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Bleh, still feeling poorly but better than a few days ago. Gotta climb back on the art horse.... haven't gotten squat drawn for the past few days.

Anyway, here we have the oldest skyship still able to fly. This is the Queen's Shield, built in Selene in secret in 1716. She and her sister ship the Queen's Sword were, in fact, the first two flying warships built in Tethys. Skystones were first found in Selene, and Selenian scientists were the first to develop the now-standard lift pod required to harness them for flight. It was a time when steam, iron, and shell-firing guns were only just beginning to enter the naval playing field; surface fleets were still mostly wood and sail, much like the navies of Terra c.1840-50CE.

In 1716 Selene was faced with war with the powerful Hasvenyan Empire to the west, and its mighty battle fleet. Selenian ships were among the finest in the world, but Selene has always been small and reclusive, and had not the numbers. The addition of the Sword and Shield to the fleet evened the odds; though slow and ponderous, they were mobile and effectively indestructible, and their powerful batteries of shell guns marked a fiery and pointed end to the Age of Sail in Tethys.

The Queen's Shield is preserved as a flying museum ship in Selene to this day, in nearly her original configuration. The armoured cupola aft was a later addition, but otherwise she is basically as-built. Four boilers provide steam to the four lift pods as well as to engines driving the airscrews mounted behind midships external armour plates. Side armour is ~120mm in 3 layers of iron plate down to the turn of the bilges; hull plating is lapped double across the bottom (50mm) with additional lapping at the bilges to merge with the side armour. Accommodation and stores are minimal, somewhat compensated by the much smaller crew. Maximum speed about 10 knots, maximum altitude about 1,400 metres. The ship is turned by transverse airscrews aft, which can be covered in combat by 100mm hinged iron plating (hidden in the shadows in the view here). The conventional rudder is provided for towing the ship when on the water; the airscrews can also drive the ship forward at about 4-6 knots on calm seas. Combat load about 5,000 tonnes, with a lift capacity of ~6,000 tonnes. Most of the boats shown are modern, but still conventional boats and not skyboats, which would come decades later.

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Clip Studio Paint, Cintiq 22HD. © Avatar Z Brown.
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Description
Bleh, still feeling poorly but better than a few days ago. Gotta climb back on the art horse.... haven't gotten squat drawn for the past few days.

Anyway, here we have the oldest skyship still able to fly. This is the Queen's Shield, built in Selene in secret in 1716. She and her sister ship the Queen's Sword were, in fact, the first two flying warships built in Tethys. Skystones were first found in Selene, and Selenian scientists were the first to develop the now-standard lift pod required to harness them for flight. It was a time when steam, iron, and shell-firing guns were only just beginning to enter the naval playing field; surface fleets were still mostly wood and sail, much like the navies of Terra c.1840-50CE.

In 1716 Selene was faced with war with the powerful Hasvenyan Empire to the west, and its mighty battle fleet. Selenian ships were among the finest in the world, but Selene has always been small and reclusive, and had not the numbers. The addition of the Sword and Shield to the fleet evened the odds; though slow and ponderous, they were mobile and effectively indestructible, and their powerful batteries of shell guns marked a fiery and pointed end to the Age of Sail in Tethys.

The Queen's Shield is preserved as a flying museum ship in Selene to this day, in nearly her original configuration. The armoured cupola aft was a later addition, but otherwise she is basically as-built. Four boilers provide steam to the four lift pods as well as to engines driving the airscrews mounted behind midships external armour plates. Side armour is ~120mm in 3 layers of iron plate down to the turn of the bilges; hull plating is lapped double across the bottom (50mm) with additional lapping at the bilges to merge with the side armour. Accommodation and stores are minimal, somewhat compensated by the much smaller crew. Maximum speed about 10 knots, maximum altitude about 1,400 metres. The ship is turned by transverse airscrews aft, which can be covered in combat by 100mm hinged iron plating (hidden in the shadows in the view here). The conventional rudder is provided for towing the ship when on the water; the airscrews can also drive the ship forward at about 4-6 knots on calm seas. Combat load about 5,000 tonnes, with a lift capacity of ~6,000 tonnes. Most of the boats shown are modern, but still conventional boats and not skyboats, which would come decades later.

-------
Clip Studio Paint, Cintiq 22HD. © Avatar Z Brown.
Tumblr | Twitter | Picarto | Patreon | Tip Jar | Ko-Fi |