Sky Ships are fictional flying ships from Paul Stewart's fantasy book series The Edge Chronicles. Sky ships are the equivalent of water borne ships in the Edge universe and are used primarily for transporting supplies and valuable commodities across the Edge.
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Sky ships resemble 15-18th European style wooden Sailing ships, with one or more large buoyant rocks placed in the centre of the hull which creates lift. Sky ships make use of triangular or square sails for maneuvering, which are hung from their masts like conventional ships or from the ships hull.
They are depicted in the books through drawings by Chris Riddell.
Located on the top of the main mast, the caternest is a lookout point similar to a crow's nest. It is named after the Caterbird's cocoon which it resembles.
The most distinguishing feature of a sky ship is its flight rock. In the Edge Universe, some varieties of rock float depending on their ambient temperature- sinking when hot, and rising when cold. The temperature of the rock is controlled by a Stone Pilot who uses the flight burners and cooling rods on the flight rock platform to alter the ships altitude. The flight rock is penetrated by various pipes that transfer heat around it and housed in a cage between the fore and aft Hulls.
The flight rock platform is situated on top of the flight rock cage and has several levers built into it that allow the Stone Pilot to control the temperature with bellows and cooling rods. The flight burners are flaming torches mounted near the flight rock and connected to it through metal pipes that provide the heat needed to control the sky ships altitude.
The Hull of a sky ship is split into two sections; the fore hull normally contains the crew sleeping quarters and a hold and the aft hull which contains a cargo bay, food storage, galley, infirmary the housing for control cables. These areas may also be included in areas of the aft castle.
The hull decking can be used to hold weaponry such as harpoons, crossbows and catapults.
Hull weights are a series of weights chained to the hull used to control the sky ships balance.
Because every side of sky ships are exposed to the air, they are covered with several sails to aid mobility. These include a mainsail, jib sail, neben sail and hull sails.
Sky ships are used primarily by the Leaguesmen of Undertown, Sky Pirates and the Knights of Sanctaphrax.
Due to the difficulty of transporting items and people from to and from the centre of commerce on the Edge- Undertown-and the location of most resources- the Deepwoods on foot, Sky Ships are the only vessels able to travel easily across the Edge to trade. They are therefore very important to inhabitants of the Edge who often rely on them for income.
Sky ships are not only used for dealings with natural goods and livestock, but are used to transport slaves to markets within the Deepwoods. Although slavery is banned within Undertown, some groups of individuals (such as Sky Pirate Thunderbolt Vulpoon) have been known to con innocent individuals into boarding ships where they will be imprisoned and sold into slavery elsewhere.
The Knights Academy of Sanctaphrax also makes use of Sky ships, most notable are those built specifically for Stormchasing. Every 8 years or so, a Great Storm passes over the Edge and deposits a supply of Stormphrax- a crystal of pure lightning- within the Twilight Woods. A chosen Knight and his crew are chosen to chase this Storm, locate the Stormphrax and return with it to Sanctaphrax. These ships are among the finest to be built- designed for great speed and strength to withstand strong winds of the massive storm. A notable Knight's Ship is the Stormchaser, captained by the former Knight Quintinius Verginix.
Zeppelins in World of Warcraft