Leviathan jumpships are massive spacecraft capable of long-range interstellar travel without the aid of a teleporter.
Overview[]
From the revelation of the Psi Orders in 2106 to the exodus of the Upeo wa Macho in 2114, teleportation was humanity's primary means of interstellar travel. Without the Upeo, Earth's most far-flung colonies were cut off, and even Khantze Lu Ge was an arduous multi-year journey away.[1] [2]
The remaining Psi Orders and the Aeon Trinity immediately went to work on developing an alternative: a biotech spaceship that could teleport itself, with the guidance of a clairsentient pilot.[3] The Qin embassy, similarly stranded without the teleporters, contributed their planet's advanced knowledge of bioware to the effort as well.[4]
The jumpships were initially constructed on Mazat station in Lunar orbit. On April 4, 2119, Aberrants led by The Colony attacked Mazat, destroying it and the two Leviathan prototypes under construction.[5] Orgotek proxy Alex Cassel then revealed an entire second shipyard located in Mare Ingenii on Luna's surface, hidden from even the Aeon Trinity's observations. This allowed the Leviathan project to carry on with only minor delays.[6]
The first Leviathan test run took place on October 2119.[7] By 2120, less than two dozen Leviathans were in service, all in high demand.[8]
Description[]
A Leviathan is 1,200 meters long and features a mix of hardtech and biotech. It can ferry with it more than two dozen smaller crafts, from fights stored in internal hangars to frigates remotely docked to the exterior. Its long-range propulsion system, the Tesser engine, is almost an artificial intelligence of its own; it teleports the Leviathan through space, along with any linked craft. This teleporation is not instantaneous, and both passengers and equipment may be somewhat worse for wear afterwards. The amount of power each jump requires is staggering; a Leviathan requires at least a week to recharge after each jump.[8]
The pilot of a jumpship dons a special clairsentience-enhancing support garment and enters a sophisticated sensory-deprivation chamber. They are able to psychically visualize their destination and control the jumpship's Tesser in order to teleport with it. Unfortunately, the pilot is completely unaware of their immediate surroundings while interfacing with the ship, making them potentially quite vulnerable.[9]
The psionic shock wave produced by a jumpship is severe enough to devastated an unprepared psion, so the ships jump from the edge of the solar system, beyond the orbit of Uranus, to coordinates well away from population centers of their destinations.[10]
References[]
- ↑ TU: Trinity Rulebook, p. 80
- ↑ TU: Stellar Frontier: Psi Order Upeo wa Macho & Extrasolar Space Sourcebook, p. 2
- ↑ TU: Trinity Rulebook, p. 114
- ↑ TU: Trinity Rulebook, p. 137
- ↑ TU: Trinity Rulebook, p. 70
- ↑ TU: Luna Rising: Psi Order ISRA and Luna Sourcebook, p. 37
- ↑ TU: America Offline: Psi Order Orgotek and FSA Sourcebook, p. 11
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 TU: Trinity Rulebook, p. 289-290
- ↑ TU: Trinity Rulebook, p. 278
- ↑ TU: Trinity Rulebook, p. 133