Magnetech Sky-Ships

The title image here represents a unique type of Sky-ship, known as a Wingsailer. These do keep cloth sails which will be deployed if they intend an amphibious transition, that is they will be landing in water and transitioning to ordinary sailing. These are obscenely expensive to make, so much so that only 6 exist, three of which are owned by the Wastonian navy, another two by the Suranthi Navy, and to the ultimate shame of both nations, one is still at large, a stolen prototype of the latest model, now christened the Sea Bitch by the darken elf pirate captain who took her. Sky piracy is a lucrative if risky business, but the idea of being able to indulge in regular and sky piracy with the same ship? Priceless.

"The uproar and protests against the implemention of Magnetech Engines to allow airborne propulsion was fiercer than one might at first suspect. It genuinely caused a lot of social discourse and uproar, particularly amongst those whom lived within shouting distance of where Sky-ports were to be built, as the noise and extra traffic it would entail were of great concern and a cause of discontentment for many. Strikes, protests, sabotage and more plagued the projects to build proper Sky-Ports in many a city across Valerick. However the march of progress, whilst it can be slowed, it cannot be halted. Nowadays they are an accepted and regular part of day to day life. Sure bleeding hearts still exist whom like to raise a stink somewhat regularly, particularly those folks whom live next door to where these Sky-Ports were built, for their property values and quality of life have apparently dropped notably with the constant humming and buzzing of the Magicore Engines, and the various heavy equipment used at the Sky-ports, as well the occasional risk of minor discomfort or injury and property damage from the manna ventings overhead. But such folk do not understand some sacrifices are necessary for progress!"

Tamia Fitzobagy, a Magicore Engineer, voicing her opinions in her cups at one of the bars in Rydan's Sky-Port.

Sky-ships have been a net positive to life in Valerick and that is not really a debatable statement. Between the swiftness of military deployment it has allowed nations to defend their people from monsters, raids from beastmen, greenskins or the like, or even larger oppositions and organized incursions, as well as the swiftness it has allowed in shipping vital goods or for travel, it has been a net positive. However like all such technological advancements, no such boons come for free.

Power Generation

Sky-ships come in a wide variety of sizes for a variety of roles and tasks in today's day and age, however their power is generated by means shared and the same, that of the Magicore Engine. This complex piece of technology allows machinery to harness and tap into the raw energies of creation, utilizing small shards of pure manna crystal, eight in total, one of each type, and a large core of a Mithrium-Obsidian alloy, the mixture of the alloy needing to be balanced exactly. The natural pushback of the obsidian combined with the natural affinity for manna mithrium has at the right ratio, creates a core that will cause the shards of manna to simply orbit around it, seeming to float and rotate in predetermined paths based on their affinities and resistances to each other. These delicate engines seem to provide near nigh infinite energy over time, though the volume of energy they produce at every given moment is limited based on the size of the overall engine. Furthermore it is noted that these engines experience diminished returns if the core gets over 0.5 meters in diameter, and have their peak returns between 0.3-0.4 meters in diameter and as such, generally they do not get much bigger. Most Sky-Ships run with three engines, but only ever need two of them engaged at a time, the third being simply a back up and a rotational engine to utilize to allow proper calibration cycles. Some of the bigger classes of Sky-ship run with four or even five engines however, needing at least three of them running for regular travel.

These engines were one of the many reasons for the pushback, as when operating and powering Sky-Ship manna sail assemblies, they give off a near constant and echoing drone that though not easy to hear when above it or at altitude or upon the vessel, is very audible and a near constant sound below it, able to be heard for several hundred feet of distance or more.

Propulsion

All Sky-ships seem to have masts, as well as similar structures that can be extended from their hulls. These are the manna sail assemblies, and these nodes and the vents and mithrium coated steel framing of them play an interconnected role in how they work. The core generates manna of all sorts fed through copper-obsidian tubing, keeping it from bleeding through the tubing, keeping it contained, where it it is filtered and sorted by runecrafted steel rods designed to draw in a specific type of manna and store it in a mithrium core. Each type of manna plays roles for all manner of settings both within the Sky-Ship and in its propulsion. Aier is always being vented and used the manna sails needing it consistently to stay airborne. Fire is utilized to speed up rapidly, Water is used to execute swift and rapid maneuvors, being channeled to the sails on the side of the ship opposite of that which you wish to turn. So to bank hard to port side youd flood the starboard sails with Uisce. Earth is to descend rapidly, and channeling forth extra Aeir, that is how you climb rapidly. Meanma or spirit is used to power limited magick shielding on military vessels, but is also utilized for slower acceleration once the initial take off and climb are done, helping limit the amount of air manna needed, helping resist friction, and cut down air resistance. Nature helps keep the cabins and even a bubble about the top deck liveable and comfortable, in concert with fire, water and air as needed for temperature control and comfort breathing. Shadow helps keep the sun from disrupting the manna sails, the darkness absorbing its natural energy and excess fire manna, choking it in the onyx flows of its current, and thusly when flying at high altitudes Scath is vital to keep good control of the ship. Shadow is also used for stealth applications on military Sky-Ships. Entropy is merely stored in stasis, and through a lot of complex magi-mechanic structures, it can be used as an emergency reserve of whichever type of manna you may find yourself in need of, unleashing it through a system that agitates it in specific ways to force the cycle of death and rebirth of the energy into the type required.

This interconnected and highly complex system sees Sky-Ship operation be one of the most high skill and high danger fields from top to bottom on Valerick. Even the lowest crew member needs to be capable of operating basic controls and the many emergency shutoffs and safety valves, and even the lowest crew member is paid handsomely, given the dangers they are accepting. That said, in this modern age, sky-ships are actually quite safe, though likely targets for both sky-piracy and monster attacks and as such it is not uncommon for there to be small amounts of military and hired mercanary types aboard any given Sky-Ship.

The Manna Sail Propulsion Systems, or MSPS, is well known and loathed, for its need to vent excess energy as one makes the last few hundred feet to dock, as they begin powering down the engines. This is because the storage nodules mentioned previously are not constructed in such a way where leaving them so heavily charged with manna for long periods is very safe. It is an unfortunate truth that those neighborhoods so cursed as to have been neighboring areas where Sky-Ports were built get regular dumpings of excess bursts of manna over their homes. Whilst the volumes to which this happens by all offical accounts are Safe, and within acceptable exposure limits and will dissipate to swiftly to be of risk. the reality is this has never fully been the case of course. These propulsion systems and the dangers and damages occasionally caused by their venting, such as sudden fires, unexplained partial building collapses, or even in one bad case that has been documented, the sudden rising of a dozen or so skeletons and zombies from a graveyard, have always and continue to be a sticking point that regularly causes episodes of social anger, unrest and upheaval.

Some rules and regulations have come from this, such as minimum altitudes required for manna bleedoff, as well as a hard and fast rule about venting raw Lobhadh (Entropy) after the incident in Geata-Iarainn with the graveyard, but by and large they are either empty motions to appease complaints, but with no real consequence, or mostly unenforceable, or simply political double speak, that is to say non measures claiming with flowery language that they do something but in reality don't really do anything at all.