Maj Space: The Belt - dwarven helm (2nd draft)

This is the second draft for the dwarven craft, Rock Boats, used
by the Belters, along with the other needed bits.  Hopefully it
makes a bit more sense!

Comments?


Rock Boats and Star Hearts

Rock Boats are smaller, fully enclosed, dwarven craft carved from
solid rock which they use for movement around in The Belt, where
something like a Dwarven Citadel would be too unweildy.  They do
not use spelljamming Helms, as the dwarves do not tend to have
the skills to make these, or the spellcasters to pilot them, but
instead use something called an Anvil Helm, and as a power source
a rare gem/crystal called a Star Heart.  They can land, but put
them down on water and they'd sink.

Hull        KL  BL  SS  T/HP  Crew  MC  AC  Hard  Cost
Small Boat  30   8   1     1  2/ 1   C  16    1     5
Boat        45  12   2     5  5/ 5   D  14    1     8
Large Boat  60  16   3    10  7/10   D  12    1    10

A Large Boat could carry a Small Boat, strapped to it, which is
used to do the short-range work, once a Large Boat has got into
the general area.  In an emergency a Large Boat could probably
carry a second Small Boat; carrying these uses up cargo capacity. 
The various rock boats do not have weapons mounted as standard,
though they could be fitted to all but a Small Boat - dwarves are
much more inclined to rely on boarding actions, and close-in
fighting.

Anvil Helms are metalwork anvils which would look more at home in
a smithy, bolted to the deck inside a rock boat.  These are
ritually prepared anvils which have soaked in the creative
energies of a Forge, in the foundry room of a Dwarven Citadel,
for at least thirteen months and a day.  For every anvil soaking
up energy the Forge will be -1 SR, so there is rarely more than
one soaking at once, and an extra 10,000 gp of work is needed per
anvil for that period.  Further, the forge master must be a dwarf
of at least 15th level (which is the Helm's Caster Level), though
he or she can have deputies who work the other two shifts who
need be no more than 8th level.  Market value of Anvil Helms is
20,000 gp.

Star Hearts: Even though once it's preparation is complete an
Anvil Helm is ready to use, on an indefinite basis, it still
needs a source of power, and even the largest possible rock boat
is far too small for a proper dwarven forge.  There is a special,
padded, socket in the base of each Anvil Helm in which must be
placed a Star Heart, a fist-sized gem/crystal which faintly glows
with the light of the stars, and is only rarely found growing on
a permanently dark side of a few asteroids.  These have a market
value of 10,000 gp.

Using an Anvil Helm is something that is only possible using the
creative abilities of a dwarf, i.e. the helmsman must be a dwarf,
with at least one rank in a Craft skill; and the anvil must be
regularly tapped with a small hammer, at least once per two
rounds.  Some more traditional dwarves insist that they must be
working on a small piece of metalwork while using the Helm.  In
all other espects an Anvil Helm functions as a standard
spelljamming Helm, including the sensory abilities and
spelljamming speed, limited to a maximum of ten tons.  An Anvil
Helm may only be powered by a Star Heart, so a rare dwarven
spellcaster would not be able to substitute their own magical
energies.

A Star Heart is charged-up ready for use by exposing it to
concentrated sunlight, usually produced by a carefully arranged
array of metal mirrors, which must be erected outside the Rock
Boat; the more mirror, the quicker the charging time.  Normal
time is two hours at the distance The Belt is from the sun, Ra,
using a 36 square ft. mirror, down to ten minutes for an immense
mirror array.  A fully-charged Star Heart can move one
spelljamming ton (i.e. one hull point) of vessel at SR 2 for ten
days (moving at SR 1 does not extend this period).  While
powering an Anvil Helm a Star Heart cannot be charging.  Once a
Star Heart has been used in a Helm it will work in no other Helm,
and one will last for about three-hundred and twenty-five months
in standard use, light use for double that, and very occasional
use much longer.  There is no reason, apart from cost, that a
Helm should not have more than one Star Heart that can be used in
it (only one may be used at a time).

Crank Engines consist of a large crank, turned by two dwarves,
which via a series of valves and tubes allows air to be pumped-
out around a rock boat to allow low-speed maneuvering.  This is a
variety of Non-magical Engine, and allows at most 17 mph or SR 1,
has no spelljamming speed, and operates with MC F, no matter what
the Hull normally provides.  As usual for Non-magical Engines,
you cannot take-off from larger than size class A (Fine) bodies. 
Due to the extensive tubing and careful balancing required, one
of these is most sensibly fitted to a rock boat during
construction, at a cost of 2,500 gp; fitting one later, typically
only possible in a shipyard, costs 5,000 gp.

The down-side of using a Crank Engine, rather than an Anvil Helm,
is that inside a solid rock hull, without the sensory abilities
that you get from a Helm, you have very limited visibility.  It
might even be worth making sure you have at least a few minutes
use left in your Star Heart, so you can take a glimpse, every so
often, at your surroundings, even though you are using the Crank
Engine to move around.

Large Rock Boats typically travel along fixed routes, which are
less than the 1 AU they are capable of on one charging of their
normal single Star Heart.  Rock Boats are more flexible, with
their 2 AU range.  Small Rock Boats flit all over The Belt, and
the few other parts of the system that the dwarves normally
travel, with their 10 AU range.  Almost all pilots like to ensure
that there is at least 10% of the charge in their Star Heart left
at the end of any voyage, i.e. 0.1 AU, 0.2 AU and 1 AU,
respectively.

Most Rock Boat travel using spelljamming speed is out of the
plane of the ecliptic, where most of the bodies in The Belt
orbit.  This minimises the risk of loosing time by coming too
close to something, and dropping back to tactical speed.

-- 
Dreamer
dreamer@??????.?????.??.uk
http://www.romsys.demon.co.uk/