Airship Components: R&D Contest (NA) - Entry Thread

[Marcellus]

Character name: Marcellus Guillory
World name: Midgardsormr
In-game Item: Scarf of Wondrous Wit

Component name: Koga Cloaking Device

These days, Eorzea's airship-filled skies are a veritable hotbed of hazards, what with the dragons, the Garleans, and Thaliak knows what other horrors. And how better to avoid these perilous pitfalls than to stay out of sight altogether? If airborne discretion is your desire, I give you ... the Koga Cloaking Device!

In conjuring up this component, I thought first to consult the masters of misdirection themselves, the Rogues of Limsa Lominsa.



Jacke welcomed me, and we shared a drink as I explained my visit. It was in short order that he suggested I "shake the cobwebs from me 'ead." The Rogues' tricks were much too subtle for something so cumbersome as an entire airship, said he, and he proposed instead that I look to the Rogues' sister art ... that of the Ninja.

"That Oboro owes me," said Jacke. "Nice enough cove, but 'e's rotten at Triple Triad."

So I ventured northward to an unremarkable warehouse on the bank of the Agelyss River, and uttered a pass-phrase (which here I shall, in good faith, omit). I entered to find that the man at the head of the room had been apprised of my intent.

"You wish to render an airship invisible," he said. "I have what you seek."

He pointed to an over-sized shuriken embedded in a sparring dummy.



"This mudra-enhanced shuriken will, when met with the aetheric issuance of an airship engine, generate a broad field that bends the very light around it."

He plucked the shuriken from the dummy, and offered it to me. I took it carefully, studying the sharpened points with wonder.

Oboro continued. "To all but the most practiced observer, it will be as though he gazes upon nothing but air. It is the same used in all Doman airships."

I was struck with his words. "Doman airships?" I repeated. "Your tale echoes tall, sir. I have ventured far and farther in this world and have never once seen a Doman airship."

At this, Oboro smirked. With two fingers, he beckoned me follow him through a disguised rear door in the warehouse. We emerged at a precipice overlooking Wineport. Oboro simply gazed silently ahead. I followed his eyes, unsure of our purpose, until I saw the tiniest flicker in the sky before us.



"No," said Oboro. "I should think not."

[Supermerlion]

Character name: Nana Su
World name: Tonberry
In-game Item: Bluebird Earrings

Component name: Aetheryte Dandelion Cargo Trailer

Rumors are abound of the opening of fantastic new lands in the clouds rich in resources and treasures ripe for picking. Exploratory missions they call it.

With dreams of glory and fortune adventurers everywhere are in a hurry to prepare their company airships with the finest components from materials Eorzea could offer.

But while the rest scurry to improve the maneuverability and integrity of their airships, I scoured the land for that which really mattered, a means to bring home all that treasure!



The eureka moment came when I chanced upon the Slyphs and their remarkable cottages.

While somewhat primitive, the Beast Tribe structures were sturdy, yet so incredibly lightweight they could be suspended from the Twelveswood with mere vines. With adventurers stowing away on our ships, there was barely any room for cargo. But surely, with a trailer made from such a material we could easily haul back all the treasure we wanted.

Unfortunately, not even the Slyphs knew the source of the scarce spherical material which formed their homes. Apparently, they believed them to be gifts from the heavens.

Not one to give up. I searched the lands of Hydaelyn for the source of this material. Only to eventually find it in her skies.



The source, was none other than the Churning Mists, the original home of another of the Twelveswood's races.

From consulting with the acquainted Moogles whom made their home nearby, I learned that these "Aetheryte Dandelions" were formed from concentrated wind aspected Aether. Fully formed mature flowers lose much of their aspect and float off down to the earth below, no doubt to be chanced upon by the Slyphic ones.

Sadly, with our maiden voyage just days away, I had not the time to wait for a dandelion to mature. Instead, we just had to make do with the best one for now.

To fill out the gaps and complete the cargo sphere, I returned to the lands of La Noscea where a lost city familiar to scholars held a veritable treasure-trove of wind aspected crystals, though I was warned of the somewhat volatile nature of the crystals here. Alas, some risks must be taken in the name of adventure, and riches.

With all the materials in hand, and a little help from the Free Company's alchemists, we synthesized what might literally be the first lighter than air airship trailer, ready to tow back all the actual treasures we find in our new skyward explorations.