About Cloudships
Dispatch #4: Those Miraculous Aerial Vessels Wafting Across The Skies Of The Known World
Greetings!
Welcome to The Known World, where I post about the characters, places, and things pertaining to the world setting of the same name, which will eventually be featured in a future book to be titled The Other Side of the Sun.
TL;DR: An overview article about Cloudships, flying ships of somewhat recent invention that can sometimes seen cruising about the place.
Reading Time: ~ 10 Minutes
Prologue
Huzzah!
At last I have reconstituted the article about Cloudships, which I originally posted back on 2 March 2023.
Cloudships is the word I use to describe primitive blimps that waft about the Known World. I like the word cloudship mostly because, at least as far as I’m concerned, the word airship just doesn’t have the same snap as cloudship. That, plus I think such a vessel should be able to actually cruise amongst the clouds, am I right?
Anyway, Cloudships are an interesting bit of Known World tech of somewhat recent vintage, and so today’s article is intended to introduce the Intrepid Reader to these vessels.
Cloudships exist in my stories basically for three core reasons:
I think Cloudships are cool, and while most everyone else in speculative fiction (aka “fantasy fiction”) like dragons, I like Cloudships much more;
Characters can use them in-story occasionally to get around the Known World more quickly than riding horses and/or using watercraft; and
Cloudships can also inspire adventures in their own right.
Today's post will also feature a diagram of an actual Cloudship, namely the NŜ Wanderer - an aerial vessel owned and operated by an intrepid skysailor named Navi Atma. Navi is a supporting character in my ongoing storyline, and rest assured both she and the Wanderer will get an article of their own later on.
So let us gird our loins now and delve into the overall topic of Cloudships.
Transport In The Known World vs Avalonia
The highly advanced yet self-absorbent folk residing in Avalonia get to dart around that wondrous, tropical island archipelago while riding in sleek, speedy maglev trains and/or super zippy aerocars. One can also boop around Avalonia in automated hovercars of various sizes, shapes and configurations. All modes of transport are powered by either hydrogen fuel cell or fusion technology, and all of Avalonia’s roadways are paved to be smoother than a baby’s bottom. As one might expect, all forms of transport in Avalonia - other than perhaps hoverbikes - provide a very comfy ride and are always lovingly climate controlled. To say that Avalonians have it easy would be an understatement.
Meanwhile, folk who live in the Known World don't have access to anything remotely close to that kind of travel tech or convenience.
If and when they travel at all, Known Worlders must travel either on horseback, in stagecoaches or wagons, or by boat… or on foot. Nobody gets to zip around on land in the Known World, but the arrival of Cloudships has made long distance transport a bit more convenient, provided one can afford the passage.
👉 For a refresher about the geography of the planet Vadu, Avalonia and the Known World, see Dispatch # 2: About Avalonia And The Known World.
The Early History Of Cloudships
Cloudships are a fairly recent form of transport that became viable during the mid 450s JE - about 40 years prior to the start of The Other Side Of The Sun.
Cloudships were the result of extensive collaborative efforts among a group of seafaring Marodwurin metahumans, the seafaring human folk in the Southern Islands, and a group of Mages. This group of visionaries were motivated by a simple desire to develop a faster means of transporting people and cargo across the Known World. They were called Nuboŝipos (pronounced noo-boh-ship-ohs), or Cloudships, because their end goal was to be able to sail amongst the clouds.
The team of shipbuilders and engineers assembled to create the Cloudships were known collectively as the Grupo Nuboŝipo, meaning Cloudship Group, but here we will call them the Nuboŝipo Group or Nuboŝipo Project. This project was bankrolled by a group of wealthy merchant clans based in the great city states of Nargoxa [Nahr-goh-thah] and Hanabyr [Hah-nah-beer].
Put another way, you can think of this whole undertaking as a sort of Renaissance Era Skunk Works project employing several Leonardo da Vinci type polymaths (also known as Renaissance men).
The first Cloud Ships were simply conventional seagoing vessels - usually Ketches or two-masted sailing ships - that were adapted to use large, blimpy balloons to carry them through the air. Cloudships were designed to be steerable via rudders and suchlike flight control surfaces and pushed along by a propeller. Originally, they used a two-bladed propeller turned by human strength, wherein 24 men rowed together in unison to turn a crankshaft below decks. After a bit of further experimentation, engineers progressed to a three-bladed propeller design resembling a large, modern day boat propeller and powered by primitive versions of a steam engine.
The Hanabyr region's traditional sailing ships served as the model for the gondola. After constructing several small-scale versions, the team soon arrived at a simple yet somewhat satisfactory design: A large, capsule-shaped balloon attached to the masts of a Hanabyri-style ketch sailing ship.
NŜ Unu: The First Cloudship
A full scale version of this first Cloudship design, named the NŜ Unu (pronounced oo-noo and meaning one in the Common Tongue) was built during the year 450 JE - about 40 years ago in story-time.
The gondola of the Unu was first built as a seaworthy watercraft at a shipyard in Hanabyr, then sailed over to a 2nd, more specialized shipyard located at the island city-state of Nargoxa, where it underwent extensive modifications to make it more airworthy. The Unu’s sails were removed and replaced with a massive balloon superstructure fastened to the top of the ship’s twin masts, and a large propeller to be powered by 24 human “rowers” was attached to the aft of the ship.
The following year, in the spring of 451 JE, the Unu took its first flight from Nargoxa, to much fanfare. But when we say “flight” we mean that it could sail roughly 20 to 50 feet into the air, because after all human-powered propulsion had its limits, even when you had two dozen beefy men rowing in unison to help turn a propeller.
Despite the Unu’s inability to sail among the clouds as advertised, the Unu still flew above the water most of the time, taking fair advantage of ground-effect aerodynamics as it sailed along over the waves. The Unu regularly attained cruising speeds of about 8 leagues per hour, or lph - which is roughly 24 mph or 38 kmh. This meant she was faster than the fastest sailing ships of the day, which in decent conditions could travel around 5 lph ~ 15 mph ~ 25 kmh.
It was decided that the design worked mostly as intended, although it was still a bit ungainly to fly and wobbled around a bit, especially in gusty winds. Three more shakedown runs were carried out, whereby the Unu would circumnavigate the island of Nargoxa while crews and engineers made further refinements and addressed the vessel’s most serious quirks.
Next, the ship began flying the so-called Nargoxa-Kelis Run, a busy sea route spanning the Bay of Nargoxa between Nargoxa and the nearby city-state of Kelis. Measuring 185 leagues ~ 555 miles ~ 893 km in length, in normal conditions most seafaring vessels made the Run in 36 hours to 3 days, depending on how they were rigged. But after only three test runs, the Unu was already making the same trip within 24 to 28 hours - a pretty impressive achievement, to say the least.
So it was that the Nuboŝipo Group engineers, eager to enhance and streamline the aircraft’s performance and efficiency, set about building their 2nd prototype Cloudship.
Crash of the NŜ Unu
Sadly, while the 2nd Cloudship was being built at Hanabyr the Unu crashed ingloriously into Nargoxa Harbor during her 13th test run.
A sudden, mighty downburst of wind struck the Unu just before touching down in the harbor, causing the aircraft’s blimp superstructure to sort of face-plant sharply into the water. The aircraft’s propeller snapped upon impact, and one of the blades bounded up and punctured the balloon's envelope, causing it to deflate quite violently.
It was a terrible crash to put it mildly. Most of the ship’s crew were on deck at the time and managed to survive the crash, but several burly rowers and their taskmaster went down with the Unu‘s gondola. It took harbor crews several weeks to clear away the Unu’s debris, but the ketch itself still remains where she went under.
Despite this disastrous turn of events, as luck would have it the 2nd Cloudship’s gondola arrived from Hanabyr about a month later, while the work of building out of its airship superstructure was underway at the Nargoxa shipyard.
The NŜ Du And The Wonderous Undulator Engine
The 2nd Cloudship, named the NŜ Du (pronounced like doo and meaning two), was a slightly more streamlined version of the Unu. It featured one very important upgrade that set it apart from the dearly departed NŜ Unu: A primitive sort of steam engine onboard that was designed to more efficiently spin the Cloudship’s propeller without rowers.
Known as a Steam Undulator, or simply the Undulator, this newfangled device was an oscillating cylinder steam engine that had been recently invented by the Montodwurin, those resourceful mountain-dwelling metahuman folk and distant cousins of the seafaring Marodwurin working on the Nuboŝipo Project.
At an iron mine at Samora in the Kingdom of Bryn, Montodwurin mining engineers built the Undulator to mechanically process iron ore quickly and efficiently. This engine was fueled by a cinnabar-colored combustible sedimentary rock known as Nuskum, which humans in the Known World refer to as Sangafajro, or Bloodfire. The Montodwurfolk used Bloordfire as a clean-burning sort of charcoal fuel for cooking, for warming their homes in colder weather, and to heat their forges.
The Montodwurin engineers had originally used coal and wood to fuel their Undulator engine, because coal was somewhat easier to obtain. However, coal proved to be quite stinky and sooty, so these Dwurfolk decided to modify the Undulator engine to use Bloodfire instead. This proved to make the Undulator both more efficient and easier to maintain, as well as less malodorous, which proved to be very pleasing for all concerned.
When word reached the folk of Samora about the ongoing Nuboŝipo project in Nargoxa, the Undulator’s principal inventor, a fine fellow named Morul Morxuran, exchanged a few messages with the Nuboŝipo engineers in which he extolled the virtues of the Undulator, suggesting they try building one of their own to use on the Cloudship. A team of Nuboŝipo engineers paid a visit to Samora to see the Undulator engine for themselves, and they came away quite excited at the prospect of building such a wonderous device.
After considerable modification, the Du‘s gondola was modified to hold its own Undulator on deck, and during the Summerfest of the year 453 JE, she took to the sky for the first time.
The Du proved to be far more stable to fly compared to the ill-fated Unu, thanks to the Undulator engine’s ability to spin the propeller at a much faster and steadier rate, thereby more effectively maintaining its speed. Even better, the Du was more than able to climb to higher altitudes than its predecessor, attaining heights of up to 600 kubitos ~ 984 feet ~ 300 m above the sea. At that altitude under favorable conditions, the Du reached speeds of 10 lph ~ 30 mph ~ 48 kmh, thereby completing the Nargoxa-Kelis Run in only 20 hours!
Despite this, one final problem remained: Finding a way to somehow house the Undulator engine below the main deck to better facilitate the storage and transfer of cargo.
Fortunately, a third, service-ready Cloudship prototype was already under development with plans afoot to address that very issue.
NŜ Tri And The Marvelous Reciprocator Engine
While the NŜ Du continued to take test flights around the Bay of Nargoxa to work out the best means to fly these wonderous aircraft, a 3rd Cloudship known as the NŜ Tri (pronounced like tree and meaning three) was quickly developed by the Nuboŝipo team.
The Tri saw the engine relocated to its own room below decks near the aft of the ship. Furthermore, the experts at Nuboŝipo had created a more advanced and portable steam engine of their own design named the Reciprocator Engine, featuring a more sophisticated single-acting oscillating-cylinder technology.
After a few other improvements were made, the NŜ Tri was built and made her initial flight during the late springtime of 455 JE. After about half a dozen test runs, thanks to the Reciprocator, the Tri was able to attain truly dizzying altitudes of 3000 kubitos ~ 4921 feet ~ 1500 m, and under favorable conditions achieve truly intoxicating speeds of up to 12 lph ~ 36 mph ~ 58 kmh! This meant if the Tri were to depart Nargoxa just after midnight and catch the local east-to-west prevailing winds at altitude, she could arrive in Kelis by around sunset on the same day.
In the minds of more than a few Known Worlders, the 450s JE were an amazing time to be alive.
The Effect Of Cloudships On Mercantile Trade
Cloudships began to appear in earnest during the late 450s JE, and they had an immediate impact upon the Mercantile Trades.
Previously, travel between Meldûn and Nargoxa would take roughly 2 weeks via riverboat, coach and ship, and require at least a score of transfers along the way. But Cloudships could make that same trip in as little as 3 days, weather permitting. Cloudships were more expensive to build and maintain - and certainly more expensive to buy passage on, of course.
Despite this, the mercantile lords took quick notice that Cloudships were less expensive to operate over longer distances when compared to regular sailing ships. They began to incorporate Cloudships into their own fleets, using them to transport goods and passengers to the most far flung corners of the Known World. Soon enough, cloudship-yards sprang up in the great seaports of Hanabyr, Delat, Jorna and Perna to meet the rising demand for these vessels.
The merchant clans built large, dreadnought class Cloudships to fly amongst the seaports of the world, using their harbor areas as seadromes. Yet they also built and retained smaller Cloudships that could land on the navigable rivers around the Known World. The Isle of Meldûn, for example, saw her first ever Cloudship arrive in 461 JE when the NŜ Good Fortune touched down along the River Adaravel.
By the late 460s JE, however, it became clear that building land-based Cloudships would be a logical next step.
Development Of Land-Based Cloudships
In the year 472 JE, Nargoxan Cloudship engineers began working on a prototype Cloudship that could operate from land rather than water, equipping it with sled-like skids to serve as landing gear like those seen on modern day helicopters. The first prototype land-based Cloudship, named the NŜ Overland Venturer, was built from scratch in 479 JE at a new onshore aerodrome facility located outside Nargoxa-Urbo (the main city in the island city-state).
From mid 481 JE the Overland Venturer began taking test flights between Nargoxa and select inland cities, where open fields outside city walls were transformed into rudimentary Cloudship bases to accommodate the airship. The Overland Venturer’s first flights were conducted between Nargoxa and Ygoa in the neighboring Archkingdom of Myradon. Further test flights took the vessel gradually further afield to Myradonian cities such as Zagra and Sarnaka, and by 484 JE the aircraft was ranging out as far away as the city of Lorê in southernmost Bryn.
Testing was finally completed by the year 485 JE, and thereafter land-based Cloudships began to gradually appear around inland areas across the Known World. Most recently an onshore cloudship-yard building land-based Cloudships was opened at the central Bryn city of Goin.
An Example Cloudship
You will read about several specific Cloudships in my future book The Other Side Of The Sun and other literature that will be set within the Known World. Each will be a bit different from the other, and I have lined up at least three distinct Cloudships to use in such stories.
But for today, allow me to introduce you to one such vessel, namely the NŜ Wanderer.
The NŜ Wanderer
The NŜ Wanderer is a two-masted, water-based, ketch-style Cloudship that was built at the Hanabyr shipyard in 459 JE - about 31 years before the current day in the storyline.
It was originally built at the request of Freja clan Kobar (411-485 JE), a lady magnate of great renown based in Bôlada, the Kingdom of Bryn’s royal seat. Lady Kobar flew the Wanderer far and wide across the Known World, conducting lucrative trade on both continents and several of the surrounding island nations.
Based on the legendary NŜ Tri but featuring an elegant stateroom designed to the specifications of her owner, the Wanderer is a speedy vessel as far as the older water-based Cloudships go. She could cruise at 12 lph ~ 36 mph ~ 58 kmh, but with a favorable wind at her back she could sometimes achieve speeds as high as 20 lph ~ 60 mph ~ 96 kmh.
The Wanderer is not as big as the dreadnought-class Cloud Ships one might see flying across the Maro Meza (Middle Sea) or around some of the southern archipelagos. In fact, the largest Cloudship in Lady Kobar’s own fleet was the NŜ Profit Hunter, a dreadnought that Kobar Ventures Pty typically operated between Bôlada and the various so-called Seven Open Ports. But the Wanderer served as her true flagship, and workers called it the Mothership. Whenever the Lady wasn’t personally leading trade missions, the Wanderer would ferry cargo and passengers between Bryn and nearby realms, in order to keep it close at hand.
When Lady Kobar passed away in the year 485 JE, Kobar Ventures Pty was folded and most of its assets were handed down to her descendants. The Wanderer, however, was instead bequeathed Lady Kobar’s one-time protégé, a young woman named Navi Atma. When it was delivered to Navi, she was handed a message from the late Freja clan Kobar that read:
The NŜ Wanderer is all yours, Captain Atma! Time for you to set your course. Safe journeys to you, and may the wind be always at your back wherever you might roam… Freja
Captain Atma proudly took command of the Wanderer, and as you read this she sails across the skies of the Known World in search of adventure and profit.
In addition to the standard complement of 18 crewmembers, the Wanderer can carry up to 40 tons of cargo and/or up to 12 cannon, and can accommodate up to 15 paying passengers. When it is not out on the wind, the Wanderer usually moors at the Isle of Meldûn, in northernmost Bryn.
Epilogue
While I will write more about Cloudships later on, we have other fish to fry in the meantime, as one might say. Upcoming Dispatches will be touching upon several matters, which I list here for your viewing pleasure in no particular order:
The re-introduction of several characters, including the Band of Five young adventurers and Navi Atma and her friends;
Glyphs and Language, featuring a brief re-introduction to the Known World Alphabet and La Komunalingvo, also known as the Common Tongue;
A re-introduction to the Royal Family of Bryn, including young Queen Ydela, the recently crowned Queen Regnant of Bryn;
The Forest of Kryd and its flora and fauna, and of course the Archmage who dwells within it, known as Kryd; and
An all-new introduction to the concept of Agudeza, also known as The Skill, an esoteric, metaphysical power that exists exclusively within the Known World.
I would also like to present an overview article about the Known World’s systems of religion and belief, although I need to better organize it; and
There are at least two more maps to curate and deliver! While I previously introduced you to a map of the Known World here, I also have maps in latter stages of development depicting the Kingdom of Bryn and the Meldûn Borderlands that I look forward sharing with the Interested Reader.
As Kryd might say, all such matters will be revealed in their time and turn. Until then, may good fortune attend you all!
This concludes today’s Dispatch. Thanks for reading!
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Until next time, safe journeys to you and yours!
— B.E. Turpin