With no sun or moon a black balloon would be near impossible to spot in the sky, provided some alternative to a flame burner could be developed. The rule book mentions that leviathan oil is prized for its steady clear flame. Maybe there is a fuel that burns black as shadow?
One of the players wants to build (& learn to pilot) such a wonder. It might make for a daring getaway someday.
I wonder what dangers inhabit the smoke clogged air above Doskvol? What kinds of things might you play around with if you had a ballooning crew in your game?
One issue would clearly be the range of the lightning walls. Ghosts tend to surge at the walls but not to go above a certain height because there’s no life up there. So if you were to stealth above the city, be sure and paint on some runic wards to conceal the breathing and heartbeats and hot, sweet blood that carries on it the scent of fear.
Another theme of the city is “there’s already somebody there.” I’m thinking a whisper society that have retreated to the highest places, who interact with trained creatures like bats and birds and insects, making love and war across the skies high out of reach.
At a slightly lower level, take a page from Fallen London and use the Flit, where criminals hang out far above the streets in their own culture.
Wealthy people can afford to build upward, and want to protect their possessions from the larcenous, so they might not care for company in the friendly skies. Or maybe instead of just sinking trespassers, they’d recruit them.
Spirits of those who threw themselves or were thrown from high buildings.
Mutant seagulls, changed from generations of eating food tainted by processed leviathan blood.
A minor, forgotten storm god or devil, depending on your point of view.
Remnants of some kind of ancient tech from before the world’s breaking.
You know what would be a fun lighter-than-air craft? Put a pile of ghosts in a round or oval balloon, then put a platform on the top with a meditating adept (no need to waste a whisper on this.)
The adept can lean life force, and as the ghosts inside the balloon scrabble and claw to get at the life energy, they provide lift and steering.
The adept has a pole with a life-conducting charm at the end, can wave it around different directions to “pull” the balloon in those directions.
That’s wonderful. What could go wrong? lol
Whatever is in the sky scared the stars so badly the fled to the ocean depths to avoid it.
Have fun with that.
Eric Lochstampfor I can be partially wrong, but I read somewhere in the book that there’s still the moon in the sky (sometime, three of it, the “dimmer sisters”, as the sky was seen from inside a giant crystal), AND the stars are there too (I read about weird constellations, and some star moving in strange path).
Cool ideas. I like the idea of the crew having a balloon & want it to be attractive to the player that inquired about it as a long-term project. One thing I’m bumping into is I wonder whether a long-term project is really the appropriate method to acquire such a vehicle permanently and on-tap. As an asset it could be garnered as a Tier II or III quality vehicle and then maintained/re-rented at 1 Coin/week. As a crew upgrade, it’s similar to a Smuggler’s vehicle. Then it’s kind of a large scale item that the whole crew has to be down with and get as a crew.
But the player asked about it as a long term project. Which makes a kind of sense as it’d be their personal thing (specialized training to pilot and/or know how to avoid some of the dangers mentioned in this thread).
If I say, sure, and it’s a 12 segment project they’ll have to invest a LOT of downtime towards it relative to smaller clock projects. Which I’m not entirely happy with.
On the flip side, given that a TINKER 2 PC could work on it a bit at a time, spend only about a month’s wages (4 Coin) & likely finish such a project in a month that seems almost ridiculously generous handled as a personal long-term project. A modern day balloon for a pilot + 4 passengers costs about a year’s wages. Even one without supernatural wards. 😉
I think a 12 segment project is a fine investment for such a device.
I recommend breaking it down.
You could have a long term project to acquire the necessary balloon, and another for a ward-able quality basket body big enough for everyone. Then a project to get it properly warded, perhaps another project to apply the fixitives needed.
You could have some projects that get it useful, and more projects that increase its utility.
You could also unlock it with turf or long term projects so it’s available to buy with crew experience.
There are several tools, and it’s fine to mix and match them.
Yeah, I’d break it down. The first project should get them something experimental and super dangerous to use.
Then work on it from there.
(Also, where are they gonna keep it?)
Possibly on one of the secret rooftop shelters previously belonging to The Wraiths? (with whom they are already at a -2 faction status) ;-p
I’ll break it down somehow, yeah. Thanks again, all.