The Shou Fleet

As is mentioned every time a dragonship is described, the Shou take a practical approach to spelljamming. Unlike most groundling nations, they purposely build their vessels for wildspace. Indeed, a Shou dragonship is a solid ship by any standard. Still, the Shou are not a major political presence outside of Realmspace because they concentrate their energies on exploration and the hunt for curiosities. Shou traders are not unknown, but they are few and far between. The majority of Shou vessels are owned by the Imperial government; their numbers rise and fall with the flucuations in the political fortunes of the Ministry of Glorious Flight (the department responsible for most Shou spelljammers: see Shou Lung: Science page 29 for the origins of this relatively small ministry).
Regardless of the political power of the ministry (often it waxes and wanes many times while a given ship is away) all dragonships of this ministry have the same basic command: "Go forth, explore, and bring back wonders to the center of the Multiverse: The Emperor's Court in Shou Lung". Despite a few mutinies and traitorous captains, most dragonships take this command seriously. Since the Shou have so thoroughly explored Realmspace, Ministry of Glorious Flight vessels usually fly directly to the crystal sphere. And from there to Bralspace, which is at the junction of many philogiston rivers. One of the duties of the Shou ambassador in Bral involves maintaining a list of rumors, so that arriving Dragonships have a place to start looking for curiosities.
The Ministry of Glorious Flight is not the only Shou ministry which maintains a fleet of spelljammers, the Ministry of War maintains a fleet as well. During the Horde Wars the Ministry of Glorious Flight was on the downswing of political influence: all of the Dragonships were away, exploring when the Horde struck. Their absence was not noted by the court, torn by the intrigues that accompanied the war, but their return was rather spectacular. A single dragonship returning from its explorations spotted a scouting column of 1000 Tuigan warriors, roaming unusually close to the Imperial city undetected. The captain ordered an immediate attack, and destroyed the unprepared column, chasing the fleeing horse warriors across the fields for many miles.
The Ministry of War was quick to see the advantages of spelljammers after this demonstration, as well as the dangers (they finally believed the Ministry of Glorious Flights stories of the many fleets flying above them). They have since established an official Shou spelljamming Fleet of about 45 Dragonships. At any time 7-8 of those vessels are outside of Realmspace, assigned to Shou embassies in places like Bralspace or Refuge. 30 are assigned to the 3 ship squadrons that patrol Realmspace and Shou Lung airspace. These vessels attempt to suppress piracy (especially the Wako) and protect Shou vessels. The balance of the thirty vessels (7-8) are in reserve at the port of Karatin, their crews on leave. In time of War these vessels could be ready to fly within a week (1 is ready to defend the port at all times). In addition to these forces the Ministry of War may coopt and vessels of the Ministry of Glorious Flight (over 100 vessels scattered throughout the spheres) in times of war. The fleet is led by Chien Jang Liang, a promising, middle-aged warrior who rose through the ranks to become the Admiral of the Celestial Fleet. Chien Jang is very competent, and makes it a point to make it into wildpsace at least once a year himself. When he is absent he entrusts the running of the fleet to his wife and second in command, An Ching Wang.
The Shou use three versions of the Dragonship, described below:
Dragonship, standard class: This is the vessel first described in the original boxed set. It is well designed for exploration, and usually carries a Minor Helm. Ministry of Glorious Flight vessels typically have Wu Jen as helmsman, and are commanded by adventurous young nobles (use the Nobles kit from the Complete Fighters handbook, modified for Shou) Several individual temples have their own ships of this class as well, their vessels are crewed entirely by monks and Sohei of the temple. Most Shou vessels of any Ministry that must leave the sphere (and thus enter the philogiston) are of this class.
Dragonship, Flaming Dragon Class: These vessels are similar to the standard class, but replace the medium ballistas with bombards. These vessels are popular with renegade Shou, and a few are used by the Ministry of War. Those other than Shou who use a dragonship often prefer this model.
Dragonship, War Dragon Class: This is the primary warship of the Ministry of War. It appears as a standard Dragonship, but adds two bombards (arc:FP,FS) and a Greek Fire Projector (arc:F) that fires out of the mouth of the dragon figure head. The two ballistas are moved to the rear of the main deck (arc:AP,AS). The cargo capacity drops to 16 tons. These vessels have the following crew:
• 1 captain (F8-12, noble kit) • 4 officers (F5-7, noble kit) • 33 sailors (F2, Bushi Kit-see Dragon #189) • 4 helmsman (P3-7, Sohei Kit-see Dragon #189 • 1 Ship's mage (M4-9, Wu Jen kit) Note: The Sohei on all Ministry of War vessels are always of the Order of the Dragon, they have a reputation for utter loyalty to the Emperor. The personal weapons aboard Wardragons tend to be naginata and Chu-ku-nos (repeating light crossbows). The officers aboard these vessels carry many magic items, at least 2-5 each. The flagship in a given three ship fleet will have the highest level captain(who will act as the fleet commander as well) and other officers. It is suspected that agents of the Ministry of State Security are also aboard such vessels, as well as many other Shou Dragonships.

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