Gnomish Airships

Our ancestors created things of such magnificence, such wonder that they can hardly be imagined in the Tairos of today. They say we were experts of gates travel, that science was our magic and we its master. They say... we flew.

— Cataren Flennor, gnome historian and adventurer

Most know that the origin of the gnomes isn't tethered to Tairos as deeply as it is for many of the other races. Most, including the Gnome historians of today, believe that their people came from a place on the other side of The Gates. This distant world that had suffered some kind of disaster and the gnomes became wanderers that brought with them treasures and secrets from across the heavens.

One such wonder was the marvel of flight. Gnomes were able to build airships capable of carrying dozens, even hundreds of individuals through the skies in clockwork contraptions powered more by science than magic. These machines were costly to construct and even more so to maintain and their operation was notoriously difficult to master. These and many other factors combined to limit the number of ships the old Gnome Empire of Carta created to less than a dozen. So rare were these vehicles that most of the other kingdoms of Tairos were unaware the technology even existed.

The Empire of Carta guarded the science closely because they knew the potential to abuse this technology was vast and the other kingdoms were fiercely covetous of any edge they could use against each other. The Dwarves of Ghal Ankhar in particular represented a unique threat. They already had in place a factory infrastructure so large that should they get their hands on airship technology they'd be able to mass produce them in unfathomable scale. Gnome captains had standing orders from the leadership of Carta itself to scuttle their ships should they ever be forced to make emergency landings within the borders of other nations. Fortunately, such a drastic measure never had to be taken.

With the utter destruction of the gnomish empire by The Autumn Queen and the Shadow Court of the Fae all of the old records of the kingdom have been lost including the final fate of the airships. It is believed they were lost during the final days of the gnome empire defending the escape of the empire's children(who would later go on to be the founders of Homestead). There are some rumors that say a few of these ships left to the west with survivors, escaping to whatever lies beyond the endless blue ocean. Others say several of the ships never made it off the ground and might still remain in the tangled jungle ruins of their homeland.

Airship technology is one among dozens of lost sciences that the gnomes of Homestead are desperately trying to reclaim. Unlike their distrustful parents and ancestors these modern gnomes have grown up alongside the many races that live in Ghal Pelor and should they find secrets to recreating it there is no doubt it would be shared with their loyal ally.

Power Generation

Combustion engine powered by refined fuel

Propulsion

Turbine engines and propeller systems. Ballast tanks filled alchemical elixirs that allow the vehicle to levitate and reduce some of the workload of the turbines.

Weapons & Armament

Varies. The old gnome empire did not believe in creating warships so in general the armaments on these vessels were few.

Armor and defense

The airships were built to be survivable. This was achieved through traditional armor plating and the maneuverability provided by the levitation ballast tanks.

Communication Tools & Systems

The gnomes used magical spells and arcane devices to communicate between ships and cities of the empire.

Additional & auxiliary systems

Magic was often used to create semi-sentient, golem like, levels of intelligence for the ships so that need for a crew was kept to a minimum. Some of these systems were advanced to the level of being able to repair the vessel, use the limited weapons they had on board, plot courses and pilot to them.

Hangars & docked vessels

Many of these ships were capable of housing smaller airships meant for personal, short range travel.

Rarity

Legendary

Beam

Varies

Length

Varies

Height

Varies

Weight

Varies

Speed

Varies

Complement / Crew

Varies

Cargo & Passenger Capacity

Varies