From LiMaWiki

[edit] Introduction of Airships

A airship is a vehicle made of wood and malleable metals that is shaped like a boat. The unit has several masts much like sail boats except atop these large poles are large propellers. These propellers are similar to helicopter blades. Airships usually have two main masts with the largest propellers. Ships can also have a varying degree of smaller masts and even back propellers to give it more push. Airships can have many number of propellers.

The ship itself is much like a galley or a frigate in terms of comparison to normal boats. The insides can have multiple levels depending on the size of the ship but always has a helm to steer and a main deck for the pilot, captain and weapon turrets.

Some innovations in airship construction have yielded massive ships labeled battlecruisers and even colossus sized ships. However, the biggest of the big, the most destructive ship, the grandfathers of the fleet, the Titan reins supreme in the sky. These gargantuan behemoths dwarf even the dragons in size and sheer might. Only a few of these ships have been built.

[edit] History

The first airships were crude designs that were constructed by a almost extinct race called the Route 9 Dwarves. These types of dwarves discovered a forest where the trees floated above the ground and had their roots exposed. Hey crafted small flying rowboats and canoes to help traverse themselves across plains. They were slow and had no firepower. A race of extraplanar creatures bearing great psionic and physic manipulation potential devised a crystal that could expand the power of the hovering wood 10 fold. They made tiny crystals at first to give the rowboats more lift and speed. All the “airships” up till this point had been completely made from scrap, requiring extensive work to make hulls and carve the fragile wood.

Someone got the idea to enchant one massive crystal and place it in a already made galley. The ship began to float a few feet off the sea! It couldn’t move except by large oars that still had a hard time pushing the ship. The continued to expand on that idea and eventually tore off the sails on the masts. Engineers then placed large sheets of metal atop the masts and connected them to a complex crank and drive shaft to extend all the way down to the massive crystal located in the center of the ship. The trickiest part was trying to construct a way to adapt the crystal’s energies and make the propellers spin. Once that was completed, the ship could be flown. Bi-Plane propellers added to the back allowed extra thrust to force the ship forward. However, in this state, the ship can never land or touch ground. Of course, this was disproved when an airship was seen crashing down into the ground.

The result is the current airship. They are common within wealthy cities. Boats are still used and have a lot of purposes because they can still hold a massive amount of more cargo than an airship and they are a heck of a lot cheaper to build. Current airships can land above water but cannot be propelled. If attempted, it can move at only 5% of it’s maximum speed making these not viable for sea travel.

[edit] Engine Rooms

Airships are powered by massive crystals in a main engine room built on the giant. The crystals which can be of many types of precious materials or stones, must be one solid mass. Cracked or otherwise imperfect crystals must be scrapped or fixed in order for the magical properties to be enchanted properly. Building such a ship is a great feat as it requires tons of wood that can equal the price of just one of these crystals, that is.. if one can find the crystal for so cheap.

Engine rooms are usually located in the middle of the ship as to protect from outside attacks and to spread the power equally within it's hull. Engine rooms are big, taking up almost 15% of the space inside an airship. This is because the main crystal is large and the pertaining crystals that orbit it change in direction and rotation constantly.

[edit] Building the Main Crystal

Requires a crystal 6 ft in diameter as the main power supply. The crystal must then be enchanted by two powers. One a super force tech, and the other a psionic power. They must be cast on the crystal at the same time. Once enchanted, the crystal beings to float a few inches off the ground. The crystal can then be moved but must be placed within a airship engine within 24 hours or the levitation ends. Once the crystal is place in a engine room on the airship, a illusionist can cast a spell on the crystal to give the levitation power to the rest of the airship. Once the illusion spell is cast, the entire airship springs to life. The massive ship begins to float 8-12” off the ground. Although the airship is floating, the propellers are not spinning and control is not possible yet. The airship still requires several crystals to be made.

[edit] Flight Stone

Requires a black earth magic spell and a crystal 6-8” in diameter. Gives a pilot the ability to control an airship like a ship with a helm and wheel.

[edit] Rotation Orb

Requires black lightning spell and a crystal 6-8” in diameter. Gives the airship lift and powers propellers. Propellers can be turned off by deactivating crystals with a special shard normally held by the captain.

[edit] Reactor Core

Requires black fire spell and a crystal 1-4” in diameter. Each of these that are created allows the airship to use a crystal turret up to the maximum turrets the ship type can hold. So if a ship can hold 4 turrets, 4 separate Reactor Core crystals must be made.

The crystals orbit the main crystal in ever-changing patterns and rotations. Destruction of the crystals are possible but have 120,000 HP for the little crystals and 300,000 HP for the main crystal. They have a natural DEF and MGD of 40.

[edit] Speed

Airships travel on average the SPD that is listed and is considered the maximum allowed within normal operating means. Going any faster is pushing the engines. A skilled pilot can force the engines to go 25% faster by making a Pilot Airship check of 20 + the MPH added.

Ex: A scout airship has a max speed of 50 mph. If a character wanted to push the engines 25% faster, he could increase the maximum speed by 12. (25% of 50 is 12.5 rounded down). The DC to do this would be 32 (20 +12).

This speed is the new maximum speed for an hour. Every hour the pilot must make the same DC check. If he fails three times, the rotation orb will give out and the airship will begin to fall. Once the new speed is dropped under the real maximum speed, the airship engines are fine.

[edit] Squares and Airships

When airship combat ensues, the 5'x5' squares change to 500'x500' squares. Unless a battle is actually happening on a airship with the characters, it is assumed they take defensive measures.

To figure out the squares a ship can move, divide the current speed by 60 then multiply your answer by 5280. Round down to the nearest #500 or 1000 slot. The squares given under each type is the base squares with base maximum speed. If the speed changes, then the character should figure this out, otherwise you can stick with the squares listed under each type.

[edit] Environment

Because of the increased size and sheer magical power of a main crystal on an airship, characters do not get altitude sickness from lack of oxygen. However temperature drop is a problem. The super enchanted engines keep the hull floors at bearable temperatures but the main deck, at extreme altitudes, can be freezing. Characters must be equipped with winter type gear if on the main deck. This includes on-deck turret hardpoints too.

[edit] Shielding

Along with the natural armor of the hull, a special crystal can be created that will allow the captain, with a special shard, to create a semi-translucent shield around the hull. This shield must be drained first before any further damage can be done to the hull. The shield HP is 25% of the hull’s maximum HP.

[edit] Shield Sphere

Requires a Light and Dark Magic spell and a 6’’ crystal. Create a shield around the hull that will give a shield bonus that equals 25% of the hull’s maximum HP.

If the shield sphere is deactivated, the shield drops instantly. The shield can be recharged by touching the crystal and feeding PE into it. A character can feed up to 50 PE into it in one round at intervals of 5 only.