Skyships are flying vessels, usually in the shape and form of ordinary seafaring ships, though often modified to better traverse the sky. During the Age of the Varn, every nation and organization possessed the technical knowhow to construct these flying ships, but today only the diamond drae of Akualinor hold that knowledge, and they zealously guard it from outsiders. They do however sell skyships to pretty much everyone, so most nations and a host of organizations have their own fleets. As a result, skyships are fast becoming the most common form of long distance travel between large cities.
Skyships can berth at sea like ordinary ships, or at specialized towers called sky ports. A skyship can also land on the ground—its levitation set to minimum—which enables it to gently hover just inches above the ground without keeling over.
A baseline skyship costs 20,000 gp, has a speed of 8 mph, requires a crew of 10, and can carry up to 20 passengers plus 1 ton of cargo. It has AC 10, and 300 hp. These kinds of skyship are called windjammers due to their reliance on wind sails. However, a large portion of active skyships have impulse skysails; mechana that enable a skyship to travel at a speed of 25 mph (and some can go even faster).
Technology
Skyship flight is thanks to the invention of sky keels. These were created by ancient draelar magicians assisted by the
Varn. Sky keels were designed by combining the principles of the
reverse gravity spell with the magical properties of Immovable Rods. A ship built around a sky keel can ignore gravity in a controlled manner. Sky keels also keep a ship stable and level even in extremely strong winds and have a minor anchoring effect on creatures and objects on board. Furthermore, they keep a non-moving ship firmly in place. Sky keels only make a ship fly upwards; other means are used to grant it horizontal propulsion, such as sails.
Technically, sky keels can levitate a ship beyond the planet’s stratosphere. This of course would be fatal, so failsafes have been installed to prevent skyships going beyond a certain altitude. Most skyships are prevented from going above 9,000 feet as that is considered the upper limit of safe and comfortable travel for most creatures without additional magical protection. Also, Akualinor is 10,000 ft above the surface of the sea, and that limit serves to prevent most ships from reaching it.
There are skyships that have additional magical shielding that keep in the proper atmospheric pressure, temperature, and oxygen supply in very high altitudes as well as appropriate propulsion devices for that altitude. These can go beyond the fixed 9,000 ft. limit unimpeded. Much rarer, are ships equipped with particularly powerful shielding and keels that can push a ship beyond the exosphere. These are appropriately named starships, and only a handful of them have been produced.
History
Skyships were invented during the Age of the Varn. At the time, if you looked up to the sky, you were bound to spot one. Most skyships of the era were destroyed during the
War of the Varn, with only the draelar of Akualinor holding possession of a small fleet. As Akualinor was kept hidden from the world for the entirety of the Age of Imperium, skyships were considered wondrous vessels of a mythic past for nearly 1500 years.
At the conclusion of the Great Rebellion and the fall of the
Iron Empire about two centuries ago, Akualinor rejoined the global community, and with it came a renaissance of skyships. Today, skyships once again dot the skies of Erdos though not yet to the density they did during the Age of the Varn.
Comments