Fulcrum

Seen by many in the Patrokonoi-Hellecia as an "overcomplicated stick", Fulcrums are the one of the most essential tools in maintaining the Regulator Coils of a Star-Deck.

While rowers move the ship from their COAG chutes. Coil Winders repair and maintain the Regulator Coils that perform the following tasks: 

• Adjust tension on the ship's hull plating (tighten=compact plating for combat & orbital re-entry; loosen=vent harmful gas & allow expansion of atmospheric bladders to reduce Ichor costs while in a planet's orbit)
• Repair damage to gas tubes and/or COAG cabling
• Fix or cut smaller coils to seal bulk heads, open/close malfunctioning doors, and gas regulation tubing for individual rooms

Without professional winders onboard, a Tri-Deck would be incapable of regulating its internal systems and prevent a catastrophic failure in their systems. And without Fulcrums, there are no winders.

Pioneered by legendary engineer Goeyemedes, a Fulcrum is the combination of a socket wrench and a pry bar.

Collapsed inside a fulcrum are two prongs that a winder jams into a wound coil. The ratchet portion then pushes the prongs farther apart to create a gap in the tubing. The rest is up to the muscle strength of the winder(s) to hold the coil open to fix a problem or adjust localized tension in the plating columns during combat.

However, an experienced winder crew would know not to pull the coils too far apart or work on the main plating columns without notifying the deck commander's Coil Master. Otherwise, the tension could snap/unwind the plating column and/or damage their deck's vital life support tubing.

During emergencies where a bulk head needs to be sealed, the other end of a fulcrum has a crimping tool to completely sever a coil (if the need arises).

Fulcrum's are universal multi-tools that conform to the standards set by the Professional Coil Winders Guild of the Kothrian Pass (part of the Professional Guilds of Aeonite Craftspeople).

They're designed to attach to other fulcrums to provide more mechanical leverage. But a seasoned winder will upgrade their fulcrum to better accommodate them in their work without violating WG safety standards.

For all intents and purposes, Winders are the blue collared population of a Tri-Deck's crew.

However, following the Lanaxdrian Revolt on Thessalis-Prime, a stigma has stuck onto the winder profession being comprised double agents, spies, saboteurs and members of the assassin group called the Fulcrum Blade-Masters of Thessalis-Prime.

Given most winders are Aeonites with their low Ichor count and their own stigma as liars and murderers. Most believe winders' roles on a Tri-Deck ship gives them too much power and/or too many opportunities to threaten the security of a vessel and its crew.

Because of this stigma, many winders find themselves unable to complete their work without heavy oversight or the speedy cooperation of their fellow crew members. On some occasions, even leading to the destruction of stationed Tri-Decks.

While a fulcrum is a simple enough tool for every crew member to use (and most Tri-Deck crews are either trained to take on the duties of both a rower and a winder or the process is automated by drones on the Tri-Decks of the Delothian Collective).

The most efficiently-run ships are the ones with a dedicated team of professional coil winders. Leaving Hellecian Tri-Decks (even Delot ships) to pay a premium for these teams.