50 Airships

Airships were generally one of five different types. The first time was the no-drive airship; basically just balloons and baskets (or whatever carriage vessel you prefer), they were held up by lighter-than-air gasses, and had no propulsion system of their own. These kinds were usually stationary or towed around by other vehicles or creatures. Even the Storm Cloud Chariot was classified as a no-drive airship.

The second kind were the fan/propeller drive airships. These used some sort of turbine propulsion, whether horizontal or vertical. Even turbofan jet engines were classified as fan drives.

The third kind were rocket drive airships. Rather than relying on airflow, these relied on the explosive power of combustion to move the airships around.

The fourth kind were magic drive airships. These were especially popular because they were generally cheaper to maintain and operate, especially if you yourself were capable of wind magic. While most of the ships had hulls and carriages made of any normal materials, their mobility method relied upon magic and mana to move. The methods to do so were varied and often customized to the mage controlling the ship.

The fifth kind were runic airships. Rather than just the engine channeling magic, in this case the entire airship was a magicked tool, very much like a flying sword. Matching, customized runic formations were Inscribed into the hull and carriage. While it still needed a mage to fly the ship, it did not require any specific kind of mage, as long as that mage could trigger the runes and feed the ship enough crystals. Obviously, this was the most expensive kind of ship there was, easily ten to twenty times the price of other types in their own size range.

The classifications were made by airport crews who needed to differentiate the needs each type demanded of them. Accordingly, airports around the world had to be equipped to handle at least the first and fourth types, which were the most frequently (and most cheaply) employed.

Charlie and Remian had already arranged to acquire their own airship; something similar to what Charlie flew before. In other words, a fourth type, a magic-drive engine.

The kind of airship that Mindy was able to handle, however, was the first kind; the no-drive airship. In other words, hot air balloons. Remian wondered if he should try his hand at it himself, but then decided it was better not to. Considering the sudden super-boosts his spells had, he might accidentally destroy the whole airship in a moment of distraction.

"Let's build airships." Remian told Mindy seriously.

"Really? Can we build one?" Mindy asked, eagerly.

"I want to build five of them." He answered. "Each one big enough to hold 100 people."

"Wow!" Mindy gaped. "That's… I'm not sure I can handle that!"

"You don't need to move them. You just need to keep them in the air." Remian explained. "We need them high enough to avoid even a Tier 5 Wild in the next Beast Wave."

"Battle fortresses?!" Mindy gaped, eyes shining.

"More like shelters." Remian clarified. "They're not supposed to be on the battlefield. They're supposed to keep people safe while the battle is going on. They're for the workers and the survivors. For the battle, we want smaller airships carrying much more powerful weapons than we have now."

"But… but I can only fly one…" Mindy protested.

"You don't need to fly any. Just maintain them so they can stay in the air by themselves." Remian clarified. "You won't need to be on them yourself."

Mindy raised both hands. "That's too much all at once! Can we do this step by step, please?"

The first step, therefore, was a single small gunship. This was a skiff held up by a balloon armed with that 'twice as big' Ballista that Arnold promised could be made in a week. It was about the size of three Guard Towers standing side by side and could probably carry a handful of archers along with the Ballista and its' crew.

The second step would be a single large personnel carrier. This was to be modeled after the popular Sky Galleon passenger transports Deutero often used. Basically, it was a whole lot of space, a few facilities, and redundant buoyancy systems. In a pinch, the passengers could probably shoot bows or crossbows from the deck, but Remian planned to have this ship and all its valuable passengers and cargo stay far, far away from the fighting.

The larger airship could also be towed around. Mindy herself could probably move it a little with wind magic. Charlie's airship could probably tow it around and use the extra cargo space. But the key point was that the third step would be to build a towing-kind of airship, a small-but-powerful Sky Tug like the kinds larger airports use to help slower aircraft and facilities get around.

The reason for this was that they only had one Mindy. By then, Remian hoped she would be able to handle a magic-drive airship, even if only for short bursts at a time. That way, she would only need to control the Tug and fetch the bigger ships as and when they needed to move. Most of the time, those big airships would simply be floating around the mines loading cargo or serving as shelters for the workers. They would only need to move on occasion. With a single tug and a bit of scheduling, Mindy alone might be able to handle the logistics for the entire territory.

How else were they to lug tons and tons of ores back from the mines? Were they to cart it through Wilds-infested territory, fighting every other step of the way? The casualties and costs would be immense. Could they rely on the wolfcats to help either dragging carts or guarding convoys? It would be a very troublesome, very nervous affair, all told.

No, no. Much better to just stash away all the ores and all the crews safely on board an airship at night. Then when the holds were full, they could just tow it back to town, unload, tow it out again for the next load. It could serve as a mobile base and a cargo carrier at the same time.

At that point, the biggest problem they'd have to worry about would be the weather. Having a wind mage to forecast could really help them steer clear of storms and the likes, but lacking one, Mindy would have to do.

Getting to that point could take years, in Mindy's estimation. So far, all she had handled was a small air balloon that carried a lantern. She had made it herself out of Blood Rabbit skins. The lightweight yet strong material was hard to stitch together, and harder still to thoroughly glue to become airtight.

"If you want something bigger, I'm going to need bigger materials to work with." Mindy warned him. "If I use Blood Rabbit furs for the bigger airship, or even the gunship, it's going to take forever. The bigger a patch of unbroken skin you can get me, the easier and quicker it will be."

"I'll give you the pelt of the Rage Boar Chief to start with. That's a Tier 4 piece." Remian offered. "The other Rage Boar pelts are Tier 3. We should have five of those"

"Fifty of those should be enough for the first stage." Mindy glanced aside. "So that's it for the envelope. What material do you want to use for the gondola?"

"The what and the what?" Remian blinked.

"Sorry. It's airship slang. The gondola is the carriage where people and cargo go, the 'ship' part." Mindy explained. "The envelope is the top part that contains the gas holding the ship up, the gasbag or 'balloon' part."

Remian thought. "Wood? Wilds bones? Storm steel? Cloud stone?"

That last was popular, but not easy to find. Storm steel was more common, since Charlie and other storm mages could make them given enough time and materials, but it would be costly and heavier. Bones from Tier 3 or 4 Wilds were much more easily found in the Wildlands, but these would be heavier yet. Compared to that, some types of wood were much lighter, though nowhere near as strong.

"How about a hull of pure Titan Steel?" Mindy's eyes gleamed.

"I was thinking about just a half-cage of steel wire mesh." Remian admitted. "Something light, cheap, and quick to put together."

Mindy's face fell. "A wooden floor held up by rope, then?"

"That sounds even better." Remian saw the look on her face and hastily added. "At least for now. We can upgrade it later."

They settled for a rectangular half-crate design. There were going to be important and valuable weaponry on board and they didn't want sudden strong winds blowing people or equipment overboard at the worst of times. The walls would be four feet high at least, with the Ballista in the center mounted on a platform so it could shoot just over the walls.

Mindy drew it out with coal, and then sighed as she looked at it. "There it is. Our first armed airship, a Tier 4.3 Gunship type; a half-crate held up by gas-filled animal skins."

"With a Ballista on board. Never forget the Ballista." Remian reminded her.

"You might want to make it a bit larger to carry more ammunition." Arnold advised. "Also, this would fit a Ballista twice the size, but what about the five-times Ballista you wanted?"

"We'll have to build a Tier 4.6 gunship for that one." Mindy suggested.

"What does that even mean?" Remian had to ask.

"It means six times the size of a minimum Tier 4. Once it reaches ten times the size, it becomes a Tier 5." Mindy explained. "A minimum Tier 4 is roughly as big as Carrie. A Tier 4.1 is the size of a Guard Tower, something big enough to contain one Carrie or Buff. If it can contain two, that's a Tier 4.2."

"So a 4.6 is enough for Carrie, Buff and four others their size?" Remian understood. "That's more than twice the size of a 4.3?"

"Exactly. We need the space for the ammunition as well as the Ballista." Arnold reminded him. "Which would, of course, need to be bigger and tougher by several times as well. Building a Ballista that can threaten a Tier 5 is at least ten times harder than building one against a Tier 4."

As for the bigger carriers, they'd be at least Tier 5, as big as Spike. That was a bit bigger than the old Deutero airship that Charlie used to fly. That old airship was more like a 4.8.

That old airship and the likes were really the smallest kind of airships that Deutero employed. They were called 'frigate-class', and were especially used for small jobs. The bulk of Deutero's shipping used 'galleon-class' airships, which were at least Tier 5.3, four times bigger. The really big ships, those in the 'cruiser-class' were over Tier 6.

For comparison sake, an average well-to-do house was considered a Tier 5, inclusive of a yard. That would be a bit smaller than Spike (Spike was considered a Tier 5 heavy; a Tier 5 average would be roughly as big as a Tier 5 house, or a Tier 5 airship; a Tier 5 light would be smaller).

In terms of housing, a Tier 6, ten times the size, would be a grand mansion. Going by that same Tier system, a Tier 1 would be a small doghouse. Tier 7 would be a residential block, Tier 8 would be an entire housing estate, Tier 9 would be a district, and Tier 10 would be a whole town. A city should be somewhere in Tier 11, and Tier 12 should suit a nation's capital. Tier 13 probably meant a whole kingdom. Tier 14 would be an Empire and all the kingdoms in it. Tier 15 should cover a continent. Tier 16 likely meant the entire world.

According to Charlie, the largest airship in the Deutero company was Cloud Nine, a mothership-class Tier 7 fleet carrier. With such enormous capacity, it had once evacuated the population of an entire island nation country from a disaster. Then, it helped them rebuild and resettle on another island in a week (this included the deployment of the aircraft and similar support craft on board the carrier).

If they had cargo carrying capacity like that… Remian sighed. For now, he could only dream. But one day… one day…

Mindy wasn't the only one present who wanted a fleet of airships.