SDS-92-17 Caelus Rex

The **SDS-92-17** **Caelus Rex** was a Longinus-Class Dreadnought that served as the flag ship of the CAST Navy.

## Technical and Development History

The Caelus Rex is unlike other vessels commonly utilized by the Caseal in that is not an extension. Rather, it is the former flagship of the XVII Legion of the Autarchy Popularis.

Only twenty Longinus-Class Dreadnoughts were ever produced, each one gifted to one of the Primarchs. In time each legion would modify their ship to suit their principles and aesthetic preferences. While being the original design seed that would be replicated and used by the EDS-37-92 Scorpio, the craft bears a large number of internal differences, especially in order to accommodate a Primarch and his legion. Still, much of the ship remains automated.

The Caelus Rex was the personal flagship of Bearer-of-Sanctity-Everlasting and it onboard AI is believed be an engram of the fallen champion. Unlike many other Longinus or Scorpio class vessels, the Caelus Rex is primary a weapons platform and not a carrier.

Despite many of its systems being more advanced than those meant for use by Caseal, many of them have not been replicated due to the vessel's own resistance.

## Equipment and Design Features:

* **Wave Force Armor:** A defensive shield system that manipulates dark matter containment fields to deflect and distort hostile attacks. Intelligently used, the Longinus can use it to catch and reflect attacks provided they do not overpower the field.
* **Object Control Grid:** A short-range teleportation grid extending about 25 kilometers. Specially equipped devices, like extensions, can teleport within or in between the local grids. This allows other extensions in the same system to rapidly redeploy to help one another, or deploy payloads near-instantaneously.
* **2x Gravity Well Generator:**  A multi-function device. Its most common function is to interfere with FTL transit by creating regions of intense, unstable gravity fields. It can also be used to capture nearby ships, or arrest the movement of nearby ships.

## Fixed Armament

* **1x Stellarite Lance:** The pinnacle of hard light technologies, this spinal weapon compresses hard light structures to create a sort of fusion with mass similar to a star. The light-mass is compressed and fired through immense gravity control fields, and detonates after a few seconds or upon collision with the target.
* **12x Eclipse Lance:** Mounted on the flanks of the craft's circular section, these weapons are intended for orbital bombardments or delivery devastating broadsides. An experimental branch of both hardlight and darkmatter technologies at the time of the ship's construction, the Eclipse Lance fires rays of 'hard dark light', hitting enemies with immense amounts of gravity and exotic radiation. The Caelus Rex's lances are specifically tuned to emit radiation toxic to the ecosystems of most 'habitable' planets.
* **24x Double Barreled Repeating Hard Light Turrets- BB Class**: The primary armament of the Longinus. An advanced form of laser cannon that uses a delayed reaction to convert laser to hard light while it is being fired. Thus, while the projectiles are low on mass, even when sheathing dark matter, the shots have high durability and possess near-lightspeed velocity, giving them high striking power.
* **64x Double Barreled Hard Light Turrets:** The same weapon as mounted on the Pugio. Flexible as CIWS or strike weapon.
* **1000x Variable Missile Launcher Bank:** Mounted on the sides of the ship, these launchers are able to configure and sort to allow the Longinus to deploy a variety of missile types as controller requires.  These can be configured as 2x5 Anti-Matter Missiles, 2x3 Dimensional Missiles, or 5x20 Twilight or Force Projection Missiles.
* 2**00x Double-Barreled Light Higgs Particle Gun:** A short-range low-power mass manipulator weapon. While higgs weapons can cause high strain, this weapon has improved durability due to its low-grade performance. Intended as a CIWS, it is used primarily to cause enemy missiles to collapse on themselves. Enemy fighters and mecha are more resistant, requiring  careful aiming at vulnerable areas. However, the sheer number of them on the Longinus allows them to be concentrated to deal damage even to small vessels.

## Missile Types

* **Anti-Matter Missile:** Using a very minute amount of anti-matter, this is a high-yield missile designed when there is little concern for collateral damage.

* **Dimensional Missile:** An invention of the CAST, the Dimensional Missile is an expensive missile that is a weaponized slipspace drive. It utilizes an unstable slipspace portal to scatter atoms between the normal universe and slipspace.
* **Force Projection Missile**: More of a high-speed drone that sports its own Object Control Grid. The Scorpio does not have traditional launch ramps or hangar doors. Rather, it merely teleports objects in or out of itself using its Object Control Grid. It uses the Force Projection Missile to cast a  50 meter grid at range to allow it to deploy its forces afar.
* **“Twilight” Multi-Function Missile:** Their main payload is a spray of hard light to soften up a target, before collapsing in a dark matter reaction that tries to drag the target with it. The missiles are highly maneuverable and able to be remotely controlled by the pilot. Their hard light projectors can also be used to make hardlight barriers to protect the extension or others.