(1244/4) The Volnar Strait was the location of an epic sea battle fought between the fleets of Ralas and the Corsairs of Tar Vielca. This battle took the life of King Malenvar III, ending the Sanborn Dynasty, but it also ended the bloody War of the Corsairs.
As part of their campaign to conquer Ralas, the Corsairs had amassed a fleet of nearly 400 warships, led personally by the infamous "Pirate-King" of Tar Vielca. King Malenvar gathered his own fleet, which was only half that size, and confronted the corsairs head-on in the narrow strait of water separating Volnar Isle and Renthara Island.
Although heavily outnumbered, King Malenvar used the winds to his advantage and was able to intermingle his own vessels between the lines of Corsair ships; that way his men could fire their flaming arrows in both directions, setting dozens of enemy ships alight and throwing their enemies into complete disarray.
Then, the Ralani ships began ramming and boarding the enemy vessels as the battle degenerated into a bloody melee.
King Malenvar was aboard the Ralani flagship; Queen Aricela, when it was rammed and boarded the Pirate-King's flagship; the huge war galley Pillager.
Shortly thereafter, a stray, flaming arrow ignited the alchemist fire stored aboard the Corsair vessel and the ensuing explosion destroyed both ships and killed everyone aboard.
Malenvar was the last holder of the Elanthir sword; Darkslayer, which was lost along with him. He was succeeded on the Dragon Throne by King Avner Montero.
Sages estimate that as many as 40,000 men were either killed or drowned that day. The Corsairs lost so many ships, they were no longer a threat to the Ralani people for nearly two centuries following this epic confrontation.
