The Pride of Lucrum

The Dangers of Flight

I will never forget the first time I set eyes on the engine of a skyship. Not the casing, the brittle and frail skin of metal over the outside, but the true engine. I was in awe, at the power we had contained there. The heat billowed off and illuminated the whole room like the noontime sun. The second time I saw the engine, it was not in awe. It was in terror.

— Sam Polar, Steel-skinned Gods

Post-War Trading

In the first decades after the Great War, damaged and destroyed islands slowly started recovering. One of the first things to reappear was the trade between the various places of the Blue. A lot of that skyship traffic stayed within the borders of the Empire and the newly-defined Trade Union, but the lucrative stuff was trading across the border. That was what the Pride of Lucrum was doing on its last, fateful voyage.

Retrofitted Imperial Corvette

The Pride of Lucrum itself was a relic of the Great War. Almost all of the industry of the Empire was shifted to produce wartime apparatuses, like the corvettes that fought (and died) in battles all across the Blue. As the war drew to a close, many wounded warships were sent to be scrapped, repaired, or retrofitted for other purposes. Because of this background, the Pride of Lucrum was rather sturdy, for a trading vessel. Still, that did not help her in the end.

Dissappearance

Skyships lost to the skies are unfortunately, still common. Storms and other malfunctions can damage the skyship beyond its ability to remain bouyant. However, few in the modern age are lost with all hands. Due to the increased prevalence of emergency bouys, casualties in such accidents are usually low. Such was not the case for the Pride of Lucrum. Sam Polar, the only survivor of the accident, told investigators that the skyship's plasma containment failed. The skyship detonated, and he was flung clear with only his skyblood sorcery and few pieces of debris to cling to until he was rescued.

"No, no. You mustn't go out to that blasted rock." Stammered the withered old man. "Whatever lies there, let it stay dead and buried. Nothing could ever be gained from the perverse cruelty it exerts on the world."

— Sam Polar, Ice Cold Stars

Sam Polar

The sole survivor of its last voyage, Sam Polar went on to make the most of the tragedy. He wrote several fiction novels, inspired from his time adrift or the accident itself, though he has said in interviews that, of course, he develops ideas further than reality would allow. After becoming independently wealthy - and a minor celebrity - as his works spread across the Blue, he devoted himself to several eccentric projects, before finally vanishing from the public view until his death in his manor home.

Secrets

This article contains secrets, which are unknown by most or all of the people of the Wilde Blue.
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by Midjourney

Sam Polar's Novels

Many of Polar's novels include some reference to the tragedy, as it clearly shaped his entire life. All of his novels included a dedication to the lost crew, most notably Aresius, 'Ducky', Cassius, and Kenneth.