Analysis of Elven Ships, Part II

Part II of the article.  I forgot about the Man-O-War in the Comics, so I
added some more to the Comics part of the article.

Adam

Spelljammer Comics

Two elven ships appear in the Spelljammer Comics.  A Man-O-War appears in
issues 9 and 12, and an Armada appears the very next issue.

A Man-O-War briefly appears in issue 9 of the Spelljammer comics.  It is a
freebooter ship hired by the story's heroine while under the influences of a
geas.  Its appearance is almost identical to the standard Man-O-War, with
slight variations in coloration.  There is no reason to believe this is the
same class as the modern vessel, perhaps from one of the earliest crops,
given the story takes place in the distant past.  A flitter is also briefly
seen in the background of one frame.

In issue 12 of the Spelljammer Comics, a member of the crew, Jasmine, is
captured by Pirates of Gith operating a Man-O-War.  The appearance and
general size of this ship is fairly close to the standard Man-O-War, maybe
increasing somewhat in apparent size when compared against the nearby
Smalljammer.  As scaling such a large object properly in a hand-drawn comic
is difficult, we can assume that the Man-O-War is indeed of standard size.
Of interest is the interior, of which a little is shown.  Most notably, the
ship has a fairly large "dungeon" for holding prisoners, and the walls
appear to be made of stone.  Given that the crew of the ship are Pirates of
Gith, it is reasonable to assume they would modify the ship to suit their
needs.  Perhaps the Gith are incapable of repairing the living ship, so they
must patch all holes with stone.  This would make sense, given the terrible
condition of the wing-like sails.  It also might be noted that the ship
lacks a topside catapult and instead there is simply a hatch to the interior
of the ship, perhaps another modification.  Given the captain was extremely
powerful, possibly even able to cast a meteor swarm, it is likely that the
pirates rely more on their magical talents than ship weapons.

An Armada appears in issue 13 of the Spelljammer comics.  This is an Armada
unlike any other.  The ship is truly colossal, as a smalljammer, a 25-ton
ship, not only easily lands atop the ship, but it can be moved and hidden on
the top deck that very same ship.  The artwork shows the Armada completely
dwarfing the ship, implying a size much greater than the standard three
hundred feet long!  This Armada appears more a large city than a ship, with
a marketplace, gardens, dance hall (complete with caged, scantily clad elves
dancing suggestively), and a temple.  Obviously, either this ship is
immobile, or has means of movement that go far beyond the Spelljammer rules.
I suggest this particular Armada is a single, immobile city, perhaps the
result of elvish experiments.  It now serves as a center of commerce and
trade for elves and their allies, an elven equivalent to the Rock of Bral.


War Captain's Compendium

The War Captain's Compendium boxed set introduces one new elvish ship, the
Radiant Ship.  No deckplans are provided, and only one small image gives any
clue to the overall appearance of this ship.  The image is a side-profile
sketch, like all images in the Ship Recognition Guide.  The Radiant Ship is
a twenty-five ton ship, which puts it on par with a small frigate.  The ship
itself is 90' long and 30' wide.  The whole ship is covered by continual
light spells, making its exterior as bright as a sun, evidentially to
provide light for large elven fleets in dark spheres and bases in deep
space.  The ship has an impressive six light weapons, which implies it stays
at range.  It is likely that the elves do not actually take these ships into
battle, instead keeping them safely near outposts.  The weak armor class and
poor maneuverability class further support this notion.

In appearance, the Radiant Ship appears to have a long, worm-like body which
curves upward in an arch.  It has a small head, large wings, and a set of
short legs for landing.  A measurement of the image length reveals a length
of about two inches, and from that, we can determine the ship has a height
of just over 10 feet.  This means but a single, interior deck.  With a
thirty-food width, the ship would appear almost flat when seen by any other
angle, which would appear ugly and against any known elvish style of ship
building.  More likely, the 30 foot width includes long outriggers into
which the wings are rooted, and the width of the body is no more than
fifteen feet.  This would give it a much more rounded and elegant
appearance, more in line with the style of other elvish ships.


Realmspace

Realmspace introduces us to the Man-O-War counterpart of the Monarch in the
form of seven Archaic Man-O-Wars.  These ships have been pulled together and
planted in a ring.  This serves as an outpost to watch over the sea elves of
Karpri.  Sometime during its past, this station was ravished by an illithid
attack, and now the station is haunted by ghosts.

This is the first real chance we get to see an elvish outpost.  Though first
mentioned in the Spelljammer boxed set as a "ring of ships drawn together in
a circle", neither the size nor number of ships needed is given in that
entry.  The station is illustrated on page 34 of Realmspace, which shows
seven elven ships, with their tails facing out towards space, surrounding
what appears to be a an inverted, bell-shaped base with numerous thin towers
rising out of the top.  There are windows throughout, indicating a fairly
large facility.  Each Man-O-War appears to have a small castle rising out of
its back, each with numerous towers with onion-shaped caps.  We can assume
that some liberty was taken with the image; for the ships to be to scale
with the castles on their backs, one must assume ships larger than Armadas!

Statistics for the Archaic Man-O-Wars is given in Scenario 4, on page 65.
It might be noted that while the ship has slightly less tonnage and a worst
armor rating and maneuvering class than the modern Man-O-War, it has
slightly better weapons and is larger, too!  We can speculate that these
ships were probably retired shortly after the First Unhuman Wars as modern
Man-O-Wars matured.  Retired ships were drawn into circles to create
numerous free-floating outposts like the Karpri station, to protect the
numerous elven colonies.


Evermeet, Island of the Elves

The Evermeet accessory, and later the novel of the same name, introduces us
to the Starwing class Man-O-War.  The Starwings have roughly the same
tonnage as the Archaic Man-O-Wars, although they are shorter and narrower,
with a 150' keel and a 16' wide beam.  The starwing has the same armor
rating and maneuvering class as the standard Man-O-War, but loses the aft
jettison while gaining the ability to land on water.  Again, no deckplans or
images of these ships are given, so we can only speculate on their
appearance.  I would suggest that these ships appear almost identical to the
standard Man-O-War, although a bit thinner and the body a bit shorter, with
a longer bowsprit to make up the difference.  Evermeet has six of these
ships, which it uses for defense against foes from Arcane Space.  Given
Evermeet's powerful magical defenses, it can readily be assumed that these
ships are manned by both powerful wizards and deadly warriors, all armed
with numerous and potent magic items.

Evermeet, the novel, does not introduce any new ships.  It does give
important clues as to the history of elves in space.  Most importantly, a
short story begins over ten thousand years ago, involving an ancestor of the
Leafbower family whose ship, a Man-O-War of the Elvish Imperial Fleet.  At
the start of the story, the ship is shot down over Toril by a pack of Q'
nidar.  The crew is rescued by a powerful elven wizard of Evermeet.  Over
the course of the story, he keeps the survivors as his "guests",
manipulating them into building the Starwing Man-O-Wars for him.  Though the
ultimate fate of the survivors is not given in the story, it is likely they
took one of the Man-O-Wars into space with them to establish relations
between Evermeet and the Elvish Fleet.  Much later in the novel, during the
storyline set in the present, it is revealed that Evermeet has not six, but
eight Starwings.  These ships are likely not be the ships first grown ten
millennium ago, but descendants of those ships.  Perhaps the Evermeet fleet
has grown and shrunk over the centuries as new ships are grown to replace
losses brought about by battle or age.

>From these stories, we can glean some important facts.  First, the Elvish
Fleet is ancient, predating most other worlds' recorded history.  Secondly,
Man-O-Wars are just as ancient, in at least one form or another.  If we
assume that the original Man-O-Wars mentioned early in the novel have been
since replaced, we can assume that the Starwing design has steadily changed
and improved.  Perhaps the original design was far smaller, less agile, and
less graceful than the modern style of Man-O-War.


Legend of the Spelljammer

Although Legend of the Spelljammers does not give us any new elvish ships,
it does give us the gnomish whelk.  Though shaped like a seashell, this ship
is grown in a similar fashion as elven ships.  The ship is used primarily by
non-tinker gnomes, especially illusionist gnomes.  From this, we can
speculate that a group of forest-dwelling gnomes, working with the elves,
developed the whelk.  Perhaps this is the first steps towards developing a
gnomish auxiliary of the Elven Fleet to counter such races as goblins and
kobolds, freeing the elves to deal with other races.  Alternately, the
gnomes could have learned the secrets of manipulating the starfly plant on
their own, with the unusual shape of the ship due to gnomish creativity or
the differences in the manner of growth.

Although listed as an "excellent warship", this is a disputable claim.  The
ship is 30 tons, a respectable frigate, and has two medium weapons and a
piercing ram.  The crewmen aboard are illusionists, a field of magic that
encourages deception and avoiding combat rather than rushing headlong in
battles.  Perhaps the gnomes use their illusions to encourage the rumor of
the whelk being a dangerous warship, if only so that pirates and other
predators will give the whelk a wide berth.