 and 2 for trade ships going through hostile waters.
If I'm not mistaken back then subs were shit (especially WW1) and you could avoid their torpedo's by zigzagging. The Lusitiana sinking was because its captain refused to zigzag.

>Besides, what would mermen want from the surface?
Weaponry is a good one, assuming mermen aren't a unified ethnostate.

unless they have seamonster reinforcements they only thing they can do is a boarding action, where they are at a distinct disadvantage

on a smaller ship like a long boat they'd be a threat but against a larger boat they would be btfo unless they were atacking in much larger numbers.

Maybe the females are sirens

I'll crew my ships with women. The mermen are clearly faggots and thus will leave them alone.

>only thing they can do is a boarding action

Blast holes in the ship untill it sinks? How about that?

Most goods in a the typically quasi-medieval setting are made of wood, iron, steel, etc (i.e. NOT stainless steel or aluminum) so they'll rot, rust, or corrode fairly quickly underwater. Unless the ships are carrying lots of ceramics or stone items there really isn't much the mermen would have a use for from surface dwellers.

How about gold?

Simple, we hire other mermen to defend our ship

>For fucks sake they can't even forge metal. Merproofing a ship is as easy as coating the bottom in a layer of friggin' copper - which people already do.

Mermen are very strong and can swim fast and kamikaze their way to the other side of a ship's hull
Mermaids have a powerful voice that can bewitch the crew

>c4
fantasy

Like we always did. Humanity dealt with storms that were more devastating than a single dragon, sea snake or giant turtle. They still took the bet and sailed anyway, it's part of life.

>fagosythesis
>not phagocytosis
One fucking job.

As opposed to what, buff furries?

with what? their wet gunpowder?

Barnacles bred for it.

Like magic for example?