Starskiff

A Starskiff is a flying vehicle used by the people of Xianzhou Alliance for transportation as part of their everyday lives. They appear to resemble boats of varying sizes. In the Xianzhou language, they refer to any vehicle that can fly as a "starskiff," much like outworlders call them "spaceships."
==Overview==
===Organization===
Starskiff traffic, inspection, maintenance, aviation, navigation, and trade within the Xianzhou is managed by the Sky-Faring Commission. The Department of Aviation in the Sky-Faring Commission is specifically responsible for relevant aviation tasks such as receiving, verifying and managing the reports of vessels entering and exiting its jurisdiction, the registration of new starskiffs, and the dynamic monitor system. Starskiffs on the Luofu are grown in Stargazer Navalia. They are used by various merchant guilds and by the Cloud Knights.
===Design and Specifications===
====Growth Process====
Starskiffs are grown, not manufactured, which may come as a surprise to most outworlders. Starskiffs are grown from starskiff seeds. Developed from the Ambrosial Arbor, a starskiff seed acts a blueprint as all of the growth data for a starskiff is stored inside its seed. In other words, these seeds come with their own "design manuscripts," and each seed grows step-by-step based on the design plan. A culture medium injector and cultivation cabin are used to grow the starskiff seed inside the incubator. The incubator is filled with the culture medium that supports the starskiff seed during the germination phase, and it can ensure the biological material grows in a nutritious and controllable environment. In the absence of any external stimulus and with sufficient nutrition, a starskiff seed will grow into a keel in one go. If regular plants were to be placed in the culture medium, they would grow exponentially.
Generally, the ratio of catalyzers in the culture medium is fixed. However, it can be adjusted based on the design of the ship. Depending on the composition ratio, the strength and growth speed of the hull will vary. There are craftsmen from the Artisanship Commission who specialize in researching the ratio needed for the culture medium during the germination phase, so as to make the ship lighter, more durable, and safer. There are many cylindrical "culture medium injectors" at various phases along the starskiff assembly line to make fine-tuned adjustments to it as it grows. There are four main stages in the growth of a starskiff: the germination phase, the embryonic phase, the nutritive phase, and the forming phase. During the germination phase, materials such as Fallow Earth and Ligneous Freeroamers inside the starskiff seed will form the earliest signs of seed germ and embryo. If anything goes wrong during the growth process, the failed starskiff seed needs to be cleared out and the biological matter in the metal frame needs to be destroyed.
The embryonic phase is the most important stage in shaping the starskiff. If the temperature and culture medium isn't regulated properly, or if the design data has any errors, then the starskiff seed will fail to grow as designed. A failed seed can still be cleared out at this stage, though some fast-growing anomalies can burst through the incubator, causing the culture medium to leak out. When that happens, the incubator basically just gets trashed. This can happen due to errors such as a miscalculated self-growth algorithm of Fallow Earth. The starskiff seeds develop a detailed and complex root system during subsequent phases, which also acts as the internal jade abacus network aboard each starskiff. The toughest biological materials on the exterior will gradually close up, so that the starskiff can continue its core internal operations even when it encounters severe impacts. The starskiff is technically flyable at this stage if a jade wheel is installed.
In the nutritive phase, the starskiff has taken shape and is nearly done incubating, developing it's hull, keel and canopy. The circular cutaway on the tail is where the jade wheel gets installed — that's the starskiff engine. It's an integrated jade abacus that controls gravity and motion. The Meridian Pin at Stargazer Navalia also operates using similar tech principles. During the forming phase, fully-grown starskiffs are extracted from their incubators and temporarily moored at The Mooring platform in Stargazer Navalia following assembly.
====Propulsion, Movement, and Docking====
The jade wheel functions as the starskiff engine. As aforementioned, it's an integrated jade abacus that controls gravity and motion. There are a lot of illegal modders who will exploit this, installing military-grade jade wheels onto civilian starskiffs, which is illegal and highly dangerous. There are mooring platforms all around the Xianzhou for starskiffs to dock. Starskiffs can also function when slightly submerged in water.
====Armament====
Large fighter starskiffs are equipped with turrets that are operated by a gunner. They fire "alchemical arrows."
===Tactical groupings===
Fighter jet starskiffs are typically grouped into Cloud Knight brigades known as Orbital Fleets.
==Types==
===Civilian Starskiff===
====Luofu====
The civilian models are single-pilot vessels that resembles a small sampan boat and appears to have the capacity to hold at least four people. Large cargo seems to be generally stored outside the cockpit on the deck. There are several starskiff brands and models such as the Blitzing Silver Thread, the Lion on the Deer Plains, and the Azure Phoenix of the Skies.
Blitz Corp's Mountain Kite starskiff features the lightweight design of the Kite series and uses the latest mortise and tenon technology, which endows the vehicle with elegant contours. Simply sitting in the driver's seat allows one to feel the deep and magnetic growl of the Sunhunt engine, the same model as the ones in the Cloud Knight's fighter jets. The completely enclosed driver's seat and inner cockpit recreates the driving experience of competition vessels. 
For pilots with peculiar tastes, the Mountain Kite allows one to pre-order starskiff engine sets with different power settings. The Mountain Kite is designed with a customizable control panel that allows every pilot to adjust the starskiff's functions according to their habits. Compared to the expansive control panels of the starskiffs of the previous generation, the clean and intelligent panels of the Mountain Kite is said to be more suitable for new pilots.
The latest stall control system designed by the Artisanship Commission is used for the first time in the Mountain Kite, and the drift correction device has also been completely upgraded. This latest patented equipment can use intelligent braking to control the yaw angle of the starskiff, and ensures the safety of the vessel even when performing aerobatic flights. Smaller starskiffs cannot travel beyond the Jade Gate, and there are larger models that can hold more passengers.
====Fanghu====
According to Hongjin, the Luofu starskiff's shape is dull and plain, and less aesthetic than the ones on the Fanghu.NPC: Hongjin dialogue
===Freight Starskiff===
Freight starskiffs are unmanned models of starskiffs used to transport cargo containers between various locations on the Xianzhou. They are larger and rectangular-shaped. There are three known models; light, medium and heavy. Additional "carriages" can be attached behind these starskiffs in order to ferry more cargo.
===Fighter Jet Starskiff===
Fighter starskiffs are generally used by the Cloud Knights air force. Large fighter starskiffs need to be operated in pairs. One pilot takes the helm, the other controls the turrets. Cloud Knight fighter jets use the Sunhunt engine model.
===Star Jet===
The star jet is a type of starskiff mentioned in a Management Strategy for Reporting Starskiff Traffic.
===Competition Fly Ship===
A competition fly ship is a type of starskiff mentioned in a Management Strategy for Reporting Starskiff Traffic. It is presumably used for sport in some form of competitive flying.
===Yaoqing Starskiff===
Starskiffs on the Yaoqing are born with biotechnology instead of being grown from seeds. Newly born starskiffs are described as "furry little creatures". They can even be named, and may join the battlefield after growing in a few short months, becoming loyal partners of the Verdant Knights, capable of eradicating abominations. New starskiffs are born almost every day in Verdant Harbor. Their description resembles the beast ships used by the borisin.
===Boarding Craft Starskiff===
The Verdant Knights were seen aboard an unknown model of boarding craft that shares a similar hull structure to battleships.
===Battleship===
The Xianzhou Alliance also employs large military vessels like battleships that boast massive cannons. One such vessel was the Skysplitter, though it's combat armor has been removed. The battleship is large enough to accommodate several starskiffs and has a mooring zone specifically for starskiffs to dock. It is also where the battleship's cargo are processed. It is capable capable of transporting countless Cloud Knights to the battlefield and provided low-altitude support for ground forces. Internal cabins and the lower deck are located below the massive open-air deck at the center.
The Control Room's control screens monitor every aspect of the battleship such as fuel levels, starskiff data, radar scans, and logistics operations. The Engine Room is the beating heart of the battleship, and it is rumored that the power generated by the ship's twin engines is strong enough to propel a small asteroid. The command center located at the bow of the ship serves the role of the military command center, with control panels and strategic astral charts used by the captain of the ship for strategic planning.
Battleships like the Skysplitter may be smaller in tonnage, but the genius designers at the Artisanship Commission managed to equip it with features that are available on larger ships — a large-caliber main gun and numerous rapid-fire auxiliary guns. There are at least four three-barreled large-caliber guns and eighteen four-barreled rapid-fire auxiliary guns.Location: Skysplitter Investigations
===Navis Astriger===
The Navis Astriger is a type of Cloud Knight troop carrier starskiff. It was used in the Heliobi Wars during the weaponizing of the Yaoqing's auxillary engine.Readable: Annotations from "Ode to Reignbow Path" One was forced to land on an ocean planet infested by abominations during Jing Yuan's first expedition before heading back to the Luofu. Baiheng once flew one from the Xianzhou Yaoqing to the Xianzhou Zhuming carrrying a delegation of at least a dozen people. Fu Xuan proposed a plan to use a Navis Astriger to ferry the Yuque's Cloudpeer Telescope, which was described as a towering spire reaching into the sky, to the Fanghu during the Third Abundance War to send an SOS signal to the Reignbow Arbiter, the plan was carried out by Master Diviner Jing Tian of the Yuque.
===Navium Astriger===
Navium Astriger, more commonly known as Xianzhou ships, are the large planet-sized capital ships that form the Xianzhou Alliance. There were only nine known ships that were constructed by the Primeval Imperium civilization that were sent out to seek immortality. Of the nine, only six of the ships still remain to form the Hexafleet. According to March 7th, the Luofu appeared to be larger than Jarilo-VI. 
The interior space of Xianzhou ships is even larger on the inside due to space-folding technology. The visible space in Starskiff Haven is enough to fill up the entire Luofu. Strange planets can be seen high in the sky, it is unknown if some of them are projections of the delve's artificial sky dome, but the Xianzhou extracts heat from the core of a planet the ship is carrying.Scalegorge Waterscape Investigations:Vidyadhara EggsCentral Starskiff Haven:Investigations The delves all vary in size and shape, but they are all said to be on a scale that was too large for any normal ship to contain from the perspective of the Intelligentsia Guild. The wind, clouds, rain, and fog are all artificial and managed onboard the Xianzhou.
==Gallery==
===Civilian Starskiff===
Moored Starskiff.png|Moored starskiff in Central Starskiff Haven.
Starskiffs rear view.png|Rear side view of civilian starskiffs, jade wheel fully visible.
Starskiffs in Aurum Alley.png|Starskiffs near the freight dock in Aurum Alley.
The Mooring Starskiffs.png|Fully-grown starskiffs during the forming phase at The Mooring platform in Stargazer Navalia.
Adventure_Mission_Fired_1.png|Starskiff traffic footage.
Adventure_Mission_Fired_2.png|More starskiff traffic footage.
===Fighter Jet Starskiff===
Companion Mission For I Have Touched the Sky 2.gif|Caiyi and Yukong among the wreckage of fighter starskiff.
===Freight Starskiff===
Light Freight Starskiff Front.png|Front view of the light freight starskiff with the jade wheel visible.
Light Freight Starskiff.png|Side view of a light freight starskiff.
Light Freight Starskiff Cargo.png|Light Freight Starskiff carrying cargo.
Medium Freight Starskiff.png|Front view of the medium freight starskiff with the jade wheel visible.
Medium Freight Starskiff Cargo.png|Medium Freight Starskiff carrying cargo.
Medium and Heavy Starskiff.png|Side view of a medium freight starskiff with a heavy freight starskiff carrying cargo in the background.
Light and Medium Freight Starskiff.png|Light and Medium Freight Starskiffs
Heavy Freight Starskiff.png|Heavy Freight Starskiff carrying cargo.
Starskiff freight carriage.png|Freight Starskiffs with carriages attached behind them.
Starskiff freight and carriage.png|Top-down view of a medium freight starskiff with a carriage.
===Unknown Boarding Craft===
Verdant Knights Boarding Craft.png|The Verdant Knights aboard an unknown boarding craft starskiff.
===Battleship===
Xianzhou Skysplitter Battleship.png|The Skysplitter among other Xianzhou battleships.
Trailblaze Mission March to Mastery A Star Is Born 2.png|The front of a Xianzhou battleship seen from below.
Area Skysplitter.png|The deck of the Skysplitter, a decommissioned Luofu battleship.
Area Skysplitter 4.png|The Mooring Zone of a Xianzhou battleship for starskiff docking.
Area Skysplitter 5.png|One of the twin engines of a Xianzhou battleship.
Verdantia Fleet 1.png|Feixiao overlooking battleships of the Verdantia Fleet.
Verdantia Fleet 2.png|Battleships of the Verdantia Fleet after a battle.
===Navium Astriger===
World The Xianzhou Luofu.png|The Xianzhou Luofu
===Miscellaneous Starskiff Images===
Starskiff Infographic.png|An infographic detailing starskiff parts.
Starskiff Ads.png|Starskiff Advertisements.
Starskiff 2 4 Trailer.png|Presently unknown starskiff models flying toward Battleship-class Starskiffs.
Starskiff 2 4 Trailer 2.png|Side view of unknown starskiff model.
Caiyi and Yukong.png|Caiyi and Yukong performing maintenance on an unknown model of starskiff.
Item Chengjie's Paper Boat.png|Chengjie's Paper Boat modelled after a Starskiff.
==Trivia==
===Etymology===
* means "star," and means "skiff." In Classical Chinese, the term 星槎 can refer to either star skiffs for aerial transportation in mythology or all kinds of boats in real life.
==Other Languages==
==References==