While many types of starships exist, most require the same variety of components to operate properly. In this preview we will go over the basics of star travel. This will be a cursory examination of the devices that make sailing the starlit sea possible. Exact game mechanics will be featured at a future date.
Starships
The basic technology that allows for space travel was first developed by the Quendari many thousands of years ago. Nearly every piece of magical technology produced today has it origins with this early spacefaring race. It was this technology that allowed the Quendari to forge an empire that stretched across the stars. That empire fell long ago, though much of its legacy remains. Some of these inventions are replicated today, in the mercane shipyards found throughout known space. Others are impossible to understand but still form the backbone of modern space travel. The greatest of these is the Quendari Gates, magical portals that allow for instantaneous movement between solar systems.
Runic Drive
At the heart of every starship is the runic drive, a wondrous item that borders on artifact status and the key device that makes space travel possible. While appearances might differ, most runic drives are simple four-sided plinths made from stone or wood. They generally stand two or three feet high and are covered with with intricate glowing runes. Embedded within the hull of vehicle, thin lines of mithral marked with tiny symbols radiate away from the runic drive. These mystic pathways channel the energy of the drive to other parts of the ship and help power important systems.
Pilots manipulate the runic drive to fly the starship, though all of that control is mental. While anyone can learn to use a drive, potential pilots must bind with the item first. Most runic drives can bind with more than one pilot simultaneously; however, the exact number of bonded pilots is entirely dependent on the size and style of the device. When this binding is complete the pilot is implanted with minute lifeforms known as supernal organelles. These creatures disperse through a pilot's blood and allow him to enter a meditative state called the Union. In this condition the pilot is one with the ship. It becomes an extension of his body and he can move the vessel through the power of thought. This does not make flying effortless. The pilot must still make skill checks to properly move a starship. As might be expected, complex maneuvers make the task more difficult.
During the age of the Quendari all pilots were spellcasters of some kind. This tradition continues in some small part today as the skill normally employed to interact with a runic drive is Spellcraft. However, a significant number of modern pilots have broken this limitation and have learned to fly without an express understanding of how magic works. These individuals use the Profession: Starship Pilot skill to achieve an expertise with flight that rivals any spellcaster.
Runic drives gain their power through the absorption of ambient magical energy. The devices store this energy in a central liquid core of mercury and a metal known as celestanite contained within a variant resilient sphere spell. The energy contained here is directed to four key systems that make the dream of space flight possible.
Atmospheric Shell
Before entering the void of space a runic drive can create an invisible sphere that envelopes an entire starship. While physical objects and certain types of energy can move through it, the atmospheric shell prevents gases from escaping its boundary. It also forms a protection against specific forms of radiation commonly found in space. However, the shell does not rejuvenate the trapped air, meaning an occupied ship without a reliable means of producing air quickly becomes uninhabitable.
Atmospheric shells originate from four points on a ship, usually marked by specific runes or other objects designed to project the effect. Most shells extend outward 40 feet from the surface of a ship.
Gravity Decks
A ship's runic drive can generate gravity by directing magical energy through specially prepared deck plating. These five foot square plates can be placed anywhere on a ship, but only one side of the device is capable of producing gravity. The gravitational field produced by a gravity deck extends outward to the limits of the ship's atmospheric shell. While most gravity decks generate gravity equal to the baseline found on most worlds, they may be created to provide either a greater or lesser pull.
Propulsion Plates
A series of complex symbols etched into specially prepared metal plates and positioned at key locations around the starship provide it with the ability to move. When active, the propulsion plates warp the fabric of space at two points. For example, when flying forward the space at the front of the ship is constricted while the space at the back of the ship is expanded. This allows the ship to ride a “wave” in the direction the pilot wishes to travel. The exact speed is dependent on the pilot's will, making it possible to travel the large distance between planets in a span of hours. While historical documents claim the Quendari were able to equip incredibly massive ships with propulsion plates that allowed for fast travel between star systems, no modern starships are up to the task.
Warming Nodes
By heating the air trapped within the atmospheric shell, warming nodes help protect against the deadly cold of space. Constructed from clay and a core of crushed ruby, warming nodes are placed at four points around the ship, usually near the points that generate the atmospheric shell. While in the meditative state known as the Union pilots may manipulate this temperature with a thought. Once set, this temperature will remain the same until altered again by a pilot.
Air Circulation
Space is a near vacuum. While the atmospheric shell generated by the runic drive traps breathable air it does not freshen this air. A starship without some way to produce breathable air is a death trap for its crew. While some captains are willing to take their chances and refresh their shells by sailing into the upper atmospheres of certain planets, most prefer to recycle the air with a ship based solution. Over the centuries two methods have remained the most popular and are still used on modern starships.
Alchemical Lung
Known as an alieocoptrix, the alchemical lung is a living creature born and grown by the alchemists of the Alavian Brotherhood and sold by the mercane in hundreds of star systems. This amazing work of biological engineering comes in different sizes depending on the scale of the starship it must serve, though all appear to be little more than a large glass jar filled with undulating flesh. Alchemical lungs survive on the exhalations of other creatures, transmuting it with fresh and breathable air. The aliecoptrix must also be fed on a regular basis; it subsists on a slurry of meat, saltpeter, and mercury. While the Alavian Brotherhood state the alieocoptrix are unintelligent, there are those who believe otherwise and claim that the alchemists utilize morally reprehensible techniques in the production of the alchemical lung. The organization is highly secretive about the process, however, which makes it difficult to prove these accusations.
Ship Gardens
Seen as an elegant solution for two problems, the ship garden is the method of choice for many crews. While a garden can provide sufficient air for a starship and serves a dual role as a source of food, there are problems with this approach. Gardens require suitable soil, food and water, and constant tending by an expert with the magical skills needed to keep the garden alive. They also occupy far more room than an alchemical lung. These constraints often mean a garden is impractical for most starships. In nearly every way, alchemical lungs are cheaper and easier to maintain.
Alternate Starships
The information above details the standard starship most characters will encounter in Sailing the Starlit Sea. However, there are other forms of starships exploring the known universe. These vessels include the impressive generation ships of the Quendari that seed star systems with new interstellar gates, living starships with a mind and will all their own, and single pilot ships useful for combat in the void. While these alternate starships will receiving varying amounts of detail in Sailing the Starlit Sea, all of them will provide creative elements that stand outside the norm for space travel.
By Mike Welham and Allen Taliesin
Through the power of magic, a mighty age of space travel has emerged. Explore far-flung planets, encounter alien cultures, and uncover terrible secrets that have been forgotten under the crush of centuries. A universe of adventure awaits those who dare to sail amongst the stars.
Sailing the Starlit Sea includes:
I really like your take on starships, Allen!
I really like your take on starships, Allen!
Thank you!
Interesting. It looks like a better thought through and less silly version of some of the things we've seen before in Spelljammer.
Thank you! While I really liked SJ, there were some things about the physics that never made me happy. So I wanted this book to address some of those things that made the setting less interesting for me.
For those who do like those original features the book will contain Campaign Overlays, which are hefty sidebars that provide ideas on how to take the material from Sailing the Starlit Sea and change the assumptions to fit other settings. This book will be useful no matter what your preferences.
I'm really looking forward to this -- so far you seem to have captured all the atmosphere that tragically leaked out of Spelljammer while keeping its stupid at bay. :)
When can we expect the final product?
I'm really looking forward to this -- so far you seem to have captured all the atmosphere that tragically leaked out of Spelljammer while keeping its stupid at bay. :)
When can we expect the final product?
I am glad to hear you are looking forward to this...thank you! There are some debates in the SJ community about the various parts of the setting and what people prefer. I know there were parts I loved and parts I was never keen on.
I am definitely interested in putting my vision of science fantasy space exploration out there while still letting people twist in the direction they want to go.
Our expected release date is late February/early March.
Something I liked about the writeup here, is that it feels like a description of an engineered system that uses magical components, rather than the MAGIC! explanation that Spelljammer tended to use. This opens up a large number of potential plot threads/storylines that disappear when you treat the "how does this work" part as needless filler. For a pseudo science fiction starship setting, having the "how does this work" spelled out more consistently is a significant improvement in overall tone of the setting.
I am happy to hear that appeals to you. Having a sort of underlying system of operation is something I really enjoy. I am one of those people who always wants to know how something works. What are the "moving parts"?
I personally like the idea that a party of space explorers might need to get their gravity decks replaced at some point or they discover their alchemical lung has contracted some rare disease. It is a common sci-fi trope for a ship to malfunction and the crew is expected to fix the problem with their wits and the materials at hand. Or they are forced to land in hostile territory/unexplored planet and they must obtain the needed parts.
But for those who would rather just let the ship operate in the background, I feel like this concept works for them as well. They can just assume the ship works and gets them where they need to go.
In addition to the two examples you gave above, it also allows the players to target specific areas of other ships for general hijinks/methods of causing problems. Targetting and doing damage to the runes for the atmospheric shell, or altering an atmospheric shell rune to cause a different effect all seem like things that might come up in a game. Heck, given the outline of the systems you've listed above, I can see how one could have a game of space pirates without a lot of hand waving.
Exactly.
One of the things that is being developed is the idea of damage to specific systems during combat. The exact form this will take will be primarily shaped during playtesting, but the idea of directly targeting specific parts of a ship is important to me. Obviously taking out an atmospheric shell should be difficult (as it could mean instant death for a party), but I think having that possibility goes a long way to providing verisimilitude.
Being able to target a ship's systems via sabotage is definitely something that will appear in the book.