Heshne (Hehʃ-neh)

A Heshne is a type of wooden wheeled vehicle, powered by wind, typically used by small groups of travelers, nomads and bandits.

Description

The largest types are typically smaller than water-based boats. Like them, their hulls and masts are made of wood with flax-fabric sails. A wheel or control stick is used to turn the steering sail, allowing it to turn. Often they have a steering mechnism for turning the front wheels either tied into the main steering, or from a secondary steering mechanism (e.g. foot pedals).

Types

Sailboard

Not considered a Heshne by many, it is a single wheeled board with four wheels and a sail in the center, controlled by a single rider.

Scout

These are small single masted vehicles about 5' long that are driven by 1 single person controlling the sail direction and can carry up to 3 passengers.

Schooner

Typically 10' to 20' long they either a single sail, or two sails in a fore-and-aft rig configuration. and may have multiple crew including besides a pilot a navigator and a lookout.

Uses

Heshne have seen various uses over the centuries.

Personal travel, transport and merchants

Transporting people or goods from one city to another across the desert quickly.

Piracy

Typically with a schooner with a crew of archers, or a series of smaller heshne they patrol need travel points between cities., usually live in hideouts in rocks and either living on smaller water supplies, or off stolen water from raids.

Alternate power

Some more moderen heshne have one or more (depending on the veichle's size) peddles attached to the wheel axel, allowing for ship to be moved even when there is little or not wind.

Military Scouts

Sometimes heshne were used in raids to scout ahead, particularly in hopes to lure out or spot sand assassins so the larger army wouldn't be caught in a trap.

Length

8 to 30 feet

Complement / Crew

1

Cargo & Passenger Capacity

1