ANDERS MAGE PAGE 2.0

Son of Ether Mobile Research Vehicle

The WeirdSeeker is a zeppelin Chantry built by the Sons of Ether for research purposes. It cruises slowly (and silently) through the atmosphere, studying meteorological phenomena and doing high altitude surveillance. The airship is also considered (theoretically) more than a match for a Void Engineer Cassini Armed Universal Cruiser by virtue of superior size and therefore potential weapons capability, not to mention better Quintessence supplies (if the Technocrats knew about it, they'd be hard put to figure out where it gets its seemingly inexhaustible reserves), but unfortunately the Void Engineer vessels far outnumber the zeppelin-Chantry. This is, of course, untested.

History

As a young man, Dr. Heinrich Ackermann was always fascinated by the sky. Growing up in Germany around the turn of the century, he frequently saw the famous German airships Graf Zeppelin, Graf Zeppelin II and Hindenburg in the skies. He vowed then that he would be a pilot when he grew up. Unfortunately, due to increasing suspicion of the German government, the head of the Zeppelin company, one Dr. Eckner, was forced to use hydrogen in the construction of the Hindenburg rather than the helium he wanted. The U.S. had the only natural helium deposits in the world and they were growing more and more suspicious of the Nazi Party, which Eckner was forced to accept funding from in order to stay in business. The volatile gas was ignited when docking at Lakehurst, New Jersey, making worldwide news. This and other incidents involving military craft led to a decline in rigid airship technology, in favor of heavier-than-air vehicles. The age of the Great Passenger Airships was over almost before it began (however, some colleagues of Ackermann have recently made great strides in trying to revive the technology).

Ackermann's hopes for a career dashed, he nevertheless remained fascinated by the sky and lighter-than-air technology. He became a meteorologist and it seemed he would remain so until he died. However, fate intervened. Dr. Ackermann was experimenting with some ideas he had for weather balloons and a new lifting gas he'd been thinking about. When he managed to produce a set of formulae describing a lifting agent with 50% more lift than hydrogen under certain conditions, he Awakened. A local Etherite who had taken to watching the young scientist for just this occurrence inducted him into the Tradition.

Dr. Ackermann had his lifting agent but he had nothing to lift. Eventually he made his way to the Gernsback Continuum. After studying there for several years, he met up with his future wife, a female Scientist with an equally strong basis in Matter, and together the two not only designed and manufactured the lifting agent (described as "Fused Grafite-Ecknerium in Compacted Sphericles" [sic] in their articles in Paradigma), they also began designs for the vehicle to be carried by it. This project soon ignited interest in the majority of the Realm's inhabitants because it reminded them all of the Son's greatest hero: Czar Vargo, who nearly broke the Technocracy's stranglehold on reality with his fleet of airships.

When the Virtual Adepts left the Technocracy in the 1950's, they brought much valuable data. Among this was an incomplete version of the Primium alloy formula and process. This proved the key to the vehicle's construction. For a long time they labored to meld the partial Primium formula with equations describing etheric alloys. They soon found the answer: Czar Vargo's famous blueprints of his Conversion Engine. Utilizing a modified engine allowed them to fuse a derivative Primium-Ether alloy which made an extremely lightweight yet incredibly tough metal. It was fitting that the greatest Son of Ether provided the key to the construction of the most advanced (or at least the most interesting) Etherite Laboratory.

At long last, Dr. Ackermann began construction of his Zeppelin. By now, even with the use of the Continuum's rejuvenation chambers, he was beginning to become noticeably aged. After many years in construction, the world's newest airship, christened "WeirdSeeker" as a bit of self-mockery by the Sons, was launched from its berth near the spacefield in the Continuum on May 7th, 1991 (Earth Standard Time).

The Assembly of Science in the Great Hall in Paris recently authorized construction of a second vessel which is to incorporate numerous advances worked out during and after the construction of the original airship. It is currently in the late design phase, which is being held up by the usual bickering amongst the Scientists in charge of the project.

Description

Fully 1000 feet long (196 feet longer than the Hindenburg and over a hundred feet longer than the Titantic. Also 700 feet longer than a Void Engineer Universal Cruiser — over 3 times as long.), the WeirdSeeker is an impressive sight to behold. It drifts serenely through the sky, seemingly oblivious to the war raging below. The hull is a rigid airship body 150 feet in diameter at its widest point. It is built in the style known as "Industrial Victorian Etherism" (the same style found in City of the Lost Children and Disney's adaptation of 20000 Leagues Under the Sea — heavy-looking bolted plates of a slightly greenish bronze metal). The general design is similar to that of the familiar German dirigibles, except that the lower hull is keeled like a ship (it's capable of water landings in all but the most severe weather in emergencies — not fun, but possible). The interior is spacious and decorated sumptuously in the Victorian style (lots of wood and brass). Crew compartments are large and well appointed and in addition to lab, control and storage space the ship also includes sufficient recreation facilities to keep its crew entertained on the frequently long voyages. There is also a small observatory on the upper half of the body, along with a promenade deck for social occasions.

Capabilities

Power Supply: Weirdseeker runs its engines from batteries. These are Prime storage devices which are recharged during electrical storms (which are rich sources of quintessence — more later). There are several backup systems run from mundane (if unorthodox) power supplies.

Buoyancy: The vessel contains its lifting gas in 30 compartments (15 on a side) in the upper half of the hull. It can lose as many as 8 without undue loss of flight capability (most of these compartments are backups), though this depends on the location of the damaged parts. Loss of all 8 on a single side would cause the ship to roll dangerously, affecting steering (not to mention making it hard for people to move around onboard). If the ship can reduce speed to a minimum, or better yet land, it is capable of repairing up to 5 of the compartments and generating enough lifting agent to fill them, though this is mildly vulgar and the Lifting Agent manufacturing machinery would be seriously damaged unless it's done very slowly.

Navigation: The vessel has a mechanized course plotting device which uses an Entropy effect (made coincidental by lots and lots of FAA airlane maps and flight plans) to randomly choose the course which makes it least likely to be encountered by other aircraft at close proximity while still reaching the goal in a reasonable time. The vessel is piloted manually except on the very smoothest and most predictable courses. The bridge is full of metal pipes and brass fittings. It has an old ship's wheel for the primary steering mechanism. The ship is capable of crossing the Gauntlet, though it does this only rarely as airships are pretty much coincidental, even weird looking ones. Real airships haven't been seen in decades but most people have seen parade floats, blimps and hot air balloons.

Environment Control: The largest portion of the habitable areas of the ship are built into a device called an Etheric Rudder. This lets the interior remain more or less level during all normal maneuvers. It can maintain this in up to 20 degrees roll and/or 7 degrees pitch. The interior is air conditioned and heated and otherwise very comfortable.

Weaponry: It was noted during construction that while this is not a military vessel, the vagaries of the Ascension War dictate some form of weapon capability. This has varied somewhat since its launch, but here are the current devices.

• Limpet CM: this launches a sticky mass of greenish material which splatters over the target and sticks. It is made of another Primium derivative material and encased in an Ether-made material similar to silly putty. The effect on targets is similar to a mild casing of Primium (3 dice countermagick, due to the quantity). The ether-derived material produces an effect specifically designed to work around the aforementioned Primium-derivative substance and produces results similar to the effect Slay Machine. At last the Traditions are beginning to fight fire with fire. This device has the capability of firing no more than 10 shots before more ammunition must be acquired.
• Steam missiles: These are smart missiles (they contain an artificial organic brain) that lock onto targets and follow them around. They are steam driven and make a chug chug sound as they fly around. They are not especially fast, but they are incredibly hard to shake. There are 10 of these.
• Electrically charged hull: This device dumps a large amount of electricity into the hull plates, zapping anything attached to the hull. It is used to discourage giant squid when the ship is in the ocean, or those pesky aero-octopi that are found near the Bermuda Triangle. It is good for 5 jolts, but has a high rate of failure.
• Steam torpedoes: Used against ocean based targets. Similar to the steam missile, but quieter and slower (both due to its underwater nature). There are only 6 of these on board.
• A vast assortment of ray weapons and more mundane projectile weaponry. There are only limited missile weapons but the large number of these beam and projectile weapons makes the ship quite capable of going toe-to-toe with front line Void Engineer vessels.

Note that these are defensive weapons only. It is only very rare occasions that the vessel is called upon to make offensive attacks. These are only under the direst of circumstances, and only under extreme protest from the ship's captain. Other defensive capabilites are:

• Stealth: Airships can be even better at silent running than submarines when they need to be. They can also run without much heat signature. The main problem with stealthy maneuvering is the craft's large silhouette. There are several methods it employs to get around this. First, it normally only approaches densely populated areas at night. Second, normal maneuvers take place either at extremely high or very low altitudes. Third, it often travels within cloud formations. Lastly, the aircraft's hull itself is fairly resistant to Radar and similar detection methods.
• Cloak #1: The original cloaking system actually produces clouds (water vapor) to hide the ship from sight and other means of detection (including sonar and radar). It's fairly vulgar unless done in an already extant cloudbank, but nowhere near as bad as the backup cloaking system. It is also pretty reliable. The clouds move with the airship until the system is deactivated and do not interfere with the sensors and vision of the crew. This cloak does not sap the ship's power reserves so it's quite capable of firing while hidden.
• Cloak #2: One of the assistants during the design phase was fascinated by invisibility. Therefore (as usual with Sons of Ether) this ability was incorporated into the ship. It is usually highly vulgar, extremely energy draining and not thoroughly tested. There are probably several bugs in the system. It is reserved for extreme emergency use, mainly when the ship is in danger of being destroyed, or when surprise is absolutely paramount.

There are rumors amongst the crew that the sister vessel being constructed will incorporate a cloaking device known as an SEP. This device utilizes Mind and essentially causes anyone seeing the ship to regard it as Someone Else's Problem. The main bug with this device is that the ship must be painted pink in order for it to function properly. There is a distinct possiblity that one of the crew is borderline Quiet/Marauder and has read too much Douglas Adams, however... Still, the idea intrigues many in the Tradition.

Ship's Mission: As mentioned before, the airship is a research platform. Its crew has discovered that the upper atmosphere has its own version of ley lines, analogous to the jet stream and other meteorological phenomena. Nodes are far less permanent, and much more violent. They take the form of large cyclonic storms like hurricanes and tornadoes. Thunderstorms are a bit calmer and the ship usually recharges its batteries in these. However, it can occasionally be found floating serenely in the eye of a hurricane, studying the weather's effects on the umbra and Earth. From time to time (especially in emergencies), it serves as a launch or docking platform for undersea vessels, due to its aquatic landing capabilities but this is not its main function. The airship is normally found offshore, or over mountain ranges. Even with the capabilities of this ship, it's not wise to attract undue Technocratic attention.

Crew complement: Can be run by less than 10 people, if they know their jobs well, but normally carries a crew of 100 or so. Most of these are acolytes and so forth, but there are between 20-40 Persons of Ether at any given time who constitute the officers and research staff of the ship. The entire vessel can be considered to be an enourmous sanctum if the Storyteller desires, and therefore robotic or other nonhuman companions are not hard to find onboard.