Sandship

Pah! I will take a sea worthy vessel over that landlocked tub any day!

Captain Honeyfart

The first sandship was invented in 2298 AC by Captain Ginfiend, a pirate working the west coast of Tangearin. It is said that when his vessel wrecked on the shores of the Sandswept Wastes that he spent the blood of half his crew to empower and tether a levitation spell strong to lift his ship onto the sands. He then set about becoming a menace throughout the wastes, being far swifter and better armed then the caravans that previously traversed the wastes.

The idea of creating a ship light enough to hover over or plough through the sands caught on though with the nomadic peoples and later the empires adjacent to the desert. Despite the many different styles though, over the two hundred years since Ginfiend's initial construction Sandships became a prominent aspect of the desert.

Forms

Sandships have been constructed using a variety of materials. Wooden ships tend to have the best speed and agility although they are weaker when entering into a fight.

Ironclads are much sturdier and most warships are to some extent iron clad but they are less agile and harder to levitate. Most iron clads use transmutation magic to allow them to almost sail through the dunes.

Most sandships use sails for propulsion but smaller vessels, particularly raiding vessels, can use oars or poles over shorter distances. A few ships even have magical propulsion, giant engines that create magical currents to follow. Most of these ships are more experimental then practical and those that have experienced problems were shortly consumed in explosions of magical energy. Only the Sandpack are known to routinely use magical powered ships with the risks they entail.

by Arimel using Midjourney

Related vehicles
Airships