Sky ships

A sky ship from the First Age of Flight.

Sky ships were flying vessels used during the First and Third Ages of Flight. They were the primary means of transport and trade in the Edgeworld.

Overview

Sky Ships during the First Age

First Age sky ships were constructed of wood and resembled 17th century sailing ships. In the center of the vessel, a flight-rock was used to maintain buoyancy. The equilibrium could be changed by heating or cooling the rock, where heating it would cause it to sink, and cooling it would cause it to rise. On top of this, to counteract any excess buoyancy, weights of varying masses were hung from the sides. These were used to better control the ship's movement, on top of the sails, which were used to manipulate the ship's direction, and speed according to the wind. Atop the mast was the Caternest, which served as a lookout post. Sky ships came in many varieties. Some, like sky pirate ships and stormchasers, were sleek and fast, with large, high-quality flight-rocks. Some, like sky ferries and sky barges, were tiny, two- or three-seaters with miniscule flight-rocks. Most League ships were massive, cumbersome vessels, with multiple flight rocks or a flight-rock rubble cage.During the First Age of Flight, sky ships played a crucial role in Edgeworld commerce. Due to the danger of traveling across the Twilight Woods and the Mire, transporting goods between Undertown and the Deepwoods over the ground was almost impossible. Thus, most exports were carried on sky ships. When Stone-Sickness attacked the Edge in 39 ᴇ.ʏ., sky ships ceased to function, and the politics and trade of the Edge changed dramatically.

The Stormhornet, a skycraft of the Second Age

Sky Travel in the Second Age

In the Second Age of Flight, sky-travel was only available for selected individuals: Librarian Knights and Slaughterers. Skycrafts were small and were held aloft by the buyancy of the wood instead of by a flight-rock. However, Skycrafts did not provide a real alternative to sky ships.

Sky Ships in the Third Age

The Deadbolt Vulpoon, a phraxship

Large-scale flight was rediscovered in the year 102 ᴇ.ʏ. when Xanth Filatine invented the phrax engine. 'Phraxships' as the new sky ships became known, were made of metal, powered by Stormphrax and didn't require a flight rock, thus making them immune to stone sickness. They could be considered analogous to Steamships in the real world. These new machines heralded the beginning of the Third Age of Flight.

Members of a Sky Ship Crew

  • Captain
  • First Mate
  • Quartermaster
  • Lookout
  • Stone Pilot
  • Guard(s)
  • Cook
  • Ship's doctor
  • Deckhand(s)
  • Harpooneer

Explore a Sky Ship

This is where the captain slept. It was also where he worked when plotting courses.

This consisted of a large ship's wheel to control the rudder and two lines of bone-handled leavers to control the sails and hull weights. It was positioned high up on aft castle for maximum visibility.

Directly below the captain's cabin was the infirmary. This was where sick or injured crew members were looked after, often by the quartermaster.

Generally occupied by either relatives of the captain or paying passengers.

Underneath the infirmary was a room full of weight and cables. This room was where control from the helm passed into the rudder, weights and sails.

Affixed to the back of the aft castle, the rudder was what steered the skyship. It was controlled from the helm by the central wheel.

Access to the aft castle.

Ship's kitchen. Food for the whole crew was prepared here, often by the quartermaster.

The quartermaster slept here.

The aft part of the hold was used to hold the supplies needed to feed and water the crew for the duration of the voyage.

Main article: Logbaits
A log of soft wood was left trailing behind the ship to catch any stray sky-dwelling creatures. Most of these creatures would later be cut up and cooked for food in the galley.

A rope net attached to hull allowed the sky pirates to climb down underneath the ship to fix tangled weights and other common problems that occurred during a sky voyage.

This middle part of the hold was generally used to carry to ship's merchantable cargo. It was large and spacious enough to accommodate loads such as ironwood logs. It also had doors in bottom in case the load had to be dropped in a hurry.

Main article: Flight-rocks
Grown in the Sanctaphrax Stone Gardens, the buoyant flight-rock kept the skyship in the air. It was surrounded by an ironwood lattice, the flight-rock cage, to keep it in place. When cooled, the flight-rock carried the skyship upwards, and when warmed, back towards the ground. In order to keep the flight-rock in peak condition it was tended by the stone pilot.

A large crossbow used for defense against other skyships.

The flight-rock platform was where the stone pilot worked to tend the flight-rock.

The higher these burners were set, the warmer the flight-rock got, allowing the skyship to descend. The burners could also be lowered to ascend, but if they were completely dowsed, the skyship was in danger of hurtling as the flight-rock would become unstable.

A tank full of cold sand was kept prepared. If the flight-rock was doused with this cold sand, the skyship would ascend instantly.

These long metal rods were driven into pores in the flight-rock to make subtle adjustments to its temperature. The rods could be either cooled in bucket of cold water or heated in a furnace.

The mast was a long ironwood spur mounted in the middle of the flight-rock platform. It held up the sails and the caternest.

The sails were what gave a skyship forwards momentum. The best sails were made from woodspider-silk. Different sails were hoisted or lowered depending on the conditions. There were eleven sails as follows:

  • Foresail
  • Aftsail
  • Topsail
  • Mainsails one and two
  • Skysail,
  • Staysail
  • Studsail
  • Boomsail
  • Spinnaker
  • Jib

Main article: Caternests
The highest point on a skyship was the caternest. This was the lookout's post. Skyships were considered lucky if they had a genuine caterbird cocoon and oakelf lookout.

The hull weights were what kept the skyship balanced in all conditions. Each weight effected a different flight dynamic in a different way. The combined effect of all weights allowed the captain to make very fine adjustments to the ship's angle, speed, and balance. There were twelve weights as follows:

  • Stern-weight
  • Prow-weight
  • Starboard hull-weights, small, medium and large
  • Port hull-weights, small, medium and large
  • Mid-hull-weight
  • Peri-hull-weight
  • Neben-hull-weight
  • Klute-hull-weight

The rudder wheel was a large round stone with rope passed through a hole in its middle. It hung close to the hull, near where the other weight cables attached, and was used to help keep the skyship steady.

A large, rock-hurling catapult used against other skyships and sometimes against buildings.

Large, metal blade in crossbow-like firing mechanism. When this was fired at another skyship, it sliced the rigging and sails of the target ship, sending it spinning out of control. It did extra damage when lit on fire before launching.

Used to grab on a tree, rock or other object on the ground below when attempting to dock in a remote location. Could also be used as a zipline or safety rope when boarding other skyships. One of the fundamental rules of skysailing was never sail higher than your longest grappling rope.

A large room with plenty of hammocks to sleep the crew a skyship required.

This held the rest of the merchantable cargo, such as barrels and crates.

Used both to keep the skyship steady and, when sharpened, to slice trough the hull of an attacking skyship, destroying it in midair.

More information on some of the parts listed above is provided in the next section.

Parts of a First Age Sky Ship

The description of a sky ship varied dramatically depending on whether it was a sky pirate ship, a league ship, a rubble barge, or one of many other specialized types of vessels. However, a fairly large standard sky ship usually contained most of these features:

Aftcastle

The aftcastle was a superstructure on the sky ship's stern. The aftcastle contained the Captain's cabin, the bridge, the infirmary, and the galley. The cables connecting the bridge to the hull-weights also ran through the aftcastle.

Flight Levers

The flight levers were two long rows of bone-handled levers which were located on either side of the steering wheel. One row controlled the hull-weights, and the other row controlled the sails. They were used by the captain to maintain the sky ship's angle, speed, and balance.

Caternest

Located on the top of the main mast, the caternest was a lookout point similar to a crow's nest. Some caternests actually consisted of caterbird cocoons, although this was rare; most cater nests were weaved. The inhabitant of a caternest was usually an oakelf due to their keen eyesight. 

Flight Rock

The most distinguishing and vital feature of a sky ship was its flight rock, enclosed within a vast wooden cage between the fore and aft hulls. The flight-rock of a ship sank when hot, and rose when cold. The temperature of the rock was controlled by a Stone Pilot, who uses the flight burners and cooling rods on the flight rock platform to alter the ship's altitude. Cold earth was often released onto the rock as a method of quickly cooling it. The flight rock was penetrated by various pipes that transferred heat around it. The cooling rods usually were covered in ridges which increased their surface area and allowed them to cool the rock more efficiently. The cooling rods were on one side of the flight rock, and the heating rods were on the other side. The rods were in order of efficency, either least cold, medium cold, extreme cold, exterme hot, medium hot, least hot, or the more likely possibility of extreme cold, medium cold, least cold, least hot, medium hot, extereme hot.

Flight Rock Platform and Flight Burners

The flight rock platform was situated on top of the flight rock cage and had several levers built into it that allowed the ship's Stone Pilot to control the temperature with cooling rods and bellows connected to the flight burners. The flight burners were flaming torches mounted near the flight rock and connected to it through a network of metal pipes that went through the stonecomb that provided the heat needed to control the sky ships altitude.

Fore and Aft Hulls

The hull of a sky ship was split into two sections: the fore hull normally contained the crew's sleeping quarters, hold, and the harpoon, a deadly weapon used to fire at enemies. and the aft hull contained a cargo bay (which featured hinged doors to allow the removal of cargo from below if the sky ship needed to jettison extra weight in an emergency), a food store, and and somtimes ( for instance on the "Galerider") hull rigging.

Hull Weights

The hull weights were a series of weights chained to the hull used to control the sky ships balance. They were adjusted by the flight levers. Usually, a sky ship featured a stern-weight (the weight of the back of the ship), a prow-weight (the weight at the front of the ship), small, medium, and large staboard hull-weights (the weight on the right side of the ship), and small, medium, and large port hull-weights (the weight on the left side of the ship), a mid-hull weight (the weight in the middle of the hull), a peri-hull weight (the weight around the edges of the hull), a neben-hull weight (the weight at the sides of the hull), and a klute-hull weight (a weight that controls the area in-between the mid hull, and the peri and neben hull). (Note that these weights are listed in order of flight lever from first to last).

Sails

Because every side of sky ships were exposed to the air, they were covered with several sails to aid mobility. These are controlled by the flight levers on the bridge. Usually, a sky ship featured a foresail (the sail in the front of the ship), an aftsail (the sail in the back of the ship), a topsail (a sail on the top of the jib formation), two mainsails (two sails in the middle of the ship), a skysail (a sail near the top of the ship), a staysail (a ship on the bottom of the jib formation), a studsail (sails on either side of the ship that are different because of studding, and increase speed in light winds), a boomsail (a moveable sail attacted to a rotating pole), a spinnaker (a large sail used when going into the wind or running against the wind as it is techinacally called), and a jib (in the middle of the jib formation, note: a jib fomation is typically 3 sails topsail, jib, and staysail, in that order, at the front of the ship). (Note that the sails are listed by order of flight lever from first to last).

Notable Sky Ships

Trivia

According to Edge Chronicle Wiki voters, Sky Ships were the favourite method of transport to get home for Wodgiss Night with 58.98% of the votes. Do you agree? More polling results found here.

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