The Ship

QUICK STATS

TYPE: Galleon (Armed Merchantman)
CREW COUNT: 300+
PASSENGER COUNT: 40+
CARGO CAPACITY: 2,000t
WEIGHT (EMPTY): 2,000t
MASTS: 4
AVERAGE SPEED: 30kmph (16.2knots)
MAX ALTITUDE: 6000ft (1.8kms/1.1mi)
LENGTH: 212ft
ARMAMENT: 74 guns & naval ram
STEERING: Rudder (stern), fins (sides)
FIGUREHEAD: Phoenix

OVERVIEW

The Sunbird is a big, beautiful ol' merchant airship built out of mahogany, designed to haul cargo and people across the globe and has ample provisions and space to do so. It has been in Lanier's family for several generations, passed on to him by his grandfather before his passing. Because of the significantly reduced risk of pirates and other risks associated with sea travel, a large portion of the ship's business comes from wealthier folk.

The Sunbird is captained by Lanier -- the crew list is available on the members page.

If you'd like to play a crew member, you're welcome to whisper/message me to discuss it or join the Discord server.

A CLOSER LOOK

The ship was commissioned by Noé Thibault & constructed in Lorient for the Thibault family in Saint-Malo.

The Sunbird was originally constructed for the purpose of privateering, replacing its predecessor Dianella II after its decommission.

It was first captained by Noé Thibault and boasted a crew of highly motivated privateers who made their fortune with the commissioned elimination of foreign trade ships and subsequently pillaging them of anything valuable. The ship’s reputation was one devoid of humanity; any opposition was met with great hostility, and it was rare that anybody facing The Sunbird and its assemblage was either captured or otherwise left alive. Their great success delineated them as highly valuable to the government of France and branded them as monstrous degenerates to everybody else.

The careful and adroit design of the ship painted The Sunbird as something of an avant-garde vessel, one of the first of its kind to utilize atmospheric energy and convert it via thaumic fission into flux via dual force-induced intakes at the stern and expelled along the hull and bow of the ship. Flux expelled in this way comes out at near-freezing temperatures and is managed by a pressurized exhaust output. The ship’s body is built from red mahogany, lending it a striking scarlet hue, and reinforced with steel cladding riveted to the main structural beams of the ship.

The ship is capable of producing 350 micro-thaums of flux per second making it faster than a large portion of other ships of its kind, lending it air speeds of up to 30kmph (16.2 knots).

The ship's primary offensive method utilizes the sheer power of her engines; the bow is equipped with a battering ram designed to split rival ships in two. The output ports are closed to build pressure in the engine which is then released by opening the exhaust ports, giving it a massive boost of ramming speed. This means that the ship has approximately twice the stopping power of a standard ship.

The front half of the ship's artillery are breech loaders with a slower firing rate offset by a longer range. These are typically loaded with chain shots designed to take out masts and air bladder tethers in order to slow rival ships down. Their most common tactic is to cripple the enemy's ability to maneuver away before impact.

HISTORY

LANIER’S ACQUISITION OF THE SUNBIRD

Historically, the ship has been bequeathed to the firstborn son of its standing proprietor, passed from Noé on his retirement to his son, Mathieu. The cutthroat nature of their business engendered a line of pitiless, shrewd and serpentine men for whom the carnage was just how things were.

Mathieu’s son (& Lanier’s father), Remy, emigrated from France to England after serving many of his younger years aboard the ship under Mathieu. There, he married Valerie Adwell and fathered two children, Lanier & Lourdes. Before the ship could be bequeathed to him on his father’s retirement, his wherewithal was claimed by a long-term illness that left him infirm.

Lanier’s enlistment on the ship began at thirteen, and at the age of twenty, the prodigious role of Captain was passed on to him as the next logical choice.

The tradition of privateering was continued for thirteen years under his command, continuing the aggregation of wealth for the Thibault family and the loyal crew that served them.

THE END OF PRIVATEERING

On the thirteenth year of his leadership, after the decimation of a tradeship en route to Spain, disaster struck when The Sunbird was besieged by a dragon seeking to reclaim its stolen hoard that had been pillaged by the Spaniards. The events of that day saw the brutal deaths of 33 men and the near-desolation of the ship. After suffering grievous harm, the dragon retreated, leaving carnage in its wake. Lanier and his daughter, Valaria, endured severe injury, and The Sunbird’s reign as a skybound terror came to an end.

The ship, sustaining considerable damage from the attack, took a year to be restored back to its former glory, rebuilt around the engine and intake system. It was reconditioned as an armed merchantman, leaving dangerous contracts and bloodshed in its past, though forever etched into its history.

THE SUNBIRD vs THE SERVANT

A run-in the The Servant after Lanier's daughter was taken hostage saw extensive damage to the ship. Along with a myriad of holes blown into her sides and the toppling of a mast, she lost a large portion of her bow, and her figurehead was lost to the sea. Several weeks of being grounded for repairs were necessary to restore her to her former glory, and it was no simple matter of patching things up.

Holes were repaired, stained with the same brilliant scarlet to match the existing wood of the ship, though if one were to look closely enough, they might have noticed the newness of the wood. Her figurehead, once a harpy, was replaced with a phoenix, capped in brilliant brass polished to burnish gold in the sunlight. The mast was replaced, and all four sails followed suit, canvas dyed in scarlet with their gold phoenix emblem emblazoned in the middle of each.

She was as beautiful as ever, bearing no physical scars from that fateful night - her crew, on the other hand, would take a great deal longer to recover. But phoenixes, as written in colourful, mythological tales, always rise from their ashes.