Airship
| Airship | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Type: | Vessel |
| Rules | |
| Value: | Custom crafted |
| Publishing | |
| First published: | The Eyes Have It |
An airship is a vessel which uses lighter-than-air gasses to fly, as opposed to using super-heated air as in a hot air balloon.
Description
[edit | edit source]Airships are similar to seagoing ships like a galley, but "enormous gas bags" floating above the ship are "attached by a thousand ropes to the body of the galley."[1] They are "bundled together into a long sausage shape" about two hundred feet long.[1] Airships are pulled by flying animals (usually hippogriffs) "tethered together in pairs."[2] Ballast is released from pumps belowdecks to allow the ship to rise, and "several long ropes [run] down to the wheelhouse from each of the bags," which can release "a small amount of the lifting gas so [the ship can] descend."[3] Some airships can be two hundred feet long.[1]
At least two teams of hippogriffs are kept to rest the animals in rotation. Sometimes smaller teams of them are used, allowing the ship to manage flight time balanced against the exertion of the steeds. "The forward portion [of the ship is] ... devoted to the care and accommodation of the hippogriffs, the main motive power [of the ship]... Eagles had been passed over as being too flighty as well as not powerful enough."[4] "Pegasi are preferred and more powerful, but nearly impossible to come by."[5]
Most airships have a "canvas steering rudder at the stern" which can be "unfolded and put over the side."[2]
Airships are capable of landing in water.
Much like normal ships, airships generally have crew and passenger cabins to the aft, and the midsection serves as the cargo area[4]
Ballast keeps the airship righted in the air. Water is used as the ballast and is held in tanks belowdecks. When the airship releases ballast, "great jets of water stream out from the sides of the hull." The crew can “fill the tanks with water to keep the ship down until [it is] ready to fly, then it’s pumped overboard to lighten the ship to the point where the lifting gas ... will cause [the airship] to rise into the air.”[4] Ballast is replenished by using long canvas hoses which draw water into the pumps belowdecks from a water source even as small as a stream.[6] Enough ballast is carried to allow for many altitude change maneuvers.
Some airships Have defensive armaments, like trebuchet[7] and anti-magic charms;[8] as well as anti-boarding measures like long, thin spears arranged in a bristle along the side of the hull, attached to lines from the wheelhouse which make the spears extend and retract.[8]
Construction and crafting
[edit | edit source]The primary crafting facility for airships where the lighter-than-air gas is harvested is at a small town called "Goatsblood".[9]
The gas bags are each made from "innards from a thousand goats",[9] and there are seven bags woven into the fabric of the ship altogether above an airship.[10]
There is a natural gas vent at the town, next to a tiny lake. The small town has the facilities for crafting the airships—a slaughterhouse and "bag room" where the bags are made, a great shed where gas bags are stored, a rope house where the lines and rigging are made, and low stone houses for the workers.[11] The town also has an inn and tavern (the Inn of the Bloated Goat).
History
[edit | edit source]The earliest airship designs had been similar to hot air balloons with a wicker basket. But that design was discarded in favor of a ship.[12]
The first airships were singular designs by a dwarven man named Kebron, who was very unlike a majority of dwarves—he dreamed of flying. The first airship, the Bij, was named for a dwarven hero of the Oerik-Tam-Lian wars. It was destroyed in a dragon attack. The second and third airships were the Bij II and the Lydia.
Though unrelated to contemporary airships, the faranth culture millennia ago used ships with "great bloated bags of some sort of fabric or leather."[13] which were "powered and navigated by a type of magic alien to [the inhabitants of the Flanaess]."[13] See also: Faranth Technology
See Also
[edit | edit source]See also: Hot air balloon
References
[edit | edit source]Notes
[edit | edit source]Citations
[edit | edit source]- ↑ a b c The Eyes Have It (1989), p.125-126.
- ↑ a b The Eyes Have It (1989), p.128.
- ↑ The Eyes Have It (1989), p.141.
- ↑ a b c The Eyes Have It (1989), p.127.
- ↑ The Eyes Have It (1989), p.129.
- ↑ The Eyes Have It (1989), p.142.
- ↑ The Eyes Have It (1989), p.261.
- ↑ a b The Eyes Have It (1989), p.262.
- ↑ a b The Eyes Have It (1989), p.124.
- ↑ The Eyes Have It (1989), p.125, 126.
- ↑ The Eyes Have It (1989), p.124-125.
- ↑ The Eyes Have It (1989), p.125.
- ↑ a b "Deep Freeze". Dungeon #83 (Nov/Dec 2000), p.27.
Bibliography
[edit | edit source]- Estes, Rose. The Eyes Have It. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1989. ISBN 0-88038-735-6
Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index
The Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index (EGI) is based on previous work of Jason Zavoda through '08, continued by numerous other fans. The EGI article has a list of sources, product names, abbreviations, and a link to the full, downloadable index.
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