Ashin Varanin
Professional Enabler
Image Source: Here. Artistic licence. Trees not to scale.
Affiliation: Clan Rekali, extremely select customers
Manufacturer: Clan Rekali, with contributions from Mandal Hypernautics
Model: Ruus’ika Habitation Sphere
Modularity: Climate can be changed, and the surface can be reconfigured. Buildings can be constructed on the surface, and multifunction interior spaces can be used for various kinds of manufacturing or more habitation.
Production: Semi-unique
Material: Havod, dirt.
Classification: Habitation Sphere/Worldcraft (Miniature)
Length: 4000 meters
Width: 4000 meters
Height: 4000 meters
Armament: 7, primarily Vulcan mass-driver flak cannons.
Hangar: 10 squadrons, type based on the preferences of the customer.
Special Features:
Kar’ara’novor shield generator x2 (polar regions)
ArmaTech Aegis Shield Transfer Array
Triple-redundant atmospheric fields and anti-radiation measures
Emergency bunkers
Triple-redundant artificial gravity and inertial compensator technology
Substantial dirt
Climate options
Redundant cap drains, ion shielding, and power supplies, centered on protecting the atmosphere fields, anti-radiation fields, gravity and inertial compensators
Vulcan mass-driver flak cannons
Crystal Gravfield Trap
Tra’palon Active Mapping Array
Non-mass hyperwave transceiver with cross-channel hyperspatial radiation emission/detection functionality - in concert with Kar'tayl Independent Sensor Platforms
Maneuverability: 20
Speed Rating: 20
Hyperdrive Class: 3
Strengths:
Home to a ludicrous amount of people, depending on configuration.
Outstanding shields, and the ability to donate them to properly equipped defenders in extremis.
Though climate is set upon manufacture, it can be adjusted if necessary.
Has a much shallower gravity well than a planet, massively reducing surface-to-orbit transit costs.
Can be created to look like basically any planet ever (though very tall trees aren’t really an option, due to the possibility of growing through the atmospheric fields, etc.).
It’s tough to sneak up on a Ruus’ika.
Slower than mud.
Lightly armed.
Though the interior is well armoured, the exterior surface is much like that of a planet. If shields go down, that’s serious vulnerability.
Description: The Ruus’ika (‘Little Rock’ or ‘Pebble’) is a miniature habitation sphere/worldcraft. It is loosely based upon the Girth of Gluttony, Emperor Voracitos’ battlesphere, which was captured and analyzed by Mandal Hypernautics and Ember Rekali. The Ruus'ika is unique in that, like ancient worldcraft, it is covered in dirt.
The outermost portion of the sphere is made up of thirty-five decks, with gravity oriented inward, feet facing the core. In effect, these layers constitute thirty stories of residential catacombs beneath the surface. Each of these decks is roughly 50 square kilometres. A similar amount of space is contained in the inner decks, which are stacked, feet facing the south pole. The result is over two thousand square kilometres of space used for residence, industry, and commerce. To a reasonable degree, this space can be customized for the buyer. A desert spaceport configuration, or a dense population living beneath a jungle, or a manufacturing setup under an urban sprawl -- at time of manufacture, a Ruus’ika can be adapted to the demands of the customer, creating a miniature planet analogue with the living space of a large island. Multiple-redundant atmospheric containment fields, radiation shielding, gravitic machinery and inertial compensators, along with planetary shielding and optional transparisteel bubbles, keep the surface population -- if any -- as safe as you can get on a planet.
The Ruus’ika has a cargo capacity and crew requirement which are comparable to a trade station of similar size. Passenger complement and consumables rating depend upon configuration, with lightly populated Ruus’ike able to survive indefinitely on the produce of the biome and internal hydroponics bays. Waste heat is turned into geothermal power as a tertiary energy source. A Ruus’ika, like any habitation sphere, is a self-contained city. Due to size constraints, the Ruus’ika makes for a single-biome environment, except for arctic polar valleys that hold the shield generators and relevant defenses. The following climate options are available for the exterior surface, with any degree of balance between urbanization and natural-appearing climate:
Snow/ice
Grassland
Coniferous or deciduous forest
Jungle
City
Desert
Mountainous
Ocean
Additionally, landforms and so forth can be shaped into custom logos. It is entirely possible to have a miniature planet bearing the symbol of a government, an organization, or a corporation. Common decency applies.
So far as light is concerned, buyers have a variety of options. The combination of atmosphere, containment fields, radiation attenuators and so forth softens the light of nearby suns, if the Ruus'ika is positioned in the habitable zone. In other arrangements, orbital mirrors may be used. Much farther outsystem, or in deep space, a miniature natural-spectrum fusion sun might be set in a slow circular course around the Ruus'ika. Lights can also be installed on surface pylons, and so forth.
Development Thread:
- As I Walk Through The Fields Where I Harvest My Grain - Building the Ruus'ika. Not cited for other submissions.
- Let Us All Bleed Red - Battlemoon capture/analysis the primary focus of the thread. Not cited for other submissions.
- Danger, Will Robinson - Artificial moon capture/analysis the primary focus of the thread. Not cited for other submissions.
Intent: Mini planets. What’s not to love?
Who Can Use This: Clan Rekali and extremely select customers.
Primary Source: For reference, the Girth of Gluttony (captured and analyzed during Ruus'ika development).
