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Caraptid-class Wingboat

Artefact •••• (Celestial Rank)
Repair: 3

The First Age was a time of airborne wonders, battleships capable of levelling entire countries cruised the skies and merchantmen carried hundreds of tonnes of exotic cargo from one corner of Creation to another – the sky was just another playground for the Exalted of this golden age. For some of them, however, the relatively stately travel aboard an Essence-powered juggernaut was just not... exciting enough. It was for these thrillseekers that the first wingboats were developed – vehicles that flew as birds and insects did.

Most of these wonders of occult engineering and esoteric technology are, of course, long-since destroyed or cannibalised for parts in this diminished Age, but a few yet remain – a few yet remain, a testament to their construction. Most of those that still exist are, of course, held within the arsenals of the Seventh Legion, stored within little-used hangers in Lookshy. The Realm no doubt has a few, and some are rumoured to be held in the storerooms of the Deathlords, while the few others that are still extant in Creation are in the hands of various outcastes.

The Caraptid-class was perhaps the most common of the wingboats, it was certainly one of the few that the Shogunate retained the ability to construct and build in anything resembling militarily useful numbers. Savants generally consider this the reason why they represent the majority of still-functional wingboats. They resemble a gigantic dragonflies forged from jade and feathersteel (and other, more exotic, materials), with wings of glistening adamant, with a large bubble of the same material where the head should be. Within this bubble a seat and various controls can be seen, and it is here that the craft’s pilot sits and operates the machine.

A robust vehicle, the Caraptid-class wingboat has been found equipped for both peace and war with the former being faster and more manoeuvrable but lacking in armament, while the latter were built for toughness and firepower, sacrificing some speed in the process. These differences aside the two varieties are flown identically, and an Exalted trained on one can pilot the other without difficulty.

Combat wingboats have been known to be armed with implosion bows, lightning ballistae, Essence cannons and shard casters, and all of them have special Essence-gathering systems that mitigate the potentially ruinous cost of both committing Essence to the wingboat and utilising the weapon in question – these systems have the effect of reducing the mote-cost of firing the weapon by half (rounded up).

A Caraptid-class wingboat requires a Hearthstone rated at least ••• and the commitment of 8 motes of Essence for the pilot to get in. There is (just about) space in the back of the pilot’s bubble for a passenger to sit, and Lookshy shugen-junai have referred jokingly to the cargo capacity of the craft as “theoretical”, but since the Seventh Legion uses these craft as fast scouts this is usually not an issue.

Wingboats of this class that were built for leisure use the following profile and are generally incapable of mounting an Essence weapon without a major (and risky) refit.

Speed 10, Manoeuvre +3, Endurance 50 hours or turns, Armour 8L/12B, Health Levels 12

Combat-focussed Caraptid-class’ use the modified profile below. Any Essence weaponry must be purchased separately, but all of the main varieties have been found in mounted versions.

Speed 8, Manoeuvre +2, Endurance 50 hours or turns, Armour 12L/16B, Health Levels 16