[3e] Caravels, Living and Dead

[Phaelen Bleux]

The Dead Caravel: made from reclaimed timber, not a single tree was harmed in its building:

Caravel Notorious (TL3)
Constructed by Graeme Wylie over the course of a decade, the caravel Notorious is a replica of a 15th century Portuguese trading vessel. The ship was constructed entirely out of reclaimed wood, and was coated with 600 liters of tar to waterproof it.
The ship was carefully built from period drawing of caravelles, as well as with the advice of historians. Hidden modernizations include a GPS and a diesel engine.

Subassemblies: Body with Mediocre hydrodynamic lines +7, Sterncastle superstructure +5, one 48' Mainmast +1, one 32' Mizzenmast +0, one 19' Aft Mizzenmast -2.
Powertrain: 1,143 sf of Lateen-rigged Cloth Sails.
Occupancy: 20 crew. Minimum crew is 1 driver + 2 sailors.
Cargo: 82 tons.

Armor: 2/4W overall

Body: Navigation instruments, 6 cabins, 10 hammocks, craft shop (carpentry), 600 man-days provisions.

Statistics:
Size: 69'x20'x56' Payload: 88 tons Lwt.: 125 tons
Volume: 12,128 cf. Maint.: 80 hours Price: $62,999

HT: 7. HPs: 2375 Body, 936 Sterncastle, 60 Main Mast, 27 Mizzenmast, 10 Aft Mizzenmast.

wSpeed: 8.5 wAccel: 0.2 wDecel: 0.4 wMR: 0.02 wSR: 5
Draft: 9.2'. Flotation Rating: 346 tons.

Design Notes:
Structure is Light, with Standard materials. Waterproofed. Armor is DR 4 Standard Wood. Primitive controls. The heights of all masts were calculated based on a photograph of the ship. Volume was calculated using the Builder’s Old Measure. The volume of the armor is included in the design as per the option on p. VEii5. Design draft was 4.6’; it was doubled for better realism.
The interior features of the ship are a guess. The modern accoutrements are left out of the design as it was created for a medieval campaign.

[Phaelen Bleux]

The Living Ship: a sentient, enchanted vessel:

Caravel Liveship (TL3)
A liveship is a magical vessel made of wizardwood by the Rain Wild Traders, and sold to families of the Bingtown Traders.
The price for a liveship is substantial, with families often committing further generations to fulfill repayments. If a family is unable to pay, then a member of the liveship family might be surrendered to the Rain Wild Traders. This begets the phrase, “In blood or gold, the debt is owed.”
The figurehead of the liveship “quickens,” or comes to life, after three succeeding generations of the owning family have died on its decks. The memories of those who have died, coupled with the ship’s will and skill to sail flawlessly, make the liveships matchless against other ships. On the other hand, an unhappy liveship can also make for a slow and ponderous journey. A liveship always has to have a member of her family aboard, to keep the family traits showing instead of those of a (sea) dragon.

Subassemblies: Body with Mediocre hydrodynamic lines +7, Sterncastle superstructure +5, one 48' Mainmast +1, one 32' Mizzenmast +0, one 19' Aft Mizzenmast -2.
Powertrain: 1,143 sf of Lateen-rigged Cloth Sails.
Occupancy: 20 crew. Minimum crew is 1 driver + 2 sailors.
Cargo: 82 tons.

Armor: 2/4W overall

Body: Navigation instruments, 6 cabins, 10 hammocks, craft shop (carpentry), 600 man-days provisions, Animation enchantment.

Statistics:
Size: 69'x20'x56' Payload: 88 tons Lwt.: 125 tons
Volume: 12,128 cf. Maint.: 60 hours Price: $110,882 (+$9,934,000)

HT: 7. HPs: 2375 Body, 936 Sterncastle, 60 Main Mast, 27 Mizzenmast, 10 Aft Mizzenmast.

wSpeed: 5.3-13.1 wAccel: 0.2 wDecel: 0.1-2 wMR: 0.02 wSR: 5
Draft: 9.0'. Flotation Rating: 346 tons.

Design Notes:
Structure is Light, with Very Expensive materials. Waterproofed. Armor is DR 4 Expensive Wood. Primitive controls. This ship was based on the reproduction caravel Notorious. The heights of all masts were calculated based on a photograph of the ship; the rigging was changed to a full-rig (which often happened historically as well). Volume was calculated using the Builder’s Old Measure. The volume of the armor is included in the design as per the option on p. VEii5. Design draft was 4.5’; it was doubled for better realism.
The “cost” of animating the ship could be calculated in two ways. Both spells are used to animate the ship based on the weight of the Body and Superstructure (19,868 lbs.). Using Animate Object, the cost is per 5 lbs., x100 for permanent casting, and x $25 for a cost of $9,934,000. Using Animate Machine, the cost is for a 10 ton vehicle, x100 for permanent casting, and x $25 for a cost of $30,000. Using Animate Machine for the entire vehicle empty weight (27 tons), cost increases to $32,500 and for the ship’s entire loaded weight cost is $37,500.
Maintenance interval is calculated from the ship’s non-magical building cost.
The ship’s spirit has control over how well the ship sails. While the ship structurally has Mediocre lines, an unhappy ship can effectively be treated as having No Hydrodynamic lines, while an eager ship can be treated as having Fine Hydrodynamic lines. This does not affect the ship’s wAccel, wMR, wSR, or Draft, which are based more on the size and weight of the ship, not performance and handling characteristics. Design values for a non-magical ship of this type are wSpeed 9.1 mph, wDecel 0.4.
The concept of the Liveship is taken from Robin Hobb’s “The Liveship Traders” series.