Tag Archives: airship pilot

Rigging of the AS Patsy Nottle

Cover Reveal Party for Glitter Ponies: Welcome

Welcome aboard the AS Patsy Nottle for the Glitter Ponies cover reveal party. Before we head into the forward parlor for refreshments, Copernicus, the airship’s navigator, explains the specifications of Wizard Kadmeion’s airborne home.

About the Good and True AS Patsy Nottle

An Airship Operating in Its Water-Surface Mode

An Airship Operating in Its Water-Surface Mode

The Airship (“AS”) Patsy Nottle is a carrack class wooden and stone airship invented in the 16th century. The carrack airship comes with six sails: a bowsprit, foresail, mizzen, spritsail, and two topsails. The hull is fashioned from floating rock to give the ship neutral buoyancy in airborne operations. The sails provide wind propulsion and steerage. Perpetual enchantments see to basic operations, defense, and personal comfort of the crew and guests.

Carrack airships are square-rigged on the foremast and mainmast. The mizzenmast is lateen-rigged. They have a high rounded stern. The carrack airships have a large aftercastle, forecastle, and bowsprit. The carrack airship can also operate as a water-surface ship.

Specifications for the AS Patsy Nottle

Airship Class: Carrack

Origin: Agatha Island Aerodrome and Shipyard

Initial Year of Service: 1625

Commissioning Agency: Agatha Island Magic Guild, for operation by human wizards and sorceresses in good guild standing.

An Airship Weathering a Magical Storm

An Airship Weathering a Magical Storm

Captain: (Wizard) Haldemare Kadmeion Dorian Trentworthy sen Magica Vir

First Mate: (Honorable Mage) Wolverhampton Brighton M’Choakenchilde

Navigator: (Minor Demon Homunculus) Copernicus

Crew: 40 (mostly clockworks rig monkeys or demon-inhabited homunculi)

Length: 75 feet

Beam: 25 feet

Draught: 6 feet

Displacement: 223 long tons (minus floating rock displacement)

Machinery: Standard sailing magical clockworks. This vessel has typical below decks gearing and linkage to accommodate the sailing spells.

Speed: 6.7 knots (unaided by magic)

Range: Unlimited

A Fairy's Point of View of the Oak Forest on Kadmeion's Airship

A Fairy’s Point of View of the Oak Forest on Kadmeion’s Airship

The airship inside volume is much larger than the outside hull dimensions due to perpetual Inverse Magic spells. The AS Patsy Nottle has spacious crew quarters, private sitting rooms, parlors, galley, spell casting workrooms, and a quercetum for Sir Bright’s miniature oak tree forest. Kadmeion’s fey-folk fairies live in the quercetum.

Next: Refreshments and origin of the Glitter Ponies story

Clockwork Automata Man

Copernicus, One of the Minor Demons

Cross section of an automata

Step inside the Pilot House. Meet Copernicus. He flies Wizard Kadmeion’s airship.

Copernicus is the most advanced metal homunculi (also called automata) on Kadmeion’s airship. Copernicus is a magical sentient creature with a metal body created by Bright, and animated by a minor demon summoned by Kadmeion.

Demons live on the nether plains until called by a magician in the Clockpunk Wizard world. There is a hierarchy of demons based on their mental sophistication and physical ability to animate magician-created bodies. The demons have established this caste system for themselves. I’ve simplified it here.

The lower classes of minor demons easily answer the calls of magicians that practice low magic, such as pellars and hedge-witches. These lower demons are jesters that favor crude humor, such as word puns and rude noises. They are indiscriminate with the bodies they will inhabit, so you will see them in mandrake roots and fresh corpses.

Copernicus is just out of camera view. This is the Pilot House.

The middle class of minor demons will be thick-witted, but are useful as bodyguards (the magical term is goons). While they will not animate corpses, they will inhabit vat-grown homunculi bodies. They don’t like residing in clockwork bodies because they lack the mental acuity to use the legs without tripping.

High class minor demons are smart, articulate, and well-behaved.  They respond only to a wizard’s high magic summons (this is a point of pride in the minor demon ranks). These minor demons will only inhabit clockworks bodies of a certain high quality. Copernicus is the epitome of fussiness about his metal body. I understand from talking with the Agatha University clockworks magicians that Kadmeion and Bright’s efforts with Copernicus are splendid.

Let’s not distract Copernicus while he’s guiding the airship through these tricky floating islands. Let’s go below decks and see Kadmeion and Bright’s current magical project. The Workrooms are next on our tour.