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{{Info technology
{{Info technology
|inventor  = Various Dwarves
|inventor  = [[Dwarves]]
|user      = Ailor
|user      = Various
|commonuses =  
|commonuses =  
Transportation
*Transportation of goods
*Military engagements (rarely)
|rarity    = Rare
|rarity    = Rare
|proficiency    = Various
|}}
|}}
A pinnacle of modern [[Ailor]] and [[Dwarven]] innovation, Airships are the literal sky-ships of [[Ellador]] and other surrounding lands. Able to bridge great, inhospitable tracts of land and sea alike, they quickly rose to the mundane in their homeland, but only recently has technology improved enough to allow these machines to travel over the seas to new environments. This has provoked a mixed response from Ailor, primarily, who still have a budding and uneasy trust for the machines. Dwarves, however, continue to innovate to this day, with wildly varied results. This innovation has undeniably caused a diversity in transportation, leaving an unsettling feeling in the hearts of the more conservative [[Races]].


A pinnacle of modern Alorian innovation, Airships are the literal sky-ships of [[Ellador]] and its surrounding lands. Able to bridge great, inhospitable tracts of land and sea alike, they quickly rose to the mundane in their homeland, but only recently has technology improved enough to allow these machines to travel over the seas to new environments. This has provoked a mixed response from [[Ailor]], primarily, who still have a budding and uneasy trust for the machines. Dwarves, however, continue to innovate to this day, with wildly varied results.
==History==
Airships began centuries ago within the Dwarven Holds as machines of industry. Simple hot air balloons, they lifted minerals and eventually, people, up and down, with the most notable of these mechanisms existing within [[Grebor]]. As time went on, further innovation produced the first true Airships, and these were sparingly used in warfare against the [[Isldar]] during the [[Isldar#Second Dragon War|Second]] and [[Third Dragon War]]s. However, the collapse of the surface Dwarven presence also saw the use of the Airship heavily curtailed, and again confined to the cavernous depths of Holds. The attack of the [[Dakkar]] and the diaspora of the Dwarven people though again saw the Airship enter into the wider world, where it had since stayed. Aldor Dwarves helped Ailor craft Airships again on the surface, and soon refined the machines. From there, the innovation spread to the [[Regalian Empire]] at large, where it was embraced by those eccentric and eager for new technology. For a time though, steam power could only aid the vessels so much, and they seemed like they would be locked into their role as a dangerous curiosity. But in late 303 AC, a significant breakthrough came. Loftoren Gas, a substance of decent stability with properties lighter than air, was discovered by the Dwarves. This gas was quickly put to use in Dwarven Airships, and within a year, Ailor Airships had adopted the gas as well. Today, steam power is still necessary to pump gas in or out of the balloon, but now the majority of an Airship’s power can be diverted to their propellers. Modern Airships are leagues faster and have better range than even those just a few years older than them, and have grown ever larger and more secure as a result.


==Origins==
==Procurement/Construction==
The invention of airships is undeniably accredited to the [[Dwarf|Dwarves]], though a single, specific inventor is hard to name, despite how recent their invention is. Thought to be inspired by hot air balloon lifts in Dwarven mines, the first airships were small, had low range, and most importantly, had a tendency to drop out of the sky. If they could even get thirty feet off the ground, that is. At these stages, notoriety of the technology to Ailor, or indeed any other race, was none. Dwarven experimentation was and still is extremely common, but rarely results in an actual breakthrough.
Airships may be legal vessels of transport, but they’re not easy to procure for even mercantile endeavors. Constructing an Airship requires copious amounts of material, from wood to a variety of metals to complexly woven fabric, and as a result are only built in a specific few locations in all of Aloria. Additionally, crews must be more technologically minded than most, as just with sailors on the sea, Airship crews must perform constant tasks to ensure that their vessel remains intact. This maintenance was once far too extensive for larger Airships to be made, but with the work of Ailor craftsmen and more, the vessels now come in a range of sizes and are slowly becoming a useful tool in anyone arsenal. Still, they cannot be flown over large cities without careful planning, and are often directed to land in certain locations suited for just that purpose.
:'''*OOC Note: Airships cannot be bought or owned by any player characters at this time.'''


It was around 283 AC that the first successful, and technically commercial airship was constructed. In an Elladorian town whose Dwarf population had skyrocketed since the Dakkar invasion, a trio of intuitive Dwarven shipwrights crafted a small, but well-designed craft over the course of three years using their own funds. Quickly named “Brynhild’s Grace” after their mother on completion, the ship was tested, and for the first time in history, was also landed successfully.
==Airship Types==
===Dwarven Aharad===
The science of Airship innovation began with the Dwarven Aharad. Little more than a wicker hot air balloon, it is unsuited to harsh climates or to long-distance travel, and is widely considered deprecated. However, some individuals in possession of this model of Airship still frequently utilize it for the study of wind or other natural elements, and it is also used at public venues as a fun way to get a broad view of any surrounding landscape. Its cheapness allows for easy mass production. There are few methods of propulsion on this ship, and the finicky steering makes navigation notoriously difficult, with some claiming the vessel is unsafe and should be discontinued.
===Dwarven Kazarak===
The Dwarven Kazarak is a notable improvement upon the Aharad. While still primitive and crude, it features thick textiles sewn against the fragile outer edge of the ship, permitting it to survive flights above Ellador. Moreover, it possesses an oblong balloon, and is capable of steering and changing direction. It does not have a large range, but can haul both goods and people over small distances of hazardous terrain, and has been used for such quite often for short-range missions involving important cargo or people. A small engine is still needed to fill the balloon and heat the air, but propulsion comes from sails.
===Northern Ärvinder===
The Northern Ärvinder was created as the original collaboration between Ailor and Dwarves. Featuring several improvements on the robustness of its design, it was the first Airship to be capable of longer-range flight and ascendance to higher altitudes. While still incapable of bearing weaponry or heavy weights, this archaic vessel is widely accepted as the predecessor to all modern craft, representing the pinnacle of steam-powered Airship engineering. It is unmistakable, for the thundering rumble of its mighty engines is audible from towns away, and its speed is nothing to scoff at, often exceeding the maximum capacity of later designs.
===Ithanian Sajoie===
The Ithanian Sajoie is, first and foremost, a pleasure ship. Its several rooms are organized in such a way that makes it easy to pass from lounge to lounge, and to find small cubby holes in which to engage in intimate conversation or other such things. It is not capable of carrying great weights, but can service five to ten people comfortably, as it was designed to do. Propelled by the unique compound of Loftoren Gas, it can remain in the air for quite some time before it must lower once again. It is the first Airship to historically utilize such propulsion, a point of quite some pride for the Ithanians, who have since done pitifully little with their early lead in Airship technology.
===Girobaldin Consulado===
Whereas the old Dwarven Aharad was once dreamt up to help in cataloguing the weather, the Consulado was designed to better map and survey the land. The plantations of [[Girobalda]] are heavily dependent on the lay of the territory across which they sprawl, as that determines their crop rotation. It thus became necessary to innovate an easy method to chart geography. This is the Consulado: a fast, light ship for small parties to travel quickly at a very low altitude. The Girobaldin innovators who created it based it off the same technology as the Sajoie, but far more refined and efficient.
===Treppewitz Leininger===
The Treppewitz Leininger is the result of an attempt on the part of the Ailor to industrialize and monetize the concept of Airships. It is a wide-bottomed, squat thing, ugly to behold but undoubtedly sturdy. Heaviest of all Airships, the Leininger was created to haul freight long distances where land routes are unsafe or impassable. Incredibly slow and capable of carrying either an immense number of people or an obscene weight in the range of tons, this invention has yet to be employed en masse, but shows promise for [[Wirtem]] shipping companies. It is the first vessel to utilize so-called ‘Gas-and-Sail’ technology, which is both long-range and silent, but horrifically over-engineered and difficult to maintain. It is said that a third of a Leininger’s crew must be composed of Wirtem engineers, who are forced to pool their expertise to keep the vessel’s numerous excessive parts from breaking in flight.
===Calemberg Kriegsfalke===
While the Leininger was engineered to bring the field of Airships to the commercial landscape, the Kriegsfalke was created by war-hawking Calemberger merchants. Naming the creation after others’ name for them, they proceeded to brainstorm a conceptually military Airship, one that could be used to deny airspace to other Airships, or to combat flying creatures such as the [[Wyverns]] the Isldar ride. It bears four cannons on each side, and requires forty crewmen to run. This ship follows the same Gas-and-Sail pattern as the Leininger, possessing both Loftoren Gas engineers and sails for steering, but is much more refined and well-kept. This has the side effect of making the Kriegsfalke a very expensive vessel to create, and few exist in the world.


Like all early airships, Brynhild’s Grace was short lived, but drew much-needed attention to the budding new technology. It completed somewhere between ten to thirty “Voyages” (Though in reality, it only circled the town’s borders) and brought modest shares of curious scholars, engineers, and tourists alike to the town. Ailor interest was finally piqued, at least amongst the common folk of Ellador.
==Application==
 
In terms of crew, one or two pilots are always necessary on Airships, as are a variety of navigators, workers, and canoneers, if the ship is armed. Crews vary in size, but rarely reach above 40, unless the ship sails, in which case the number is around 60. Airship crews are famed for their specialization, but also their necessity to multitask. It’s not often that a gunner will know how to pilot the ship on which he’s stationed, for example. The bravest crew members are also expected to be “Patchers” if the need arises. This was a roll devised by Ailor, as Dwarves had trouble climbing their balloons. For this role, a crewman must climb a balloon’s rigging, and potentially onto the balloon itself to locate a rupture and patch it with a strip of airtight fabric and a needle and thread. For this reason, most Airship crewmen are taught to sew.
These early airships, whether primarily by Dwarf or Ailor design, all had several key traits. [[Steam Power]] was absolutely necessary for them to function. These early airships used hot air to fill their balloons, and the raging fires to produce the steam doubled as a means to heat air, with the engine itself acting as a pump to keep the balloon filled, or to allow some air to escape in order to descend. Propulsion was achieved with side-mounted sails, which were fragile and struggled under strong winds, but could be retracted and extended independently to allow the craft to turn. All of these features improved as the years went by, and saw their peak at the transitional period around 299 AC.
Maintenance wise, Airships are fairly forgiving. With no sea to gnarl and chew at their hulls, their woodwork remains fairly untouched unless exposed to cannonfire. However, all Airships require fuel in varying amounts, as well as clean water. The more steam power a ship utilizes, the more coal it will consume. Water is consumed more as well, but to a less exponential degree. Balloon fabric may also need to be replaced as time goes on. Patching is a viable temporary solution, but a fresh balloon holds air far more reliably than one sporting a dozen battle scars. Frequently replacing these can be expensive, however, and it’s not uncommon to see Airships sporting heavily patched balloons. Airships are famed for their resilience to cold climates, which perpetuated their popularity in Ellador.
 
===Effects===
Around 296 AC, entirely steam-powered craft began to appear. These were infamous for their coal usage, but didn’t rely on the wind for propulsion. Instead, these crafts used large, cloth-spanned propellers to move, and were widely known for their loud, foreboding rumble and bulky profiles.
Flyer’s Sickness effects most who fly for the first time. Glancing down at the ground from an Airship is known to give new flyers the shakes, and an intense round of vomiting. Along with repair tools, water, coal, and other supplies, empty wooden buckets are often kept on deck, though more often than not a sailor will simply wretch over the side of the ship, to the utter dismay of those below glancing up at the flying vessels.  
 
Regardless of the type of ship, airships saw common use in Ellador as trade ships, and some even saw conversion into gunships, though these only saw effective use against other airships. Their improvement slowed to a crawl for a few years, with quiet, but constant improvements to design, airships began to have the range to cross the small seas that separated Ellador and Jorrhildr. From there, [[Ithania]] was only a short trip.
 
Only in late 303 AC did another significant breakthrough come. Loftoren Gas, a gas of decent stability with properties lighter than air, was discovered by the Dwarves. This gas was quickly put to use in Dwarven airships, and by 304 AC, Ailor airships have adopted the gas as well. Steam power is still necessary to pump gas in or out of the balloon, but now the majority of an airship’s power can be diverted to their propellers. Modern airships are leagues faster and have better range than even those just a few years older than them.
 
==Logistics==
Outside of hull shape, size, and intended use, airships are split up into four subtypes. Some are obsolete by modern standards, and others fit certain niches.
 
The earliest airships are the aptly named “Steam-and-Sail” ships. Their design is simple, with only modest reliance on steam power. A small engine is still needed to fill the balloon and heat the air, but propulsion comes from sails. Fuel consumption is low for these ships, and these were the favoured vessels for Ellador merchants until the discovery of Loftoren Gas.
 
In 296 AC came the ships powered solely by steam power. These were plainly named “Steam Ships”, and are known for their infamous, thundering rumble. These ships are often faster than Steam-and-Sail ships and have bulkier hulls, but consume fuel at a much, much faster rate. These ships were and still are popular for more urgent rolls, including combative needs.
 
The most common modern airship is the “Gas-and-Steam” ship, which use Loftoren Gas to produce lift, but rely on steam power for propulsion. These ships are the fastest of the lot, and sport a decent efficiency too. Gas-and-Steam ships can cross the sea from Ithania to [[Regalian Empire|Regalia]], and are quickly phasing out plain steam ships, which are easily converted to support Loftoren Gas.
 
The final, and one of the rarest breeds of airship is the “Gas-and-Sail” ship. These are sometimes adopted by the boldest and most ambitious of traders. While not the fastest ships, Gas-and-Sail ships are eerily silent and incredibly fuel efficient. Steam power is still used to fill or empty the balloon, but in sustained flight, steam is barely used at all. With a sufficient payload of fuel, it is speculated that these ships could make the journey to [[Farah’deen]], but no such journey has ever been attempted.
 
===Crew===
Airship crews vary wildly, depending on the class of the airship. As a general rule, though, airship crews are smaller and more focused than those of a sea ship.
 
The most common and unique roll on any airship are the engineers. Numbers can vary, with usually only one required on any ship that utilizes sails, but two or three being preferable for a ship more reliant on steam power. Sailed ships also require a handful of deckhands at all times to work at the sails’ rigging, though on steam powered ships, the need for adjustable rigging is minimal if not nonexistent.
 
Other rolls are fairly straight across the board. One or two pilots are always necessary, as are navigators, coal shovellers, and gunners, if the ship is armed. Crews vary in size, but rarely reach above 40, unless the ship has sails, in which case the number is around 60. Airship crews are famed for their specialization, but also their necessity to multitask. It’s not often that a gunner will know how to pilot the ship on which he’s stationed, for example. The bravest crew members are also expected to be “Patchers” if the need arises. This was a roll devised by Ailor, as Dwarves had trouble climbing their balloons. For this role, a crewman must climb a balloon’s rigging, and potentially onto the balloon itself to locate a rupture and patch it with a strip of airtight fabric and a needle and thread. For this reason, most airship crewmen are taught to sew.
 
===Armament===
Combat aboard airships is rare. Most airships don’t carry weaponry purely due to the unlikeliness of an attack. Airships are not used in warfare, but that hasn’t prevented Dwarves from designing certain airships for the task, or, more commonly, converting failed merchant vessels. Traditional cannons are too heavy and limiting for use on a platform with three-dimensional movement, so instead, the Dwarves designed a new, lighter cannon that could be mounted in a way to allow three-dimensional aiming. These were aptly named “Swivel cannons” and feature as the exclusive armament used aboard airships.
 
Swivel cannons are much lighter than their larger cousins, but are still too heavy for one man to move. Nonetheless they do allow for free aiming in all directions while mounted. Too light to punch through any sturdy wooden hull, combat involving these weapons is strategic and must be planned for carefully. Only two types of ammunition are commonly used: The round shot, or the grape shot. The former is used to target weak points in an enemy ship’s construction. Propellor mounts or exposed engine casing, for example. The Grapeshot is reserved for decimating enemy crew members.
 
Despite the stereotype, balloons are rarely targeted during airship combat. A shot-sized hole in a balloon will take upwards of an hour to deflate the balloon entirely, and Patchers can easily remedy the damage. Most airship combat is also initiated for plunder on top of this, and sinking another valuable airship with expensive cargo is rarely profitable.
 
===Upkeep===
Maintenance wise, airships are fairly forgiving. With no sea to gnarl and chew at their hulls, their woodwork remains fairly untouched unless exposed to cannonfire. However, all airships require fuel in varying amounts, as well as clean water. The more steam power a ship utilizes, the more coal it will consume. Water is consumed more as well, but to a less exponential degree. Balloon fabric may also need to be replaced as time goes on. Patching is a viable temporary solution, but a fresh balloon holds air far more reliably that one sporting a dozen battle scars. Frequently replacing these can be expensive, however, and it’s not uncommon to see airships sporting heavily patched balloons. Airships are famed for their resilience to cold climates, which perpetuated their popularity in Ellador.
 
==Other Uses==
Airships are still a young and budding technology, and so far have only found manufacture at the hands of Ailor and Dwarves. Ailor-crafted ships were entirely Steam-and-Sail craft until the recent discovery of Loftoren gas. Since then, Ailor-made ships have began to expand into new territories. This has proved frighteningly innovative by Ailor standards, but the ingenuity seems to have paid off, which some of the riches noble families purchasing decadent pleasurecraft to cause a stir. These ships and standard trade airships, however, make up the extent of the Ailor spectrum.
 
Dwarven ships, on the other hand, continue to innovate to this day, with the same hit-and-miss results they received twenty years ago. Warships are constantly proposed, but prove to be only effective against other airships. New designs that barely resemble traditional ships have even begun to emerge, but so early and so unsteady in their development, they receive little to no attention.
 
Outside of these communities, Airships are a foreign curiosity. With the limited range of Airships, they rarely fall into particularly foreign hands. The extent of their adoption by foreign races is usually the use of wreckages that land in Jorrhildr as shelters by its [[Url]], Velheim Ailor and less intelligent [[Thylan]] inhabitants.


==Trivia==
==Trivia==
*Crew members who frequently work on steam-powered craft are famed in [[Ellador]] for their powerful voices. Due to the noise these craft generate, the crewmembers are often forced to yell to communicate, which helps develop a powerful set of lungs.
*Crew members who frequently work on steam-powered craft are famed in [[Ellador]] for their powerful voices. Due to the noise these craft generate, the crewmembers are often forced to yell to communicate, which helps develop a powerful set of lungs.
*A Dwarven lord once had his ‘Fleet’ (Three ships) painted with vertical black and yellow stripes, with the belief that with both the appearance and booming rumble of a giant bee, they would inspire fear and awe in his rivals. Instead, the trio of ships was nearly universally mocked. Eventually, the mockery grew so humiliating that the Lord had the trio of ships disassembled for parts.
{{Technology}}
{{Technology}}
{{Accreditation
{{Accreditation
|Writers = Plecy
|Writers = LumosJared, HydraLana, OkaDoka
|Processors = 0romir, Lord_Immortal
|Processors = HydraLana, FireFan96
}}
}}
[[category:Technology]] [[category:Mechanical Technology]] [[category:Technological Developments]]
[[category:Technology]]

Revision as of 18:45, 20 December 2021

Airship
Noimg.png
Technology
Invented by Dwarves
Used by Various
Common uses
  • Transportation of goods
  • Military engagements (rarely)
Rarity Rare
Proficiency Various

A pinnacle of modern Ailor and Dwarven innovation, Airships are the literal sky-ships of Ellador and other surrounding lands. Able to bridge great, inhospitable tracts of land and sea alike, they quickly rose to the mundane in their homeland, but only recently has technology improved enough to allow these machines to travel over the seas to new environments. This has provoked a mixed response from Ailor, primarily, who still have a budding and uneasy trust for the machines. Dwarves, however, continue to innovate to this day, with wildly varied results. This innovation has undeniably caused a diversity in transportation, leaving an unsettling feeling in the hearts of the more conservative Races.

History

Airships began centuries ago within the Dwarven Holds as machines of industry. Simple hot air balloons, they lifted minerals and eventually, people, up and down, with the most notable of these mechanisms existing within Grebor. As time went on, further innovation produced the first true Airships, and these were sparingly used in warfare against the Isldar during the Second and Third Dragon Wars. However, the collapse of the surface Dwarven presence also saw the use of the Airship heavily curtailed, and again confined to the cavernous depths of Holds. The attack of the Dakkar and the diaspora of the Dwarven people though again saw the Airship enter into the wider world, where it had since stayed. Aldor Dwarves helped Ailor craft Airships again on the surface, and soon refined the machines. From there, the innovation spread to the Regalian Empire at large, where it was embraced by those eccentric and eager for new technology. For a time though, steam power could only aid the vessels so much, and they seemed like they would be locked into their role as a dangerous curiosity. But in late 303 AC, a significant breakthrough came. Loftoren Gas, a substance of decent stability with properties lighter than air, was discovered by the Dwarves. This gas was quickly put to use in Dwarven Airships, and within a year, Ailor Airships had adopted the gas as well. Today, steam power is still necessary to pump gas in or out of the balloon, but now the majority of an Airship’s power can be diverted to their propellers. Modern Airships are leagues faster and have better range than even those just a few years older than them, and have grown ever larger and more secure as a result.

Procurement/Construction

Airships may be legal vessels of transport, but they’re not easy to procure for even mercantile endeavors. Constructing an Airship requires copious amounts of material, from wood to a variety of metals to complexly woven fabric, and as a result are only built in a specific few locations in all of Aloria. Additionally, crews must be more technologically minded than most, as just with sailors on the sea, Airship crews must perform constant tasks to ensure that their vessel remains intact. This maintenance was once far too extensive for larger Airships to be made, but with the work of Ailor craftsmen and more, the vessels now come in a range of sizes and are slowly becoming a useful tool in anyone arsenal. Still, they cannot be flown over large cities without careful planning, and are often directed to land in certain locations suited for just that purpose.

*OOC Note: Airships cannot be bought or owned by any player characters at this time.

Airship Types

Dwarven Aharad

The science of Airship innovation began with the Dwarven Aharad. Little more than a wicker hot air balloon, it is unsuited to harsh climates or to long-distance travel, and is widely considered deprecated. However, some individuals in possession of this model of Airship still frequently utilize it for the study of wind or other natural elements, and it is also used at public venues as a fun way to get a broad view of any surrounding landscape. Its cheapness allows for easy mass production. There are few methods of propulsion on this ship, and the finicky steering makes navigation notoriously difficult, with some claiming the vessel is unsafe and should be discontinued.

Dwarven Kazarak

The Dwarven Kazarak is a notable improvement upon the Aharad. While still primitive and crude, it features thick textiles sewn against the fragile outer edge of the ship, permitting it to survive flights above Ellador. Moreover, it possesses an oblong balloon, and is capable of steering and changing direction. It does not have a large range, but can haul both goods and people over small distances of hazardous terrain, and has been used for such quite often for short-range missions involving important cargo or people. A small engine is still needed to fill the balloon and heat the air, but propulsion comes from sails.

Northern Ärvinder

The Northern Ärvinder was created as the original collaboration between Ailor and Dwarves. Featuring several improvements on the robustness of its design, it was the first Airship to be capable of longer-range flight and ascendance to higher altitudes. While still incapable of bearing weaponry or heavy weights, this archaic vessel is widely accepted as the predecessor to all modern craft, representing the pinnacle of steam-powered Airship engineering. It is unmistakable, for the thundering rumble of its mighty engines is audible from towns away, and its speed is nothing to scoff at, often exceeding the maximum capacity of later designs.

Ithanian Sajoie

The Ithanian Sajoie is, first and foremost, a pleasure ship. Its several rooms are organized in such a way that makes it easy to pass from lounge to lounge, and to find small cubby holes in which to engage in intimate conversation or other such things. It is not capable of carrying great weights, but can service five to ten people comfortably, as it was designed to do. Propelled by the unique compound of Loftoren Gas, it can remain in the air for quite some time before it must lower once again. It is the first Airship to historically utilize such propulsion, a point of quite some pride for the Ithanians, who have since done pitifully little with their early lead in Airship technology.

Girobaldin Consulado

Whereas the old Dwarven Aharad was once dreamt up to help in cataloguing the weather, the Consulado was designed to better map and survey the land. The plantations of Girobalda are heavily dependent on the lay of the territory across which they sprawl, as that determines their crop rotation. It thus became necessary to innovate an easy method to chart geography. This is the Consulado: a fast, light ship for small parties to travel quickly at a very low altitude. The Girobaldin innovators who created it based it off the same technology as the Sajoie, but far more refined and efficient.

Treppewitz Leininger

The Treppewitz Leininger is the result of an attempt on the part of the Ailor to industrialize and monetize the concept of Airships. It is a wide-bottomed, squat thing, ugly to behold but undoubtedly sturdy. Heaviest of all Airships, the Leininger was created to haul freight long distances where land routes are unsafe or impassable. Incredibly slow and capable of carrying either an immense number of people or an obscene weight in the range of tons, this invention has yet to be employed en masse, but shows promise for Wirtem shipping companies. It is the first vessel to utilize so-called ‘Gas-and-Sail’ technology, which is both long-range and silent, but horrifically over-engineered and difficult to maintain. It is said that a third of a Leininger’s crew must be composed of Wirtem engineers, who are forced to pool their expertise to keep the vessel’s numerous excessive parts from breaking in flight.

Calemberg Kriegsfalke

While the Leininger was engineered to bring the field of Airships to the commercial landscape, the Kriegsfalke was created by war-hawking Calemberger merchants. Naming the creation after others’ name for them, they proceeded to brainstorm a conceptually military Airship, one that could be used to deny airspace to other Airships, or to combat flying creatures such as the Wyverns the Isldar ride. It bears four cannons on each side, and requires forty crewmen to run. This ship follows the same Gas-and-Sail pattern as the Leininger, possessing both Loftoren Gas engineers and sails for steering, but is much more refined and well-kept. This has the side effect of making the Kriegsfalke a very expensive vessel to create, and few exist in the world.

Application

In terms of crew, one or two pilots are always necessary on Airships, as are a variety of navigators, workers, and canoneers, if the ship is armed. Crews vary in size, but rarely reach above 40, unless the ship sails, in which case the number is around 60. Airship crews are famed for their specialization, but also their necessity to multitask. It’s not often that a gunner will know how to pilot the ship on which he’s stationed, for example. The bravest crew members are also expected to be “Patchers” if the need arises. This was a roll devised by Ailor, as Dwarves had trouble climbing their balloons. For this role, a crewman must climb a balloon’s rigging, and potentially onto the balloon itself to locate a rupture and patch it with a strip of airtight fabric and a needle and thread. For this reason, most Airship crewmen are taught to sew. Maintenance wise, Airships are fairly forgiving. With no sea to gnarl and chew at their hulls, their woodwork remains fairly untouched unless exposed to cannonfire. However, all Airships require fuel in varying amounts, as well as clean water. The more steam power a ship utilizes, the more coal it will consume. Water is consumed more as well, but to a less exponential degree. Balloon fabric may also need to be replaced as time goes on. Patching is a viable temporary solution, but a fresh balloon holds air far more reliably than one sporting a dozen battle scars. Frequently replacing these can be expensive, however, and it’s not uncommon to see Airships sporting heavily patched balloons. Airships are famed for their resilience to cold climates, which perpetuated their popularity in Ellador.

Effects

Flyer’s Sickness effects most who fly for the first time. Glancing down at the ground from an Airship is known to give new flyers the shakes, and an intense round of vomiting. Along with repair tools, water, coal, and other supplies, empty wooden buckets are often kept on deck, though more often than not a sailor will simply wretch over the side of the ship, to the utter dismay of those below glancing up at the flying vessels.

Trivia

  • Crew members who frequently work on steam-powered craft are famed in Ellador for their powerful voices. Due to the noise these craft generate, the crewmembers are often forced to yell to communicate, which helps develop a powerful set of lungs.

Template:Technology


Accreditation
Writers LumosJared, HydraLana, OkaDoka
Processors HydraLana, FireFan96
Last Editor HydraLana on 12/20/2021.

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