Elven Flitters

All this talk about elven ships has got me thinking about Flitters, so 
here's my own take on the ships. This is basically just a re-write of 
the description from the Lorebook of the Void (I haven't changed the 
stats at all) that's been heavily influenced by the discussion on the list.

The Elven Flitter:

Description

One of the smallest standard ships in space, the Flitter is also one of 
the most common. The small butterfly-like craft is grown, like many 
other elven ships, from the fruit of the starfly plant. The process for 
growing living ships from this plant remains one of the most 
closely-guarded secrets of the elves. Like many other elven craft, 
Flitters continue to grow and must be maintained. This maintenance 
consists of periodic pruning to keep the craft from becoming overgrown 
and unwieldy (see the Wild Flitter listed below). While any serious 
damage to the fragile Flitter will destroy it (killing the ship in the 
process), minor damage will heal in time. This healing can be 
accelerated by grafting in pieces of wood.

The 'wings' of the Flitter are as flexible as the petals of a flower, 
unlike most other elven-grown ships, which typically have wings whose 
flexibility is more similar to that of a very young sapling. This allows 
the wings to be furled up, so that other ships can carry Flitters in 
relatively compact spaces. This also provides the motive force for 
Flitters which lack spelljamming helms. A Flitter without a helm can 
travel at SR 2 by flapping its wings in a distinctive rippling motion 
(it is this motion which gives the Flitter its name). The movement of 
the wings is organic, and is impossible in a craft which has died, or 
which is overgrown (the wings of an overgrown craft become too brittle 
to withstand such motion). The living ship has been magically modified 
by the elves during growth to respond to pressure in certain areas 
within the body of the craft, such that a pilot need only apply pressure 
in the appropriate places to encourage the Flitter to fly. Of course, 
acheiving spelljammer speeds without a helm is not possible, making a 
depowered Flitter useful only for short distance travel. The same 
mechanism is used to maneuver the ship even when it is powered by a 
spelljamming helm.

Flitters that were grown before the first Unhuman War did not have the 
innovation of these organically-controlled wings, and instead had the 
somewhat more rigid wings common to other elven craft. See below for 
details of these archaic Flitters.

The Flitter is designed to be handled by a single 
passenger/captain/helmsman who sits just ahead of the wings in the 
'head' of the ship. Given its small size and delicate construction, the 
Flitter is not recommended for long trips. Traveling in a Flitter has 
been compared to riding a tireless horse for several days - you get 
where you're going, but not very comfortably. The flitter has 
insufficient interior space for any significant cargo, and will 
typically only carry the personal gear of the pilot, along with food and 
water. The ship is not designed to carry any large weapons, and cannot 
be easily modified for that purpose.

Crew

As discussed above, a Flitter typically carries only a single 
individual. For short-range purposes, however, a Flitter will often 
carry one or more passengers in addition to the pilot. This is usually 
only done for trips that are expected to last for a few hours at most.

Flitters used as fighters will usually carry a pilot and a single 
passenger who will either be an expert with a longbow, or a mage. The 
passenger serves as the Flitter's weaponry.

Ship Uses

Messenger: When equipped with a spelljamming helm, a Flitter is best at 
carrying very light goods over short-to-mid-range interstellar 
distances. Since the lightest good to carry is information, Flitters 
with spelljamming helms most often serve as messengers between elven 
ships and bases. These missions can be dangerous for the messengers, 
called "lone riders" in the elven tongue.

Scout: The scout is the next most common usage of Flitters equipped with 
spelljamming helms. The Flitter's small size makes it an excellent 
reconnaissance and espionage ship, capable of slipping into small areas 
and making planetfall.
Landing Craft: Many Flitters are carried by larger elven ships and used 
as landing craft. These Flitters are depowered, as described above. In 
this configuration, the Flitter is useless for long voyages, but 
suitable for short hops into and out of an atmosphere, or between ships. 
This is in keeping with the standard policy of the Imperial Elven Navy 
which does not allow ships equipped with spelljamming helms to make 
planetfall.

Small Fighters: A large number of Flitters, perhaps the majority, are 
used as small fighter-craft. These ships are depowered, and are carried 
by larger elven vessels, especially Armadas and Men-o-War. In this use, 
the Flitters are intended to soften up the enemy before the main attack, 
by peppering the target with arrows and spells.

Other Configurations

Archaic Flitters: As mentioned above, archaic Flitters grown before the 
first Unhuman War used more rigid wings than those of modern Flitters. 
These Flitters could not have their wings furled in the manner of modern 
Flitters, with the result that far fewer Flitters could be carried by a 
mother ship, since a single archaic Flitter takes up a great deal of 
storage space. Prior to the invention of the modern Flitter, each elven 
ship would typically carry only between one and five Flitters. The lack 
of flexible, organically-controlled wings also meant that archaic 
Flitters could not fly under their own power. Most archaic Flitters were 
powered by full-blown spelljamming helms, or by an engine powered by a 
combustible variety of sap. Such engines provided the ancient Flitters 
with SR 1, and could only power the ship for a maximum of 2 hours before 
the ship would run out of sap for fuel (assuming that all of the ship's 
meager cargo space is filled with the sap). Archaic Flitters equipped 
with these engines were vulnerable to fire in the same manner as a ship 
carrying a greek fire projector. For obvious reasons, the engines of 
these archaic Flitters were less than ideal, and the improvements in the 
design of the modern Flitter are seen as one of the reasons why the 
elves won the first Unhuman War. Since the natural lifespan of a Flitter 
can easily exceed a millenium, a few archaic Flitters can still be found 
in space, although most have been destroyed over the centuries. The few 
archaic Flitters still used by the Imperial Elven Navy are equipped with 
spelljamming helms and used as messengers or scouts, tasks which they 
perform as well as any modern Flitter.

Wild Flitters: It is not uncommon to encounter an abandoned Flitter 
drifting in virtually any area of wildspace or the flow. These ships are 
usually the result of failed missions, undelivered messages, and old 
battles. Without regular maintenance, these ships are seriously 
overgrown, their wings curled in on themselves like seashells. Such 
ships may have workable engines within, and are MC E and AR 9 until 
properly trimmed back (repair costs equivalent to refitting half the 
hull). A wild, overgrown Flitter must be trimmed back before it can be 
flown without a helm.

Firewinds: This type of depowered Flitter has not been used since the 
First Unhuman War, although with the advent of the Second Unhuman War 
the Admiralty is considering using it once more. The Firewind is a 
suicide craft, loaded with flammables and piloted to crash on enemy 
decks. Each Firewind used in this manner has the effect of two hits from 
a greek fire projector, in addition to normal crash damage. The pilots 
are trained to bail out before impact, and are given a method to escape 
if possible (a Potion of Flying, a Dimension Door spell, a gadabout, 
etc). Near the end of the First Unhuman War, the elves used charmed 
goblinkin as pilots. Most Firewinds were Flitters of the archaic 
variety, which were already obsolete at the time, and were usually 
packed to the gills with combustible sap already. In fact, the practice 
arose after several accidents with the obsolete Flitters, which caused 
impressive amounts of damage.