I’ve been thinking a lot about the size of the Nochet trireme fleet, and clearly the number of rowers (and not finances) is the biggest limiting factor.
If we assume HALF the adult population of the Rightarm Islands are available as rowers for the fleet, that gets us to about 50 triremes top. The rest need to come out of Nochet itself (and its allies). So maybe another 30 or so triremes from North Esrolia and North March. Beyond that you need to look beyond (so for example there is probably another 10 with Karse and Heortland, another 10 in Melib, etc), or start training people. So let’s say right now there is an upper limit of 100 triremes that Nochet could raise with enough money.
Rhigos similarly has limits. Maybe only 15 triremes. Enough to be a nuisance to Nochet and maintain its autonomy, but not enough to deal with the Wolf Pirates.
Handra is likely able to maintain about 30 triremes tops without going further afield. Rowers are mainly recruited from among the fisherfolk of the New Fens.
What is the relationship between Nochet and the Rightarm Islands? Allies, recruits, and paid mercs. They have their own ruler above the waters – the High Admiral of the Boats, who is an ally of the Queen of Nochet. Outsiders might assume that she is his sovereign, but actually he reports to the Voice of the Deep, who is firmly allied with Samastina.
Note that the revival of sailing in the late Third Age has no Real World analogies. This was not a technology that was slowly discovered – people knew that folk once sailed the oceans, and before that the Waertagi ruled the oceans since the God Time. But the oceans were Closed until Dormal figured out how to Open them.
How many Wolf Pirates are there? 60+ ships. They and their crews are far more skilled and experienced at naval warfare than anything the Kethaelans are fielding. And they have Harrek and Gunda among them.
