Liftcoach
A liftcoach is a primitive form of transport airship which relies on hot air envelopes to lighten loads, hover over difficult terrain, and cross commissures when transporting people and cargo.
Description
A liftcoach looks a little bit like an extended stagecoach. The forward section houses the crew in a shared bunkhouse, while a matching compartment in the rear houses the passengers. The middle section of the vehicle contains a cargo hold and a set of tanks full of the vegetable oil fuel that keeps the torches lit. The top of the vehicle features a flight deck ringed with safety rails, which were often ornately carved for aesthetic purposes. A web of rigging allows crew members working on this deck to control the gas envelope, while a podium two-thirds of the way to the front of the deck contains controls for the liftcoach's brakes, wheel steering, and torch assemblies.History
First invented around 7900 AX, shortly after the human discovery of aerostat technology in 7864 AX, the liftcoach represented a sea-change in inter-cube travel and logistics in its day. At that time, the liftcoach was almost entirely a human artifice; the verdials had sporeships by then, while the Rostrans had their own hot air balloons and the advantaged of a well-developed maritime trade infrastructure. As of the year 10,000 AR, the liftcoach has been all but completely superseded by more advanced aircraft which boast higher lift capacities, higher operational ceilings, and even the ability to cross inflection layers. Nevertheless, the historical significance of the vehicle in the late exploration, colonization, and interconnection of The Human Arc cannot be overstated.Propulsion
A liftcoach was supported by a large lift envelope, which is kept warm by vegetable oil torches with thin secondary radiator coils to keep the heating evenly distributed. Liftcoaches were never meant to fly high, the natural buoyancy of the hot air in the envelope being used primarily to float over long patches of rough terrain without having to bump through or circumnavigate them. In doing so, liftcoaches could take advantage of 'as-the-crow-flies' directions provided by their on-board representatives of the Navigator's Guild to travel at much greater speeds with much greater endurance than ground-based vehicles or mounts.
Attitude control involved opening or closing flaps between envelope compartments and varying the oil flow rate, allowing one portion of the envelope to cool or warm relative to others. When traversing commissures without the aid of a commissure transit station, this allowed the vehicle to re-orient itself to the gravity of the cube it was travelling towards independent of ground contact. By avoiding the need to traverse the long and treacherous commissure wall trails, liftcoaches could make the crossing in a fraction of the time of conventional rolling coaches.
The liftcoach was invented before the times of Steamtech and Dieseltech, meaning that much of its motive force had to be provided through animal power - namely, the physical labor of the human crew or, when still in settled territories, by dray animals. Numerous ropes and long wooden poles were included in a liftcoach's kit to permit various modes of pulling, dragging, or pushing along the terrain. When none of these modes of propulsion are available (i.e. when fording a canyon), a wooden prop - powered by the feet of the crew, as in the much later skymoth - allows for a limited degree of controlled flight independent of any ground-based assistance at all.
The rigging for everything except for the burners themselves were an assemblage of ropes, nets, and pulleys reminiscent of those found on a sailing vessel. As with sailing vessels in places with large expanses of water (such as the Rostran Archipelago Confederacy), operating a liftcoach was hard physical work that requires a degree of specialized knowledge. Even the Navigator and his NavGuard were expected to put in work, as failing to react to changing weather or terrain conditions could cause delays at best or a fatal collision or fall at worst. When all else failed, the crew was trained to level the vehicle with the ground, land on its stagecoach-like wheels, and apply parking brakes and anchors to arrest any further lateral movement.
Weapons & Armament
Very few liftcoaches were ever armed, instead relying on the coach guns of their crew for travel security. In a few rare cases, the central cargo section was emptied to make room for a rotary gun and attendant ammo reserves so that the crew could engage with Elovisian raiders on their own terms.
Additional & auxiliary systems
Lighting in the crew compartment, passenger compartment, and the top deck was provided by enclosed vegetable oil lanterns.
Nickname
Lift stage
Related Professions
Rarity
Uncommon
Width
10' (crewed section)
Length
30' (crewed section)
Height
10' (crewed section)
Speed
10-15 mph, depending on prevailing winds
Cargo & Passenger Capacity
16 passengers (short duration), or 4 passengers (long duration), plus all baggage
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