The Imperial Saucer

The Imperial Saucer was the personal flagship and space-faring palace of the Emperor of the Empire of 1,000,000 Suns.  Initially the Emperor's ship had been a long, leaf-shaped craft along the lines of most imperial capitol ships, but after the rise of Gronnic Polymancy, was redesigned into its iconic saucer-shape, laden with Gronnic symbolism.

Capabilities

The Imperial Saucer was the size of a large city, housing all the necessities and luxuries an Emperor could desire while traversing an enormous realm. 

While the saucer its self was unarmed, it was one of the few ships in the imperial fleet to make use of both barrier shields and spatial compression technology (with a compression ratio of 500:1, it was also one of the fastest ships in the Empire).  Also, the underside of its hull was dominated by a single large star-gate leading to the fortress world Fnarlang Belann, where a fully armed and ready fleet of warships waited on constant alert to come to the Emperor's aid. 

Cultural Significance

In addition to being an immediate symbol of the Emperor's power, where countless subjects would come seeking favor whenever it came near an inhabited world or station, it was also a cultural center in its own right.  The Imperial Saucer housed several of the holiest shrines in Gronnic Polymancy, and had a thriving arts and culture scene created primarily for the entertainment of the imperial court.

Among the waste disposal castes (primarily Greys, and Cielioid Greys), the Imperial Saucer held a special cachet as the source of the highest grades of waste.  In fact, the Imperial Saucer was held in such high regard by the Greys that when the Convergence broke away from the Empire, it was the whole inspiration for all of their saucer-shaped spacecraft.

H-31 Medusa Heavy Star Fighter

History

First made in YE 8542 (GSC 9457) by Antares Fleet Works, the Medusa Heavy Star-fighter was  designed for use by the various nomad armies, mercenaries, breakaway states, bounty-hunters, and pirates during Era-2.  As such, it's spherical cockpit was originally designed for an Ool-tyr pilot.  After it was picked up by the military of the Midori Republic, a human-pilotable version was mass-produced as well.  The H-31 had a fairly long production run during the later years of the War of the Empires.

Capabilities

The Medusa was heavily armed and armored, but had relatively slow acceleration. The slow acceleration was somewhat mitigated by a superb array of maneuvering jets, backed by sophisticated pilot-assist AI, that made the Medusa one of the most agile fighters in the galaxy.

Stock main armament was two forward-mounted plasma-bolt cannons.  These were augmented with a pair of forward-firing guided-missile launchers, and a pair of rear-mounted mine dispensers. 

The H-31 was built with a gimbaled pilot's seat inside a spherical cockpit, allowing the pilot to maintain a consistent orientation while rolling the craft.  One of the most popular modifications of the H-31 was to replace the armored cockpit with a transparent one, although this traded better visibility for poorer protection of the pilot.  The structure of the Medusa was built symmetrically, so it could easily fly or land "upside-down", because the top and bottom were the same.

The Medusa's spatial compression system was capable of traveling up to 10ly at a time with a compression ratio of about 250,000:1.

The H-31 Medusa could navigate most planetary atmospheres as well as space, and its Whitman-Imperial high impulse ion propulsion system gave it the lift needed to depart most inhabited worlds.

Sprite Sheet

The Angel of Annihilation

View fullsize

Top view

History

The Angel of Annihilation was commissioned shortly after the end of the Great Reckoning, as the flagship of the first Triumphal Fleet.  She served out the duration of the War of the Empires leading the Triumphal Fleet, and participated in several major battles, including the second battle of Scharlaff.  Angel of Annihilation was finally destroyed during the War of the Gods at the siege of Berwynne's Reach.

Armament

Angel of Annihilation's main armament was a massive Kugelblitz Projector mounted in her center fuselage.  She also carried dozens of fighter bays and hundreds of torpedo tubes, most of these were in her "wings". 

Defense was provided by both heavy deflector shields, and an extensive array of point-defense lasers.

Angel of Annihilation also carried a substantial contingent of soldiers along with landing and boarding craft.  The central, cylindrical section of her hull contained two massive centrifuges where the troops, and the crew could train at high gravity.

Power and Propulsion

The Angel of Annihilation's main power source was a matrix of antimatter crystals held in her main engineering bay.  This was backed up by banks of hypercapacitors throughout the ship. 

Main propulsion was provided by three High Impulse Ion drives, providing up to three Gs of acceleration.  Her sub-light cruising speed was 0.5c.  Her spatial compression ratio was 75000:1 when she was commissioned, and was later upgraded to 150,000:1 midway through the War of the Empires.

Seed-pod Fighter

The "Seed-pod" is the most common ship in the navy of the Empire of 1,000,000 Suns.  It initially went into production in the early days of the empire, well before the 1,000 Years war, and saw service throughout the empire's history.   The simple design and low cost of the Seed-pod were key to its popularity and longevity as a design.

View fullsize

Pictured: the version of the Seed-pod in widest use late in Era-0, through early Era-1.

The economics of the Seed-pod, and its wide-spread use caused it to be continually modified into thousands of variants, including substantial civilian use as a single-passenger transport.  In the Empire's continual contact and conflicts with the breakaway states and the Nomad Armies, the design of the Seed-pod was copied and stolen many times, making it the most common fighter-craft in the galaxy before Era-2. 

Internally, the design of the Seed-pod breaks down into three modular units, the cockpit unit takes up front of the craft, the center position is occupied by weapons, fuel, and special equipment, and the main engines are in the aft.  Each of these sections were made in a variety of purpose-built variants in local factories throughout the empire.

The main variant of the Seed-pod was built as a short-range interceptor without FTL capability.  High acceleration made it agile in dogfights, but the twin plasma-bolt throwers that made up its sole armament had little to offer in the way of firepower.  Light armor and a lack of deflector shields made the survivability of a mission in a Seed-pod poor for most pilots.  But, what it lacked in endurance, range, and firepower, the Seed-pod made up for in sheer numbers.  Seed-pods were cheap and easy to manufacture, modify, and maintain, and this made them a mainstay of the Imperial Navy.

The Seed-pod saw substantial use in all of the Empire's major conflicts, usually swarming in overwhelming numbers to bog down and gradually destroy whatever they faced.

An imperial carrier prepares to launch a large flight of seed-pods.

Sprite

A-550 Thunderhawk

The A-550 Thunderhawk is a heavy attack craft made by Ares Systems,  and was widely used by planetary defense forces, and the PLIN during Era-1. 

Strictly a short-range attack craft with no FTL capabilities, it was designed to fly in space or in atmosphere with folding wings.  The A-550 is heavily armored, and accelerates slowly.  No consideration was given to stealth in the design of the craft, and its profile on a sensor scan usually strikes fear into most enemies.

The main armament of the craft is a Danforth-Galactic heavy plasma beam capable of penetrating all but the heaviest armor with a single strike.  This is backed up by twin heavy ion-bolt throwers, and an array of bombs and missiles.

The Black Swan

During Era-2, the Black Swan was one of the most feared ships in the galaxy.  Usually spanning a full 50 km from stem to stern, she was the personal flagship of Yoxx-Leth the Eternal, Warlord of the 451st Lost Souls Division, the largest of the fractal legions of the dreaded Hand of Eris. 

Yoxx-Leth, himself was said to have been one of the few survivors of the purge of Aldebaran 2, during the Great Reckoning.  This was borne out by the dogged way the Black Swan pursued Imperial targets, and particularly the Purification Fleet.

The Black Swan's immense, shape-shifting bulk was rarely seen to look the same from one encounter to the next, but was always readily identifiable by her coloration, and the surging electrical discharges that surrounded her hull.  The massive Aurora Drives that powered her journeys were said to have been designed by the infamous Dr. Cyclone.

The Black Swan as she appeared shortly before her maiden voyage.

Sometime around the end of the War of the Gods, the Black Swan, along with the entire 451st disappeared from the galaxy, never to be seen again.

View fullsize

PLS Nightingale

Several ships named after Florence Nightingale bore this designation during Era-1 (all but one were hospital ships).  The most famous of these was the one that closed the Era. 

During the Great Reckoning, the Nightingale was dispatched to the planet Aldebaran 2 under the authority of the Tardigrades with the mission of evacuating the most productive and prominent scientists and academics before the Holy Empire of Man could reach the planet.  The refugees aboard the Nightingale helped to form the foundation of what was to become the Galactic Republic.

A beacon of hope and mercy throughout the galaxy.

The Lucky Ace

The Lucky Ace was a distillery ship that cruised through nebulae in search of alcohol and other valuable chemicals.  The large scoop on the front of the ship was used for gathering the chemicals, similar in operation to a Bussard ramjet, but it wasn't used for propulsion.  The ship's visitor's section (consisting of the large pod at the bottom of the image) included a casino, a hotel, and a bar where visitors could sample the alcohol the ship was gathering.

The Neon Dream cruise ship was destroyed during a cruise when it collided with the Lucky Ace.  The Tardigrades responded quickly and saved many lives.  The Lucky Ace (true to its name) survived the collision with only minor damage.

View fullsize