Description
A lateen rigged caraval, usually running 35m in lenth with a deadweight of 160 tons, it bears a complicated system of iron weights and chains running throughout its hull to a pilots cabin at the rear. The long curved sails are rigged both above, below and abeam of the ship. The entire inner hull of the ship is layered with floatstone bricks that maintain the weight of the ship at zero-sum even when fully loaded. Damage that effects the inner hull will cause the ship to lose altitude, but not crash; over half the hull would need to be destroyed before the ship falls out the sky. That said, storms and stranger weather formations can still wreck an Empyrean ship against mountains, cliffs or floating ruins and fire remains a deadly hazard. These ships are not designed to land, but can float on water if its additional sails are stowed and its hawseholes plugged. Some of the most effective pilots of these vessels are those who can manipulate gravity.
An alternative form of Empyrean Ship design (not detailed here) is closer to that of a Zeppelin, with large canvas or pliable metal buoyancy tanks as well as smaller sealed vessels throughout the ship. This also depends on Floatstone for buoyancy, but makes use of the possibility that Floatstone is a picotech construct that works even down to the atomic level. The tanks are filled with Floatstone sand, pressurized and moved through a system of pipes by great leather bellows. This would require a sophisticated valve design and aeronautical calculations likely held only by the Aeon Priesthood; but would give fine control over the ships lift, altering it dynamically in different sections of the ship, or reducing it by venting the sand. Such a vessel would require pulverized Floatstone sand as a form of fuel.
Details
- Price:
- 700,000 Shin(s)
- Rarity:
- Very Rare
- Additional Notes:
- An Empyrean Ship can travel at a maximum speed of 10mph and a maximum height of 10,000ft, requires a minimum crew of 15 to operate effectively and can transport roughly 50 tons of cargo.
A quick note: this represents one of the largest, heaviest and most expensive ship designs. So it can be scaled down if you want something a bit smaller. I used the price per brick of the floatstone (640,000) plus 60,000 for the modified ship itself.