Approved Starship Exarch-class Command Dreadnought

[Mercy]

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OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION

Intent: To create a limited series of flagships commissioned by Mercy for senior members of the Sith Covenant.​

Image Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWars/comments/71mdp5/my_redesigned_first_order_dreadnought/​

Canon Link: N/A​

Permissions: N/A​

Primary Source: Kuat Drive Yards, The Sith Covenant​

PRODUCTION INFORMATION

Manufacturer:​

Kuat Drive Yards​

The Sith Covenant​

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Affiliation:​

The Sith Covenant​

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Market Status: Closed Market​

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Model: Exarch-class Command Dreadnought​

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Production: Limited. Exclusive to the upper echelon of the Covenant.​

Material: Durasteel, alusteel, transparisteel, glasteel, electronics.​

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TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Classification: Flagship​

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Length: 5000m​

Width: 2700m​

Height: 500m​

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Armament: Extreme​

Defenses: Extreme​

Hangar Space: Average: 28​

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Hangar Allocations: Dependent on the assigned commander and the operational role of the vessel. No more than 28 squadrons total.​

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Maneuverability Rating: Very Low​

Speed Rating: Very Low​

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Hyperdrive: 0.5 (Back-up Hyperdrive: 1.0)​

STANDARD FEATURES

The Exarch-class includes the standard systems expected of a modern capital flagship of its size and classification. This includes military-grade shielding, long-range communications, command and control systems, hangars, tractor beams, life support, navigation systems, escape systems, docking infrastructure, crew facilities, detention blocks, medical facilities, internal security systems, and all other common features standard for a vessel of this class.​

ADVANCED SYSTEMS

Battle Meditation Chamber: Each Exarch-class vessel contains a dedicated chamber for Sith meditation and command focus. The chamber is isolated from general ship traffic, reinforced against external interference, and connected to the vessel's command architecture. Its purpose is straightforward. It gives the assigned Sith commander a controlled space from which to exert influence over the battle, coordinate with their officers, and maintain focus during extended engagements.​

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Command Sovereignty Suite: The ship is equipped to function as a fleet command platform, occupation headquarters, and mobile seat of authority. The suite includes hardened tactical chambers, encrypted communications, planetary assault coordination systems, administrative archives, and secure links to subordinate commanders. An Exarch can direct a naval engagement, a ground invasion, or a local occupation without relying on external command infrastructure.​

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Reinforced Siege Spine: The primary internal structure of the ship is built around a heavily reinforced central spine. This supports the vessel's main power distribution, weapons control, shield routing, and command systems. The design does not make the ship invulnerable, but it allows it to continue operating after taking significant damage. The class was built with the expectation that it would be asked to remain in place under sustained fire.​

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Rapid Strategic Hyperdrive: The Exarch is slow in realspace, but carries a fast hyperdrive for a vessel of its size. This reflects the doctrine behind the class. It is not intended to chase smaller ships or reposition quickly once a battle begins. It is intended to arrive in a system before local resistance is fully prepared, establish itself, and remain until the operation is complete.​

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Personalized Lordly Refit Capacity: Each vessel is designed with substantial internal reserve space for modification by its assigned owner. These modifications vary widely. Some ships may emphasize military command, others may contain private sanctums, laboratories, reliquaries, trophy vaults, slave holds, expanded barracks, or facilities specific to the preferences of the Sith placed in command. The class remains standardized in its core performance, but no two ships are expected to be identical internally.​

STRENGTHS

Heavy Firepower: The Exarch-class carries extreme armament for a flagship of its scale. It is capable of anchoring major fleet engagements, supporting planetary sieges, and overwhelming lesser vessels through direct firepower.​

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Heavy Defenses: The vessel is built to absorb sustained punishment. Its shields, armor, internal compartmentalization, and reinforced command systems allow it to remain in the fight under conditions that would cripple lighter ships.​

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Strategic Reach: The 0.5 hyperdrive allows the Exarch to move between theaters quickly despite its poor realspace performance. This gives the Covenant the ability to place a major command vessel where it is needed without relying on slow strategic buildup.​

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Independent Command Platform: The ship can operate as a mobile headquarters for a Sith Lord, Knight, or senior Covenant commander. It can coordinate fleets, troops, occupations, and political enforcement from a single hardened platform.​

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Customizable Interior: The frame allows each assigned commander to adapt the ship to their own needs. This makes the class useful across a range of Covenant power structures, from military command to private court, religious center, laboratory, or siege camp.​

WEAKNESSES

Slow: The Exarch-class is very slow in realspace. Once committed to an engagement, it cannot easily redeploy, pursue faster enemies, or disengage from an unfavorable position.​

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Poor Maneuverability: The ship is difficult to turn and reposition. Smaller vessels and more agile capital ships can exploit this if they are able to avoid its main firing arcs.​

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Requires Escorts: Despite its firepower and durability, the vessel is not suited to operating alone against a flexible enemy. Starfighters, bombers, fast attack craft, and coordinated flanking actions remain serious threats if the ship is left unsupported.​

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High Resource Burden: An Exarch is expensive to construct, crew, fuel, repair, and escort. Damage to one represents a significant logistical and political cost to the Covenant.​

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Obvious Strategic Target: The arrival of an Exarch-class vessel is difficult to hide and easy to interpret. It signals that the Covenant has committed serious force to a theater, which gives enemies a clear target for traps, sabotage, concentrated attacks, and political countermeasures.​

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Personalized Layouts: The internal customization of each ship can create inefficiencies. Crews transferred between vessels may need to adjust to different layouts, priorities, security habits, and command cultures. In some cases, the preferences of the assigned Sith commander may reduce standard military efficiency.​

DESCRIPTION

The Exarch-class Command Dreadnought was commissioned during the Sith Covenant's shift from raiding force to territorial power.​

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For much of its early history, the Covenant relied on limited commitments, sudden attacks, and withdrawal before larger responses could be organized. That approach suited a movement without secure industrial depth. It allowed the Covenant to survive, expand, and test its enemies without exposing too much of itself at once.​

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The situation changed after the Covenant gained access to the resources of the Tapani and Core regions. Shipyards, labor, tithe networks, military stockpiles, and political concessions made a different kind of warfare possible. The Covenant did not need to abandon its older methods entirely, but it no longer needed to depend on them.​

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The Exarch-class was one of the first visible results of that change.​

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The ship was not designed as a raider. It was not designed to pursue smaller vessels, conduct fast patrols, or answer every local threat. It was designed to arrive at the center of an operation and remain there until the matter was resolved. Its speed and maneuverability in realspace are poor, but this was accepted during the design process. The vessel is built around firepower, endurance, command authority, and strategic arrival rather than tactical flexibility.​

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The class carries a fast hyperdrive for a ship of its size, but this is part of the same doctrine, even while it might seem to be contradicting. The Exarch is meant to move quickly between theaters, not within them. Once it enters a system, it becomes a fixed problem for the enemy to solve. It can support a siege, coordinate a fleet, oversee a planetary assault, or act as a temporary seat of government during occupation.​

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The class also serves an internal political purpose. These vessels are not issued to ordinary officers. They are granted to senior figures within the Covenant whose power, ambition, and independence are considered useful enough to support. Each ship is both a military asset and a concession. It gives its owner reach, autonomy, and the ability to act in the Covenant's name without waiting for every order to pass through a central command.​

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That arrangement carries obvious risks. The Covenant accepts those risks because it is built around people who are difficult to restrain and expensive to ignore. The Exarch-class does not solve that problem. It gives the problem a hull, a command deck, and enough weapons to make it useful.​

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Mercy commissioned the first run for members of the Covenant upper echelon who best represented the values she wanted rewarded: independence, appetite, ambition, and the willingness to take more when the opportunity presented itself. The initial vessels were assigned to figures including Arris Windrun , Lysander von Ascania , Varin Mortifer , Tamsin Starfall , Acier Moonbound , Meliant and Vestra Tane .​

Meliant's ship was preinstalled with a custom-made throne, fitting for one ruling a planet as magnificent as Coruscant. ​

The vessel intended for Vestra Tane did not enter service as planned. After Mercy learned that Vestra had been murdered by Arris, she personally ordered the ship taken from its berth and drove it into a moon. The impact site was later named Vestra's Legacy.​

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The remaining Exarch-class vessels continue to serve as flagships for senior Covenant powers. And it is expected that more of them are built as other figures in the Covenant rise, leaving their mark on the Galaxy.​

 

[Darth Prazutis]

Under Review.

 

[Darth Prazutis]

Mercy

Very cool submission. I always like flagships like this; it affords the recipients to really make each one their own. That being said there are some concerns we need to address. As per the Factory Rules the Manufacturer and Affiliation must be properly linked. Once that is resolved tag me and we'll proceed from there!

 

[Darth Prazutis]

Mercy Nevermind. I missed it under Primary Sources lol.

Looks good. Approved.