Another doodle in the small set on the Thalmvaric age and of course, by this point Éldimor dragons as well as other species in the universe have gotten into traveling through Space... Well the Celeste which is a bit different as Õndemic reality is a bit different in the rules department when it comes to the space between planar.

the Celeste is actually quite nice

The Celeste is a dark blue space bewteen the floating continents known as the Planar that isn't necessarily a void. Rather the Celeste, while still having areas without air, without water nor heat, is usually alive with celestial currents of wind and breathable air, unimaginably vast flows of celestial rivers and seas, and even smaller islands that can and do sustain life between the vast distances plane to plane. Indeed the Celeste is a place that is not nearly as difficult to travel through as our own airless void.

But it also isn't safe and its not something you can realistically walk through either. Just because you can breathe air in the celeste doesn't mean it would be good to just drift in its zero gravity forever will still be a quick path to starvation, hypothermia, or dehydration. That's not to mention the various mana related dangers and resonant anomalies one can find lurking in the far yonder.

So if anyone wants to realistically travel from one plane to another, they need an interplanar ship, a Celestial ship! These specialized vehicles are what are used by dragons both well before the thalmvar and well after the war that ended history to travel from one plane to another and are deceptively straightforward!

So how do these things work?

First, we gotta discuss Void sails, Void sails are alchemically treated fabric, impregnated with things like alchemical rubber, a carbon chitin weaving, and resonant dampeners that heavily resists the heavy innate resonance ringing through the open space of the Celeste and so, with this resonance resistant cloth, one can repel the resonance of reality itself and channel the energy of that repulsion to push something forward. As long as the sails are positioned properly to move, once out in the open Celeste a ship will more or less move itself. These void sails, when made well, can propel even frigate sized ships at speeds that can cross the thousands of miles of distance between planar from a journey of generations to a journey of months.

Though stopping a Celestial ship is itself deeply difficult, almost impossible. They move forward at massive speeds and its hard to make a sail design that can easily stop a ship. This problem is even made worse in the face of the gravitational pull of a plane. Landing on a plane is at best a well controlled crash that typically will warrant repairs. More advanced celestial ships often have aether thrusters that can help a ship land carefully... But those are harder to make than the ship itself.
Moreover getting a ship up into the aether is often difficult, requiring a variety of methods and technologies. As you might imagine, Aetherships are built to crash which means they're built heavy duty, often forcing difficult launching techniques. Some use aether rockets to help get a ship high enough to catch the resonance of the Celeste, others will employ a variety of blimp and airship based technologies to help get the ship high enough to escape the gravity of the plane.

The ship itself though is rather simple, as much of the Celeste (though not all) is home to breathable air, there isn't much need for air sealing unless the ship was specifically going to a vacuum zone. Most ships are essentially tubes, built out of a mix of various sorts of stone, chitin, bronze, wood, and other materials. Typically prethalmvaric ships (IE before the war that broke reality and killed history) tend to be built almost entirely of bronze whereas most thalmvaric age ships, often built by far smaller groups with far less technology, are far more often built of stone, chitin and wood with bronze and aluminum used only where necessary. Many often seek out coveted gravity shrines, often scavenged and repurposed from the ancient ruins scattered across the universe, sometimes even made by various groups across the dragonscape (though usually far less consistent and far less powerful). Otherwise most ships have a strict optional set of things that vary by task.

As for life within a Celestial ship

It really depends on the task. Some ships are small vessels made by a confederation of tribes to mine asteroids in the local gravity field of a plane and may only be out for a few weeks at most. Others are ancient vessels and fleets lived in by dozens to thousands of dragons that live entirely in the Celeste as nomads amongst the stars that are entirely self sustaining. So celestial ships will vary in their designs and in the life on them

But to hit on the most typical, you tend to see most celestial ships are about large enough for a den or two of drekir and/or ormer, still often large, upwards of 300-400 meters in length, complete with a gravitational shrine of some sort, ventilation, storage, sometimes a garden, water treatment, bathrooms, and sleeping spaces. with many coming with recreational spaces and of course, a pilots deck.

These ships often have a life not too unlike shiplife, a crew going about piloting the ship with or without the help of spirit computers. As well as maintaining it as needed, keeping track and rationing supplies as much as reasonable, managing gardens and water purification, or just living their lives passing the hours by in various ways, keeping things clean, etc.

as for what these are used for

Again it varies. Ships can vary from Trader ships jumping from one plane to another to gather great wealth, they could be mining and scavenging ships gathering ores from the far yonder or scavenging long abandoned prethalmvaric husks for their valuable tech and materials. They may be ships made and used by pirates and bandits for attacking other ships, or they may even just be general living spaces. The only throughline with Celestial ships is that they all can travel through space.

Such is the way in a universe dominated by countless distinct cultures with their own distinct perspectives and motivations on the Celeste and how and why to go about and through it.


One thing I will mention is that its rare to see ships specifically built for war. Indeed most celestial ships lack the heavy weapons one would expect necessary to wage war in the Celeste, barring those of the militant celestial squadrons fighting for the security of a larger nation state or interplanarial empire. But be assured fighting does often happen in the Celeste. Though most fights between Celestial ships is focused on ramming and boarding rather than destroying. Sometimes you do see instances of small arms fire being exchanged from one ship to another though you rarely see the barrage of cannons one may expect.

And finally general history

Celestial ships indeed go back thousands of years, originally more like sailboats with specialized, cannon launched sails that could pull a water vessel across celestial seas through the resonance of the Celeste, not unlike wind surfing. But over thousands of years into the Draconic Golden Age Celestial ships would become more and more intricate, filling the Celeste with Stel Stations and vast fleets of great ships of bronze and aluminum. Particularly between Logáu, the Americas, and Agõrl would see the Celeste between filled with the bustle of different sorts of ships.

During the Golden Draconic Age indeed there were ships that could even dip through the 1st construction, traveling great distances near instantly, even with ships the size of landmasses themselves such as the Temple of Syrinx that itself was the size of Peru and home to millions of dragons.

But eventually the golden age would end and, particularly in the Americas, thousands of years of social descent into totalitarianism would take hold. Celestial ships would become more militarized and eventually would be used during the Human Thalmvaric war that would spell the end of history.

In the aftermath of the war refugees would flee by the millions from the collapsed realities consuming the americas after the apocalylpltic war. Some fled on Celestial ships both titanic and tiny whereas others desperately took their chances aboard terrestial aetherships hastily modified to survive the Celeste. These millions of ships, as well as the abandoned and collapsing superstructures themselves would slowly scatter across the Universe. As many of these ships were made of almost entirely corrosion resiliant and magically treated bronzes, many would remain for thousands and thousands of years afterwards, browned and greened husks that would eventually become prime targets for scavengers.

These scavengers, often descendants of desperate refugees long forgotten, would come to build their own new Celestial ships, often far smaller, far less complex, and far humbler, but nonetheless very capable of traveling the Celeste.

By the Thalmvar most Celestial ships would be newer regional designs, made by everything from city states and interplanarial empires to coalitions of tribal peoples across the planar. though there are still many prethalmvaric ships that remain, relics older than living memory that are still maintained and repaired as best they can still serving the Éldimor. Though far more of these ancient ships sit dead, buried in sand and jungle, or drifting through the Celeste as empty forgotten husks.

In any case

The Celeste isn't quite space, and a Celestial ship isn't quite a spaceship, but are still an important aspect of the draconic future, be they small or big, piloted by pirate or trader, the Celestial ship is perhaps one of the most important technologies of the endless onward that is the Thalmvar