Imperial Navy Sabotages

A vicious conspiracy or a patriotic act? A daring play by a foreign power or gross incompetence of local authorities? A bit of everything, I imagine.

Now, incidents happen. That is the rule everywhere, and for the most part authorities and administrations just try to keep the number of incidents to a minimum. But when they start happening a bit too often it raises questions from one's superiors, and this is one of such cases.   Over the last three years, almost a dozen ships meant for the Imperial Navy were lost to weather either during construction or shortly after. Many more were held up for additional repairs and renovations. Sudden fires, ammunition explosions, tilting over upon setting the inaugural sail - all kinds of mischief just befall the shipbuilders. They would receive bad materials, or in recent cases even openly attacked in the night. Often times the perpetrators were caught and punished, yet incidents just keep happening.   At first everyone thought it was a problem with a specific shipyard, but now such reports are coming in from all over the coast. And it is not just the Ardenian Empire anymore. Oh no. The rumours say that the Eirish shipyards have also seen a recent spike in number of incidents, starting some time last year.    

Perpetuators

There are many theories about who might be behind it. Governors still try to put all the blame on incompetence of junior officials and individual craftsmen employed by the shipyard, but that can seldom be taken seriously. A more realistic assumption would be that we are witnessing a shadow war of sorts, with spies from opposing countries trying to outsmart one another.   It is of little secret how vitally important its fleet is for the Kingdom of Eire. Naturally, they would feel threatened by the recent efforts of the Ardenian Empire to build a fleet capable of challenging the Eirish. So when things do not go according to their plans, who stands to benefit the most out of it? And the incidents at Eirish shipyards are the imperial spies getting back at their old enemy by using their very methods.   Of course, there is also the mysterious if not mythological Ordro de Ambora. Another group of powerful people who could benefit from this whole situation. If anything, their declared goal would very much see the Old World burn for the sake of the New one.