Re: Behind the Dark Fist - Ships

On Aug 28, 2007, at 12:18 PM, Charles Taylor wrote:

>> To be honest, I'd buy a creature (somewhere in the SJ universe)  
>> that could
>> chew up stuff into a pulp and make a material similar to paper  
>> mache. Maybe
>> these Zelani could do that sort of thing. I think that is a bit  
>> like how a
>> bee's nest is built.
>>
>> David "Big Mac" Shepheard
>
> <pedant>Actually Wasps (and hornets) make nests out of paper mache,
> bees make combs out of wax produced by their own bodies.</pedant>
>
> Both of which could have a lot of potential for unusual construction
> materials for ships.

I believe I'd said it before somewhere in this conversation thread,  
but the race is "Zalani," not "Zelani"  :-p  They're large, black- 
skinned gargoyle-like creatures and yes, they are the shipwrights who  
design the Vodoni vessels. The aesthetic of gigantic winged wolves  
comes from the marriage of Vodoni preferences (they like wolves!)  
with Zalani design style (giving the "creatures" from which the ships  
are modeled a generally gargoyloid form).

I would also note that the Vodoni vessels save as Ceramic, suggesting  
a light earth/stone/clay construction for the outer hulls.