Akuma is the generic term that Japanese use to refer to a devil or demon.

Note: There's a great deal of useful information on Wikipedia about the various types of ships in use during the 17th century. It's a great place to start if you want to learn more on this subject.

Frigates: The Morgenster and the Newcastle.

A frigate was a three-masted, fully rigged vessel, with its main armament carried on a single gun deck and with additional guns on the poop deck and the forecastle. The number of guns varied between 24 and 56, but 30 to 40 guns were common.

Frigate Sailing Ship

Frigates could not normally stand up to ships-of-the-line in battle, but during heavy weather ships-of-the-line were forced to close the gun ports on their lower decks to avoid sinking. This left them with half the armament, making them an even match with a frigate. It's worth noting that this was a significant factor in the English defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1585, when the smaller English vessels took advantage of high seas to attack and cripple the much-larger Spanish ships.

Sailing at greater speed than most other warships, frigates often served as scouts or as escorts protecting merchant convoys from privateers and enemy raiders; they also cruised the seas as merchant raiders themselves.

About the Morgenster (Dutch for "Morning star")

She was a Dutch-built frigate with 32 guns on two decks and was less than two years old. The relative youth of the craft meant that its hull was still free from barnacles and other sea growth so that it slid easily through the water and could make fourteen knots under full sail. A notable feature of Dutch frigates from this era was that they had longer hulls with shallower draft than other ships, so that they could sail into shallower waters than other warships.

Caravel Sailing Ship

Caravels: The Lilly, the Amberlin and the Dolphin.

A caravel was a small, highly-maneuverable ship capable of extended sea voyages. They were noted for having excellent cargo capacity in spite of their compact size. Columbus used two on his first voyage (the Nina and the Pinta), and Henry the Navigator used one for his explorations. (See History of the Caravel for a full writeup.)

Galleons: The Sativa Rose and the Jasmine.

A galleon was a large ship used extensively for trade due to its massive cargo capacity and sleek design. They were also used as warships due to their ability to carry a large number of guns. Merchants who needed to trade in dangerous waters preferred these craft because they could both carry a useful load of cargo and mount sufficient cannon to defend themselves from pirates.

Schooner: The Thistle.

A schooner was a small, very fast craft. They had limited cargo capacity and could typically mount less than a dozen small cannon, but they were so fast that they could outrun more powerful ships (such as frigates). The brigantines used by pirates in the Caribbean were closely related to schooners, being just a bit larger so as to mount a few more guns. Both versions of these vessels were best suited to coastal activities, but in the hands of experienced sailors they provided rapid transit across oceans.

Although Muslim women (and men) did experience restrictions on their conduct and dress during the 17th century, they were permitted elegant clothing and as a result, silk, jewels and exotic furs were common in the Ottoman court.

When a woman left the house, she covered her clothes with a ferace, a dark, modestly cut robe that buttoned all the way to the throat. She also covered her face with a variety of veils or wraps. A stylish young woman would wears salvar (trousers), a long, sheer gomlek (chemise), and an ankle-length purple entari (outer robe) with the ends tucked up. The fur lining of her yelek (jacket or vest) would mark her as wealthy and high-ranking.

Men wore outer items such as 'mintan' (a vest or short jacket), 'zibin', 'salvar' (trousers), 'kusak' (a sash), 'potur', 'entari' (a long robe), 'kalpak', 'sarik' on the head; 'carik', 'cizme', 'cedik', 'yemeni' on the feet. The administrators and the wealthy wore caftans with fur lining and embroidery, whereas the middle class wore 'cubbe' (a mid-length robe) and 'hirka' (a short robe or tunic), and the poor wore collarless 'cepken' or 'yelek' (vest).

Bashlyks, or hats, were the most prominent accessories of social status. While ordinary people wore kulahs, the cream of the society wore bashlyks such as yusufi, orfi, katibi, kavaze, etc. During the rule of Suleiman, a bashlyk called 'perisani' was popular as the palace people valued bashlyks adorned with precious stones. 'Kavuk', however, was the most common type of bashlyk. For this reason, a related tradesmenship was formed in the 17th century. Fur was a material of prestige in that period. Political crises of the 17th century were reflected as chaos in clothes. The excessively luxurious compulsion of consumption and showing off in the Tulip Era lasted till the 19th century

My research on the Spanish Inquisition presented me with such horrifying examples of inhumanity that I had to stop work for several weeks to recover my mental balance. I wasn't even sure that I could (or should) continue, but in the end I did. I tried my best to tone down the torture scenes in Serpent's Teeth, but if the story was to be accurate to the period then there was no avoiding such things entirely. What follows below is just a quick overview of what I found. My advice, if you are curious and want to learn more on this topic is don't!

The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition (Spanish: Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisicion), commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition (Inquisicion espanola), was established in 1478.

The Alhambra Decree, which ordered the expulsion of all Jews from Spain, was issued in January 1492. (the same year that Columbus sailed for America) The Inquisition not only hunted for Protestants and for false converts from Judaism among the Conversos, but also searched for false or relapsed converts among the Moriscos, forced converts from Islam.

The Inquisition was winding down at the beginning of the 17th century but it was still active and people were still being tortured and burnt at the stake. If the sentence was condemnatory, this implied that the condemned had to participate in the ceremony of an auto de fe where they were forced to perform a public penance before immolation. According to a reliable source (The Jewish Virtual Library), an estimated 31,912 heretics were burned at the stake in the Spanish Inquisition.