- Location
- Sydney australia
Oh ok i offer my condolences
7734
Trust and verify.
- Location
- Philmont
Well, it wasn't my funeral. I just had to be the designated thinker after everyone got blasted after.
Flight to Tabriz I
7734
Trust and verify.
- Location
- Philmont
Groaning, you pushed yourself forward. You needed to get to sleep, and there was a chair in your quarters. Even if Elizabeth had taken your bed, you weren't giving up your ungodly heavy and also terribly plushy armchair to her invasion. Sure enough, there were light, fluttering snores coming out from the bed as you started changing into your nightclothes. The shirt was missing, but that was ok- you just needed the pants, since you weren't at altitudes where warmth became a real issue. Sitting in your chair, you sighed happily, before an additional crinkling sound told you this wasn't just your chair- it was also clothes. Specifically, as a quick shake told you, Elizabeth's clothes. Leaping up like a scalded cat, you moved towards your bed and looked in past the draperies.
That explained where your shirt went, actually. Elizabeth had taken it as her bed wear... and… nothing else…
Ears ringing, you stepped back a moment, before your drinking earlier kicked you forward and you crashed into the bed. You were about to scrabble out of there, but Elizabeth just made a sleep sound and reached out to latch on to your arm. Freezing, you gulped as she weakly pulled you towards herself. Without a conscious desire, you were slowly drawn forwards until you were wrapped around her in the bed, and the warmth put you to sleep.
---
Waking up in the morning, you groaned. You'd had a dream, something warm and fluffy and involving far too many sheer outfits to talk about in public. Shaking out a leg, your motions stirred something behind you that was murmering softly. About that time, sloshing memories caught up with you and the realization that waking up probably would result in jogging Elizabeth out of bed. Your need to stretch out and yawn loudly before a trip to the head was arguing with the need not to disturb the fluffy in front of you.
"Yaaaawwwwn...mrgpble…"
That yawning noise wasn't yours, and unless what would be a truly epic hangover if you didn't hydrate wasn't screwing with you already, Elizabeth wasn't behind you. As a morass of dark curls that most certainly not yours fell over your limited vision, an irreverent thought or two went through your head. Did you black out last night? What missing portions of your memory hid the fact you'd been in bed with two women, possibly even at once?
"Mrggg… je l'ai…" you heard the person behind you mutter, before artistically flopping across you to snuggle with Elizabeth. "être très moelleux…"
"oui." You replied, gently placing your hands on what had probably been a very bad decision as you rolled out from under her. As one hand slipped dangerously high on a leg, you blinked. It was Ayse!
That explained exactly nothing between when you went to sleep and now, damnit! Still, you could make your way to the officer's head and do morning things. The longer you waited, the higher taking a piss went up on the agenda, and likewise the need to get some water and aspirin. Today was going to be miserable if you weren't careful.
---
Sitting on the bridge in your captain's chair with the bridge crew going through preflights with an Ottoman officer in the Navigator's position double checking everything, you groaned as the aspirin tried to do its damn job as you started lifting off.
"Engines nominal at condition two, all controls read green, props are turning regular!" the talker called up, Signals crew frantically watching the ticker-tape parades go by. The ship used German-style systems, meaning the bulk of the information was transferred on hydraulics lines to the Command and Control station over the bridge, where it was then mirrored to electronic and torsion controlled lines to the bridge gauges. Your previous ship had been purely tension-line gauges, and the difference in systems was quite the speed bump to get over. More importantly, you now had more than just an engine telegraph to manage on the bridge- a local projection of the gyrocompass, atmospheric data, clinometer, an ASL tape, an AGL tape coordinated by a secondary rangefinder crammed in by the bombardier's quarters, load gauges… more data than you knew how to deal with, quite literally. Considering you'd been flying a one-man cargo skiff less than six months ago you'd handled with dead reckoning and kicking the fuel tank to see how empty it was, this was incredibly daunting. There was even a radioman's station on the bridge, for heaven's sakes! The Caroline Anahiem didn't even have a radio, period!
"How the fuck?" you muttered, looking over everything. No matter, it was time to put your man pants on and get the hell out of here. "Front end, are we detached?"
"Bow is detached." The talker called back.
"Bring the ship around a few points, and bow up angle to three degrees." You commanded, hoping the hangover didn't carry through your voice. "Propellers to speed one, on my mark."
"Kaptain, the vibrations issue." Your Ottoman advisor said lightly. "It is worst at speeds three to five."
"Cruise on this ship is speed four, correct?" you asked carefully.
"Yes, speed three or four. Speed five is the fastest regular use speed, but it and speed six won't generate much thrust with the engines at anything lower than condition three."
You nodded. The transmissions on the props were six speed, and the higher speeds were best used at higher altitudes where the thinner air needed more pushing. Engine condition determined the input shaft RPM, which determined propeller RPM once it went through the gearbox. Low engine conditions meant less heat, which meant less shaft RPM, which meant lower propeller RPM. Two identical ships could go the same speed if one was at engines six and propellers one and the other was at engines one and propellers six, presuming the two shared an identical altitude and load. If you could keep the engines at condition two or three until you hit aether, and then feather the shafts and bring the engines down to one, you'd save a mint on fuel costs, plus going far faster.
"Ship is at ordered list!" the man at the clinometer ordered.
"Mark!" you yelled, the men in the motor rooms slamming the transmissions into their first gear. Four gigantic clutches went out for a second, eight gears aligned carefully, and then the clutches disengaged and you were going.
"Propwatch states we are rotating normally!"
Good! "Altitude station, inform us when we reach five hundred ABG or seven-fifty ASL!"
"Aye, Captian!"
"Captain, message on the wireless! Istanbul Air Control wants to wish us good hunting!"
You nodded, head starting to throb from the noise. Just had to hold on until you were done with the takeoff. Long minutes passed as you leveled the ship, brought her up to cruise, and felt the far too loud thrum in your bones that was the vibrations issue.
"This was it?" you asked the observer.
"No, it gets worse at fighting speed." The observer said, shrugging. "You could hardly hold your feet at the engines station when she was running at condition four or higher, and condition six on the sixth speed she spun out the bearings of the propeller."
"You mean the latches?"
"No, the bearings holding the shaft in place. The rattle got something loose, and then, wham!" he said, smacking his hand. "The shaft's final holder outside the hull came loose and we had to clutch that propeller out and send out a repair party."
That was… quite severe. Good thing you probably wouldn't ever be flying at condition six. Speaking of which, there was Donald coming down to the bridge, which meant you could go ask Czeslawa for something a little stronger to help handle this damn headache.
---
Fleeing the infirmary for your life while Czeslawa was neck deep in getting it all sorted and loaded with her supplies, you instead decided to head up to the Navigator's Office. That was a safer option, right?
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
As you and Elizabeth screamed at each other in shock before you ran away from a book that fell open to something that was not meant for human eyes to see, you decided that the Navigator's Office was not someplace to enter without Elizabeth, or failing that a sharp knife for stabbing things and at least one drink of liquor in you.
---
Finally, you ended up back in your front office/not bedroom, panting and rubbing at your eyes. You really needed to make sure everyone was bunked down before you'd lifted off, since not everything was all set from the ship swap yet and your timing was still off-
"Aleksander?"
-and there were women on board. Fortunately, it was Lucia.
"Yes?"
"Why are three of the female officer's cabins filled, if there's only three female officers and Elizabeth still bunks with Czeslawa?"
"Um-" you began, before realizing that no, there wasn't a good way to explain your friend (?) had snuck onboard presumably, since you woke up this morning with her climbing over you. Fortunately, Ayse had either an ear to the wall, or was coming in and out of what was more and more your office. You couldn't tell which one was worse, honestly, since she came in with a map case of paper in one hand and a steaming mug of coffee in the other.
"Good afternoon, Alek. Who is this?" she asked, French coming forth in that pattern that almost flowed out.
"Lucia Valdosta." Your captain of the Espatiers replied. "I'm in charge of the ship's defense."
God, you had got to get on her about that accent. You spoke Metis French, and even to you that was a thick, slurry mess!
"Wonderful! I would be Ayse Iskandar, part of the observers from the Zeppelin Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung Dardenelles yards, and a bit of a friend with Captain van Riebeck."
Both you and Lucia winced at the mangled German in the middle of that sentence. "She's who she says mostly." You muttered in English, before getting back to French. "Apologies for not introducing you two sooner, I'm afraid! I wasn't totally sure if mlle. Iskandar here would be coming with us, and you know I've been running hither and yon in Istanbul."
"That's alright." Lucia responded. "As long as she's not like the new crew, then we'll be fine."
"Any trouble?" you asked.
"Mostly languages, and the food's taking getting used to. One was rather offended by us serving rashers; he'll probably leave us when we get to…"
"Tabriz." You replied. "We'll be making the Aether transition when the ship's fully secured. Right now both Medical and Navigation are unready to go."
"Very well then." Lucia said, before smiling at Ayse. "You should come to the barracks section sometime- I have an uncomfortable amount of free time the first few days of the trip, until Thomas finally starts letting things slip. Until then, I have to go help Lauri's boys with the magazines."
"I'll be happy to come." Ayse said, grinning. "Until then, mlle. Valdosta."
With Lucia leaving, you gulped as Ayse started pacing closer to you. "I am always amazed by the young bravos who think they can create a harem like the Sultan, Alek, but I've rarely seen them start as young as you."
"She's not like that." You protested weakly. "I chose the best for their jobs."
As the sight of Czeslawa's naked body from that fateful time in the baths went through your mind's eye like a cannon shell, Ayse laughed. "So you have the good sense to pick more than eye candy, then! That doesn't change the fact you're surrounding yourself with beautiful women who happen to have an excellent reason to stick by you through thick and thin, and the fact that you're presenting them with an excellent partner isn't something to ignore either- and not just in the fiscal sense."
"What are you talking-" you said, before Ayse thwipped you one.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about!" she snapped, flushing for a moment. "You're not bad when you're in a hammock."
Now you were blushing too. "Thanks." You muttered. "So, um… what about you then?"
Ayse chuckled, grinning ruefully. "I might appreciate them too. Besides, if it keeps them together with you and stable, I'd be more than willing to play matchmaker. It's a good way to while away a few months- especially if you can score an emir's hat trick."
"An emir's hat trick?"
"Well, a hat trick is a ménage a trois. An emir's hat trick, now that's a ménage a quarte..."
Ayse then muttered something, the only words you managed to catch being "vizer" "sanc" and "entretien" which did not make any sense whatsoever.
"Well then!" you replied, very nervous all of a sudden, like Destiny was barreling down on you. "I've got to head to engineering, no place for a lady, au revoir!"
Running like hell once you were out of your room, you dived for the machinery spaces. You needed some time away from girls, damnit! They made no sense!
VOTES
Do Something before Aether Transit?
[] No, nothing.
[] Yes, (Write-In)
What Do while in Aether Transit?
[] Visit Lucia and maybe work out in the salle you had put in. Prove that you can beat her with a sword against sword!
[] Make sure Czeslawa is in a good mood because a happy nurse fixes people faster and that's a going concern given the new crewmen.
[] Help teach the classes in basic airmanship and English, or at least take a bridge watch so someone else can do it.
That explained where your shirt went, actually. Elizabeth had taken it as her bed wear... and… nothing else…
Ears ringing, you stepped back a moment, before your drinking earlier kicked you forward and you crashed into the bed. You were about to scrabble out of there, but Elizabeth just made a sleep sound and reached out to latch on to your arm. Freezing, you gulped as she weakly pulled you towards herself. Without a conscious desire, you were slowly drawn forwards until you were wrapped around her in the bed, and the warmth put you to sleep.
---
Waking up in the morning, you groaned. You'd had a dream, something warm and fluffy and involving far too many sheer outfits to talk about in public. Shaking out a leg, your motions stirred something behind you that was murmering softly. About that time, sloshing memories caught up with you and the realization that waking up probably would result in jogging Elizabeth out of bed. Your need to stretch out and yawn loudly before a trip to the head was arguing with the need not to disturb the fluffy in front of you.
"Yaaaawwwwn...mrgpble…"
That yawning noise wasn't yours, and unless what would be a truly epic hangover if you didn't hydrate wasn't screwing with you already, Elizabeth wasn't behind you. As a morass of dark curls that most certainly not yours fell over your limited vision, an irreverent thought or two went through your head. Did you black out last night? What missing portions of your memory hid the fact you'd been in bed with two women, possibly even at once?
"Mrggg… je l'ai…" you heard the person behind you mutter, before artistically flopping across you to snuggle with Elizabeth. "être très moelleux…"
"oui." You replied, gently placing your hands on what had probably been a very bad decision as you rolled out from under her. As one hand slipped dangerously high on a leg, you blinked. It was Ayse!
That explained exactly nothing between when you went to sleep and now, damnit! Still, you could make your way to the officer's head and do morning things. The longer you waited, the higher taking a piss went up on the agenda, and likewise the need to get some water and aspirin. Today was going to be miserable if you weren't careful.
---
Sitting on the bridge in your captain's chair with the bridge crew going through preflights with an Ottoman officer in the Navigator's position double checking everything, you groaned as the aspirin tried to do its damn job as you started lifting off.
"Engines nominal at condition two, all controls read green, props are turning regular!" the talker called up, Signals crew frantically watching the ticker-tape parades go by. The ship used German-style systems, meaning the bulk of the information was transferred on hydraulics lines to the Command and Control station over the bridge, where it was then mirrored to electronic and torsion controlled lines to the bridge gauges. Your previous ship had been purely tension-line gauges, and the difference in systems was quite the speed bump to get over. More importantly, you now had more than just an engine telegraph to manage on the bridge- a local projection of the gyrocompass, atmospheric data, clinometer, an ASL tape, an AGL tape coordinated by a secondary rangefinder crammed in by the bombardier's quarters, load gauges… more data than you knew how to deal with, quite literally. Considering you'd been flying a one-man cargo skiff less than six months ago you'd handled with dead reckoning and kicking the fuel tank to see how empty it was, this was incredibly daunting. There was even a radioman's station on the bridge, for heaven's sakes! The Caroline Anahiem didn't even have a radio, period!
"How the fuck?" you muttered, looking over everything. No matter, it was time to put your man pants on and get the hell out of here. "Front end, are we detached?"
"Bow is detached." The talker called back.
"Bring the ship around a few points, and bow up angle to three degrees." You commanded, hoping the hangover didn't carry through your voice. "Propellers to speed one, on my mark."
"Kaptain, the vibrations issue." Your Ottoman advisor said lightly. "It is worst at speeds three to five."
"Cruise on this ship is speed four, correct?" you asked carefully.
"Yes, speed three or four. Speed five is the fastest regular use speed, but it and speed six won't generate much thrust with the engines at anything lower than condition three."
You nodded. The transmissions on the props were six speed, and the higher speeds were best used at higher altitudes where the thinner air needed more pushing. Engine condition determined the input shaft RPM, which determined propeller RPM once it went through the gearbox. Low engine conditions meant less heat, which meant less shaft RPM, which meant lower propeller RPM. Two identical ships could go the same speed if one was at engines six and propellers one and the other was at engines one and propellers six, presuming the two shared an identical altitude and load. If you could keep the engines at condition two or three until you hit aether, and then feather the shafts and bring the engines down to one, you'd save a mint on fuel costs, plus going far faster.
"Ship is at ordered list!" the man at the clinometer ordered.
"Mark!" you yelled, the men in the motor rooms slamming the transmissions into their first gear. Four gigantic clutches went out for a second, eight gears aligned carefully, and then the clutches disengaged and you were going.
"Propwatch states we are rotating normally!"
Good! "Altitude station, inform us when we reach five hundred ABG or seven-fifty ASL!"
"Aye, Captian!"
"Captain, message on the wireless! Istanbul Air Control wants to wish us good hunting!"
You nodded, head starting to throb from the noise. Just had to hold on until you were done with the takeoff. Long minutes passed as you leveled the ship, brought her up to cruise, and felt the far too loud thrum in your bones that was the vibrations issue.
"This was it?" you asked the observer.
"No, it gets worse at fighting speed." The observer said, shrugging. "You could hardly hold your feet at the engines station when she was running at condition four or higher, and condition six on the sixth speed she spun out the bearings of the propeller."
"You mean the latches?"
"No, the bearings holding the shaft in place. The rattle got something loose, and then, wham!" he said, smacking his hand. "The shaft's final holder outside the hull came loose and we had to clutch that propeller out and send out a repair party."
That was… quite severe. Good thing you probably wouldn't ever be flying at condition six. Speaking of which, there was Donald coming down to the bridge, which meant you could go ask Czeslawa for something a little stronger to help handle this damn headache.
---
Fleeing the infirmary for your life while Czeslawa was neck deep in getting it all sorted and loaded with her supplies, you instead decided to head up to the Navigator's Office. That was a safer option, right?
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
As you and Elizabeth screamed at each other in shock before you ran away from a book that fell open to something that was not meant for human eyes to see, you decided that the Navigator's Office was not someplace to enter without Elizabeth, or failing that a sharp knife for stabbing things and at least one drink of liquor in you.
---
Finally, you ended up back in your front office/not bedroom, panting and rubbing at your eyes. You really needed to make sure everyone was bunked down before you'd lifted off, since not everything was all set from the ship swap yet and your timing was still off-
"Aleksander?"
-and there were women on board. Fortunately, it was Lucia.
"Yes?"
"Why are three of the female officer's cabins filled, if there's only three female officers and Elizabeth still bunks with Czeslawa?"
"Um-" you began, before realizing that no, there wasn't a good way to explain your friend (?) had snuck onboard presumably, since you woke up this morning with her climbing over you. Fortunately, Ayse had either an ear to the wall, or was coming in and out of what was more and more your office. You couldn't tell which one was worse, honestly, since she came in with a map case of paper in one hand and a steaming mug of coffee in the other.
"Good afternoon, Alek. Who is this?" she asked, French coming forth in that pattern that almost flowed out.
"Lucia Valdosta." Your captain of the Espatiers replied. "I'm in charge of the ship's defense."
God, you had got to get on her about that accent. You spoke Metis French, and even to you that was a thick, slurry mess!
"Wonderful! I would be Ayse Iskandar, part of the observers from the Zeppelin Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung Dardenelles yards, and a bit of a friend with Captain van Riebeck."
Both you and Lucia winced at the mangled German in the middle of that sentence. "She's who she says mostly." You muttered in English, before getting back to French. "Apologies for not introducing you two sooner, I'm afraid! I wasn't totally sure if mlle. Iskandar here would be coming with us, and you know I've been running hither and yon in Istanbul."
"That's alright." Lucia responded. "As long as she's not like the new crew, then we'll be fine."
"Any trouble?" you asked.
"Mostly languages, and the food's taking getting used to. One was rather offended by us serving rashers; he'll probably leave us when we get to…"
"Tabriz." You replied. "We'll be making the Aether transition when the ship's fully secured. Right now both Medical and Navigation are unready to go."
"Very well then." Lucia said, before smiling at Ayse. "You should come to the barracks section sometime- I have an uncomfortable amount of free time the first few days of the trip, until Thomas finally starts letting things slip. Until then, I have to go help Lauri's boys with the magazines."
"I'll be happy to come." Ayse said, grinning. "Until then, mlle. Valdosta."
With Lucia leaving, you gulped as Ayse started pacing closer to you. "I am always amazed by the young bravos who think they can create a harem like the Sultan, Alek, but I've rarely seen them start as young as you."
"She's not like that." You protested weakly. "I chose the best for their jobs."
As the sight of Czeslawa's naked body from that fateful time in the baths went through your mind's eye like a cannon shell, Ayse laughed. "So you have the good sense to pick more than eye candy, then! That doesn't change the fact you're surrounding yourself with beautiful women who happen to have an excellent reason to stick by you through thick and thin, and the fact that you're presenting them with an excellent partner isn't something to ignore either- and not just in the fiscal sense."
"What are you talking-" you said, before Ayse thwipped you one.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about!" she snapped, flushing for a moment. "You're not bad when you're in a hammock."
Now you were blushing too. "Thanks." You muttered. "So, um… what about you then?"
Ayse chuckled, grinning ruefully. "I might appreciate them too. Besides, if it keeps them together with you and stable, I'd be more than willing to play matchmaker. It's a good way to while away a few months- especially if you can score an emir's hat trick."
"An emir's hat trick?"
"Well, a hat trick is a ménage a trois. An emir's hat trick, now that's a ménage a quarte..."
Ayse then muttered something, the only words you managed to catch being "vizer" "sanc" and "entretien" which did not make any sense whatsoever.
"Well then!" you replied, very nervous all of a sudden, like Destiny was barreling down on you. "I've got to head to engineering, no place for a lady, au revoir!"
Running like hell once you were out of your room, you dived for the machinery spaces. You needed some time away from girls, damnit! They made no sense!
VOTES
Do Something before Aether Transit?
[] No, nothing.
[] Yes, (Write-In)
What Do while in Aether Transit?
[] Visit Lucia and maybe work out in the salle you had put in. Prove that you can beat her with a sword against sword!
[] Make sure Czeslawa is in a good mood because a happy nurse fixes people faster and that's a going concern given the new crewmen.
[] Help teach the classes in basic airmanship and English, or at least take a bridge watch so someone else can do it.
- Location
- National Capital Region, USA
That was a good dream. 
[X] Yes, let's prod that engine with the vibration problem and see if we can accomplish anything.
[X] Make sure Czeslawa is in a good mood because a happy nurse fixes people faster and that's a going concern given the new crewmen.
It would be a bit embarrassing to have an engine blow up or the prop fall off on our first cruise. And with a hastily assembled crew with an iffy grasp of English, there's possibility of more than a few injuries, so let's make sure our good nurse is settling in. She was the least enthused about losing the Caroline, since it had an oddly overdone medbay for a tech-demonstrator prototype, so she could probably do with some attention to any other shortfalls she's found with the military-flavored one she now has.
Elizabeth, no summoning Cthulu while we're airborne!
This lady has a bit of a talent for understatement...
[X] Yes, let's prod that engine with the vibration problem and see if we can accomplish anything.
[X] Make sure Czeslawa is in a good mood because a happy nurse fixes people faster and that's a going concern given the new crewmen.
It would be a bit embarrassing to have an engine blow up or the prop fall off on our first cruise. And with a hastily assembled crew with an iffy grasp of English, there's possibility of more than a few injuries, so let's make sure our good nurse is settling in. She was the least enthused about losing the Caroline, since it had an oddly overdone medbay for a tech-demonstrator prototype, so she could probably do with some attention to any other shortfalls she's found with the military-flavored one she now has.
- Location
- Sydney australia
[X] Yes, let's prod that engine with the vibration problem and see if we can accomplish anything.
[X] Make sure Czeslawa is in a good mood because a happy nurse fixes people faster and that's a going concern given the new crewmen.
What the mod said
[X] Make sure Czeslawa is in a good mood because a happy nurse fixes people faster and that's a going concern given the new crewmen.
What the mod said
7734
Trust and verify.
- Location
- Philmont
Point of order, only about 1/3 the crew is treated as new since you only lost 15% of the old one between injuries and people jumping ship. You're not up to anywhere close to optimal manning, but you're over the skeleton crew mark by a good bit.
Zeroth Jupi
Sporadic Writer and Haver of Ideas
- Location
- Somewhere
- Pronouns
- He/She/They
[X] Yes, let's prod that engine with the vibration problem and see if we can accomplish anything.
[X] Make sure Czeslawa is in a good mood because a happy nurse fixes people faster and that's a going concern given the new crewmen.
[X] Make sure Czeslawa is in a good mood because a happy nurse fixes people faster and that's a going concern given the new crewmen.
Night_stalker
Slava Ukraini!
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Yes, let's prod that engine with the vibration problem and see if we can accomplish anything.
[X] Make sure Czeslawa is in a good mood because a happy nurse fixes people faster and that's a going concern given the new crewmen.
[X] Make sure Czeslawa is in a good mood because a happy nurse fixes people faster and that's a going concern given the new crewmen.
Dirtnap
Kanmusu Affecionado
[X] Yes, let's prod that engine with the vibration problem and see if we can accomplish anything.
[X] Make sure Czeslawa is in a good mood because a happy nurse fixes people faster and that's a going concern given the new crewmen.
seems solid. how's our engineer anyways? I recall he was pretty on the ball.
[X] Make sure Czeslawa is in a good mood because a happy nurse fixes people faster and that's a going concern given the new crewmen.
seems solid. how's our engineer anyways? I recall he was pretty on the ball.
Not in Person
Once Known as The Nobody
- Location
- A place
I figured, whatever wins, I'd better stock up on popcorn.
7734
Trust and verify.
- Location
- Philmont
This is a quest; sitting back and running the popcorn machine isn't exactly productive to keeping it updating. Votes and commentary drive it, smirking in the back doesn't. As it is, I try not to update when there's less than ten votes, and we only just got ten votes. It isn't encouraging.
Not in Person
Once Known as The Nobody
- Location
- A place
Well, the other reason I didn't vote this time is because I thought everybody is going to vote in the same direction. But now that I know how it works, I'll pay more attention.
World Lore: The Aether
7734
Trust and verify.
- Location
- Philmont
We have now surpassed Icarus; for he was but a son of earth and sea and we are sons of sky.
-Anton Argulac, Patriarch of House Argulac.
The Aether is one of the most controversial and mystifying parts of our natural world. Much like the unknowns of wind and wave which only the shorebound academics claim to know more than a topical appreciation for, hundreds of brave men and no small number of women take to the skies to pass through murky portals in the world to one unlike our own. Each man has recorded different views and thoughts on the matter, with consistency only across the heavily guarded maps and journals of the Navigator Houses. A few thin lines might be drawn by class and continent, the sons of the sky notwithstanding. The men of the Continent generally see it as a frothing sea of a thousand layers, waves of light and sound and color turning between caressing and battering the hull of their ship as they sail and swim through it's murky densities. The Africans, such as they hold a presence in the Aether, are taunted by sun-drenched forests and plains remniscent of their home terrains, while they navigate obstacles and the wild rivers that make up the universally-agreed upon Currents. The South Americans view it as a river of rivers, all flowing and pushing. What differentiates this from the common European view is the obstacles of the Aether, which to the northern men seem as if rouge waves or great serpents, while the southern men see rocks and shoals, as well as the banks to the rivers. The Canadians and United States share a common view of the sky, looking upon it as a morass of clouds of dozens and hundreds of colors, the currents boring slices through them and the eddies form dangerous formations that scream danger to even a babe. The few men of China and India who regularly take to the Aether are close-lipped about their experience, and as such their viewpoint must be sadly committed.
Despite all this confusion, there is one bright spot when it comes to science- the Navigators. Each House claims different methods and stories of how their bloodline gained the power, but the fact that there is proof that a father or mother might spread their sight to their children has caused a rash of families to claim the status and prestige. While the number of families that claim to the honor are in the thousands, the known Navigator families of repute number a few dozen. By the bye, America has the largest number, with over one hundred Houses making membership in the American Navigator's Guild, the first and foremost organization dedicated soley to the art of the airborne trial. Continental Europe is the next largest, with some three hundred houses spread over the countries in total. However, it is widely believed that the American Navigator's Guild has an active campaign against these new noble families, planting rumors of infidelity and worse, the loss of the power across the bloodline, to dog the steps of these valiant folk. Each country has immense rewards for the Navigator Houses that choose to stay, however, from state stipends to other old privileges. The rest of the world is publicly strapped for resources in this regard, but it is the beliefs of this university many of the countries that claim to have but a single or double of Navigator Houses have signed contracts with the American Guild to the effect of assistance and Navigation, and perhaps the siring of a cadet branch. Whether or not this is true, aside from the European Powers and America, there are no other major concentrations of Navigator Houses worthy of note.
When it comes to actively navigating the Aether, no matter the view of man or navigator, propulsion is always the same. While no serious, academic work has been done to determine the effectiveness of propellers, those who have sailed the Aether insist upon physical sails to help them control the air of their world. As absurd as it may seem, regular linen cloth is one of the best means of propellant according to the captains and sailors, while other, more estoric options exist. The original Zeppelins trawled the Aether with sails of silk, while American manufacturer Estfabius & Sons tested in a series of secret trials many materials, setting on a series of lightly electrically-charged nets made of electrum and copper cable. While there is no methodology aside from these tests and word-of-mouth from the captains, American ships are consistently faster in Aether than many others. This is often credited to their more stringent licensing, however, which ensures a smaller, more experienced cadre of professional crew that is never sufficient for their vast private fleet.
After the discovery of the Zeppelin Device in 1853 and the Aether in 1857, the world has never thought to be the same. Now, near forty years later and in the shadow of the new century, the mysteries and sciences of both are still nowhere near explained. Just as Man must take to the sea and stare into the stars, we will eventually discover the mores and moods of the Aether. A brave new world depends on it.
The Aether, An Intorductory Study; Julius Emmingham & Univeristy of Durham, 1901
-Anton Argulac, Patriarch of House Argulac.
The Aether is one of the most controversial and mystifying parts of our natural world. Much like the unknowns of wind and wave which only the shorebound academics claim to know more than a topical appreciation for, hundreds of brave men and no small number of women take to the skies to pass through murky portals in the world to one unlike our own. Each man has recorded different views and thoughts on the matter, with consistency only across the heavily guarded maps and journals of the Navigator Houses. A few thin lines might be drawn by class and continent, the sons of the sky notwithstanding. The men of the Continent generally see it as a frothing sea of a thousand layers, waves of light and sound and color turning between caressing and battering the hull of their ship as they sail and swim through it's murky densities. The Africans, such as they hold a presence in the Aether, are taunted by sun-drenched forests and plains remniscent of their home terrains, while they navigate obstacles and the wild rivers that make up the universally-agreed upon Currents. The South Americans view it as a river of rivers, all flowing and pushing. What differentiates this from the common European view is the obstacles of the Aether, which to the northern men seem as if rouge waves or great serpents, while the southern men see rocks and shoals, as well as the banks to the rivers. The Canadians and United States share a common view of the sky, looking upon it as a morass of clouds of dozens and hundreds of colors, the currents boring slices through them and the eddies form dangerous formations that scream danger to even a babe. The few men of China and India who regularly take to the Aether are close-lipped about their experience, and as such their viewpoint must be sadly committed.
Despite all this confusion, there is one bright spot when it comes to science- the Navigators. Each House claims different methods and stories of how their bloodline gained the power, but the fact that there is proof that a father or mother might spread their sight to their children has caused a rash of families to claim the status and prestige. While the number of families that claim to the honor are in the thousands, the known Navigator families of repute number a few dozen. By the bye, America has the largest number, with over one hundred Houses making membership in the American Navigator's Guild, the first and foremost organization dedicated soley to the art of the airborne trial. Continental Europe is the next largest, with some three hundred houses spread over the countries in total. However, it is widely believed that the American Navigator's Guild has an active campaign against these new noble families, planting rumors of infidelity and worse, the loss of the power across the bloodline, to dog the steps of these valiant folk. Each country has immense rewards for the Navigator Houses that choose to stay, however, from state stipends to other old privileges. The rest of the world is publicly strapped for resources in this regard, but it is the beliefs of this university many of the countries that claim to have but a single or double of Navigator Houses have signed contracts with the American Guild to the effect of assistance and Navigation, and perhaps the siring of a cadet branch. Whether or not this is true, aside from the European Powers and America, there are no other major concentrations of Navigator Houses worthy of note.
When it comes to actively navigating the Aether, no matter the view of man or navigator, propulsion is always the same. While no serious, academic work has been done to determine the effectiveness of propellers, those who have sailed the Aether insist upon physical sails to help them control the air of their world. As absurd as it may seem, regular linen cloth is one of the best means of propellant according to the captains and sailors, while other, more estoric options exist. The original Zeppelins trawled the Aether with sails of silk, while American manufacturer Estfabius & Sons tested in a series of secret trials many materials, setting on a series of lightly electrically-charged nets made of electrum and copper cable. While there is no methodology aside from these tests and word-of-mouth from the captains, American ships are consistently faster in Aether than many others. This is often credited to their more stringent licensing, however, which ensures a smaller, more experienced cadre of professional crew that is never sufficient for their vast private fleet.
After the discovery of the Zeppelin Device in 1853 and the Aether in 1857, the world has never thought to be the same. Now, near forty years later and in the shadow of the new century, the mysteries and sciences of both are still nowhere near explained. Just as Man must take to the sea and stare into the stars, we will eventually discover the mores and moods of the Aether. A brave new world depends on it.
The Aether, An Intorductory Study; Julius Emmingham & Univeristy of Durham, 1901
- Location
- USA
[X] Yes, let's prod that engine with the vibration problem and see if we can accomplish anything.
[X] Make sure Czeslawa is in a good mood because a happy nurse fixes people faster and that's a going concern given the new crewmen.
[X] Make sure Czeslawa is in a good mood because a happy nurse fixes people faster and that's a going concern given the new crewmen.
Dirtnap
Kanmusu Affecionado
red waves?
Rogue is what you're looking for. Don't worry I do it all the time.
NothingNow
Corpse Wrangler
- Location
- Tampa
Alternatively they are rouge, because it's the Aether.red waves?
Rogue is what you're looking for. Don't worry I do it all the time.