Excession

Pirates of the Darkening Skies

<Snipped quote by Excession>

Can after after-market customizations make a bioship even smarter than what you've described or is pig-level intelligence the maximum?

@rush99999

They'd be expensive, but yes. There are some wholly sapient bioships out there but they're rare.
Carnaval is a Lybarim bioship of roughly human intellect but it is chained to the will of its creator, keeping it completely loyal.
Winsome Yelena was a human but had their brain transplanted into a bioship.
Sseven is a bioship with a Constructed Intelligence housed within, kept under heavy observation in case of Rampancy.
Big Wet Billy is an amphibious bioship with approximate brain function of a human six year old, grown by an eccentric Communer.

Are you looking for something specific? I can always make exceptions when they're interesting.

Pirates of the Darkening Skies

@Excession

If bioships are alive, does that mean they have minds of their own? If so, are they on the same level as people or are they closer to animals in terms of intelligence?

@rush99999

They usually have only rudimentary nervous structures, enough to manage autonomous functions and basic stimulous response. If no one is at the pilot seat and your bioship is shot, it will scream and try to escape the pain, so it's by no means a sitting duck.
The most basic control system is essentially a series of probes buried in the brain matter that use electrostimulation to give commands; speed, steering, attack, etc.
More advanced ships may have direct synaptic links, allowing the pilot to inhabit the ship and use it as their own body. These pilots are much in demand because it takes a lot of training and innate talent to pull this off well.
A few expensive variants, quite rare, have Heartwright-made control terminals buried in their brains so they can be operated like a modern ship.
Some bioships are autonomous and about as clever as a pig, making them exceptional choices if they're trained well, but they require a lot of care and can be temperamental.

Bear in mind after-market customizations are encouraged.

Pirates of the Darkening Skies

I could go for a Communer Magi Dryad which makes a lot of sense and opens up the possibility to take the Bioship for our Captain which I think is a good option.

I could also go for a Necromancy Magi Dryad as I find Necromancy interesting, especially in this combination, and it would give us a good shot at the Necroship which can warp travel with devastating side effects if it goes wrong - and who doesn't wanna go and dip their toes in the sea on the other side of life ^_^

Other interests so far include: Shadows, Seer, maybe Cryolyte

@Benzaiten

Explaining why a Communer would leave the Wood has potential for plot. The others are easier to explain. Maybe we see what @XxFellsingxX picks first?

How do the monk enlightenments work?

Do acolytes cycle through them all, ideally learning something from each one or is it more of a specialization deal?

@Abstract Proxy

They all start with the first, but then focus on the one which resonates with them most while at least learning about the others.
Cold Hands is from a pure specialist sect.

Pirates of the Darkening Skies

Currently thinking of going with a Dryad

Edit: It says as a Dryad (Treefolk) I can be a Magi, Monk or Inquisitor. Do you have more info on those?

@Benzaiten

Oh nice. Magi are covered in the Magic doc - most Crantiré Magi are Communers or Heartwrighta.

An Inquisitor wouldn't be a great fit for this campaign since associating with pirates is a bad look, but in a nuthsell they're an extranational force established to prevent Magi and Scions alike from abusing their power and starting another war.

Monk stuff here. A Crantiré monk would be a rare and interesting thing.

Pirates of the Darkening Skies

@Benzaiten Added material to the first OOC post. Have to get back to the office for the afternoon but I can find and add more later today.
As always, questions help me focus, remember things that have slipped my mind but are written somewhere, and so on.

Pirates of the Darkening Skies

@Excession Would it be possible for you to copy all of the RP information to this OOC? Perhaps cumulate everything in one post, a 0th post perhaps? So that it's easier to find when looking for something?

@Benzaiten

Good call.

Pirates of the Darkening Skies

I'll take the debt for better guns then.

Also, what sort of questions does getting a Stormhawk raise?

@rush99999

"Where did you steal an experimental battleship being made by the Spire Cartel? How did you steal it? Who wants it back?"

Pirates of the Darkening Skies

You would get significantly better guns for accepting the debt - Kira is one of the only gunsmiths in the setting who can make something like a tommy gun.

And in a worst case scenario I can add an NPC to help maintain the ship.

Pirates of the Darkening Skies

<Snipped quote by Excession>

I would like one airship, six of whatever the equivalent of the Tommy Gun is in this setting, and six pieces of protective gear to offset the goblin's abysmal defensive capabilities.

@rush99999

You have a choice of several airships, some with catches.

Windriders were the first generation of airships and remain in use today, made mainly from wood and canvas with some metal reinforcement, they're powered by chained winds bound to sapphire nodes by the fins and sails. Can't hover, reasonably fast, quite manoueverable.

Cloudbanks are the workhorses of the Stormcirlce merchant navy, base on similar technology to Windriders, but larger and slow to carry cargo, troops, and even interceptors. Sturdy, reliable, and equipped with plenty of weapon hardpoints but not very agile and they benefit from a large crew.

Stormhawks are the latest generation of Stormcircle airship and getting one will raise questions. Based on electromagnetic repulsion spells they can be incredibly quick and agile but require a specialized manatechnician for upkeep.

Endjinn ships have a flame animus caged in their belly, providing power to thrusters. They operate at extremes; they can cruise at a fair speed for weeks before brief sprints of high speed. You do need to let the animus rest, keep a Conflagrant on hand to quell it, or otherwise manage its mood.

Necroships look like classic sea-going galleons, their sails driven by the strange winds of the World Without Sun. Need a Necromancer in the crew for best results, and they can jaunt through the World Without Sun to effectively warp travel - if you can keep the hungry ghosts from boarding and your crew from losing their minds.

Bioships are custom-grown, living vessels with gasbags and wings. You have to feed them, treat wounds, and ideally have a Communer in the crew to care for them. Or a Vampire.

You can also have a mundane airship which tends to have more fuel costs and lacks special features of other types, but you don't need a pet wizard to keep it airworthy.

Do you mind being a debtor to Leadbelly Kira for the tommy guns? I can just let you have them, sure, but paying them off could be a good hook for a first job.

You can have some armour; reinforced jackets, essentially. We can make getting better stuff an in-game task.

I should note I treat violence as a failure state - not yours, necessarily, the fault can equally lie with NPCs. If you can't avoid a fight, I strongly urge you to avoid a fair fight. Don't need protective gear if you can ventilate the opposition from ambush.
The combat engine in this game is high lethality so everyone, except Olimakin, prefers to avoid fighting and very rarely will a fight be to the death. Not many characters are zealous or well paid enough to die for whatever they're doing when a fight breaks out and you can expect a lot of combat encounters to end in surrender after a few severe injuries.

I seem to recall we're due a Lybarim ship's doctor which will be a literal lifesaver.

Pirates of the Darkening Skies

@Excession

How do we determine what our starting gear is?

@rush99999

You tell me what you'd like, we work together to determine what you get. You can safely assume any mundane item you reason your character can buy, find, make, or steal is fine and doesn't even need to be tracked - you say your character pulls out a telescope a dozen posts in, well, that just makes sense.
Anything more exotic might need a bit of background justification, and the more exotic items the more likely they come with catches.
I am far too lazy to write up a table of example items so I'll also need to come up with stats for things you want.
Also lest there's a miscommunication, no one has to write their sheet in the 2nd person.