FrivYeti/WyldspanShips
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Wyldfarers
The many worlds of the Wyldspan are connected by the trade routes and Essence pathways that crisscross the Wyld, but all of that would come to nothing without the Wyldfarers. These elegant ships crisscross the Span, carrying goods, passengers, and news through the waypoints of the Wyld to safe terrain. In the modern Span, many nations possess the means to create Wyldfarers, but the bulk of construction remains locked in the Scarlet Imperium or the New Realm.
Concepts
The purpose of a Wyldfarer is to travel through the Wyld. Their development is based on that of the airships of old Creation, spliced with the reality engines that once protected an intact world from the depradations of the Wyld. In addition, the Wyldfarers are tied to the nature of Creation in the Third Age. Some savants, wondering why these ships did not seem to exist in the First or Second Age, theorize that they could not; the Essence technology that allows Wyld shielding to so easily be attached could not have existed before so much of the Wyld was flowing around the Essence of Creation, and such shielding existed naturally.
Whether or not their technology might have existed before, Wyldfarers are certainly a default technology now; even mortals can purchase them, with sufficient resources. Mortal Wyldships tend to be a much lower-grade material, but they still exist and thrive in the byways of space.
Wyldfarer Construction
A Wyldfarer is a magitech construct, a powerful device that uses Essence-manipulation and reality-alteration rituals in order to stay functional. Despite this, they are relatively easy to maintain and repair (relative, that is, to many other magitech constructs). In order to properly maintain a Wyldfarer, characters must have Crafts (Magitech).
In order to work the system of Wyldfarer, Crafts (Magitech) does not require any of the other Crafts to already be known. However, the character's Crafts (Magitech) rating cannot be higher than her Lore rating, as it requires a certain understanding of the world. Finally, many repairs will suffer a difficulty penalty if the character does not have either Crafts (Air) or Crafts (Fire) - for example, repairing a Wyldfarer's armor plating suffers a +1 difficulty penalty if the character does not have Crafts (Fire), while repairing a Wyld navigation system suffers a +1 penalty if they lack Crafts (Air). Neither is required for basic maintenance.
Basic maintenance requires the character to have a Crafts (Magitech) rating equal to the artifact level of the Wyldfarer being maintained. Maintenance must generally be done once a month, and is considered automatic if the character meets the prerequisites; otherwise, an Intelligence + Crafts (Magitech) roll must be made at a difficulty of the number of dots the character lacks, or else the ship becomes erratic. Erratic ships reduce the level of their Anti-Wyld Grid, Shielding, and Engines by 1, to a minimum of 0. Each failure at Maintenance reduces them by 1 more, until the ship is nonfuctional. Generally, actual repairs are required to fix a ship that has become erratic. Maintenance has a cost equal to the Artifact level of the ship. The time it takes is based on the size of the ship; see the Frame section of the Wyldfarer background for more details. If a ship must remain running while maintenance is underway, the duration of maintenance is doubled, and the requires Crafts (Magitech) for it to be automatic increases by 1.
Wyldfarers grow increasingly complex as they become larger, and proper repairs become difficulty. Level 1 and 2 Wyldfarers have a Repair rating of 2. Level 3 and 4 Wyldfarers have a Repair rating of 3. Level 5 and N/A Wyldfarers have a Repair rating of 4. However, as large artifacts, the Maintenance modifiers for the Frame also apply to Repair times.
Wyldfarer Statistics
Wyldfarers use the Sail ability to pilot. Most people with Sail in the Third Age are Wyldfarer pilots, as actual water is rare.
All Wyldfarer ships have the folllowing statistics, based on the skyships located in Wonders Of The Lost Age.
SPEED: The Speed of a Wyld Engine is measured in Waypoints per Day in normal travel, is quadrupled to determine yards per tick in Wyld combat, and equals speed in miles per hour or halved to determine yards per tick in Creation. Large ships suffer a Speed penalty; this is reduced from the ship's total speed. As with other vehicles, Wyldfarers cannot Dash (but see Boost, below.)
BOOST: Wyld Engines can increase their Speed for short times in combat or dangerous situations. At a cost of 2 motes per tick, Speed is increased based on the Boost amount noted on the engine. This is a flat cost. Boost increases the difficulty of all Piloting rolls by 1.
MANEUVERABILITY: A Wyldfarer's manueverability is added to the Wits + Sail roll for all piloting attempts. Large Wyldfarers also suffer a penalty to manuevering, as their ungainly shape makes responding to the strange changes of the Wyld more difficult. All Wyldfarers suffer a -2 Manuever penalty while within Creation. Wyldfarers use their Manuever rating in place of Essence to determine their Dodge DVs (along with the Wits + Sail of their pilots).
CREW: This is the minimum number of people required to pilot a Wyldfarer. Depending on the Wyldfarer, this can be a very small or moderately large number. Crew numbers do not cover any dedicated gunners or pilots for other ships berthed on a Wyldfarer. If a crew is operating between half and full efficiency, a Wyldfarer suffers a -1 die penalty to all actions, including repairs and manuevers. If a crew is operating between half and a quarter, the penalty increases to -3, and if the crew is under one quarter, the penalty is -6.
CARGO: This covers the number of passengers or amount of extra space that a ship can comfortably hold. This number tends to grow much faster than that for the Crew. Passenger numbers are in addition to crew.
ARMOR: The soak of the ship. Wyldfarers are considered to be of 'First Age' construction; their soak is entirely armour, but damage is rolled against them normally. Wyldfarers also have Hardness, which tends to be much lower than their total soak. However, while magical materials are used in the hull, hulls are not made entirely of the magical materials (as a rule), and thus they can be damaged normally.
HEALTH LEVELS: Wyldfarers use the Health Level rules found on page 30 of Wonders of the Lost Age: Undamaged, Minor Damage, Critical Damage, Inoperative, Destroyed.
WEAPONS: Wyldfarer weapons function normally.
Wyldfarers use the Inoperative Vehicles, Destruction, Ramming, Attacking Aerial Vehicles, and Piloting Rolls rules found on pages 32-33 of Wonders Of The Lost Age. Note that the Wyld does sometimes have something approaching ground for the characters to hit, although the area around an intact Wyldfarer suffers no gravity. At other times, an Inoperative ship will simply drift off into the depths of Chaos until it hits solid ground. Or wet ground, or what have you.
