Warp vessel

Warp vessel, also known as warp ship or simply vessel is a type of vessel which can traverse from one world to another through the void while maintaining it's material substance in it's entirety. This is accomplished through the use of a warp drive, a machine that shields the ship from the void's dematerializing properties and transports the ship from one world to another, regardless of the starting and ending point.

Appearance

For a warp vessel to function, it only has to possess a warp drive and an airtight space. As such, vessels can have any kind of appearance, from the classic look of a sea-faring ship, to more exotic designs. Early warp vessels were constructed from existing ships through the addition of a warp drive and more airtight spaces. This design immediately became a choice for both cheaper and more high-end options as a practical yet visually pleasing choice that bridged past and future. Both private individuals, such as traders and adventurers, and trading companies merged design with functionality, giving the Age of Discovery a visual identity for the first time. Over the course of time, newly constructed warp vessels of that kind came to look like regular ships even if they couldn't travel on the sea.

On the other end of the spectrum, military vessels were as far from regular ships as possible. Emphasizing on durability and performance, military vessels were uglier than the commerical ones but at the same time offered the most in terms of power and efficiency. Extremely heavy but fast and nearly unpenetrable, these typically grey warships were originally constructed Nyx, who chose quality over quantity. Material civilizations only came to construct their own much later, though mass production.

Technology

Main article: Warp drive

Warp vessels are based around the warp drive, a altar-like device that uses energy from the void to bypass the rules of nature and substitute them with it's own for a limited amount of time. This kind of "cheating" allows for a ship to have practically no weight and propel itself without wind to high speeds, as well as to have no informational identiy in it's material world, which will automatically detatch it from it's world and will place it into the void. While no resources are needed to power up the device, it's internal units will be overloaded if a ship remains in the sky or in a transition phase for too long. Excluding the effects of entropy ships can stay in the void indefinitely, as the drive doesn't have to do anything to maintain the ship's new "identity". To combat entropic effects, some ships have drives that make any kind of degradation slower.

Upon entering the void, ships will create a self-maintaining bubble around them that can shield sentient beings from the more immediate effects of the void. Until that can happen, any passengers must remain within an airtight space that doesn't come into direct contant with the void's "air".

History

The first successful attempt of traveling with a warp vessel occured at Reed in 79 BF, during the Age of Discovery. With a crew of seven, the ship safely travelled from Reed's countryside to Krag, confirming that world to world travel is possible through means other than teleportation. Warp ship manufacturing and usage skyrocketed during the late years of the Age of Discovery and increasingly became more and more affordable and sophisticated as the world's needs pushed for better and quicker transportation. As such, warp ships played a major role at shaping the battles during the Imperial and Apocalypse eras, which were faster, less predictable and more intense than ever before.

Gallery

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  A traditional ship repurposed into a warp vessel.

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  A pair of ships using their warp drives to fly before entering the void.

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  A vessel designed to travel between worlds.

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  A vessel designed to stay afloat for long periods of time.

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  A Nyx vessel.