Skycraft

The word 'skycraft' is the English language translation of the widely used calque for vessels of the air. Skycraft were traditionally gliding and self-venting vessels made from exotic woods and fabrics, originally found in the valleys of the Jaggudorns. According to legends of the Sky Tribes, the god Amirulliam taught them how to make these first skycraft which they used at great peril to herd gontha and to migrate to nearby alpine valleys. Scholars believe skycraft were first invented in the sixth or fifth century before Salmakhamer. The technology of skycraft has had a dynamic influence on the history of the Pallathantic Region and the whole world of Asdar, and, after Esoteric Arts, makes Asdar unique from the history and experience of Earth. In the past two hundred years, skycraft has come to include titancraft skyships.

Early skycraft and indeed skycraft well into the first millennium after Salmakhamer were essentially gliding vessels with self-venting properties created by magical enhancements and the use of exotic substances. Unlike light aircraft on Earth, these skycraft were not capable of great ranges and could not bear heavy loads. A voyage in a skycraft over a great distance was necessarily a succession of many hops, requiring agreeable winds and great skill and endurance in both pilot and passengers. It was not possible to bring heavy loads, so voyagers would need to live off the land for sustenance. For great loads, the vessel was necessarily huge and many-winged which made it less maneuverable and susceptible to damage from swift or changing drafts. Such great craft were costly and required expert handlers. Thus, they were the purview of rulers and wealthy land-owners. The Sky Tribes, that is, the Gwenyan peoples of the High Shadevan Plateau who adopted the technology, first used skycraft for the transportation of people and light items, warfare, and most of all, for the herding of Gontha, the flying cattle of the eastern Jaggudorns which before the introduction of skycraft were impossible to domesticate. The domestication and exploitation of the gontha is inextricably woven with the history of early skycraft and was equally responsible for the strength and power of the Sky Tribes in the first and second millennia after Salmakhamer.

The use of skycraft spread throughout the world, although the Jaggudornish tribes prided themselves in their excellence with the technology and their use of the cheaply available gontha wool to weave skysails. In the first millennium, the introduction of fleeglesilk made skycraft with stronger, more durable wings that were additionally lighter. The effect was to increase the range of skycraft and thus the reach of the Sky Tribes. Yophenthea controlled the Pallathantic Sea and thus the supply of fleeglesilk, but was too hide-bound to adapt the skycraft in its military. The conflict between the Yophenthean Empire and the Sky Tribes culminated in the Third Sack of Yophénthë.

Chronology of Skycraft

Main article: Chronology of Skycraft

See also: Chronology of Technology

• 500 AS: invention, using cembar wood and gontha wool; perhaps related to kites of the Jaffgorn Giants. Used to hunt and herd the gontha of the Jaggudorns and for mobility for semi-nomadic tribes of the High Shadevan Plateau, especially the Gwenyans.
• 300 AS : increase in size and quantity, Kiallions and allies voyage in late spring westwards over Jaggudorns to Colnoria
• 150 AS : Early Medibgösk discover glanffwood on the skynesses. Glanffwood with a little enchantment magically floats and produces strong skycraft with great lift. Due to the very small supply and the fact that it only grows on skynesses, very little is produced and reserved for the princes of Medibgö.
• 550: fleeglesilk discovered to produce skysails of the highest strength, durability, and lift. Fleeglesilk production spreads from Siul throughout the Pallathantic Region. Fleeglesilk skysails create skycraft with increased range and durability.
• 700s: improved skycraft, range of skycraft increased
• 850: increase in number of skycraft in Jaggudorns and thus the demand for skycraft
• 986: Coalition of Sky Tribes fire-bombs Trevirs and Yophénthë from skycraft with Whetcoal (Third Sack of Yophénthë), precipitating the Fall of the Yophenthean Empire.
• 1250-1400: skycraft speed and battle-worthiness increases, First Kalikán Empire
• ca 1390 First Galebelly developed in Pytharnia.
• 2500: Geddamin introduce titancraft vessels of sky
• 2510: Kharrhu-Visha, metal-framed skycraft: increased cargo capacity, improved speed, navigability, and range, New Kalikán Empire
• 2590: Adaptation and development of the Zerruka, a metal-framed skycraft with titancraft engines for thrust. Zerrukas continue to be used into the 28th century, fitted with second-hand titancraft engines.
• 2600's: Humans develop titancraft sky vessels make traditional skycraft obsolescent for warfare and eventually commerce. Skycraft reserved for those too poor to make use of titancraft skyships.

List of Types of Skycraft (Non-Titancraft)

• Galthala, great gliding craft from Dewyddair
• Kharrhu-Visha: metal-framed skycraft, ca 2510, not fitted with titancraft
• Windcatcher, small glider for distance and maneuvrability
• Zerruka, modern, metal-framed skycraft fitted with titancraft rotary engines

• Banfrial: also called bamfrial, banfrigial, a square-rigged skycraft
• Ilyukhgiddin: skycraft with triangle-shaped sails, from 'ilyukh' which means a triangle-shaped sail
• Istifral: skycraft originally based on four wings, two horizontal and two vertical.
• Siamnafri: pronunciation: 'shemnefri', skycraft used for long trips of two or three passengers on the west slopes of the Jaggudorns, able to ascend high enough to dock on the Medibgoese skynesses
• langomfri: lateen-sailed skycraft

List of Construction Materials (Non-Titancraft)

• Cembar Tree wood
• Fleeglesilk
• Glanffwood, a fantastically rare wood from floating forests
• Skybeast (Gontha Wool, Bagoose wool)
• Metal-framed Skycraft
• Tursinkdoo

List of Hazards of Skyflight

• wind, especially sharp or sudden drafts
• lightning
• hostile parties (enemy or pirate skycraft, dragons, other flying creatures)
• wind-borne particles (rain, snow, sand, ice)
• thin air due to elevation affects breathing and also intensifies sunlight
• negotiating among mountain slopes and peaks, especially with rip-winds

See Also

• Airbarn
• Cembar Tree
• Fleeglesilk
• Gontha
• Gontha Herding
• Hullness
• Jaibu
• Medibgö
• Oeonist
• Skydock
• Skyfaring
• Titancraft Skyship
• Twriagdówrch