Prologue - Forged by the Sea (TiH)

“BRACE!” a Toad at the helm of a man-of-war screamed at his crew. He saw his crew immediately crouch down and place their arms over their heads and necks. Only a few seconds later, the ship crashed into another - a Koopa man-of-war, leaving a deep cut in the hull of both ships.

“Prepare for boarding!” he yelled once again. The crew of the ship, the IHS von Pilz, responded by tossing grappling hooks over the edge of the ship and onto the deck of the other, before they latched onto the lip of the other ship. Some of his men jumped onto the ship from the side, others descended from above with swinging ropes mounted on the mast, while some stayed behind to engage in ranged combat with flintlocks or the swivel cannons of the ship.

Little did the Toad admiral realize, he was directly in the sights of another Koopa ship’s long-range musketeers. Before he knew it, he dropped dead right where he was born - on the IMS von Pilz.

This man was an aging one, however, and he already had a son that was nearly fifteen at the time of his death. His son knew the art of war, and that his father was but one of many casualties. He didn’t care about his father’s death nearly as much as all of the other casualties of the war.

He wouldn’t get revenge for his father, but rather for his fallen comrades. People would know his name for generations.

Laurits von Pilz.