Ashin Varanin
Professional Enabler
Image Source: Screencap of Amarr Oracle from EVE Online
Affiliation: Naboo, Theed Hangar, Galactic Alliance, select customers
Manufacturer: Theed Palace Space Vessel Engineering Corps
Model: Jinn-class Star Cruiser
Modularity: None
Production: Limited
Material: Durasteel, ultrachrome, glasteel
Classification: Cruiser, unique role
Length: 250m
Width: 250m
Height: 750m
Armament: 2
- 30 quad lasers
- 50 antimissile octets
- 50 point-defense autoturrets
- 30 flak cannons
- Total: 160 defensive weapons
Defenses: 18
- Ultrachrome hull plating
- Extremely powerful shield generators
- Advanced astromech-based repair protocols with reinforced internal bulkheads
Hangar: 1/2 squadron, generally 8 Naboo S-3 scout fighters
Special Features:
- Extremely powerful deflector shields with bubble mode
- Ultrachrome hull plating
- Specially developed Otherdrive, capable of bringing nearby vessels into Otherspace
- Otherspace-specialized sensor suite
- Standard tractor beams
- Advanced astromech-based repair protocols
Maneuverability Rating: 16
Speed Rating:16
Hyperdrive Class: 1.5, backup 9
Strengths:
- Shields can expand to a 1km-radius shutter shield bubble in order to shelter other vessels.
- Specially developed Otherdrive can bring other vessels into Otherspace.
- Extremely durable due to powerful shield generator and ultrachrome hull plating.
- Limited self-repair capability.
Weaknesses:
- No anti-capital weapons whatsoever.
- Reduced defensive weapons.
- Considerably slower and less maneuverable than average vessels of its size (rating 16 rather than 11-12).
- Hangar capacity of half a squadron, usually light scout fighters.
- Just plain not a serious warship, OK?
Description: Named for a legendary protector, guide, and escort of Naboo’s most famous queen, the Jinn-class Star Cruiser continues Naboo’s trend of elegant warships with strategic, rather than tactical, utility. The Jinn-class is lightly armed, though heavily defended. It fills two mission profiles, one designed for traditional realspace operations and the other far more esoteric.
In its first mission profile, the Jinn is a shieldship. Its powerful shutter shields can expand to a spherical configuration with a 1km radius. The sphere is centered on the middle of the Jinn’s spaceframe. Vessels in need of special protection can hide within or behind the expanded shield bubble, though care must be taken to synchronize maneuvers in such situations. The Jinn is loosely comparable to the Galactic Alliance’s ageing Shield-class light cruisers. Relative to the Shield-class, the Jinn’s key advantages lie in its improved shield geometry, improved hull durability, and defensive weapons. However, the Jinn is somewhat slower.
The Jinn’s secondary mission profile is to facilitate strategic incursion into Charon-controlled Otherspace. Uniquely, the Jinn can enter and exit Otherspace without ill effects, and can bring nearby vessels along on the transition. The first Jinn-class vessel was the RNS Ferryman.
After a major incident off Indupar, the Charon became a strategic priority for the Galactic Alliance. Among those present at the incident was Lady Ajira Cardei, Director General of Strategic Security Branch at the Theed Palace Space Vessel Engineering Corps. She was instrumental in repairing an Alliance vessel’s hyperdrive to allow it to escape Otherspace.
Secretly, Ajira’s body, life, and job had been stolen some years before by Ashin Varanin, a veteran of Charon wars in the Unknown Regions. Armed with a great deal of hidden knowledge about the Charon and Otherspace, Ashin/Ajira contributed subtly to the development of a Theed Hangar otherdrive for the Galactic Alliance. Her experience with Otherdrives pre-dated all available Otherdrive technology. Lessons learned from the Fringe Otherdrives’ original Charon roots, and from the Indupar incident, also informed the design. As a result, the Jinn’s Otherdrive is not, in any significant way, a derivative of the Iron Cron or Aurora versions of this technology. It is far more stable, preventing hyperdrive damage or crippling power reduction, the trademark flaws of those designs.
The Jinn’s advanced Otherdrive allows the cruiser to expand its field of influence in such a way that it can bring nearby vessels into, or out of, Otherspace. This effect has a radius of 3km, large enough to include a small fleet, a space station, etc. Expanding the Otherdrive field with such precision required the use of significant amounts of pyronium, which can store energy as complex hyperspatial matrices.
It is extremely important to note that exit from Otherspace, unlike entrance, can usually be accomplished with any normal hyperdrive. As a result, even if an enemy vessel came close enough to the Jinn to be taken along in an Otherspace jump, the enemy would be able to jump back to realspace with relative ease. At most, such a maneuver would disorient, confuse, and delay, and would require the enemy ship to be very close to the Jinn. Under no circumstances would a partial overlap of the effective radius bring only part of a vessel, etc. into Otherspace. Partial overlaps (in which a vessel is both in and out of the effective radius) simply have a reasonable chance of either being transited as normal or being left behind. This is not an exploit-friendly technology: it is a straightforward transportation mechanism which allows the Jinn to bring a few nearby ships along for the ride.
Advanced repair protocols and a high-end astromech complement allow the Jinn to repair moderate amounts of internal damage within the context of a single battle. Obviously this capability has common-sense limits: the Jinn can’t turn itself from a hulk to a fully functional ship in minutes, nor can it repair major damage. Still, the Jinn’s repair capability can largely keep pace with reasonable amounts of component damage, fires, or depressurization, if given the time.
Development Thread:
- In Vagrante Delicto (otherdrive, 50 posts) - Ajira is forced to relive a battle she fought against the Charon, culminating in their banishment by exploiting a variety of Otherdrive. Thread previously cited once, for this unrelated submission.
- Step Into the Black: GA Dominion of Indupar (otherdrive, 11 posts directly relevant) - During a Charon attack, Ajira flashes back to previous experiences with them, and modifies a damaged hyperdrive to escape Otherspace. This thread also fills the ultrachrome objective.
- Our Place Among the Stars: GA Dominion of Copperline Hex (pyronium objective complete, around 6 posts directly relevant)
- Project Praesidium (shield generator, 41 posts) - Theed Hangar contracts with Rendili StarDrive and Chandrila Group to fortify Naboo with a powerful shield generator.
- The Gathering (shield generator, 50 posts, ~10 posts directly relevant) - Lady Shambleau attends a business conference for Theed Hangar, involving the shield generator technology.
- Praesi Naboo (shield generator, 12 posts) - Lady Cardei takes delivery of the prototype shield generator from Chandrila DataTech and Rendili StarDrive.
- Total relevant: 130
Who Can Use This: Select customers.
Primary Source:
- Thematically influenced by the Arbiters from StarCraft.
- Loosely comparable Otherdrives: Original Fringe version, later Aurora version.
- Loosely comparable shieldships: Original Omega Protectorate version, later Fringe version.
- Self-repair capability adapted from the H9 patrol corvette and other Naboo ships.
