Airships

Airships are vehicles designed to carry passengers, crew, or cargo through the sky. They are primarily used for traversing between continents over the Downworld.
Airships are costly to construct and perhaps even more costly to run because they consume large amounts of fuel. Because of this, it is rare to see airships used to traverse large distances over land.

Creation

The first airships were built by a guild of hill dwarf artificers living in Kagga, a former port city in Ashun. They used their invention to travel to Nilandra, landing first at the city of Mordon on the Radiant Coast. Slowly, they spread the technology around the world, refusing to favour any one faction over the other with sharing the invention.

Design

There are several varieties of airship design, but most have hulls constructed of wood and metal. Some airships are built entirely of metal, usually in order to survive at a greater level of The Deeps.
Today, airships are used to carry goods and people between the continents. However, there remain relatively few airships around Talsirenn due to the high elves there wishing to limit the number of people that can come to their shores.

Power Generation

Airships contain large engines that are used to power the vessel. The engines are fueled by Zurium, a rare material that is created by refining raw Azurite. Azurite forms naturally in the ground only at levels below The Deeps. Deposits of Azurite have been found in deep mines in various parts of Nilandra and Ashun, however it is found in greatest quantity in Downworld Nodes.
Azurite can be refined into a fine blue powder, forming Zurium. Zurium is used to power the enchanted engines of airships. Zurium is a costly resource due to its rarity and the dangers involved in acquiring it. It is also highly unstable and prone to thaumic explosions when mishandled. The cost of the fuel needed to power the engines prevents widespread adoption of aiships as a common means of travel.

Nickname

Ship, bucket, clanger

Creation Date

604 PC