Cassandra Nestani
High above the Continent, was a ship. It flew through the clouds with ease, as if it was just as much at home there in the sky as it may have been in the sea. It appeared to be a normal ship, with engines tacked on the sides and kept in the air with a hefty application of magic. Upon its deck, Cassandra stood, staring intently at a map.
“Useless waste of paper!” She screamed, as she threw the map off the ship with as much force as she could muster, “That map was completely wrong! We may not even be above the right continent, for all we know!”
“Uh, Cassandra?” A voice behind her asked.
Spinning on her heel, Cassandra was greeted by none other than Ben Alesman, the captain of the ship.
“Sorry, Ben, what is it?”
“We kinda got bigger problems right now, we’re almost out of-” Before he could finish his sentence, the ship’s engines sputtered and died.
“Fuel...” He finished, visibly drooping.
“Damn it,” Cassandra muttered, before taking charge, “Let’s get the mast up then, I’ll see if the lookout has spotted anything.”
Ben, although being the captain of the ship, often wasn’t that great at keeping things running when they weren’t in a combat situation. This often resulted in Cassandra stepping in to make sure they didn’t end up killing themselves.
Cassandra approached the lookout, who stood at the bow of the ship, peering through a telescope..
“Spot anything?”
“Towns? No. But uh, you may want to see this.” As he said this, he handed the telescope he was using to Cassandra.
Looking through the telescope herself, Cassandra was greeted by a large, pitch black, writhing tentacle, which brought her a sense of simple wrongness. It had no solid, discernable shape, and, worst of all...
It was rising towards the ship.
Before anybody could react, and taking advantage of the ship’s current immobility, the tentacle had matched heights with the ship and smashed with ease through the side of its hull, pulling out a large, glowing crystal, and darting back down towards the ground.
This crystal, however, was not one they were transporting as cargo.
This was the crystal that kept the ship afloat.
The ship began to drop like a rock, tipping rapidly to the right at the same time. Many crewmembers either held onto the railing for dear life, or ran into the lower part of the ship, seeking protection from the inevitable impact. Cassandra, however, had no time to do either, as she was knocked off the ship by the rush, falling like a ragdoll.
As she fell, she could only watch as the ship fell faster and faster, and tipped more and more until the point where it was completely upside down.
It was at this point, of course, that the ship had exploded.
What wonderful fireworks.
The ship had been hauling a significant amount of ammunition and gunpowder, and the sudden impact of the tentacle, as well as the listing and falling of the ship, had caused the explosion. Flaming chunks of wood from the ship flew past Cassandra as she fell, some passing close enough for her to feel the heat.
Suddenly, Cassandra had impacted something large, and brittle, which loudly snapped as she impacted it. This happened again,
And again,
And again,
And again,
Before Cassandra impacted something far less brittle, and much more solid.
The ground.
Cassandra remained concious only long enough to realize that it had been a tree’s branches which had slowed her fall.
Then she passed out.
The cheapest and most basic ship in the RdA fleet. Equipped with a fast-firing cannon that fires mainly kinetic rounds, as well as a single fragmentation IR seeking missile on the front. Also has a shield attached to the front of the turret. Made of wood & is extremely lightly armored.
Resource cost: 9872 Wood, 12255 Metal, 6305 Oil, 11460 Parts, 265 Crystal.
The basic resource gatherer that the RdA uses. Has no weaponry, but is equipped with 4 shields spinning at high speed to prevent cannon shells from connecting with it.
Resource cost: 3789 Wood, 4350 Metal, 2480 Oil, 5320 Parts, 120 Crystal.
The RdA submarine is designed to attack enemy ships underside with its laser systems. Has no countermeasures, due to the fact that the only weapon that can effectively damage it underwater is torpedoes. Laser system is fairly powerful, but does low damage due to losing power underwater.
Resource cost: 32582 Wood, 128752 Metal, 6435 Oil, 26000 Parts, 5375 Crystal.
The "Chiatta" class is the pride and joy of the RdA navy. Made primarily of metal, the "Chiatta" class is extremely tough. Weapon systems include one extremely fast firing turret on the back that fires mainly low-caliber kinetic shells, a large set of upwards-firing missiles that will turn to hit the enemy in the middle, a single, large caliber turret loaded with explosive shells on the front that is very slow to fire. In terms of countermeasures it has two sets of 4 spinning heat decoys on the rear of its pontoons, laser missile defenses set up in the middle of its pontoons, shields blocking the front, covering the missile system, on the front of the rear turret, and two on the sides at the rear defending critical systems. It is also capable of deploying two Elicotteros from the sides.
Resource cost: 87166 Wood, 239106 Metal, 26115 Oil, 66806 Parts, 2505 Crystal.
The Elicottero is an extremely fast flying design, with armor in the form of a light metal alloy. It uses the helicopter blade on the top to get to a sufficient altitude, then continues to fly using sheer jet power. Armed with a basic fragmentation IR missile system on the bottom, it will fire 3 volleys on the enemy before flying past, turning again and performing another attack run. It has countermeasures in the form of a single shield on the front defending it from cannon shells, as well as two heat decoys on the front sides.
Resource cost: 8545 Wood, 26280 Metal, 2310 Oil, 9904 Parts, 185 Crystal.
The Fulmine is designed to be deployed over the RdA home base and nowhere else. It has armor in the form of light metal alloy, it is armed with absolutely no countermeasures, due to the fact that the only weapon that can hit it in space is a sufficiently accurate laser system. It has weaponry in the form of an extremely accurate laser system, which does huge amounts of damage.
Resource cost: 28629 Wood, 98360 Metal, 6625 Oil, 38829 Parts, 8065 Crystal.
The Schermato is a low flying ballooncraft which is made primarily of wood. It has countermeasures in the form of a laser missile defense system on the nose, and a large number of shields mounted on the bottom. It flies with a set of helicopter blades on the bottom, and air balloons on the top. It is armed with a single, fast firing cannon loaded with high-explosive ammunition.
Resource cost: 55715 Wood, 45885 Metal, 15940 Oil, 46200 Parts, 19010 Crystal.
The Casa is the main fortress the RdA uses. It is used as both its home base and is deployed near RdA borders. It is constructed of a light metal alloy, and has weapons in the form of two fast firing high explosive cannons, and a missile turret with a set of 6 short ranged missiles. It has countermeasures in the form of shields spinning at high speeds near the bottom, guarding the main computer and other critical components, as well as a laser missile defense system on the top. It has repair tentacles hidden inside for constructing ships.
Resource cost: 38872 Wood, 184830 Metal, 23450 Oil, 85972 Parts, 18430 Crystal.