Ships

The ships of the Hummelverse are the most oppressed group of vehicles. There are very few of them - warships and freighters, mostly - and they are "owned" by big clans.
These clans usually have a fleet ranging anywhere from one to five main ships (battleships), one or two freighters, and some smaller ones like towboats or supply ships. Fleets bigger than that are very rare.

Anatomy

Ships have a very special feature - to power their gigantic batteries, they have solar collectors, which allow them to go into "stasis" - basically a power-saving mode similar to sleeping that doesn't require their engines to be running and therefore can save huge amounts of fuel. Otherwise their already vast fuel consumption would be unsustainable.

They come in many shapes, although the diversity has decreased drastically in the last decades. A special kind of ship, the submarines, are thought to be widely extinct. There have been alleged sightings, though, and if a ship simply disappears at sea, the elusive submarines are often blamed.

Culture

Major language groups and dialects

Additionally to their spoken languages, ships can communicate simple messages with flags. Other vehicle types who spent some time learning this code may also understand it, but they lack the inherent ability that ships have.

Naming Traditions

Ship names are generally gender-neutral. Male-sounding and female-sounding names exist, but they aren't necessarily indicative of the ship's actual gender identity. Many ships refer to themselves as "it", a custom that is very rare among tanks and planes, but can also be found with trains. This is related to their cultural perception - many tanks view ships as barely sentient objects rather than persons.

Relations

Sometimes there have been small revolts and attempts to overthrow their tank masters, but those usually failed simply because the ships need them as a source of maintenance and fuel. Most ships wouldn't dare to think about mutiny. Despite possessing the same cognitive ability as other machines, ships are not treated according to it, to the point of them believing that it is the case.

Famous Ships

Tirpitz

Construction

There are very few factories that produce ships. Those shipyards can be found near the shores. All of them are in clan possession, so the only way to acquire a ship is to either claim one of the factories or trade/steal/recruit them.

Maintenance

Ships cannot take care of their own maintenance well and need the assistance of other vehicles, be it maintenance ships or tanks. They only possess a low number of machine arms that are in proportion much smaller than for example those of tanks, with limited uses.

Related Myths

• Fletcher's Cruel Fate