Travel & Conveyances
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Hot-air balloons and skyships are the principal conveyances of the Skysea. Traveling in these conveyances often takes many days and weeks across an empty but ever-changing cloudscape, with no opportunity to rest. While Tel-Kanan’s winds have long been famously reliable, that has changed. Now travelers must contend with strange currents and freak storms—not to mention the threats of monsters and raiders prowling the clouds, or freak storms swallowing the horizon.
Skyships and balloons almost always travel in the Sea of Air, the safest layer of the Skysea, above the cloudtops. If you rise high enough, the Sea of Air becomes the Sea of Heaven, where there’s no wind—or air to breathe. If you descend into the Sea of Cloud, the wind quickly becomes turbulent, and the world becomes a thick gray fog. Some skysailors —pirates, smugglers, and the like—might risk dipping into the Sea of Cloud for the stealth it affords. But the risks are great. Every skysailor has heard tales of ships in the clouds being blown off course, swept into an undertow, or swallowed by monsters. The Skysea has no bottom. Those who fall deep enough eventually reach a realm of utter blackness—the Sea of Death, where Mot dwells.
Planning a journey across the fluid world of the Skysea is nothing like planning a road trip. The world is in constant motion. Floating islands circle around windcurrents, or drift chaotically out of their paths. Meanwhile, the Sea of Cloud rises and falls each day and night with the passing of the three moons, its tides swallowing wayward islands that drift too low.Useful magic. Messengers and Dark Sorcerers are prized passengers on any conveyance. Messengers can sense the wind, and Dark Sorcerers can sense the tide—at least at a local scale. Such heroes can ask the Guide questions about the Skysea with answers beyond their immediate senses. Useful lore. Characters with Ballooning or Skysailing lore have an intuitive sense of Tel-Kanan’s windcurrents and the general trajectories of its major islands. But only characters with the Navigation lore can reliably find their way to a given destination. Any map of floating islands would simply be an unreliable snapshot in time, so navigators instead chart patterns of windcurrents and note islands with shorthand indicating time as well as space: Geblos appears here when the three moons align.
When a threat appears on the horizon, your relative speed determines whether an encounter happens. A faster conveyance or creature will always catch up to a slower one. A hot-air balloon simply can’t drift faster than a skyship can sail or a dragon can fly. And even the most crack-crewed skyship can’t outsail an approaching typhoon. But clever heroes who work together can seize the weather-gage and gain control over the inevitable clash.
The Four Seas
Skyships and balloons almost always travel in the Sea of Air, the safest layer of the Skysea, above the cloudtops. If you rise high enough, the Sea of Air becomes the Sea of Heaven, where there’s no wind—or air to breathe. If you descend into the Sea of Cloud, the wind quickly becomes turbulent, and the world becomes a thick gray fog. Some skysailors —pirates, smugglers, and the like—might risk dipping into the Sea of Cloud for the stealth it affords. But the risks are great. Every skysailor has heard tales of ships in the clouds being blown off course, swept into an undertow, or swallowed by monsters. The Skysea has no bottom. Those who fall deep enough eventually reach a realm of utter blackness—the Sea of Death, where Mot dwells. The Four Seas
Wind & Tide
Planning a journey across the fluid world of the Skysea is nothing like planning a road trip. The world is in constant motion. Floating islands circle around windcurrents, or drift chaotically out of their paths. Meanwhile, the Sea of Cloud rises and falls each day and night with the passing of the three moons, its tides swallowing wayward islands that drift too low.Useful magic. Messengers and Dark Sorcerers are prized passengers on any conveyance. Messengers can sense the wind, and Dark Sorcerers can sense the tide—at least at a local scale. Such heroes can ask the Guide questions about the Skysea with answers beyond their immediate senses. Useful lore. Characters with Ballooning or Skysailing lore have an intuitive sense of Tel-Kanan’s windcurrents and the general trajectories of its major islands. But only characters with the Navigation lore can reliably find their way to a given destination. Any map of floating islands would simply be an unreliable snapshot in time, so navigators instead chart patterns of windcurrents and note islands with shorthand indicating time as well as space: Geblos appears here when the three moons align.Wind & Tide
Encounters & Speed
When a threat appears on the horizon, your relative speed determines whether an encounter happens. A faster conveyance or creature will always catch up to a slower one. A hot-air balloon simply can’t drift faster than a skyship can sail or a dragon can fly. And even the most crack-crewed skyship can’t outsail an approaching typhoon. But clever heroes who work together can seize the weather-gage and gain control over the inevitable clash.Encounters & Speed
Roleplaying travel. You don’t need to roll dice or track resources for journeys across the Skysea. But you should take the opportunity to say what your hero does. Do they focus on a task, like keeping lookout, tending the flame, or pulling the oars? Do they chat with other characters on board, or keep to themselves? What questions do they ask about the world as they drift or sail through it?
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The All-Important Weather-Gage
The All-Important Weather-Gage
Speed determines whether an encounter happens; the weather-gage determines how it happens. Having the gage means you’re above or upwind of the threat as it draws near—enabling you to determine the shape of the encounter as the distance closes. Vying for the gage is a group effort. Heroes on board a conveyance—and only heroes—all describe what they do to get upwind or above the approaching threat. Like other group efforts, vying for the gage is freeform. The following sections have examples of specific actions you can take on a balloon or skyship to help vie for the gage, but feel free to invent your own (the Guide will tell you what die to roll). The gage challenge is the number that the sum of your action rolls needs to beat. Just like any other challenge threshold, it’s determined by the Guide, who weighs all the factors external to your actions to come up with a single number. These factors include the conditions of your conveyance and crew (if you have a crew), relative to those of the approaching threat. Boarding and battle. Resolving the weather-gage typically leads directly into a battle—a boarding action where your conveyance and the threat become entangled together as a single sprawling Fray. Seizing the gage allows you to shape this ensuing battle as follows: “We have the gage! … ”
Encounters at Skysea are inspired by ancient naval warfare, which was much more about ramming and boarding than shooting and sinking. Whether the approaching threat is a pirate skyship, a military vessel, or a monster, its goal is likely to close distance and board your conveyance, not destroy it.
Ramming speed!
Roll to Act First
Smash into the threat, greatly damaging its structure (and modestly damaging yours): inflict –2 grace to crew and passengers, as if Shoving them. If the threat is much larger than your conveyance, this damage is localized near the point of impact.Evasive maneuvers!
Automatic Act First
You gracefully avoid the threat just as it closes distance, delaying boarding for one round, during which you can make ranged attacks from on high.Ruse
Automatic Act First
Have one hero Deceive the threat’s commander (or the threat itself). On a success, all heroes have the hidden position when boarding begins.Tally ho!
Automatic Act First
Seize the initiative for boarding, rappelling down upon the threat along ropes and rigging; if you so choose, you can Jump-Attack from on high (YAAAH!).Your options are not limited to these four. What this looks like in practice is meant to be flexible. It also depends on the nature of the threat. Having the weather-gage against an approaching skyship grants different benefits than having it against a giant monster. If you have another idea, work with the Guide to determine similarly-powerful benefits. If you fail to seize the weather-gage, the Guide determines how the threat controls the clash and boarding action.
Hot-Air Balloons
Hot-Air Balloons
COST 20𐤑 Balloons are the primary means of transport across the realm of Tel-Kanan, buoyed aloft by the magical green flame of specially-cultivated olivewood. They’re not fast and they’re definitely not comfortable, but they are good at gaining altitude. A skyship can always catch up with a balloon, but when that happens, a skilled pilot and crew can ensure the balloon has the high sky to seize the weather-gage.You can’t rest in a balloon gondola, unless you have an ability that says otherwise.
Actions on a Balloon
When you vie for the weather-gage or make other group efforts to fly a hot-air balloon, you can take one of these actions, or improvise your own. Actions on a Balloon
- Keep lookout. Maneuver yourself to watch for threats or unsafe terrain.
- Hoist halyards. Move or Brace yourself to pull the ropes and pulleys that control the envelope’s vents and the gondola’s ballast.
- Shout commands. Compel yourself to effectively coordinate allies.
- Tend the flame. Maneuver yourself to keep the olivewood burning and protect it from wind and rain.
If you know Ballooning lore, the ✪Pilot ability lets you add your core Awareness when you take such an action. Magical actions. If you know one of the following abilities, take its action as directed in the ability description. Instead of generating focus, use the result to contribute to a balloon group effort, with a bonus reflecting your extended exertion.
- ✪Call Wind (Messenger calling): add +3 to your result.
- ✪Gather Fate (Sorcerer calling): add +3 if you take -1 spirit to use it.
Tethered monsters. If you know the Riding lore and you’ve tethered your mount to your balloon, you can use ✪Control Mount to urge the creature to pull the balloon. Apply your result to the group effort instead of generating focus. If you have multiple tethered mounts or a particularly fast or powerful mount like a dragon, gain a +3 bonus.
Keep it real. Unlike on skyships, where multiple heroes can pull oars or haul sail, there’s simply not enough space on a balloon for heroes to separately perform the same action. If two heroes insist on taking the same action as part of a group effort, use only the higher result, rather than adding both their results to the effort.
Balloon Structure
A hot-air balloon has three main components: a large wicker gondola (either box-shaped or round), a central bronze brazier suspended above the gondola, and a large canvas envelope rigged above the brazier. Balloonists burn specially cultivated olivewood in the brazier to fill the envelope with buoyant hot air, and pull various halyards to control vents and ballast. If you start with a balloon, choose its envelope appearance, or roll for it:Balloon Structure
Flying a Balloon
Hot-air balloons drift along the windcurrents of the Skysea, generally traveling the same languid circuits as floating islands. By carefully controlling a balloon’s ascent and descent, a skilled pilot can catch new windcurrents to change trajectory. In Tel-Kanan, these windcurrents usually vary by altitude: high winds blow inward, while low winds blow outward. Landing. Balloons are designed to land in the pools of skyharbors. The gondola floats, and the water surface is a safe place for the pilot to deflate the balloon envelope. Riders typically untie any cargo from the sides and pull it into the gondola before a water landing. Tethering. When a skyharbor isn’t available, tethering a balloon is an option. Balloons contain plenty of ropes and at least one harness for whoever volunteers to lower themself over the side to tie the tether. The forested cliffsides of islands afford plenty of trees for tethering, though disembarking can be challenging. Skyships also have plenty of rigid structures and spare rope with which to tether a balloon, and their crews can assist you, if they’re friendly. Flying a Balloon
Passage and Maintenance
A typical gondola has space for about six occupants to sit side-by-side. Cargo is usually tied to the outside of the gondola basket, so passengers have more room to stretch their legs. Some balloonists will let passengers ride on their conveyance for 1 imperial credit, if they have room to spare. Olivewood, when burned, glows with gentle, mint-green light and emits a pleasant heat. Its strange flame, widely believed to have something to do with the Rephaim, is smokeless and more efficient at producing lift than normal fire. Olivewood enough for passage between the inner and outer islands of Tel-Kanan costs 1 imperial credit. Most settlements have caches of olivewood fuel for sale. Repairing a damaged balloon is possible as a endeavor if you know Crafting or Ballooning. Passage and Maintenance
Skyships
Skyships
Skyships are wooden flying ships that ply the windcurrents of the Skysea. The Mazrian Empire dominates skyship production, and most skysailing customs and practices have their origin in the Empire—though Kananites have also contributed a great deal toward the art and science of these elegant conveyances, and can even hold their own when it comes to speaking the impenetrable jargon of skysailors.
Actions on a Skyship
When you vie for the weather-gage or make other group efforts on a skyship, you can take one of these actions, or improvise your own. Actions on a Skyship
- Keep lookout. Maneuver yourself to watch for threats or unsafe terrain.
- Haul sails. Move yourself to clamber up to the rigging or hoist the lines that control the configuration of the silver sails—handsomely, now!
- Pull oars. Brace yourself to row—row, you dog!
- Command crew. Compel yourself to shout “Beat to quarters!” and coordinate the crew.
- Man the helm. Maneuver yourself to steer the ship—hard to port! (or starboard!)
If you know Skysailing lore, you have an advantage die when you perform such actions.Multiple heroes can haul sails or pull oars. Larger ships may have two lookouts, one fore and one aft. Likewise, on ships with large crews, two heroes may command, with one hero (the master-commander) giving orders and another (the first-follower or bosun) relaying them. Only one hero can man the helm. The wind is everything. If you know the Messenger ability ✪Call Wind, and the ship’s sails are active (that is, not reefed to prepare for a storm), you can apply that ability’s result to the group effort instead of generating focus, and add +5 to your result.
Skyship Structure
A skyship stays afloat because of its silver sails, which are woven with a magically-resonant material that lends them a silvery glow, as faint as starlight and only visible in the dark. Both the oars and masts have silver sails on a skyship—and the sails attached to the oars provide most of the lift. But confusingly to isle-lubbers, skysailors usually only say “sails” to mean the sails on the masts. Larger skyships have more masts and more decks (floors or levels). All skyships have a hold belowdeck for cargo and stores. On many ships, oars can be rowed both from the main deck and from the hold. A skyship’s class denotes its structure. Skyskiffs are the smallest ships, galleys are generally mid-sized, and barques and skyremes are the largest. Confusingly, to isle-lubbers at least, a skyship may belong to multiple classes. For example, a large ship may simultaneously be referred to as a barque (if it has three masts and a wide press of sail) and a skyreme (if it has many oars in a staggered arrangement). Being unfazed by semantic ambiguity is one mark of a true skysailor. Skyship Structure
Skysailing
A skyship stays afloat because of its silver sails, which are woven with a magically-resonant material that lends them a silvery glow, as faint as starlight and only visible in the dark. Both the oars and masts have silver sails on a skyship—and the sails attached to the oars provide most of the lift. But confusingly to isle-lubbers, skysailors usually only say “sails” to mean the sails on the masts. Floating. Skyships don’t need to be rowed constantly. Silver sails are fashioned to undulate in a specific frequency that resonates with the Skysea’s magnetic fields, wind, and magic to generate lift. While airborne, the sails attached to the oars provide enough lift to keep a small skyreme afloat, with only occasional manual rowing needed to maintain altitude. All skyships lose altitude over time though, and heavier ships need more manual rowing over long distances. Many imperial skyships have oars powered by dark magic, though Mazrian custom holds that a ship must have enough followers (skysailors) in its complement to pull every oar if needed. Landing and takeoff. Skyships are designed to land in water, ideally in a well-managed skyharbor. To take off, a skyship attaches hot-air balloons to their hull which lift it from the water’s surface. Skyharbors usually offer specialized balloons for this purpose, but most skyships carry a pair of simple balloon envelopes of their own (without gondolas) in their holds, plus a small cache of magic olivewood to burn for lift. Alternatively, some skyharbors have locks through which skyships can pass to sail off a waterfall—a harrowing way to launch, but cheaper than using olivewood. Skysailing
Battle on Board
Unlike a balloon, a skyship serves as both a conveyance and a stage for swashbuckling setpiece battles. When fighting aboard a skyship, take advantage of its verticality: any character can Rush up rigging from anywhere on deck to gain the on high position. Likewise, characters might flee into lower decks or the hold. Being thrown overboard is a risk, but heroes can always grab onto the vast trailing streamers from the ship’s oars rather than falling to their death. Battle on Board
Speak Like a Skysailor!
These are only the most essential terms out of a veritable sea of skysailing jargon—which any skysailor can recite at will.Speak Like a Skysailor!
A skyskiff, the smallest kind of skyship, often has three pairs of oars and a single mast.
Aft. Toward the back.
Avast! Stop.
Batten down the hatches! Prepare for a storm by securing hatches and doors so lower compartments aren’t flooded with rainwater.
Beat to quarters! Shout this to prepare for an engagement.
Bow. The front of a skyship.
Bulkhead. A vertical wall or partition.
Complement. The number of crew required to effectively sail a skyship.
Dismast. A mast broken by fierce wind or blast. A dismasted ship is not helpless but can’t easily vie for the gage.
Follower. Mazrian term for skysailor. Followers “follow” a single ship for their careers and resist leaving it.
Fore. Toward the front.
Helm. The ship’s wheel or, on fancier Mazrian ships, magical navigation system.
Hull. A ship’s form.
Jib. The sail upon the fore mast (on ships with two or more masts).
Leeward. The direction the wind blows toward. A “lee isle” is downwind of your ship.
Lines. Any rope on a skyship. Cutting a line is sacrilege.
Mast. Thick vertical pole that holds up the sails.
Master-Commander. Mazrian term for captain.
Port. Left.
Quarterdeck. The aft top deck, where the master-commander gives commands. On many skyships, a tentlike canopy stretches above the quarterdeck.
Quarters. A crew’s assigned positions.
Reef the sails! Tie up the sails to reduce surface area and prevent a storm from blowing the ship about or dismasting it.
Rigging. The system of ropes, pullies, and nets that connect to and control a ship’s sails.
Sculls. Small oars; a single rower can pull two sculls at once.
Starboard. Right.
Stern. The back of a skyship.
Swab the deck! Clean the deck. On a Mazrian ship, the deck should be clean enough to walk on barefoot without dirtying the soles of your feet.
Sweeps. Large oars that require one or more rowers to pull.
Weatherdeck. The top deck, exposed to weather (the only deck on smaller skyships).
Windward. The direction the wind blows from. A “windward isle” is upwind of your ship.
Yard. Horizontal wooden beams set perpendicular to the masts.
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