The Red Dream

At the height of his power, the Grand Vailian emperor Matenici III commissioned his royal shipwrights to build him a vessel that could not be sunk. Try as they might, the greatest engineers, craftsmen, and artisans in the empire were unable to deliver on such a demand. As failures mounted, so thinned the emperor's patience. Eventually Matenici implemented a policy of executing those he deemed responsible for repeatedly failing to carry out his will, a crime he equated to high treason. Shipwrights began to refer to the cursed project as the "Red Dream of Mad Matenici."

The decades-long venture ended with the emperor's untimely death by the hand of his chief minister. While ultimately unsuccessful, the project did yield substantial advances in the field of hull reinforcement. Contemporary shipbuilders call the construction method the "Red Dream" in acknowledgment of the blood shed by their forbearers.

There are rumors of a pirate captain sailing a ship by the name of Red Dream within the waters of the Deadfire as well. Whether this is true or merely another sea story remains to be seen.