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This thread will actually cover both Realm and Renegade ships, as both factions use the same ship classes.

The following are listed in descending order of size, though I will not necessarily post them in this order.

Paladin class battleship- "Paladin"

Borgia/Hemholt class cruiser- "War barge"

Poseidon class destroyer- "Piranha"

Barbossa class freighter- "Cargo Hauler"

Emmissary class scout vessel- "Void Skimmer," "Herald," or "Kingfin"

Locust class lander- "Deathbeetle"

Orca class gunship- "Hornet"

Bomb/Direct-Ordinance Gunship- "Bulldog"

Long-Range Manned Fighter- "Longhorn"

Fire Support Combat Drone- "Firefly"

Name/Model Number: Long-Range Manned Fighter

Alias: "Longhorn"

Race/Product Manufacturer: Izani, both Renegade and Realm of Zaan

Physical Description/Dimensions: About 8 meters long and 8 meters wide.

Affiliation: Izani, both Renegade and Realm of Zaan


History/Design Features: The Longhorn has been a staple in space and air combat for many years now. Designed originally as an air-superiority fighter, it has since been eclipsed by the widespread use of Firefly drones. However, it still serves several vital functions in the fleets of the Izani

Master/ Operator: Crew of 1 pilot.

Weapon(s): Outfitted with 4 long range guided missiles, two independently-tracking rail-machine-gun turrets mounted with a forward fire arc, and a single heavy weapon mounted on the belly. The heavy weapon is either a plasma cannon that operates on the same principle as the Harper Longblaster, draining energy from the main power generator to fire a powerful (for a fighter) blast of energy, or else a rack of guided missiles, or else a single, large bomb, or else an interesting third engine and grav-fin attachment that increases by 25% the speed and acceleration, and decreases by 15% the turning radius. Also, but very rarely, can be equipped with an underslung, oversized Shield Generator.(instead of the heavy weapon)

Defensive Capabilities: The Longhorn carries the standard energy shield which uses energy to "burn off" incoming masses and energy beams. The Longhorn is sturdily built, with tried-and-true defensive mechanisms such as emergency boosters, emergency retro thrusters, electronic defensive measures, chaff and other evasive "tricks." The longhorn does not have much armor, though it is constructed with durable materials.

Ship/Mode of transport/Propulsion: The Longhorn has the advantage over the Firefly in that the longhorn is much faster and can travel much farther. Due to it's large engine/body ratio, the Longhorn has extremely high acceleration and top speed. Also, the various gravity-field propulsive mechanisms implanted in the wings and fins of the Longhorn allow for very high manoeverability.

Power Plant: Large (for it's size) hydrogen-fusion generator. Backup battery power supply.

Specialty: Long-range fighter; can protect more vulnerable landing craft as planetfall is made, when equipped with plasma cannon makes excellent tank hunter, when equipped with bomb is capable of devastating precision strikes. When dogfighting it usually has the extra engine. In rare circumstances it carries the shield generator, giving it unprecendented protection.

Strengths: Fast, agile, can travel long distances, packs powerful punch.

Weaknesses: Relatively expensive, not that tough, human pilot not as expendable as drones.

Other: Longhorns are useful tactically but in general they have been replaced by Bulldogs and Fireflies. Having been around for many years, there is a large pool of experienced pilots flying these fighters, which combined with the manoeverability inherent in the Longhorn makes for some epic "aces."

Name/Model Number: Emmissary class scout vessel

Alias: "Void Skimmer, Herald," or "Kingfin," depending on role.

Race/Product Manufacturer: Izani, both Renegade and Realm of Zaan

Physical Description/Dimensions: 6 decks, roughly 40 meters high (including fin) and about as wide from wingtip to wingtip.

Affiliation: Izani, both Renegade and Realm of Zaan

History/Design Features: Engines located in back, large fin and stabilizing wings contain gravitational thrusters that enable atmospheric flight and hovering. Well constructed with a high structural integrity for the main section. Has a good-sized power generator in the core.

Master/Operator: Crew capacity varies widely depending on the mission, usually between 50 and 150. The basic hull allows for 480 Firefly drones and a single cargo/loading bay capable of holding one Bulldog, Longhorn, or Deathbeetle. On patrol runs (Void Skimmer) the ship has minimal crew but is outfitted with extra power and shield generators, and an extensive sensor/communications array. As an explorer, (Herald) crew is larger and contains specialists such as diplomats, spies, scientists, and marines. As a light escort, (kingfin) the ship holds 160 extra Firefly drones.

Weapon(s): Two plasma cannons mounted on top suitable for ship-to-ship combat or bombardment of ground facilities. Is peppered with approximately 32 railturrets.

Defensive Capabilities: Carries a shield generator, is armored. (though it's armor is not anything unusual for a ship its size)

Ship/Mode of transport/Propulsion: Main thrusters in back enable Hyperdrive travel and a rate of acceleration suitable for a nimble escort vessel. Gravity-field thrusters in fins and wings allow for atmospheric flight and in space add agility.

Power Plant: Single hydrogen-fusion generator located in the main section by the stem that leads to the engines. Also contains system for gathering fuel from such things as comet trails and planetary rings. Backup battery power supply that is fed by a small hydrogen-fusion generator.

Specialty: Used to run patrols on the border of the Realm; (Void Skimmer) used as diplomat/explorers, (Herald) used in combat occasionally. (Kingfin)

Strengths: Fairly fast, above-average manouverablility, can hover in-atmosphere. Carries a surprising amount of drones.

Weaknesses: Has no drone factory and so cannot replace losses. Engines are armored but still vulnerable because of their exposed position. Is inefficient as far as fighting goes. (too expensive for the amount of firepower it carries, in a straight-up fight money is better spent elsewhere)

Other: The Emmissary class is better known than most Izani craft because it has been spotted in pirate fleets and in exploratory missions before official contact was made.

Name/Model Number: Poseidon class destroyer

Alias: "Piranha"

Race/Product Manufacturer: Izani, both Renegade and Realm of Zaan

Physical Description/Dimensions: Roughly 40 decks; about 130m tall, 270m long, and 70m wide

Affiliation: Izani, both Renegade and Realm of Zaan

History/Design Features: Smallest real warship in the Izani fleet. Does whatever the larger ships cant be spared for; also provides drone protection for fleets (unusually high drone-to-mass ratio, plus factory)

Master/Operator: Crew size can vary but is generally about 1000.

Weapon(s): 6 plasma cannons, (each about 6m by 6m by 25m) a liberal dosage of railturrets sprinkled all over the hull, and two platforms each capable of transporting and maintaining 7 Deathbeetles, 12 Bulldogs, or 20 Longhorns. The Piranha has a Drone capacity of 12,000. Most importantly, the Pirhana contains an armored, fully automated Drone factory (in the curved, windowless, red frontal section) that can produce Firefly drones at a rate of about one every second. (given power and enough materials) This factory includes the facilities to melt down raw materials- such as asteroids and space debris- and assemble it. The Piranha has ample methods of harvesting such debris, from gravitational tractor fields to manned spacewalks.

Defensive Capabilities: The Piranha is armored, but the only armor that above average is concentrated in the front (around the factory) and in the rear (around the engines) The Piranha is well shielded, as befits a ship designed for battle.

Ship/Mode of transport/Propulsion: The engines of the Piranha are nothing exceptional; only enough that it can outpace and outmanouever larger ships like the War Barge and the Paladin. In battle Piranhas will usually just hover around the larger ships.

Power Plant: Single Hydrogen-fusion power plant located in the center or core region. Also has backup battery power supply and the means of refuelling from local terrain.

Specialty: Usually found in large numbers around the capital ships, though sometimes alone or in small squadrons for minor missions such as planetary defense or shipping route raids.

Strengths: Large number of drones, good all-round (armor, firepower, fighters, etc.) Has drone factory.

Weaknesses: Other than Fireflies, nothing really exceptional about it. Aircraft platforms are exposed and vulnerable; usually all craft are launched before the battle and can only land once the fighting is over. Is disadvantaged against really big capital ships (paladin-size or larger) because it does not have any guns big enough to do significant damage.

Other: The Drone factory makes for interesting tactics, sometimes. Once, after winning a battle for space superiority, but unable to move any closer to the planet in question due to ground-based fighters, a lone squadron of Piranhas sent flight after flight of Fireflies to terrorize the orbital dockyards and wear down the fighter defenses. They were able to do this for successive weeks as they melted down the wreckage from the space battle to make drones.

Name/Model Number: Paladin class Battleship

Alias: "Paladin" or "Battleship"

Race/Product Manufacturer: Izani, both Renegade and Realm of Zaan

Physical Description/Dimensions: About 75 Decks; Roughly 360m high, 200m wide, and 1,300m long

Affiliation: Izani, both Renegade and Realm of Zaan

History/Design Features: Designed to face ships much larger than itself; as the Izani do not have Buffer particles the Titan Cannon was also seen as a "clean" way to deal with enemy planetary strongholds.

Has two massive, redundant power generators (One in front, one in back) that when together can power the ship, perform emergency operations, and charge the Titan Cannon simultaneously. When only one generator is on-line, the Titan Cannon can only be charged slowly, and even that at the expense of emergency operations.

Master/ Operator: Crew of about 40,000 souls.

Weapon(s): 9 30m plasma turrets (same as on War Barge, fires plasma gouts the size of a house) plus about 100 smaller plasma turrets (same as on Kingfin, etc.) Also liberally doused in point-defense railturrets.

Has 6 flight decks that share the same specifications as those on the War Barge.

Has a machine shop, just like the War Barge.

Has 6 Drone factories (Renegade models have 3, but have ample Soul-ammunition fields)

Carries about 200,000 Firefly drones.

Titan Cannon fires a shell 60m long and about 24m in diameter. It is essentially a huge Railgun, but it has two other aspects that make it even more powerful.

First, the shell itself is supercharged, powered with an insane amount of kinetic energy (heat) that is contained by a special force-field (which also requires a lot of power to maintain) Upon impact this field breaks up, reversing in the process and releasing huge amounts of kinetic energy in all directions (intense explosion) The shell itself continues through the target, bleeding off energy into anything that gets in its way, and leaving a sort of "wake" of explosive energy.

The second advantage the Titan Cannon has over more common weaponry is the plasma stream that follows closely behind the shell. This works basically like normal plasma cannons, melting and destroying anything it touches. As it follows in the wake of the shell, the stream tends to disperse upon impact, spreading out and doing damage along the sides of the main trajectory. Before impact, the stream appears as a brilliant beam of blue light.

The Titan Cannon is immensely powerful, even for a weapon of it's size. It has several drawbacks, though. Mainly, it requires obscene amounts of energy to use. More than that, though, it requires a special insulator/conductor coating that covers the inside of the barrel: this coating allows for the field that contains the immense kinetic energy of the shell. This coating is ruined by the passing of the shell- burned away, boiled into a plasma. The accelerators that drive the shell to barely sub-luminal speeds also serve to eject this plasma in a trail following the shell. (hence the second advantage.) However, this results in the unfortunate situation of having to replace the coating after every single shot. This replacement process takes about 24 hours to complete (the gel-like spray-on substance must harden) and so places a severe limit on the use of the Titan Cannon. The time taken is probably just as well, because the Paladin needs all the time it can get to recharge it's energy reserves, which are severely depleted by the firing of the Cannon.

Defensive Capabilities: Armor, Shield.

Ship/Mode of transport/Propulsion: Hyperdrive.

Power Plant: Two redundant hydrogen-fusion plants, plus backup battery supply and the means of refuelling from local terrain.

Specialty: Picking out fortified bunkers and other ground targets, especially when nukes would damage civillian populations. Destroying enemy "Motherships" is a speciality. Is used as an intimidation weapon- when coming to a hostile but ignorant planet, the gun can be fired at some random, uninhabited spot of land as a warning. (If you dont give in in time for this gun to recharge...)

Strengths: Titan cannon makes it very effective against ships larger than itself, also against ground installations. Titan shell is highly penetrative (though it leaves a devastation wake much larger than the diameter of the shell) and so it can succeed even where nukes fail, against hardened underground bunkers. It can smash an imperial palace right in the center of a city without (much) harming the city.

Aside from the Titan cannon, the Paladin is a fairly normal fighting vessel, with a mix of small fighter craft and heavy plasma cannons.

Weaknesses: Compared to the War Barge, the Paladin is structurally flimsy. Somewhat slow and ponderous. Firefly drones and small craft complements are below what could be for a ship of the Paladin's size. Same goes for cannonry: Though it is more than just a platform for the Titan Cannon, some might grumble that it is not much more.

Other: The Renegades have managed to make Titan shells with Souls trapped inside. No one soul could keep track of all that mass, so about a million are used to build the shell. This has much less effect than on smaller projectiles; there is no noticable "guiding" effect and the only advantage seems to be increased penetration, especially against shields.

Name/Model Number: Orca class gunship

Alias: "Hornet"

Race/Product Manufacturer: Izani, both Renegade and Realm of Zaan

Physical Description/Dimensions: Roughly 3 meters high, 7 meters wide, and 7 meters long.

Affiliation: Izani, both Renegade and Realm of Zaan

History/Design Features: A recent invention, the Hornet is designed to destroy heavily armed, slow-moving ground vehicles. It has four separately rotating grav-loops, plus two more conventional grav-generator wings. It has two railturrets, one on the chin and one on the back of the craft, and a single Meltacannon.

Master/Operator: A single pilot, who usually leaves the upper railturret to fire autonomously and sometimes the lower one as well.

Weapon(s): Two railturrets and a Meltacannon. The Meltacannon is a variation of plasma technology, where the plasma, instead of being focused and shot through a cylindrical trajectory, is fired in a trajectory that is conical; that is, narrowing and narrowing to a point, then widening.

The plasma is fired in such a fashion and compresses as it travels, reaching superenergized conditions that are impossible to sustain. (immediately such compressed plasma would expand, the only reason this does not is that it is all happening so fast, the kinetic force of the plasma shot itself serves to keep it focused for the split-second necessary to do the damage)
The plasma gobule reaches the peak of its compression (and armor-penetrative capability) about 3m from the barrel of the Meltacannon, at which point it is compressed to a fraction of its initial volume.
After reaching this point, the plasma rapidly expands, both because of the cone-shaped trajectory and because of the natural explosive force caused by such an unnatural compression. The plasma expands much faster than it had compressed because of this.
The result is that the Meltacannon fires a gobule of plasma that is fairly powerful as it exits the barrel, but becomes more and more powerful as it approaches that 3m point. At that point, the supercompressed plasma can melt through anything the Izani people have encountered. About .3m after hitting that "sweet spot," the plasma is sufficiently dispersed as to have little penetrative effect.
This is the ideal tank-hunting weapon. A skilled pilot can dart in, hover almost directly above an enemy vehicle, and fire the Meltacannon, piercing through 20cm or so of the strongest armor with ease, and then devastating the interior of the vehicle with rapidly expanding plasma!

The Meltacannon can also be used in an anti-infantry manner, because at about 4m range the plasma is dispersed too much to have much effect on armored vehicles. At up to 8m range, though, the plasma (now in a wide shock-wave like spread) is still powerful enough to burn and otherwise injure exposed flesh and clothing. At up to 10m range the effect is enough to destroy exposed eyes, causing blindness.

Defensive Capabilities: Light shield generator, plus armor. Is armored only enough to block small-arms fire, except on the front of the craft, where much heavier plating is used.

Ship/Mode of transport/Propulsion: Makes extensive use of grav-generators. Is extremely manouverable, with an accelleration rate so high that special generators are needed to counteract the g-forces afflicting the pilot. Low top speed, though.

Power Plant: Single hydrogen-fusion power generator. Reserve battery supply is minimal, just enough to land safely or survive until the main generator can be fixed.

Specialty: Killing anything big, tough, and ponderous. Works best in dense terrain, such as amongst skyscrapers.

Strengths: Extremely powerful main weapon; very manouverable,

Weaknesses: Well-armored only in the front, short range makes it vulnerable in open areas and in space.

Other: Is capable of working miracles, given the right situation. One in particular springs to mind:

A small Renegade population had developed on the civilized but not-yet-spacefaring world of Tarsus. The Quorter, as it was called was a downtown district in a large metropolis, a veritable jungle of skyscrapers.

The population of that city sympathized with the Renegades (that was why they landed there) but the rest of the planet did not. The government sent in the military to enforce the eviction of the Renegades; the force sent consisted mainly of heavily armored APC's and battle tanks with a variety of conventional but still powerful weaponry.

The citizens of the city resisted with homemade bombs and illegal firearms; an orbiting War Barge sent in crack troops and (most importantly) a squadron of Hornets. The Hornets were all the craft that could be spared, as the rest were needed to fend off an attack on the War Barge itself.

The Hornet squadron spread out, individually weaving amongst the towering buildings and catching the lumbering vehicle convoys off-guard.

Darting out from alleyways, they would turn one vehicle into a smoking wreck, only to dissapear just as quickly.

Convoys were delayed, stalled, diverted, destroyed.

The hundreds of enemy fighter craft, armed with guided missiles and machine guns, circled uselessly above the city, unable to attack the low-flying Hornets. When some tried to fly low, hurtling down long steel canyons, the hornets simply moved sideways, getting out of the lane of fire.

The ground attack stalled and was repulsed, keeping the city's renegade population safe until the rest of the air-superiority craft in the War Barge was able to clear the skies above, enabling a swift and safe evacuation.

The battle was a huge success for the Renegades, who were able to rescue their population with minimal losses, while proving to the galaxy that they were a force to be reckoned with. Their outstanding success was rightly attributed to their use of Hornets.

A note on fleet heraldry:

Realm of Zaan ships use grey and red coloring, and are mostly what you have seen so far. Renegade ships use a near-white and a black. Here are some pictures of Renegade versions of familiar vessels: