Vessels of the Void

Pharoi - interplanetary vessels of the void, named for their towering design and structure. To humanity, they are formidable instruments of war and diplomacy, commerce and exploration. Among the worlds of the Heliopolis, they exist in innumerable forms. Some are just built in one of many thousand forges on this day, others are aging centuries. Countless times are their components augmented, restored and repurposed. Rarely is any Pharos vessel truly discarded, as they always are of some value to a few of the myriad peoples under the

There is no reliable record of the true number of Pharoi in existence. The military fleets of nations number hundreds, some thousands. Alliances unite armadas of many ten thousand strong. Even greater are the numbers of merchant and commerce fleets, of civilian convoys and trading vessels, luxury freighters and research fleets.

For all their multitude, all Pharoi are related through the fire of their fusion cores, propelling them beyond the planetary wells of gravity, through the cosmos and in between the worlds of the Solar System.

*The lineages of humanity are drawn towards the stars, furthering the frontiers in every century of the Heliopolis. To cross the cosmic void, vessels manifold are built and launched from all inhabited isles.*

## Offworlder vessels

Rising from the worlds and inhabited isles of the Heliopolis are offworlders in countless number. Propelled by all means of advanced rocketry, the Offworlder vessels cross the void within **planetary systems**, between moons and artificial worlds. The journey of an offworlder vessel seldom lasts longer than a **few days**, when the journey is made between far-flung moons.

Travelers and wares of luxury are transported by the off-world vessels and at the fringes of their homely estates, the offworlders stand as guardians and wardens watch. These vessels are the only kind to be regularly capable of atmospheric flight. As such their design is often oriented toward aerodynamics, as much as reentry and void-borne flight.

Offworlder Vessels are the smallest and oldest of void-borne craft known to mankind. They are cheap enough to be owned by private individuals and as such often times bear individualized design.

## Ring Viators

Since the Century of Departure, the cradle Earth is crowned with orbital rings. On the Moon too, rings have been built on the equator and in the orbit as well. From these and many other isles of civilization extend mass accelerators aiming for the void. By the power of electromagnetic force, containers and Ring Viators are shot toward far-off worlds.

Most mass-accelerated vehicles crossing the void bear loads of bulk wares and raw resources for the ever-hungry machinery of civilization. But some are designed deliberately to accommodate the needs of living passengers. In contrast to the offworlder vessels, Viators possess often gargantuan scale, some forming trains of cargo and containers spanning a dozen kilometers and more. Almost none of the Ring Viators are in individual possession, as their travel is bound to the tight schedules of rings, none can afford to interrupt.

Most Viators travel in the realm of offworlder vessels within planetary systems. But between the Earth, Venus, and Mars a bond of rings was formed. Rings such as the Lunar Circulum accelerate wares and Viators to interplanetary speeds, which they cross within **days and weeks**.

## Pharos Torchcraft

The Pharoi are vessels wandering on journeys of interplanetary travel. Riding the flames of fusion, they are travel between the largest of worlds throughout the solar system, providing transport and trade, military prowess and colonization for all within the Heliopolis.

They are named after the Pharos, the light-tower of the seven World Wonders, as they too often resemble towers crowned by a plume of light. Their hulls are often conic in design, bearing the symbols and markings of their state and lineage. To cool themselves from the ever-burning fire of reaction, the Pharoi are winged with radiators, spreading them life fans in cooling shadow.

The greatest of the Pharoi are towering civilian titans, spanning kilometers to bear passengers or bulks of trade. Those Pharos Torchvessels serving as instruments of war are smaller and more compact in design, but in return appear in numbers greater than any one mind could easily imagine.

Most Pharos Torchcrafts are low tiering Torchships, their fire of unimaginable potential being their greatest asset and weakness all the same. As their potential to rid themselves of heat and radiation varies greatly, so does the time they take to cross the void between worlds. Some take a mere week to reach the furthest planet, others coast for years on their way. Despite all efforts in all cases, no travel through the void is without cost or danger.

## Anemoi Starbridge Sailors

Not even the torches of the Pharoi could span the distance between stars in a way suitable to civilization. To leave the Heliopolis behind, one must take to the celestial bridges spanning from Sol to other stellar systems.

Great sun-machines channel the ancient power of Sol into a mighty stream of energy and particles. Sailing thus solar winds are the legendary vessels called *Anemoi*. Among the largest of all void-faring creations of the humankind, these gargantuan star sailors carry entire battle groups of Pharoi, habitat stations and lineages of pioneers outward to the interstellar Void.

Despite their eventual destination far-off to another settled stellar system, most of the existing Anemoi fare to places somewhere along the way. Countless outposts and stations, colonies and entire empires erected on rogue planetary systems comprise the Starbridge infrastructure. Each of them provides beams of unparalleled energy to continue the acceleration of Anemoi passing, and to provide means to brake for those landing somewhere in between.

All hulls of the Anemoi are effortlessly dwarfed by their immense sails, spanning hundreds of kilometers before the vessel's bow. Mere centuries ago, such vessels were the futurist dream and stuff of legend. In the final century, daily grow their numbers as the frontier of the Heliopolis pushes deeper and deeper into the interstellar Void.

## Other

Innumerable vessels of undetermined nature, drones, and satellites dot the sky of the Heliopolis. From drifting colonies of a thousand habitats to autonomous sprinters consisting of little more than fusion flame and radiating wings - all kinds of spacefaring vessels exist in a myriad humanities. To any one soul, it is impossible to know the entirety of inventions and contraptions deployed by all humanity. But every single one, no matter the shape or role, is a symbol of the conquest of the Void.

Emerald Pharos