Air Creation
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[edit] The Flying Ships of the Guild
The flying ships of the Guild were originally constructed by a God-blooded child of Vanileth, a northern sorcerer of some renown, who sold his skills to the Guild in exchange for the simple joy of being able to build them.
Based in design on a catamaran, the flying ships make extensive use of the Ritual of Elemental Empowerment to lighten and reinforce the ship's wooden frame, allowing it to fly thanks to pockets of heated air in enchanted satchels that surround the hull. Directed by sails and making use of carefully chartered wind currents, these skyships can travel distances in days or weeks that would take a land-based caravan months. However, their relative fragility and expense - not to mention the requirement of carefully studied and plotted "Wind Maps" in order to safely sail the wind currents - means that these ships are rarely used except when the extra speed is of vital importance.
Because of their expense and importance, these so-called "flying catamarans" are usually accompanied by small, fast and armed craft known as "Dragonfly Sleds". These gliders, propelled by alchemical fire, are stored on the deck of the ships, and used by the ship's security to defend against sky pirates and other threats of the air.
Flying Catamarans are rare outside of the Guild, but it's not unheard-of for an independent trader to possess a small one. Dragonfly Sleds, however, are solely found on Guild ships, so most independent ships sacrifice a little cargo-space for the added protection of a ship-mounted weapon if available.
[edit] Statistics for Flying Catamarans
[edit] Statistics for Dragonfly Sleds
[edit] Aerial Craft of the Second Age
As the First Age declined and the ability of the people of Creation to produce artifact aircraft began to fade, new ways of taking battle to the air were developed by many people, often making use of thaumaturgy where Exalted magic was unavailable.
One such device is the "Heavenly Wing Scroll", a form of glider used in parts of the north and east, and favored in Halta and other heavily forested areas. Essentially a giant sheet of cloth, the war-scroll is large enough to carry one person on prevailing air currents, along with about 30 pounds of cargo. Though relatively slow, it has the benefit of being completely silent and - at night, in the forest - almost impossible to see, allowing the user to move past enemy lines easily and, thus, making it a favourite tool of Haltan commandos.
An improvement over the Heavenly Wing Scroll is the Excellent Balloon, pioneered by southern thaumaturges and making use of the properties of air spirits excited by extreme heat. Using various thaumaturgical rituals, which are a carefully guarded secret of the cabal that created and now sells war balloons out of Chiarascuro, a large cloth sack is filled with heated air. A lidded pot, which contains the heated air, is used to control elevation by increasing or reducing the amount of heated air in the sack. A basket suspended under the sack on ropes holds passengers and cargo. Excellent Balloons are often used by independent traders and explorers, due to their relative lack of expense compared to other airships, and range in size, but are typically smaller than the better-constructed Haslanti airships, which use a similar manner of elevation.
Finally, and common only in Gem - where they are constructed by the Gem mercenary monopoly - are the "Cyclone Ships". These ships, powered by row after row of "galley slave", rely man-power to rotate specially designed "cyclone blades", located on tall masts extending above a shielded deck. The propellers provide lift, while a smaller, rear-mounted "cyclone blade" provides directional control. Though capable of extremely rapid movement, Cyclone ships require a great deal of manpower, and the aristocrats of Gem have recently issued a reward for any thaumaturge that might be able to find a way to reduce its reliance on large slave-crews.
