Fleets
& Arms

Creatyrs do not seek war. They are guides and witnesses by nature, and most would rather drift through a world than fight over it. But worlds are not always kind. When a world turns dangerous, and an enemy threatens the Creatyrs there, they must be able to protect themselves. For that they built fleets, vehicles and weapons, all of them made for defence first.

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The Home Ships

The Creatyrs live aboard very large ships called home ships, and there are two kinds: the Rootholm and the Wispholm, named for the plant and the spirit that every Creatyr carries. The Creatyrs have over twenty Rootholm and fourteen Wispholm. They are not warships first. They are homes. The Creatyrs on active duty live aboard them, and most of what those Creatyrs own is kept inside them. Each home ship carries a whole fleet: sixteen large ships, thirty-five medium ships and one hundred small ships.

Rootholm. The plant kind of home ship. A Rootholm can be seen, and it does not pretend otherwise: a vast, layered vessel that looks like a drifting forest, with pale phosphor light running along its seams like the veins of a wing. It carries cloaking for the moments when it needs to vanish, a separate cloak for its UAVs, and heavy armour. Its hull plating is called heartwood armour, after the dense core of a tree.

Wispholm. The spirit kind of home ship, and one that is almost never seen. A Wispholm is built in the image of a Creatyr in Spirit Mode. Such a Creatyr sits quietly with a faint glow, and a Wispholm does the same, so its light is thin and its presence thinner. Like a Creatyr arriving at a threshold, it never fully arrives in any one world. It keeps part of itself in the aether between worlds, so the most an observer can catch is a faint glow at the edge of the field and a shape that seems about to form, and then nothing. Only a Creatyr, whose aetheric sensitivity can feel it, can find one reliably. A Wispholm carries cloaking, a special cloak for UAVs, and armour that works even though no one can see it. Its plating is called duskglass armour.

Cloaking. Every home ship carries two kinds of cloak. The Gloamveil hides the ship itself. The Moteveil is a smaller cloak made for UAVs, so that the unmanned craft launched from a home ship are not seen leaving, flying or returning. A Wispholm's cloak is the stronger one, because the ship is already half hidden. A Rootholm's is the one it switches on when it needs to disappear.

Defence. Every home ship carries shields, weapons and every other means of protection the Creatyrs have been able to build. They take this very seriously. The home ships are where the Creatyrs on active duty live and where most of what they own is kept, so a threat to a home ship is a threat to all of them.

The Large Ships

Each home ship carries sixteen large ships. There are three kinds, and each home ship carries four Canopies, four Stormkeels and eight Seedholds, because a home needs more supplies than anything else.

Canopy. The carrier. Its hull spreads wide and curved like the crown of a tree, and the hangar beneath holds the medium and small ships that fly from it.

Stormkeel. The battlespace ship, and the only one made to fight in water, in air and in space. It is a sleek, armoured vessel that can dive beneath the sea, climb through the sky and carry on into the dark, a battleship for space that does not stop at the surface.

Seedhold. The cargo ship, deep and rounded, because a seed carries life with it. It carries what the fleet needs to keep going, from supplies to the vehicles and materials of a new camp.

The Medium Ships

The medium ships are the Creatyrs' jets, made for space. Each home ship carries thirty-five, in six types built for different tasks.

Thornwing. The fighter. A sharp, fast craft with swept wings, quick to strike and quick to turn.

Driftferry. The transport. It ferries troops and cargo between ships and surfaces, and between the fleet and the world below.

Gloamwing. The advanced UAV. It carries no crew, which lets it be small, silent and daring, and the Moteveil keeps it unseen on its long watches and its strikes.

Gladehawk. The utility transport, built in the style of a Blackhawk. Sturdy and boxy, with wide side doors, it drops squads, picks up the wounded and lands almost anywhere.

Briarlance. The ground-attack craft. Thick plating and a heavy load of weapons make it the one that goes in low to protect the troops below.

Echoleaf. The electronic-warfare craft. It listens to the enemy, jams what it can, and keeps the rest of the fleet in contact with each other.

The Small Ships

The small ships also serve war and transport, in a smaller way. Each home ship carries one hundred.

Sprig. The scout. Slim and quiet, with a pale glow along its seams, it goes ahead of the fleet to look, listen and report.

Burr. The single-seat fighter. Small, spiny and quick, it clings to a target the way its namesake clings to fur.

Seedpod. The drop pod. A rounded, shielded capsule that carries a squad or a vehicle down to a world and lands it.

The Vehicles

On the ground, the Creatyrs field armoured vehicles in three groups: tanks, cars and artillery. All of them have curved plates that look like bark, with pale glowing seams like the veins of a wing.

Ironbark. The heavy tank. Thick plates, a long gun, and the slow, steady strength of its namesake.

Hawthorn. The main battle tank, the balanced one, with good armour, good firepower and good speed, named for a tough, thorny shrub.

Willowback. The light tank. It gives up some armour for speed, and bends away from a blow the way a willow does.

Hollowbark. The armoured personnel carrier. Hollow inside, it carries a squad safely to the fight and back.

Fernrunner. The light recon car. Fast and quiet, it scouts ahead of the heavier machines.

Seedwagon. The transfer truck. It moves cargo and troops between ships, camps and the front.

Hearthwagon. The field medical vehicle. It carries medics to the wounded and the wounded away from danger.

Longbough. The long-range artillery, with a great arm that throws its shot far over the heads of the front line.

The Weapons

Creatyr weapons come in twelve kinds, from sidearms to sniper rifles. What sets them apart is that every weapon is dual-mode. Each one can fire two kinds of shot, and the user switches between them at will.

Thornshot. The physical round. Its bullets are made of tungsten, one of the densest and hardest metals there is, so they are meant to punch through nearly anything. A weapon firing Thornshot needs no core at all.

Lumenshot. The energy round. It needs power, which a Lanterncore supplies. A Lanterncore is a core made only to give power, and it does not give the abilities of a Hearthcore or a Seercore.

The Arsenal

The Creatyr arsenal is vast. Counting only what they are known to have, there are at least thirty-four home ships, and every one of them carries a full fleet. The numbers below are minimums, because the Creatyrs have over twenty Rootholm.

On the ground, the Creatyrs have over 105,000 vehicles. Of these, 20,000 are inactive, so at least 85,000 are in active service. They divide roughly into tanks, cars and artillery.

There is no count of weapons or ammunition, because the Creatyrs can simply make them whenever they are needed.

The Population

The Creatyr Ascendancy counts 174,000 Creatyrs in all. They are divided between those who serve and those who live at home.

Active duty. Of all the Creatyrs, a little more than half, 102,000, are on active duty in the Creatyr Ascendancy. They crew its ships, hold its bases and fill its other postings.

The homelands. The other 72,000 live on the homelands, in cities and homes. None of them are on active duty.

Source Reference Used To Create This Lore: Forstwind · wezalsya.jimdofree.com