Silvered Path Into the Heavens Sailing
Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month 293 AC
The hardened steel floor echoes with the sounds of your tread as you lead the others down the central axis of the
Moonchaser. Most of your companions have kept at least somewhat abreast of the ship's construction, with Lya of course being the most involved for it is crafted according to her plans, with many of its more arcane components the product of months of study and testing. The more scholarly-minded incarnates are gathered close to their creator, asking the occasional question about the runes poured in Mithral to ward against translocation and other intrusion, or the precise workings of the far-speaking horns whose distant voices can just barely be heard drifting from the main weapons deck below over the clanking of your passage.
Of those drifting further back besides Dany, who brings up the rear of the group, Samwell Tarly is clearly the most impressed, you catch the words 'it's not like a ship at all' spoken more than once in slightly awed tones and you can't say you disagree. The proportions of the
Moonchaser make few of the compromises that a wooden sailing vessel does, where every foot of space is a precious commodity. It was judged more important in its design that marines would be able to reinforce any portion against attack quickly, and that the crew and mages be able to repair any battle damage as soon as possible, than squeeze a few more alchemical weapons of steam projectors into the ship.
Speaking of the crew, you are glad to see sailors from every corner of the empire, from Old Deepsmen whose rough accent is becoming less and less common on the streets of Sorcerer's Deep even as newcomers try to imitate it with various degrees of success to Lyseni, Tyroshi, and Myrmen serving as both officers and sailors and Braavosi engineers turned from common siegecraft to dealing with the arcane weaponry and the even more complex steam and air systems, including an Ever-Fire Hearth no less powerful than the one that has stood at the basis of your entire steel manufacture. The familiar faces of the Wyvern pilots you had commended just last month look back at you proudly, standing at attention beside their craft. You even spot a Seaweed Leshy blessed with the powers of the Old Gods serving as the chief healer.
At last you come to the bridge where Moonsong is waiting surrounded by mirror-bright walls and crystalline dials. Most of the officers here are mages wearing the deep red robes of Scholarum masters, not because the apparatus here requires any spellcraft, Lya had been most careful about designing enchantments that anyone could use with some study much like the Wyvern controls, but the positions had been so prestigious that dozens of mages had applied, all of them with an understanding of warcaft that allowed them to fit smoothly into their roles without additional training.
"So, do you want to look out the window?" the Summer Islander Chief Observer asks with a smile, the question obviously directed at the excitable children as much as at you.
"Of course," you reply at once. Even knowing what would come next you have to momentarily catch yourself from taking on a winged form as the walls and ceiling seem to vanish, leaving you all suspended in space as the reflections of the
Moonchaser's slivered hull is projected onto every inch of the chamber.
"Woah... how are you doing that, magic?
I want to do that," the previously silent Arwyn Frey blurts out before blushing bright pink and stammering out an apology.
"Yes, it's magic, though bound into the ship rather than any spell specifically cast for the purpose," you reply. "The illusion can do much more than make the ship vanish, however, the Chief Observer can focus the captain's attention onto a foe that needs to be dealt with or the navigator's on an obstacle that needs to be circumvented."
"Like a storm?" Samwell Tarly interjects thoughtfully, the surprise of the bridge projection already giving way to a consideration of the technical details. Not for the first time you wonder how his father could think so little of him.
"It'll take something bigger than a storm to stand in the way of the
Moonchaser," Moonsong said with a sly smile. Motioning grandly to the grey-haired Chief Aeromancer. "See about changing the scenery, Mister Flint."
The demonstration had, of course, been arranged in advance with Zathir, who did not contest the rush of thick grey clouds rushing in from the sea crowned with lightning. The weather control station had mostly been conceived to prevent adverse weather from blocking the ship, but you cannot deny you are tempted to fly into King's Landing with a mantle for storm clouds at your back, only to dispel it in some suitably dramatic moment during the following speech.
Speaking of making a speech... You step forward to address not just the bridge crew, but also the rest of the sailors, officers and marines onboard the skyship. "Ladies and Gentlemen, you are about to embark upon the first voyage in what I hope is one among many, to glimpse unseen vistas men never dreamed of, as much as the grandest works of spirits that men living in the world under the sun should aspire toward, and then of course to surpass."
Ever since you had first looked upon the Opaline Vault and understood the titanic power and wealth of the Genie realms you have sought not just to match or to emulate, like a child aping the works of their elders, but to build something new, something grand, something that could look them in the eye from across the table as equal allies. The
Moonchaser is no small step in fulfilling that aspiration, but it is also a symbol of it. "And you do so upon a vessel that could already be the envy of the world and soon that of all the Inner Spheres, none swifter nor more beauteous, though that is not to say She does not have her teeth."
You do not hear the explosions of steam that must sound like thunder from below, but you do see the plumes of white as bolts of steel arch gracefully into the sea.
When all the weapons had been served and their crews returned to attention, you continue: "You are not just the first men to sail the skies and the worlds past the veil of our reality, intrepid explorers, soldiers and sailors, you are the first in a tradition. The Imperial Navy will be the ones who deliver the Crown's will to ports near and far, bearing its treasures, its envoys and its soldiers, but also its message."
"Careful where you step or you're gonna get steamed," Moonsong interjects in a perfectly timed whisper that has the crew struggling against smiles and your companions not even bothering to hide theirs.
You nod in acknowledgement, but continue loudly for the rest of the ship: "That enemies wielding their blades of fear and dread should despair upon its cresting of distant horizons, and all the better for it, so too will our friends and allies know that there is yet hope."
Truth be told you doubt there is any dearth of hope in evidence today, but it will make a good memory for darker times when stranger skies than these are pitted against the
Moonchaser's crew. Thus you conclude: "Such a group of daring and audacity needs a daring and audacious leader, one who has the will and the means to carry her crew home again after each voyage with tales of their very own. As the bounty of the sea rewarded her and Sorcerer's Deep with freedom and treasure, we all know that the greater of those treasures is a song to share, so that it might inspire the next person to hear it to chase after those same heights."
Moonsong steps up beside you with grace and aplomb, looking as serious as you have ever seen her, a lady of the twilight paths, no mere sprite that was lucky. "From this day onto eternity, I pledge my services to the Dragon King while he holds true a lord's oaths of protection to me and mine."
Gained Captain Moonsong's Eternal Fealty
A smile creeps upon her features. "Now off we go into the Boundless Blue!"
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OOC: The remaining gifts, including the chocolate, Xor, Rhaella, and Ser Richard's gifts will be presented in the next update since this one just got too big with all the stuff to showcase of the Moonchaser.
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