OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To create a vehicle used by Darth Pteron for transport across the galaxy
- Image Source: Original whale and human sketch from Dimensions.Guide, edited by me in PhotoShop
- Canon Link: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Primary Source: Boarding Craft, Repulsorcraft
- Manufacturer: Sith-Imperial Corps of Engineers
- Affiliation: Darth Pteron
- Model: N/A
- Production: Unique
- Material: Beskar, alchemically-reinforced Glasteel with laser-reflective armour, aurodium, agrinium, electrical components, sith meditation sphere components, quadranium
- Classification: Boarding Craft // Personal Transport & Repulsorcraft // Vacuum Sealed Fish Bowl
- Length: 42 metres
- Width: 9.5 metres
- Height: 5 metres
- Armament: Extreme
- Incinerator-Class plasma railgun (x1)
- Flak Gun (x2)
- Laser cannon (x2)
- Beskar battering ram
- Electro-Plasma filament saw-teeth attached to said battering ram
- Defences: Very High
- Squadron Count: None: 1
- Manoeuvrability Rating: Average | Ramming Speed: Very Low
- Speed Rating: High | Ramming Speed: Extreme
- Hyperdrive Class: Very Fast: 0.5
- Repulsorlift
- Particle Shields
- Water filtration and cycling systems
- Life support systems including thermal regulation of water
- Luxury passenger compartment the size of a large ship cabin (~4 People comfortably, ~12 maximum [very uncomfortable])
- Molecular shield
- Small Sith meditation sphere
- Alchemically reinforced glasteel with laser-reflective armour
- Powerful secondary ramming-speed engines
- Jin’Wodasir Pin of Protection
- Molecular & particle shielding, as well as alchemically reinforced laser reflective glasteel and a quadranium frame, give it the ability to withstand enough damage to get in close and personal with capital ship’s hulls.
- A powerful back-mounted, forward-facing Incinerator-class plasma railgun turns the armour into mobile artillery.
- Forward-mounted smaller laser cannons and flak cannons give the armour the ability to contend with conventional Fighters and Freighters.
- A beskar-reinforced battering ram with plasma filament saw-teeth used for boarding actions as well as heavily increasing frontal armour.
- A Sith Meditation Sphere large enough for a creature <0.5 m in size attached to and protected by the armour itself.
- Secondary ramming speed engines allow for short-term high velocity propulsion.
- Force Light protection (singular, needs to be replaced after each instance absorbed).
- A relatively thin quadranium frame holds a majority of the systems together. Once unshielded (or when shields are bypassed), damage to this section can quickly unravel and leave the armour as little more than a fish tank floating in space.
- During ramming manoeuvres it’s practically impossible to steer the armour into a new direction.
- Weak against Ion/EMPs and Electronic Warfare.
- The main power source is located near the passenger cabin and is relatively exposed.
- Handles more like a freighter in starfighter scale combat scenarios, but without 360° defence turrets.
- Hitting something that can withstand the battering ram at ramming speeds will cause severe structural damage to the glasteel tank and two attached compartments.
The Armour of Darth Pteron is a bit of a misnomer. It certainly serves the function of personal armour, but its purpose extends far beyond a layer of protection. It was designed and built as Darth Pteron’s primary option for mobility on planetary and interplanetary scales, as a whaladon of her size caused a multitude of logistical nightmares for any Sith-Imperial ship designer attempting to account for inclusivity.
As such, the armour is built more like a massive fish tank that gradually had several attachments grafted onto it as more and more concerns arose. The alchemized glasteel spheroid serves as Darth Pteron’s main quarters and command centre. It is somewhat claustrophobic, only allowing her a few metres of movement, but it contains all the water, oxygen, and nutrients she requires to survive for several weeks while also having a tightly controlled temperature control and water quality filtration system. A repulsorlift was built into the sphere’s power source, located at the back of the sphere hidden underneath a quadranium frame, to allow for overland travel, but a request for greater independent mobility caused the engineers of the Sith to also include sub-light engines and a hyperdrive, alongside the ability to hermetically seal off the inside of the sphere entirely.
Later during its design Darth Pteron asked for a large frame for passengers to be added, a method for keeping her most loyal servants close-by anywhere she went. A larger frame was added at the back of the spheroid and the engines moved further down, so that larger quarters for passengers could be installed. They were kept fairly utilitarian initially, but were later upgraded in quality following an eventful voyage with a certain
Avernus
as a passenger, who described the quarter’s state as “downright barbaric”. This led to a general refurbishment which turned the quarters into an opulent display of wealth which rivaled and surpassed the quality of high-end luxury liners. Similarly, a Sith Meditation Sphere was added to the large quadranium frame, though size constraints caused it to be undersized for the average follower of the Sith Code, a design flaw that cost several Sith-Imperial engineers their jobs.Eventually, the need for personal defence caused the Sith-Imperial engineering corps to include basic shields and laser cannons, however fear of their superior’s wrath following the disaster of the Meditation Sphere caused them to go a little overboard, including a set of laser cannons, flak guns, and a molecular shield. What had started as a basic repulsorcraft had been turned into a veritable starfighter, complete with hyperdrive and the power to rival low-end military-grade ships. This new design sparked a new series of revisions to the craft by the engineer’s superiors, who found that the military use of a ship with a purpose this unique could be far greater than it already was.
As such, the defences of the ship were upgraded even more, eventually culminating in the inclusion of a full-blown molecular and particle shield as well as the alchemization of the glasteel glass sphere. There was also a push for more significant protection of the spheroid. The glasteel was coated with a laser-reflective armour and, specifically for any attacks from the front, the addition of a large set of plates that curved around the craft’s bow made of beskar were added. It was at this point that the original engineer in charge of the project resigned and a new, less experienced one took her place.
The new engineer saw the craft’s potential for being a great tool to deliver a small strike force directly into the heart of an enemy’s capital ship or defensive position. It was his idea to add a large Incinerator-Class Plasma Railgun to the dorsal spine of the spheroid, a gun powerful enough to turn lesser vessels to slag in singular shots. This amount of firepower required a corresponding upgrade to the ship’s power source, which further reduced the quadranium frame’s thickness for the sake of greater engine size. This created a physical weakness in the frame which could cause the entire assembly to fall apart should the wrong part be struck with great force or damage, but the engineer waved away any concerns simply stating that the molecular shield and the method of use for the craft would be more than enough to prevent that kind of damage.
By “method of use” he meant the employment of the armour as a personal boarding craft. Complete with a wall of plasma-filament saw teeth along the ship’s beskar front plate and secondary booster jets capable of accelerating the ship to great speeds at the cost of manoeuvrability. Satisfied with his design of the Empire’s latest boarding craft for aquatic species, the design was stamped and approved for production. Only one was ever built, however, as per the original request, and this one example was a monstrous amalgamation of civilian and military design philosophies with a myriad of structural and systemic weaknesses.
For one, the ship’s overall bulk has long eschewed its ability to perform well in starfighter-scale combat and has led to its performance being more akin to that of a larger freighter lacking the 360° firing arcs of many of its contemporaries. Similarly, the massive cannon on its back was a good idea on paper, but one railgun has little bearing against anything larger than a freighter or starfighter, and those are usually manoeuvrable enough to avoid its fire unless found in extreme close-quarters combat, something that this craft does not excel at.
No mind was paid to the ship’s ability to actually physically withstand a collision with something as tough as itself either. The spheroid and its frame are under threat of being broken should they impact something that can withstand the plasma filament beskar battering ram strapped to its bow. The quadranium frame housing the passenger quarters, engines, and meditation sphere is also a construction that could be described as rickety at best. While sturdy enough to survive various less powerful impacts, damage to its main support beams can cause a chain reaction that will see the frame unravel around its wearer.
No Ion or EMP countermeasures beyond its shield have been built into the craft either and, though there aren’t many, the systems the ship employs are primarily guarded by standard-issue Sith-Imperial EWAR systems and by far not up to modern standards, a design owed to its most recent purpose as a boarding craft. While the craft can ram into bigger ships quite well, it far from fulfils its original purpose of a personal transport at this point.
Suffice to say Darth Pteron was not pleased.
As a personal gesture of good will, the Sith-Imperial Engineer Corps built a small apology note into the spheroid’s lower bow containing an easily accessible Jin’Wodasir pin of protection. This small addition almost appears like a small bow-tie on the whaladon’s chest when viewed from the right angle, something that many have described as very aesthetically pleasing to look at.
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