crystallis

by J. Kastronis

Crystalles are the soracraft utilized exclusively by the Dranomyr Archive. Extremely powerful and possessing capabilities unknown to all other civilizations in the Sora, crystalles are feared and respected by all.

Description

Crystalles, as their name implies, resemble enormous crystalline structures, specifically ice crystals. They tend to have one large plate which is attached to a smaller plate by a short, hexagonal column. These two plates are rarely similar in appearance and often look like different types of snowflakes. The most common configuration is a stellar dendrite large plate with a simpler, stellar small plate.
Much like snowflakes, no two crystalles are exactly the same, though they tend to be relatively complex. They come in a variety of colors as well, though an individual crystallis is always one singular color, and blues and reds are the most common colors. The larger plate of a crystallis tends to be 100 to 150 feet in diameter, with the smaller plate being between 25 to 50 feet across. The central column is rarely much longer than 30 feet long and is around 10 to 15 feet thick. Larger and smaller crystalles have been reported, but none verified as of yet.

Creation

A crystallis are created by taking "seeds" from another crystallis, placing it into the Sora, and feeding it with arcane energy. The seed will then begin to slowly grow, accumulating mass and expanding gradually over time. The exact method of initiating this growth is a secret the Archive does not share.

Capabilities

By far the most powerful soracraft known, crystalles possess numerous capabilities far beyond what other ships are capable of. The most well known, and feared, is their ability to generate a powerful energy blast which is capable of lancing through the Sora from a distance of at least a mile away, well outside the engagement range of any other soracraft. Each of the crystallis's six vertices generates an individual beam, which can either be fired singularly to disable or heavily damage soracraft, or combined into one larger beam which can easily destroy all but the most heavily armored soraships and largest lepicephs.
Less destructive, yet arguably just as impressive, is the sheer survivability of crystalles. They can travel through chaotic and dangerous Sora seemingly without fear. Without the need to rely on eddies for travel through the Sora, they can travel much more quickly between realms that may be spatially proximate but not directly connected via eddies. This also means they can easily monitor the movements of other soracraft without being detected, ambush foes from any direction, and flee without fear of being followed in the rare event of a threat. This strength means it is virtually immune to conventional weaponry from other soracraft. Reports from the Archive-Doflein War tell of heavy Confederacy soracraft attempting to ram the defending crystallis, only for their hulls to shatter against the seemingly fragile arms without any apparent damage to the crystallis.
Finally, crystalles are capable of traveling much faster than even much smaller soracraft, capable of sustaining speeds up to 4000 miles per second. A crystallis can reach this maximum speed in under ten seconds and can decelerate just as quickly. Combined with the crystallis's ability to freely rotate, this provides extraordinary maneuverability, allowing them to completely change direction in a less than a minute.