Gravity plane lines

Hey, Ariel,

The lead starship in my novel, at the BtM website, is a triop. It has a
"gravity stabilization belt," a Mercane magical device that I made up. This
belt is a huge ribbon of chain steel that encircles the entire vessel at its
gravity line. Its purpose is to keep the gravity the same at all times -
hence, preserving the lower areas as they are during landings. It doesn't
always work when the ship using it is closely approached by a larger
attacker, but it does have some effect there. I'm not quite sure how the
game mechanics of that would be written out, but it helps.

On some older (human) ship designs, such a belt would be all but useless,
since the gravity line is so low in the vessel, sometimes even barely above
the keel, as noted in the SJ boxed set. However, it is quite useful on other
ships; many of the more modern ones, such as triops, can certainly make use
of them.

A gravity stabilization belt would be a very difficult, though worthwhile,
treasure to take. It has to be custom-fitted to each hull, but it can be
re-sized. Removing it from its ship, however, would be difficult - not much
different from destroying the vessel, since the belt is built into the
ship's frame during original construction - for a nice extra charge, of
course. *wink*

Jim

_________________________________________________________________
Create your own personal Web page with the info you use most, at My MSN.
http://click.atdmt.com/AVE/go/onm00200364ave/direct/01/