Ships and Navies

A starship is typically any vessel capable of using dive-drives for interplanetary travel. Most make use of a Dive Drive to help bridge the vastness between the worlds of Tau Elpis system.

Starship Types

Shuttles & Fighters

Larger vessels struggle in atmospheric conditions (though a few pieces of Magitek allow for energy atmo-shields to be deployed and greatly increase a ship's heat resistance and aerodynamism within an atmosphere.
Shuttles are cheap ways of solve this planetary 'last mile' problem - typically they are best used to move smaller amounts of materials between orbital stations and groundside colonies, or even for intraplanetary travel. Fighters are not much different - but they are built around their armaments. Often, these small, nimble vessels do not even have a dive-drive of their own, and must rely on orbital infrastructure or carriers.

Merchant Heavies

Large freighters are not the main way to transport cargo within Tau Elpis - tech limitations on dive-drives and logistical nightmares see to that. Instead, merchant conglomerates and free traders alike make use of fleets of medium-sized vessels with deep cargo holds and manageable mass and size for everyday dive-drive assemblies. These vessels, called 'Merchant Heavies' are not particularly good in combat, and merchant fleets often modify a few ships to serve as patrol boats and provide cursory protection. The ships' small size is useful to solve the 'last mile' problem cheaply, as they can simply go from hub to planetside hub without requiring cargo transfers. One popular mid-size operator - smaller than corporate freight-lords, larger than individual crews- is the up-and-coming company Starlyft, Inc.

Frigates & Corvettes

The mainstay of any conglomerate, pirate crew, or orbital station is the frigate (and, for particularly beefy entities, the corvette). Frigates are smaller and nimble vessels despite their thick armour and corvettes are slightly larger. Spacers will gladly debate where the boundary between both types is, but all agree that life aboard one of these vessels is spartan at best, since so much space is given over to free mass, armaments, and armour.

Bulk Freighters

Ever threatening to put free merchants out of a job, bulk freighters are rather uncommon in Tau Elpis, as their sheer mass (even unladen) is extremely difficult for a fission-powered dive-drive assembly to cope with. Fusion plants and higher-grade electrical couplings might allow for such freighters to exist, at least on heavily travelled routes, but even the largest shipping corporations do not have the deep pockets needed for such vessels - especially when these ships come with built-in costs, such as larger crews and the costly necessity to transfer cargo to Merchant Heavies at orbital ports anyway.

Battleships & Carriers

Battleships and larger carriers are a relatively recent development - the result of an undeclared arms race between the major polities of Tau Elpis. All such vessels belong to the Domain, Councilor Coalition of Stars. The fusion plants which take up much of these behemoths allow their operations to drastically expand their reach across the system. Carriers generally share the same hulls (if slightly smaller) but the extra mass of the fusion plant is replaced with a conventional fission assembly, lower-grade dive-drive, and increased space for shuttles or fighters.

Common Starship Elements

Many vessels rely on their sensors, dive regulators and nav computer to chart routes and make sense of the different orbitals across Tau Elpis. A few vessels even fit VI's to their navcons. Several vessels boast automation support, so that few crew truly are needed. However, whilst perfectly unmanned spacecraft are possible, such vessels tend not to be very common. All but the largest ships are also fitted with atmo-shields. When fitted in atmospheric configuration, the peculiar magitek modulates to create energy barriers which help create aerodynamic conditions for planetside vessels.
All ships are equipped with fission (or in some expensive cases, fusion) reactors. Primary thrust is provided by fission or fusion torches. Atmonav and course addjustments is done using ion drives, which use charged particles as a reaction mass. They are extremely efficient, but produce negligible thrust.

Generations & Regional Differences

First Generation

Before the Hestian Rush , there was little space travel to speak of. Resources were being conserved and intraplanetary transport became a priority, especially given the general lack of Thaumium necessary for dive-drives and dwindling amount of Programmable Matter. The ships that did fly were brought aboard the Embassy Ark, and often converted in-situ. With few assembly lines to speak of, for some time the fleets of this era looked to belong to an earlier technological age.

Second Generation

The Hestian Rush allowed the system to wean themselves off Programmable Matter and the establishment of deep-space bases allowed for a steady stream of resources to the inner worlds. By foregoing the predicted loss of interplanetary travel, the Rush allowed for (and provided the economic incentive for) new starships and shipyards to be built. This has resulted in a standardization, but many regional variants exist.

Coalition Fleets

Oweing to Hakaria's economic advantage, most vessels in the Inner planets are of Hiderid Coalition of Stars design. Several manufacturers occupy the three shipyards that orbit the Hiderid colony, each differing in the types of vessels and general looks they offer. At such there is no unified Coalition 'look' - simply a collection of powerful manufacturers who, in the last 70 Cycles, have pushed to keep Hakaria and the rest of the system spaceborne in style.
Here are a few manufacturers :

• Archer Corp : Their ships are sleek transport yachts, aimed squarely at the passenger market.
• Atomikon Dynamics : A pre-Jump manufacturer with a focus on bulky private-military craft.
• Calcuvis : Manufacturer known for the red-and-white schemes on its lavish vessels and fast thrusters - a favourite of scientific outfits.
• Dakak Inc : A weapons manufacturer dabbling in small fighting vessels.
• Yumi Interstellars : Manufacturer known for its bulky, unsightly yet incredibly dependable mining and industry vessels.

Meanwhile, the Hiderid Commerce Navy is the largest military fleet in raw number of vessels - though many of them are tiny escort or system-bound vessels. Coalition ships are noted for conjugating transport and military roles - many cargo ships were armed for defence against pirates, and this naval tradition now shows in the Navy's purpose-built freighter fleet. Increasingly, larger freighter vessels are starting to appear, doubling up as shuttle/fighter carriers or small frigates to deter pirates.

The SS Leaky Bucket is a good example of Hiderid/Coalition design.

Boshaari Fleets

The Boshaari Council is perhaps an exception to Coalition hegemony. Much as Elderia seeks to develop to become Hakaria's equal, Boshaari ships are produced in Aistanar's one shipyard at Hyporia Station. Only a couple of manufacturers hold a quasi-monopoly on Boshaari vessel designs, and many Boshaari ship's captains tend to rely on them rather than Coalition companies.
Boshaari vessels have elements more reminiscent of submarines. They are built for efficiency of space and maximizing the dive-drive bubble above all else. At such, they are typically small and cramped affairs, and their dual-hull design further reduces living space. Boshaari ships are usually notoriously dimly lit. Shipping makes use of rounded shipping containers, "grapes" of which neatly slot into the outer hull of freighter vessels. The largest Boshaari vessels look more rigid, featuring sub-FTL ion gondolas for navigation and plenty of room for freight within their outer hull. Boshaari magitek being more advanced, Boshaari vessels are generally considered the fastest.

Two Boshaari vessels make way for .Hestia

Mewei Fleets

There is a small maintenance shipyard at Veena Station, but the Mewei Domain generally relies on external sources to build its ships to begin with. Generally, a mixture of Boshaari or Coalition manufacturers are used, giving the Valekeepers' fleet a strange mix of vessels. As a rule of thumb, the Boshaari-built vessels are stealthier whilst Coalition vessels handle freight and heavier operations. Few Mewei own a spacecraft, and those that do tend to buy them off Coalition markets.

Hhrot Fleets

Hhrot Dominion vessels are crude and angular in design, with minimum frills and more room given to armaments. The Hhrot fleet is maintained by the Hhrot Fifth Legion, and serves a dual trade and defence purpose. As the Hhrot interact little with the rest of the Stream, their vessels mostly act as deterrents to pirates and would-be interlopers.

Belter Fleets

Beyond the Hestian Trojans as well as within the Wayward Belt, several Belt groups maintain tiny shipyards, out of which a few starships are built, even though many Belters simply use Inner designs. Hestian-built vessels often resemble those of the first generation - modular, bulky, cramped and generally unreliable - but their general disregard for established naval tradition can make an underdog Belter pirate fleet a surprise to experienced Inner crews.

Non-standard vessels

Clues shedding any light on the former inhabitants of the Elpis system are few and far between. Other than a scattering of ruins on Nufano and across the Wayward Belt, a few space hulks have emerged from the depths of hyperspace. These offer little knowledge on their makers and differ greatly in specs, but they all share esoteric mind-meld interfaces. Dubbed SUM by the Coalition, it seems that their builders were a race of psionic or psychic beings without need for conventional I/O devices such as screens and keyboards. The most famous SUM is the CMS Ninazu, which was retrofitted as the corporate headquarters of the rogue corporation Hexo-geni, before being disabled by the BSS Endeavour.

Cultist ships

In the depths of the Nyx system lurks Electra Station. Little more than a monstrous barnacle-shaped hulk, spinning in orbit of a gas giant, the station was abandonned by an unknown civilization far before the arrival of the Embassy Ark. Nowadays it acts as the headquarters for the secretive technology-worshipping Cult of the Arch-Code. Several ships were seized from the station, all spider-like in design, with several purple "eyes" lining smooth edges and crawly appendages alike. These cultist ships make little sense and defy conventional shipbuilding. They are not particularly strong but they are fast and nimble. They are not often seen, and for good cause - they're usually the last ping a spacer ever wants to receive.