Leyship
To sail the seas and skies is not enough; now, we set sail for what mysteries lie beyond magic itself.The leyship is a new form of transportation developed by those working with Elias Cielwood using his research into leywarping. Leyships are capable of transporting themselves through leylines to, in theory, any potential location connected to a leyline anywhere in the universe.
Warping by Hanhula (via Midjourney)
Though little known in the world at the moment due to the somewhat clandestine nature of Riven Drast's full operations, leyships have been steadily rising in awareness due to their mystifying appearances. They have been shown to pierce a Shard-raised barrier around Takawaoku during Gaia's Lament that no other known magic could penetrate, and can theoretically transport entire armies near-instantaneously.
Flying on a leyship is not without risk. Leywarping is an unstable prototype technology, and the leyships that exist currently are largely retrofitted airships or sailboats that have been upgraded to deal with the challenges of leyline transport. They lack built-in safety features needed to cope with the ride, leaving crews to rely on prototype safety measures.
Currently, use of leyships is limited to the Reformation. The active demonstration of their teleportation power above the western battlefields of the War of Empires has been extremely effective in causing the war to come to a temporary ceasefire.
Power Generation
What can you offer a ship that must travel a force we barely understand?As leyships are designed (or, well, retrofitted) to ride magic itself, their power sources must be something significant enough to be able to direct the ship into and back out of an incomprehensible amount of power. Previous attempts at creating similar devices have failed as they assumed that one would need to influence the leyline itself, particularly to get the ship to a specific destination.
Elias's leyships instead rely on a series of absorbers and conductors. When the ship needs to take off, its conductors - a mixture of silver and highly ley-conductive crystals, allegedly, though it's suspected that many more details are hidden from the public - open its conduits to any nearby leyline energy.
If one is not close by, then its signal strengtheners (and nobody is wholly certain what is in them) transmit the ship's stored magical power to the leyline to form a connection.
Once that connection is formed, the ship may leywarp. When it wishes to exit the leyline, a similar process in reverse is enacted, except with the absorbers acting more as reflectors that temporarily redirect magic flowing into the ship outside of it to propel the ship out of the leyline.
The leyline absorbers themselves are able to generate a significant amount of magical energy for the ship's use via the ambient magic in the air, usually caused by leylines nearby.
Ley Reflections by Hanhula (via Midjourney)
Weapons & Armament
I don't know, how much damage do you think the cannons could do?Being able to absorb and release magical energy in a directed manner is not only something that benefits leywarping. Though it has never been observed (at least, by anyone who cares to admit it), each leyship is equipped with cannons and weaponry that seem to be linked with the energy systems built for transportation. If these are truly cannons able to shoot directed magic, especially if they are fuelled by the leylines themselves, then their power will likely be devastating and nigh uncontrollable in scope.
Leyship Cannons by Hanhula (via Midjourney)
Until they are used, though, they remain a theory. The threat is still enough that their presence causes others to hold back: the unknown nature of this threat, and the sheer scope it may represent, is what forced the previously-noted ceasefire in the War of Empires.
They can also detonate the ship if need be, providing an ultimate level of self-defence to stop any potential attempts at hijacking the ships.
Beyond the potential existence of leyline cannons, though, leyships usually retain all of the weaponry and abilities of their base ship. The airships Elias has used seem to be well-armed, modelled after existing ships found throughout Valathe.
Though their cannons are mostly modified, their harpoons, shields, and/or other weapons and defences remain usable as they are. Every ship does retain some unmodified cannons in case standard warfare is required.
Communication Tools & Systems
I'm convinced Elias thought we'd be happy to just point in a direction and land wherever at first.Once the technologies around making a leyship functional were figured out, the next hurdle was then navigation. To throw oneself into the ley network without direction could lead to someone being thrown out at any point - including areas not compatible with life, like a volcanic caldera or the void of space.
Though the specifics of leyship navigation are vague, it is in some way related to the large mirrors and crystals set up in the steering deck (which must remain a standard steering deck as well, for leyships must also behave like their mundane counterparts after leywarping).
They seem to be able to gain a sense of where they are via this system, or lock onto a specific area using something resembling divination magic - or perhaps using the same knowledge-based method as teleportation in some cases? It's not fully clear, and Elias does not seem to be particularly interested in sharing what makes the navigation section of the ship work.
While leyships can travel without a predetermined destination, this is perhaps the most dangerous way of leywarping. It is extremely inadvisable, and every extant leyship has a number of warnings and confirmations built in to ensure this cannot be done by accident - a precaution written in the blood of those that first made that mistake.
Navigator's Nightmare by Hanhula (via Midjourney)
Into Magic by Hanhula (via Midjourney)
Nickname
the Limitless
Motto
To Be Unlimited
Manufacturer
Creation Date
Developed in the early to mid 5620s
Owner
Owning Organization
Price
Not for sale
Rarity
Extremely rare; limited production
Related Technologies
Speed
Instantaneous through leylines; base ship speed otherwise
Complement / Crew
Dependent on base ship
Cargo & Passenger Capacity
Dependent on base ship
Risks of Leyships
Leyships, as fully functioning seabound ships or airships, carry all of the usual risks of ship travel. Leyships travelling in the air are at risk of crashing into mountains; leyships in the sea are at risk of sinking. If a leyship suffers significant damage beyond the point where it can maintain its structural integrity, its self-destruct systems will automatically activate. Some leyships have additional teleportation features built in to attempt to spare those caught in these final blasts. The more significant risk, though, is the inherent risk of interfering with leylines. Leywarping itself has its own consequences - it is a risky procedure and a violent one, capable of causing damage to the ship and its passengers. The risks of leywarping are detailed on its page, but suffice to say, riding on a leyship is dangerous. The leylines themselves may cause damage beyond what leywarping does. If the world's magic lashes out at the ship in the wrong way, or if the heightened magic around the power and propulsion systems interferes poorly with magic performed on the ship, it can cause a variety of primal surge effects. These range from minor fires or explosions all the way to a horrific inversion of power that drains the unsuspecting caster, or the apparent disappearance of their soul. For this reason, areas of leyships that will have significant ley interaction are generally locked behind doors requiring acknowledgement of the countless warnings about ley energy. Some also find that even being present on a leyship can influence them in odd ways. There has been a higher percentage of runewakening on board leyships, and many sleeping on board the ships find their dreams are warped in strange ways. Even though leyships seem like a miracle, they must not be taken lightly.It felt like we were being torn into fifty directions and compressed into a tunnel; it felt like my veins were being set on fire by the force of it. But when the feeling faded and Inivu untied the ropes that had kept me secure, I looked up to see a blanket of unfamiliar stars. In a heartbeat, we'd travelled from Iskaldhal's depths to a small island in Takawaoku. I knew then that this was important. That we'd seen something special.
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