The Midnight Valiant

**The Midnight Valiant** is the airship on which the crew travels.The namesake of the series. Purchased by Erikk Einhertt after the crash of Dawn Rider. 093 A.GF, a year of fixing up The Midnight Valiant flew on it's first flight.

## Power

### Electricity

Massive batteries in the engine room generate most of the electricity on the Valiant. The batteries are powered by engines when in flight. When the Valiant is in port, a secondary generator takes over for the engines. This engine runs on Sludge Fuel.

To safe fuel, there are several gas lamps on the ship that provides most of the light during the evenings. All candlelight is kept in lanterns to prevent by sudden turbulence.

### Heat- and cooling system

A big furnace in the engine room is in charge of heating up the Valiant, as well as providing the bathrooms with hot water. The heat circulates through pipes in the ceiling, but it isn't always enough to keep the cold away. Cold floors are a given, and the hallways and storage rooms are always cooler than the rest of the ship. There is a small Victorian wood burning stove in the common room for extra heat.

### Water

The Valiant's water supply is stored in tanks in the lower deck. These tanks are filled up by a water supply company whenever the Valiant is in port. This is expensive.

## Everyday tasks

### Cooking

The cooking on the Valiant happens by a gas stove with gas cylinders (manual change). (There are *no* microwaves, blenders, or toasters!)

### Tea/coffee

There's a battered coffee-maker on the ship, but you have to grind the beans with a manual coffee grinder. You can boil water for tea with a kettle on the stove. (There is *no* electric kettle!)

### Dishwashing

There is no dishwasher onboard, as dishwashers are very rare and only found in a few rich families around the world. Washing dishes on the Valiant happens by hand, which is... *Time consuming.* The crew takes turns helping with the dishes. Some more than others...

### Bathing

Because of the limited water supply, none of the bathrooms on the ship has shower-heads. Instead all bathing is done in bathtubs (sponge baths). There is usually not enough hot water for more than a couple of baths a day and the water will get increasingly colder by every refill. Getting to the bathroom first in the morning is essential if you don't feel like dipping your toes in an ice bucket!

### Laundry

There is a small laundry room on the ship, which can barely contain the wash buckets and boards. Urgent washing can be done in the tubs or the sinks, but otherwise, the crew crams all the washing into one big laundry day.

Laundry days are team effort. The crew gathers on deck, and everything is hand-washed, rolled, and hung up on clotheslines suspended in criss-cross patterns all around the ship. Laundry days are agonizingly rare, as they depend on the weather allowing outdoor activity for a full day. Therefore, there is a lot of laundry, and the crew likely spends the day walking around in their least favourite, spare outfits while everything dries, which often causes a lot of laughs and snarky comments between the,. (It is no secret that these days also often end with water fights and deck soaked in soap.)

### Cleaning and Maintenance

It is an unwritten rule among the crew to keep the common areas as clean as possible. What happens in their own cabin is each individual's own responsibility, but maintaining the rest of the ship is a shared duty. That being said, while the ship isn't piled with trash, it is rarely fully clean, and it is common to find spiderwebs in the corners and dust on the shelves.

Just as the laundry days, spring-cleaning is a shared effort. Once a year, the crew gathers to give the Valiant a thorough scrubbing. All doors and windows are opened, blankets and pillows are taken outside, the floors are washed, the shelves dusted off, and the hull is treated as much as the budget allows . It's a productive but exhausting day, and everyone is sore for the week to follow.

### Disposal

All waste from the garbage cans stored in a container on the lower deck. This container is emptied whenever the Valiant is in port. It is possible to hire people to do this in largest ports, but the Valiant doesn't have the budget for that. Being on garbage duty is no fun, especially when the nearest disposal is several docking spots away...

Asking for the bathroom, the waste goes into a separate tank with a filtrating system, before it is released into the sea. The government has established a certain areas of the sea where this is allowed, to avoid dumping onto other ships or islands.

## General Practicalities

### Furniture

All big furniture is nailed to the floor to avoid incidents by turbulence. This counts for couches, tables, beds and so on. Chairs are strapped to the table when not in use. All cabinets have cabin hooks to avoid them bursting open when the ship turns.

None of the furniture matches. Neither does the cups or cutlery. There is a mishmash of chairs at the dining table, and the couches and launch chairs are patched up in several places.

### Storage

The ship hosts a couple of storage rooms for edible and non-edible supplies. There are spare clothes, blankets, pillows, spare parts, medicines and remedies, first aid kits, herbs, spices, canned food, fabrics, robes, sewing kits, stacks, piles, and heaps. Everything is sorted to the best of their ability, but that doesn't mean the crammed storage rooms are tidy.

### Herbs and plants

All hers and plats are best kept in hanging pots or alike suspended from the ceiling to avoid smashing due to turbulence.

### Personal belongings

Smaller items are best kept in boxes or secured to shelves with straps. Each cabin has room for storage under the bed. Hanging picture frames on the walls is... Risky. Proceed with caution.