Starfaring Engines
Natural and magical engines that drive starfaring ships
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A starfaring engine is a natural or magical engine that drives a starfaring ship. Engines are created (or evolved) to navigate the Airts, which are naturally-occurring currents of time, space, magic and gravity that connect all celestial bodies. Without a starfaring engine, a ship is simply a seabound or earthbound craft. It will not hold air within an Etheric Membrane, and it will not be able to make use of the Airts for motive force.
A Star-Pilot bonds with the "consciousness" of the starfaring ship to direct its course, and uses their own magical, psionic, psychic, or life-energy as a source of power for the engine's operation.
Types of Starfaring Engines
Starfaring engines come in two varieties, operational by use of a variety of Helms, which are interfaces that draw upon different kinds of energy to power the motive functions of a ship.Starseed Engines
In Shaundar’s opinion, that was the most beautiful part of the magic of starfaring. The bond between the Pilot and the living intelligence of the Starseeds that formed their ships was truly unique. Pilots caught glimpses of infinity through the symbiotic link they shared when they manned a ship’s helm. And a Pilot’s ability to see and sense the Airts that wound through the Void like river currents, guided the ship through space at incredible speeds; much faster than the seeds drifted on their own. The guidance of a Pilot could correct for eddies and current changes that a Starseed drifting alone could not, or even take advantage of faster currents by redirecting the craft on a different course. Shaundar privately suspected this was the real reason the Starseeds consented to being used in such a fashion, though his instructors at Aces High had thought he was being fanciful.Starseeds naturally contain a starfaring engine that is a necessary component of its reproductive cycle. The starfaring engine of a Starseed is an integral part of its structure, and destroying it would require significant damage to the entire Starseed. However, a Starseed has a limited number of interfaces, or Helms , that are restricted by its size and age.
Spindizzy Engines
The Pilothouse was even stranger. The helm chair seemed normal enough. It was just a big, overstuffed chair, spiderwebbed with wires connecting it and the Pilot to the spindizzy engine, though it was bigger than Shaundar was used to so as to accommodate an orc’s larger frame.Spindizzy engines are artificially-created starfaring engines that involve the use of rare alchemical ingredients, and meticulous enchantments, in their construction. Unlike a Starseed engine, they are localized within a craft, and it is possible, though difficult, to destroy the engine without necessarily destroying the craft or its helm.
Utility
Starfaring engines are used to propel spacecraft through the Void by sailing on the stellar and interstellar Airts . They accomplish this by creating a bubble of consistent timespace that captures and pressurizes air. Naturalists believe that Starseeds are capable of utilizing either solar energy, radiation, or their own life energy to power their own engines, but the energy of a Star-Pilot is more efficient, and doesn't require a Starseed to divert energy from its other life functions.
There is no known way to misuse a Starseed engine. However, spindizzies are subject to considerably greater utility, particularly for a fiendish imagination.
Gravitational Anchors
They bounded along in the lesser gravity, following Captain Madrimlian’s lead. They didn’t go far. He led them to another crystal formation—or was this one actually ice?—less than a hundred feet from where Shaundar had set their pinnace down. Shaundar felt the pull of the embedded spindizzies that created earthlike gravitational forces on the base long before he saw anything.Spindizzies can also be used to provide air and gravity by creating an Etheric Membrane and Gravity Wells in areas that do not naturally have earthlike gravity or air pressure. Their most common secondary use is in establishing settlements on smaller bodies, such as asteroids or dwarven mountains. In at least one case a sequence of spindizzies spinning in tandem has been used to propel an asteroid through space like a giant spacecraft. Since a spindizzy also creates an etheric membrane, they have also been used to power high-atmosphere floating cities, or provide breathable air for extreme high altitude mountain settlements.
Gravitational Weapons
Goblins and gnomes occasionally try to adapt the arcanology to build gravitational weapons, but these efforts are usually short-lived. The weapons are often as dangerous to their operators as they are to the enemy. Related Technology: Rail GunsSpace Survival Gear
Shaundar pulled at his regulation belt buckle, where a thin layer of mithril, about the diameter of a Nova coin, coated a sliver of starmetal, pressing it against the buckle’s brass. Dad had been very clear that he must never take it off aboardships, just in case he was knocked overboard and exposed to the open vacuum of the Void.A tiny facsimile of a starfaring engine, generally referred to as a Starmetal Talisman , maintains air, air pressure, and a thin barrier against radiation, for a short while outside of atmospheres and gravity wells. It does not generate enough power to be used for starfaring on its own, however.
Manufacturing
Shaping Starseeds for space travel is accomplished via a ritual that involves several archmages working in tandem. The magical power needed for the transformation is considerable, which is why it is the providence of archmages. However, the process itself is a simple matter of directed visualization, using a pool of raised magical energy. Some skill as a shipwright or an engineer is necessary for the best results.
Constructing spindizzies, on the other hand, is an exacting process of carefully shaping and enchanting Starmetal and Mithril into whirling disks. While gnomes and goblins are both prone to experimenting with propellers from time to time, the safest, and most stable, structure is to contain the spindizzy (ranging in size from a saucer for a Picket to a large serving plate for a Dreadnaught ) in an engine room in the bowels of a ship. Traditionally, the engine room is the most well-shielded part of a spacecraft. Most starfaring shipwrights reinforce it with brass, both for extra armour, and for extra protection against an accidental electrical discharge if the engine room is struck in a collision, or by incoming fire.
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Active Spindizzy by Anonymous
The Sounds of Starfaring Engines
Tendrils of sinister red light snaked their way out of the death-engine and began to graft themselves to his blood vessels like macabre veins of their own. A low-pitched heartbeat thrumming echoed throughout the ship, only it was a keening funeral dirge instead of the life-affirming thrum of a spindizzy, or the crystal song of a Starseed.Active starfaring engines make different sounds as they travel through space. A Starseed engine sounds a bit like a large crystal bowl, or rubbing a wine glass that has been pitched down to a tenor or baritone octave. The sound made by an operational spindizzy largely depends on the kind of helm used to power and direct it.
The sounds of a starfaring engine moving through space.
Access & Availability
Starseeds are a closely guarded secret of the Avalonian Imperial Navy. They ruthlessly defend all known Trees of Life and their craft. It is well known that elves will kill other starfarers in their attempts to commandeer any stray Starseed ships.
On the other hand, both gnomes and goblins are happy to sell spindizzies to anyone who wants them...provided they have the necessary cash, of course. Since starfaring engines of some kind are necessary for space travel, spindizzies are relatively common.
Complexity
From one perspective, despite the awesome power of starfaring engines, they are a relatively simple arcanology. Enchanted sails can make it easier to maneuver a starfaring ship once a starfaring engine is present, but they are not strictly necessary.
From another perspective, the arcanology of starfaring engines is astoundingly complex. The effect seems pretty straightforward, and anybody can use it, but how it does it is a matter for the sages. Effectively, according to the theories of Alberdingk Onestone , a starfaring engine creates a timespacel bubble; a compact wave that maintains its shape and moves at constant velocity.
Discovery
The elves first discovered starfaring engines when they discovered the natural properties of Starseeds, which are the seeds that come from a Tree of Life. As part of their natural lifecycle, Starseeds traverse the Airts to find places to root and grow. Elves quickly learned that by joining in a symbiotic link with a Starseed, they could help to direct its course of travel. Further research by archmages led to the shaping of Starseeds to make them more streamlined, and the discovery that adding enchanted sails could make the maneuvering of starfaring ships even more precise.
Lacking access to Starseeds, enterprising goblins (or gnomes) tried to recreate their effects, and spindizzy engines were the result of that research.
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