Airships and Aircraft

AIRSHIPS

In 2150, Airships reign supreme. In a world where where the ground is dangerous, space for runways at a premium and factories almost non-existant, airships - which can be largely hand-crafted and are relatively easy to repair - are the vehicle of choice. Most airships conform to the same pattern - a ship-like wooden hull strung beneath a streamlined cylindrigal gas-bag. Some of the bigger airships have rigid hulls, but most are blimps, their gas-bags kept in shape by gas pressure. Most have individual gas cells within, so that a puncture does not lead to the loss of all lifting gas, and many have outer skins made of Calgorite, a rubber-like material which is "self-sealing", naturally expanding and bonding together to close small punctures such as thsoe caused by bullets.

Most airships are lifted by helium, much safer than inflammable hydrogen (though the latter is cheaper). They are usually propelled by either steam engines (fueled with easily obtainable wood or more expensive but more efficient coal), or by diesel or gasoline engines. Many augment their engines with sails, extending their range as long as the winds are blowing in the right direction. Some of the more experimental ships augment their lift with steam and or hot smoke from steam engines, or hot exhaust feums from diesel engines.

Though the airships of 2150 look ramshackle and hand-built, they are often remarkably sophisticated, as the people who bild them, and nurse their often idiosynchratic systems, are masters of the art of lighter-than-air flight. They have developed systems of ballast control and pressure regulation which put the more sleek-looking airships of previous eras to shame, and what the airships lack in technical refinement is more than made up for by the expertise of their crews.

The only parts of an airship which can't easily be hand-built are the engines. While Jervis & Bottingly and a few other Skyloft companies (all of them small, traditional family firms) produce a range of relatively efficient steam engines, most diesel and gasoline engines are reclaimed from pre-apocalypse vehicles and tinkered with to fit their new roles. TO an airship pirate, a small, light, efficient diesel engine is a find worth more than gold.

AIRSHIPS OF THE SKYLOFT: In the Skyloft, no two airships are alike. Though there are shipyards which produce standard designs, owners of airships take pride in customizing their craft and making "improvements" whether it be to speed, lift capacity, weapons capability or interior luxury. Some insist on building their own airships from scratch. Others will buy a standard ship from one of the big shipbuilding companies of Isla Aether and tinker with it so that within six months a sleek design such as Jervis & Bottingly's popular "Tigerfish" Model is bristling with extra engines, gun ports, sails, grappling-hook launchers and the like, and is almost unrecognizable to the initiated. Some still will purchase a hulk from a junkyard and refurbish it.

That said, there are very few within the Skyloft who are uninitiated when it comes to airships. From the schoolyard to the bar-room to the retirement home, ntohing is more guaranteed to encourage excited conversation than airships - lift capacity, aerodynamics, the latest helium valve, Captain "Crazy" Eagle's for'ard fin design. Everone has an opinion and things often get heated, particularly where alcohol is also involved. People in High Tortuga still speak in awed tones of the Great Brawl of 2147, which took in seven bars, led to the serious injury of a hundred-and-thirty-seven people and began as an argument over the relative merits of water and sand as ballast.

The Neobedouin have been wont to say if all the hot air spoken about airships by Skyfolk could be collected, they'd never need to buy helium again.

Below are a number of airships, with full statistics. Useful for players and enemies.

BASIC JERVIS & BOTTINGLY TIGERFISH CLASS

Handling: Fair
Movement: 100 MPH
Armor: Light
Crew: 50
Range: 1000 Miles
Cost: He14,000
Resources: (to be added)
Weapons: (to be added)

This airship, built in the famous Jervis & Bottingly shipyards in Isla Aether, is very popular with pirates and small traders. It has plenty of space for adding resources, is frequently customized by Skyfolk and is a common sight in the skies of 2150. Its customizability makes this class popular with pirate captains in the dawn of their careers looking to make a name for themselves.

BASIC JERVIS & BOTTINGLY BARRACUDA CLASS

Handling: Good
Movement: 130 MPH
Armor: Good
Crew: 100
Range: 1500 Miles
Cost: He20,000
Resources (to be added)
Weapons: (to be added)

Often used by merchants and traders, this hull can also easily be customized as a heavily armed pirate or privateer. It is often used by some of the larger pirate and mercenary combines, being able to outmaneuver an IAN frigate and prey on smaller ships.


THE PIRATE SHIP TRANQUILITY "TIGERFISH" CLASS

Handling: Good
Movement: 130 MPH/175 MPH*
Armor: Medium
Crew: 50
Range: 1500 Miles
Cost: You don't want to know.
Resources: 20 small cannons, 4 Grappling Hooks, Luxurious Cabin, Standard Cabins, Weapons Locker, Sickbay, retractable dock for one Guppy class airboat.
Weapons: 20 small cannons (10 on each side), Lightning Gun with turntable (fore), 2 Steam Gatlings with turntables (starboard and port).

*Speed with the rocket boosters engaged.

Once a barely-airworthy hulk sitting in a junkyard, this vessel was rebuilt and heavily modified by Captain John Storm and while she may not look like much, she's got it where it counts. She is deceptively fast and agile thanks to her modified steering and engines. The modifications provide greater speed and range as well as a surprising amount of firepower with the addition of fore and aft Lightning Guns and port and starboard Steam Gatlings. She is also specially-equipped with rocket boosters for daring and dramatic escapes.

Unfortunately the boosters appear to have a mind of their own, as they do not always work when they really need to.

HMS INDIFATIGABLE (TYPICAL IAN FRIGATE)

Handling: Good
Movement: 110 MPH
Armor: Heavy
Crew: 150
Range: 3000 Miles
Fixed Marine Quarters: 150
Cost: He,50,000
Resources: 40 Large Cabins, 2 Grappling Hooks, Luxurious Cabin, 6 Standard Cabins,
Free Cargo Space: Modular, sometimes used to house extra marines
Weapons: 40 Large Cannons

The Indifatigable is representative of the most commonly-used patrol ships of the IAN. With better firepower than most pirate ships, and plenty of space for Air Marines, it is a formidable vessel. This ship type is also the basis of the feared black frigates of the Chuno Ggun, who add 10 Automaton Mounts. The black frigates have extremely quiet engines and are black all over, including sails and rigging!

HMS LEVIATHAN (PROTOTYPE LEVIATHAN CLASS DREADNAUGHT)

Handling: Good
Movement: 80 MPH
Armor: Heavy
Crew: 250
Range: 8,000 Miles
Fixed Marine Quarters: 225
Cost: He150,000
Resources: 75 large cabins, 4 grappling hooks, 2 Luxurious Cabins, 12 Standard Cabins
Free Cargo Space: Modular
Weapons: 80 Large Cannons, 10 Steam Gatlings with turntables, 2 Lightning Guns (fore and aft) with turntables. Greek Fire.

Fresh off the line and twice as large and heavily armed as an IAN Frigate, the Dreadnaught zeppelin Leviathan (also known as The Emperor's Hammer) is already considered the powerhouse of the skies despite having zero combat experience, While she may be used to remind people of the Emperor's power now, there is no doubt that the balance of power in the sky has shifted to the Neovictorians, and there are senior Admirals in the IAN who quietly hope that she is a sign that the time to finally do away with those meddlesome Skyfolk once and for all is soon and that as Victor III's muscle, she will get to be exercised instead of merely being flexed for a change. Most people on both sides still believe she was only intended to make the Skyfolk flinch in their ongoing staredown with the Empire, but there are those on both sides who believe that the coundown to the first large scale war in 300 years has already begun...

Engraved on Leviathan's bow are the words "Spes Omnes Relinquite", which is latin for "Abandon All Hope".

BASIC JERVIS & BOTTINGLY "GUPPY"

Handling: Satisfactory
Movement: 50 mph
Armor: Very light
Crew 2 (and up to 6 passengers)
Range: 20 miles
Cost: He1,000
Resources: (to be added)
Weapons: (to be added)

This small airboat is often used to travel short distances. Some larger airships have an airboat which they use to transport small numbers of crew between airship and docks or between different airships within a fleet. The IAN has a very similar design, which is often used for ferrying officers about. Resource space is often kept for cargo, though a small cannon may be fitted instead, facing forward.

PORTNOY PATENT PORTABLE DIRIGIBLE

Handling: Good
Movement: 46 mph
Armor: None
Crew: 0
Range: 20 miles
Cost: He100
Resources: None
Weapons: None

Whether it be for business or pleasure, the Portnoy Patent Portable Dirigible is the ultimate in personal transportation systems. With an envelope of finest silk with "Self-healing" Calgorite, an ingeniously holding frame of hand-crafted spruce, and the smallest electrical propulsion system yet devised, the Portnoy can be packed small enough to fit in a single suitcase. Yet, when inflated from the nearest public helium dispenser, you can be in the air in less than fifteen minutes, and this little aerial runabout can travel in excess of forty-five miles per hour! No more waiting for the airferry, with a Portnoy, the sky is yours!

Already, our little aerial miracle is famed in song and dance - visitors to Mrs. Haversham's Tea and Opium Rooms in High Tortuga are already "Doing the Portnoy" and cylinders of the dancefloor hit, performed by the Salamander Swing Orchestra are selling like hot pastries!

The Patent Portable Dirigible from Jervis & Bottingly - Do the Portnoy!

NEW! The Portnoy now comes in a range of colors, from lemon yellow to midnight black. Order your favorite today!

Warning: Stated speed is in calm weather. Vehicle may not be practical in adverse meteorological conditions. Always check local by-laws, air traffic control regulations may prohibit use of personal aerial vehicles within sky-city limits. Ladies and infirm gentlemen may require a manservant to carry the vehicle when folded. Ballast not included.

AIRCRAFT

Biplane/Triplane:

(the first set of stats is for the biplane, the second for the triplane)

Handling: Good/Very Good
Movement: 80 mph/100 mph
Armor: Light/Light
Passengers: 2/3
Range: 100 miles (diesel)
Cost: He500/600
Weapons: Forward-firing Steam Gatling

These small, maneuverable aircraft are rare, since there are few sky cities large enough to have runways, and few pilots want to land in the wilderness. Isla Aether, for instance has a short runway with a catapult to launch aircraft and arresting wires to bring them to a rapid halt when they land. Biplanes and Triplanes are sometimes used by larger sky cities for defense, and the occasional Neobedouin tribe (particularly those living in flat desert regions) may have a single aircraft which it uses for scouting. The main difference between the two-winged biplanes and the three-winged triplanes is their speed and maneuverability.

Microlite:

Handling: Good
Movement: 40 mph
Armor: None
Passengers: 1
Range: 20 miles (diesel)
Cost: He40
Weapons: None

This is basically a kite with an engine, able to carry a single person relatively slowly. Cannot be used in bad weather conditions. Many SKyloft kids make one of these as a teenage project, and not all of them survive their own craftsmanship.