The Harani took to the skies with very little in the way of armaments. Really the crew only had a few handheld weapons to use in their defense. They didn't expect to encounter any large resistance and certainly no hostile skyships. After that it became an unspoken rule that the nations wouldn't militarize the skies, a rule that lasted for decades.— Nim, Half a Century of Skyships
Dangerous Skies
Thirty-four years passed between the maiden voyage of the
first skyship and the completion of the Kiirn. In that time the skies had become increasingly dangerous.
Bral had launched attacks in the
colonies, new hazards had been discovered among the skies, and - most importantly - various stolen
skyships had united to become the
Stormfleet pirate group. The
Burim Council needed a way to ensure the safety of their ships, cargo, and hold on their
colonies. With that in mind, the Kiirn was built differently that her predecessors.
A New Ship for a New Age
The Kiirn was built in the utmost secrecy, not even the
Machine Priests saw it until they installed the
floatdrive. Resdesigned from the bow to the rudder, the Kiirn was a sturdy ship built to haul not only vast amounts cargo but also to carry the immense weight of cannons.
The other nations were not concerned with the increased resilience of the ships - which they had also been working to improve - only with the inclusion of arms designed to take out other
skyships. They also feared that it could be used to attack any of the settlements built near the edges of the skyislands - some were worried that
Darapur itself would be attacked.
Protests in the Streets
While some people of
Burim - such as a young
Karnaster Evulbrung - objected to their government's breaking of the unspoken rule most followed their leader's rhetoric about how the interests of
Burim needed to be protected. As the word got out, the people of the other nations took to the streets demanding that the Kiirn be taken out of commission or that they begin to outfit their ships with weapons as well.
For many who had a say in the comissioning and constructing of
skyships this was the excuse they needed to begin building combat-capable vessels and retrofitting older ones to at least have the option to carry cannons. It wasn't long before every
skyship was at least capable of combat - save one. The
Harani and her crew were lost and was never equipped with ship-to-ship weapons; some say this is how she remained the one ship that truly embodied the spirit of exploration.
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