Praise to the Unconquered Sun, King of All Gods, and praise to the Elemental Dragon of Water, whose power and wisdom has made possible this glorious example of his undying allegiance to the greatest of Heroes, the Solar Exalted.
The Coatl, Airship MAN-XSOL-01, is a heavily modified Manta-class transport outfitted for Solar use. The larger, more cost-effective features have been stripped down in favor of higher-end materials, and the large storage space typically used for troop transport has been instead outfitted with a small base of operations and several prototypical modifications. Night Caste Shadow’s Grace has overseen this project, and the vessel is to be her personal transport.
PRIMARY SYSTEMS[]
As a Manta-class transport, the Coatl would be approximately 20 yards wide and 30 yards long. The first modification from the standard design is in this area; due to the vessel’s unique drive system the “tail” traditionally associated with such vessels for maneuvering and control purposes was unnecessary. Additionally, at the request of Shadow’s Grace, the central hallway was widened by another eight point five yards to form a command center. The traditional cargo space has been redistributed into four private quarters, one captain’s cabin, and two cargo areas. One of these cargo areas has been outfitted to accommodate Admiral Arcadi’s Simhata familiar. The private and captain’s chambers have been decorated according to their respective owner’s personal tastes, with the most extensive modifications being in Brigid’s archive systems and the Admiral’s furniture.
PILOTING CHAMBER[]
The pilot chamber remains structurally identical to the normal vessel, but has been given a complete systemic overhaul to accommodate the numerous ancillary systems. Foremost, however, is that integration of a “Solar Command Unit” typical of Sun-class heavy cruisers. It is this unit that allows Shadow’s Grace, or any Solar Exalt with sufficient knowledge of control systems, to control the numerous aspects of the vessel without other assistance.
The second large modification is analogous to a system usually reserved for Warstrider design. The Least God of the Coatl, hereafter referred to the name bestowed by Zenith Caste Amyana “Shade”, has been awakened and serves as the Coatl’s Animating Intelligence. Inspired by Admiral Arcadi’s notorious “Daybreak” AI, Shade resembles Shadow’s Grace’s mortal younger brother, deceased some three thousand eight hundred and five years ago. Shade has been upgraded through numerous systems that allow him capabilities not possible for a basic spirit. He is capable of speaking and reading all known languages through the use of a Translation Crystal embedded in his circuitry. He has a photographic memory and keeps perfect track of all locales visited, and thanks to his sensors has a nearly complete map of Creation’s geomancy. This data is stored in three sets of high-quality Memory Crystals personally grown in Shadow’s Grace’s northern facilities. Finally, and most impressively, he can uplink any and all data though a complex Dreamstone system directly to the pilot and any of the crew, allowing not only instantaneous communication but advanced training capabilities and customized, situational Dreamstone programming. This requires the linkage of a blank Dreamstone to be personally formatted by Shade.
Personally, Shade has been trained for several standard combat charms, as well as being able to personally control all of the Coatl’s systems in emergencies. His own Essence pool can link to the ship’s Essence core and power any of the ship’s subsystems if necessary.
Lesser modifications to the piloting chamber include an integrated Hearthstone compass that encompasses any and all Hearthstones linked to the ship’s systems, a display of the map and Elemental Scanning System in the central hall, an enhanced build on the normal dragonline tracking system, a personnel tracker (requiring a drop of blood or analogous fluid for each of those involved), and a pair of blessed dice that were a personal gift to Shadow’s Grace from the god Plentimon. This is in addition to the normal “scout” dashboard configuration of five-star compass, gate locator, horizon display jade, altimeter, airspeed meter, and variometer.
HALL AND PERSONAL QUARTERS[]
The small central hallway traditional to Manta-class transports has been widened and formed into a round chamber centered around a complex magitech table. Each of the eleven seats has a helmet integrated into the ship’s Dreamstone system (see Shade, above) and the table itself is fitted with standard Essence display and mapping ability, all stored in Shade’s memory banks. Additionally, underneath the table is a custom-designed Sympathetic Elemental Scanning System, both smaller in size and given an impressive ability to contain multiple elementals at once, though limited to one of each division. The System allows for semi-extended containment of such beings, allowing the mental state of such systems to persist even in containment status.
The personal quarters of each room are modestly furnished. Arcadi’s chamber includes several large pieces of recreational equipment integrated into the furniture, capable of a maximum stress load of 3.5 tons. Arcadi’s request that this be increased may cause the systems to be further upgraded. Amyana’s chambers include communications equipment and a small shrine. Amber’s chambers include acoustical tuning and a music archive, tracked by Shade’s memory systems. Brigid’s chambers include a complex written archive system linked directly to the neighboring cargo hold, as well as artifact maintenance equipment. Finally, the captain’s chamber is located in an additional chamber located directly above the pilot’s chair, allowing instant transfer between such stations. It also has a comprehensive direct visual viewing system.
The cargo modules are substantially smaller than in the stock design. The first is anterior to Brigid’s chambers, and consists of a small armory and written archive system. The second is anterior to Arcadi’s chambers, and is outfitted for Simhata quartering. It includes visual viewing systems and a stationary running platform.
DRIVE SYSTEM[]
The drive system of the Coatl is one of the greatest triumphs of Solar engineering. Rather than disruptive Essence expenditures, pushing a vessel against the flow of Creation, the Coatl harnesses the flows of local dragon lines, however minute, and magnifies them hundreds of thousands of times through its turbine system. The drive system could be compared to that of a Kireeki-Class Skyreme, but is much more modern and elegant, thanks to the direct intervention and oversight by the Elemental Dragon of Water. Unfortunately, this advanced system requires a single, very high-level Hearthstone to operate properly.
The advantages of the system are numerous, including smoother flight, low Essence disruption, and near silence in movement. The single greatest advantage, however, is the Rapid Manse-Seeking Travel Mechanism, dubbed the “Dragon Drive” by the esteemed Dragon who designed it. This allows propulsion at speeds only comparable to Solar Circle Sorcery or other highly advanced artifacts, though it is limited in application.
The drive system, as all of the Coatl’s systems, draws its power from the Essence Core at the heart of the vessel. This core uses turbines not unlike those of the aforementioned Skyreme, but rather than feeding the core exclusively they power the entire vessel. Therefore the interior of the vessel has ambient essence not unlike that of a manse. These turbines are rather large and form much of the Coatl’s weight.
ANCILIARY SYSTEMS[]
The main design philosophy for the Coatl was originally versatility, but as it has aged, Shadow’s Grace has favored more and more systems until it has become a veritable weapons platform capable of combat alongside Royal-class warstriders and heavy assault vessels.
DEFENSIVE SYSTEMS[]
The structural integrity of the Coatl surpasses that of standard Manta-class transports, integrating more expensive materials and higher concentrations of jade and orichalcum than is economical on a large scale. This is not the primary protection of the vessel, however. The Coatl utilizes an advanced, custom Storm Shield located in the “eyes” of the snake motif just above the cockpit. This shielding system is the second greatest advancement of the ship, second only to the drive system. It allows Shade to intercept attacks with blue bolts of Essence before they strike the vessel, rendering it all but invulnerable. However, this requires Essence to power.
The Storm Shield is actually a large amount of the highest quality Blue Jade, ground into dust, and mixed with a similarly ground Yasal crystal containing an air elemental. This powder is controlled by circuitry spread throughout the hull. It also powers the vessel’s distinct visual viewing systems, which allow one-way transition of Earth, Fire, and Wood and the reverse direction transition of light. Air is variable and controlled by Shade or directly by the pilot. The ship can fly submerged, but only for very short bursts, as it is very taxing on the Essence Core.
These “Essence Bolts” can even strike structures and other vessels given a capable pilot, but this requires considerable skill as the vessel must draw close. Though not recommended, the shield is also capable of protection for a ramming attack, and the Storm Shield would likely make such a strike devastating. Usage against offending personal transport artifacts might prove effective.
The ship’s stealth systems, a special request from Shadow’s Grace, are among the best on Creation. The vessel redirects all interacting Essence from its hull to a small piece of pure Oblivion, thus rendering it utterly invisible and undetectable to any but the most advanced of charms and sorcery. This redirection system renders the occupants immune to the effects of shadowlands while it is active as a useful side effect, but not the Underworld. It is a very streamlined system and can last for several hours with a fully charged Essence Core, but is still not efficient enough for long-term or indefinite use as the necromantic buildup causes undesirable side effects. Full usage of this system requires a pilot with Solar-class Stealth charms.
WEAPONS SYSTEMS[]
The weapons systems for the Coatl were originally standard armament for a Manta-class vessel, however these have been changed and upgraded so many times that Shadow’s Grace opted to eliminate standard weapons systems entirely in favor of a complex modular system. Each of the five viewing stations, covered by the aforementioned Storm Shield system, has a mount that is designed for use with any standard weapons system. These mounts, with slight modification on the weapon, allow a range of motion, elimination of recoil, and the option to draw power directly from the essence core rather than personal essence reserves. The mounts and the size of the station limit the size of weapons, with two relatively smaller mounts, two larger mounts, and one mount capable of holding anything but upper-level artillery.
In addition to standard armaments, each station is fed via an automated system their choice of grenade weaponry, which is adjusted for range via Shade’s control of the Storm Shield system. These are distributed from a central location that can contain up to fifty normal pieces of ammunition.
The most recent configuration had the small mounts carrying Warstrider Fire Lances, the larger ones carrying Medium Implosion Bows, and the largest with a Large Essence Cannon.