Midnight Guardian

The **Midnight Guardian** is a legendary three-masted War Galleon that found many of the Skylands' Outlying islands, such as Arkus, Andesholm, The Junction, and Thesahex. The ship became stranded by following one of the jet streams around Thesahex into a cavern, now known as Brigbane. It dare not leave due to strong winds that could send it back into the cavern walls.

## History

The ship was originally constructed for battle, hence its hull class being labelled 'War Galleon'. It proved to be the strongest hull in the Skylands as well, and saw action for over 5 years. In the War that Fell Falfell, it was stolen from The Union (now Skywatch) by pirates in an ambush, and was sailed back to then a young Skyport. It stayed anchored there for around a month and was then stolen again by two brazen sisters, Shy and Katy from Majestica, who somehow managed to pilot it to Majestica and, not understanding how big Midnight Guardian was, it was set down on the edge of Edgewood Forest, where it tipped and slid off the island and crashed into The Ground.

It stood abandoned there for about a year before a Captain Derek noticed it whilst travelling to Alnitak to purchase a new ship for exploration. It was raised back up to the Skylands, repaired and set for a long voyage north. The northern winds were treacherous, and a strong, well-masted vessel was needed to even survive the trip. She set off from the shipwright in Alnitak (which fell a month later) to unknown territory. Midnight Guardian almost immediately discovered Arkus, Andesholm and Old Ultria, a surprise seeing how close they were to the other islands the entire time.

The crew had unknowingly shifted eastward, missing Skyport and just skirting the edge of Weihao Pass. Over a week went by with no sign of skyland before a random empty frozen island appeared against the dark aurora-ridden night sky. It was marked on Derek's map just 'strange island'. At this point, the winds carried the ship directly due north, towards a massive looming structure in the sky, Thesahex. Easily bigger visually than Prenema (Exodus), the largest known island at the time. The island was circumnavigated to map out its bounds, and the crew then sailed Midnight Guardian back to share its findings.

Setting off again from Skyport, ready for a land expedition, Midnight Guardian went straight to Thesahex, and dropped off almost their entire crew as well as explorers by a landing in the mountains of Thesahex, as the base was clearly not traversable. Midnight Guardian then set off around the island, but was stuck in a dangerous jet stream around the tallest mountain on the island, and was thrust into a cave and slowly came to a stop on a ledge, luckily. Apparently, news spread to other solo explorers about a new island and decided to go there immediately, but met a similar fate to the Guardian, as there were already two ships that became stuck here. It was still sky-worthy, but didn't dare attempt to catch wind again in case it was torn apart by the cave walls. With no other choice, the crew lived out of the hull of the galleon, and chained it to the cavern walls so it would not move or sway in the wind. It sits there to this day.

## In-game

The player can visit the beached vessel in Brigbane. The player learns of a place called The Junction, an island that only Derek knows the location of. Captain Derek, now wanting to get back out to the sky again, acquiesces to the player's wishes to sail there, so offers the player to carry them to The Junction and back. The ship can be taken there anytime.