This is in response to this post about increased piracy in the Axaanos straits.

There was an uproar in the city of Terrkarn. Dozens of men, several good ships, and their loads of cargo had been lost again to pirate raids this month. Although trade with Asor had recently taken the centre place among Terrkarn's merchants, trade with the Seyirvaes and Riewaye to the west was still an important source of exotic foods, pottery, and other assorted knick-knacks. Many people in Terrkarn depended on such trade for their livelihoods, and many more used to depend on such trade before they were killed during a pirate raid on their vessels.

Many in Terrkarn, from common labourer to exalted magnate, were naturally outraged over this piracy. Many were outraged over the deaths of friends and family, some by the loss of trade, and others by the intangible insult that the piracy handed to the city-state and its residents. Thus, the Sovereign Council, heeding both the economic interests of its members and the popular agitation of the plebs, has decreed that a fleet of military vessels, capable of fighting off the pirates and securing the strait for trade, must be built. If Exaanos raiders can be repelled on land through military might, then so too can these seabourne raiders.

In the city-state of Tansikarn, located on the western side of the strait, attitudes towards the piracy was quite different. Very few Tansikarni vessels were targeted by the pirates, as most of Tansikarn's trade was with the other cultures to the west of the strait. In fact, the piracy of cross-strait trade was actually considered by some in Tansikarn to be a positive thing. Competition between the larger but more distant city-state of Terrkarn, and the smaller but more well-positioned city-state of Tansikarn, for trade in the west had only intensified in the centuries following the earliest trade missions from Terrkarn to the western cultures.

As news of Terrkarn's new naval ambitions spreads across Tedeshan lands, the Lords Councillors of Tansikarn have authorized the construction of a naval force of their own, but not for protection against pirates. Rather, for the protection of their newfound trade dominance in the west. The pirate interdiction of Terrkarni trade had done much to boost the prosperity and political relevance of the city-state, and its leaders were not prepared to have that prosperity and power vanish if Terrkarn's fledgling navy managed to clear the strait of pirates.