“Princess Royal” Cruiser (T.W. / U.W.W.):

Only a handful of Dwarven Iron Ships have ended up outside of United Worlds Warlock naval service with one of those having been a ship known by the crew as the “Iron Princess.” What the original name of the ship was is unknown. It had served in a variety of hands over the ages but eventually ended up as the flagship of a small mercenary fleet.

Even though considered to be on the fringes, the system of Saluda was considered an extremely wealthy system and was no stranger to being attacked by raiders. As a result, the system had a reasonably powerful self defense force. Few attackers had the resources to take on the system defense forces.

This all changed when a group of raiders began using a celestial rift on the outskirts of the system to bring forces against the system. The attacking forces were mostly the typical mix of ships from around the Three Galaxies including merchant vessels which were converted into pirate ships and many in the system military speculate that they are pirates recruited from across the Three Galaxies.

Interestingly, there was a single ship with the forces of an unusual configuration. While the rest of the attackers were destroyer sized, this ship was quite a bit larger, more cruiser or less cruiser classed in size. In addition, the ship showed extremely usual readings and appeared to be the key to controlling the celestial rift. While the other ships would attack, this one ship would always stay back and allow the others to engage. When the battle turned against the attackers, that single ship would always retreat back through the rift, abandoning any surviving forces.

Each attack was slightly more powerful than the last, as if building towards something. While the system defense forces were able to beat off each of the attacks, the system were always losing personnel and ships often ended up damaged or destroyed. Slowly building up over time, the defense forces were less and less ready to deal with the attackers each time. It was clear that it was only a matter of time until the system defense forces would be overwhelmed.

In desperation, the system hired the techno-wizard mercenary fleet, along with a number of other warships, in order to defend the system. One of the hopes in hiring the techno-wizards was that they might find a way of stopping the attacks permanently, perhaps by sealing the rift. The other ships were more of an eclectic mix coming from all over the Three Galaxies.

It was not long after the mercenary forces arrived that there was yet another attack. This one was far larger than any previous attack, easily enough to decimate the remaining self defense forces and even the mercenary forces were badly outnumbered. As the battle progressed, the mercenary and surviving self defense forces were slowly being overwhelmed.

The captain of the Iron Princess decided that the only tactic that might work is to go straight for the alien vessel. Escorted by the other techno-wizard ships and several of the other mercenary vessels, they attempted to punch a hole in the raider forces. They almost got to the strange vessel but it was apparent that they would be annihilated. As a desperate measure, the rift projector cannon was fired directly into the celestial rift which the ships had come through.

What happens when rifts projector cannons are fired is unpredictable at the best of times but firing on at huge rift is a whole new level. A massive explosion of dimensional energies were released. When the energies subsided, the Iron Princess found itself surrounded by the wreckage from the battle including both friend and foe. The Dwarven Iron Ship itself was little more than wreckage itself with many of her crew wounded, dying, or already dead. Only a handful of other survivors clung onto life aboard the other ships. Of the strange alien ship, there was no sign.

In addition to destroying all of the smaller vessels, the dimensional energies had thrown the fleet to somewhere completely unknown. There was no sign of the Saluda system and the star positions were completely unknown. One of the crew of the Dwarven Iron Ship was a shifter and she informed the others that she thought that they had been rifted to another dimension.

There was however a planet which seemed able to support life. There were signs of advanced technology on the planet with a number of satellites in orbit and overgrown cities. Several attempts were made to see if they could communicate with anybody on the planet with nothing but silence.

With few other options, the wrecked Dwarven Iron Ship picked up the few survivors from the other ships, friend or foe alike, and used navigational thrusters to reach the planet. Once they reached the planet, all appeared still dead with everything in orbit long cold and no traffic visible on the surface. Here and there was destruction indicating that there had been a huge war but nothing which would result in the death of the entire population.

With the life support of the ship failing, there was little choice but to try to land it on the planet and hope for the best. Somehow they were able to bring the Iron Princess down on the ocean but it was clear that the ship would never take off again. In fact, the ship had sustained even more damage during the landing

Exploring the planet confirmed what had been seen in orbit. While it had once had a thriving population, there was nothing but the buzzing on insects. From remains found, the population had once been humans and that there had been an ecosystem similar to old Earth including other vertebrate life. All vertebrate life was gone but plants and insects appeared to be unaffected.

Further evidence of a massive war was found on the surface and there was massive of a huge military buildup with a cold war brewing prior to the breakout of hostilities. The current best speculation is that one side released a biological weapon which did not just kill the entire human population but decimated all vertebrate life on the planet. Luckily, whatever struck does not seem to have remained in the ecosystem to kill the survivors from the Iron Princess.

With regards to technology, the system appears to have reached a similar level to what had been achieved on Earth just prior to the coming of the Rifts with advanced composites and alloys. They appeared to have relied far more on heavy cannons than on missile or energy weapon however. In addition, fighters and bombers do not seem to have been an important component of the planet’s warfare.

One thing interesting found while exploring was a huge warship sitting in a drydock virtually complete. Even though the size of a cruiser in the Three Galaxies, the warship appeared to have been the largest warship ever built on the planet and been considered the equivalent of a battleship. It was armed with eight huge forward firing electromagnetic rail guns in quadruple mounts. In appearance, it had similarities to Pre-Rifts battleship of the mid Twentieth Century, especially the French Dunkerque and Richelieu classes although a bit larger.

By this time, it was clear that the Iron Princess would never fly again. Still, there were plenty of systems which were salvageable. The shifter had confirmed her initial judgement that they had ended up in another dimension. Even so, attempts had also been made to get in contact with anybody else nearby with the subspace waves completely dead.

It was decided that the battleship could be refitted with systems from the wrecked Dwarven Iron Ship and an operational starship could be created from it in that manner. First thoughts were simply to transfer the drive from the techno-wizard vessels and get the ship into space. However, it was likely that it would take some time to find a rift which could bring them home and who knows what they might encounter. At least the shifter should be able to determine where any rift might go.

As one might expect, the rebuilding of the ocean battleship into a space cruiser would take several years with the crew of the raiders also expected to help although kept under watch. None of the survivors among the raiders were senior personnel and had little idea how they had been recruited. There had been a badly damaged shuttle aboard the Iron Princess and the shuttle was repaired in order to salvage from the wreckage of the other ships.

From the Iron Princess, the drive systems, both conventional and rift jump drive were able to be salvaged. In addition, the rift cannon somehow survived although all of the other weaponry of the cruiser were destroyed. It was mounted in the bow of the battleship. In addition, the mystic energy generator and the “Armor of Ithan” force field were able to be salvaged.

Among the other ships, there had been a pair of Chevalier class escort cruisers and several of the raider ships had also been armed with eighteen centimeter particle beams. A total of eight were able to be salvaged and these replaced the rail guns in the turrets. From the escort cruisers, a pair of long range missile batteries were able to be salvaged and mounted on the sides of the superstructure. In addition, a pair of capital missile batteries were able to be salvaged from wrecked Ferret class corvettes which were mounted on each side of the hull in pods. Four medium range missile batteries were also able to be also be salvaged. The point defense batteries were salvaged from a number of vessels and include both point defense lasers and electromagnetic rail guns. It was decided that an attempt would be to have a matched battery instead of mixing guns.

Loosely translated, the name of the battleship was Royal Sovereign from records they had been able to find aboard. It is unclear how it came up but the crew began calling the ship they were building the “Princess Royal,” combining the name of the battleship and the Dwarven Iron Ship. Eventually it the ship was ready for launch and the ship was christened with that name. By the time that the ship was ready, several of the crew had started family and a few even decided to settle on the planet including a number of prisoners.

As one might expect, there were a number of issues with the ship before it became truly operation but these were able to be solved. Once the ship was able to reach orbit, most of the issues had been solved however. Soon the ship was completely operational and they could begin a search for a rift which might bring them home. It took them many long months but eventually they found the right rift.

Unfortunately, while it did it least put them in the Three Galaxies, the rift put them in the middle of the Trans-Galactic Empire and they had to fight their way out of Kreeghor held space. Even though the ship had not encountered any significant dangers prior, the time taken to refit weaponry was definitely required at this point. In battle, the converted battleship showed that it had the right stuff, including beating a force composed of multiple Berserker attack ships.

When the ship finally made it out of space controlled by the Trans-Galactic Empire, some of the crew decided that they had enough and decided to retire. Surprisingly though, a number of the crew decided that they wished to continue aboard the converted naval warships including a few raiders whom had shown the crew that they could be trusted. Of course the ship only had a skeleton crew and more crew had to be recruited to make it truly combat effective.

The voyage had show a few issues and the ship had been damaged in the engagements with the Trans-Galactic Empire. Some areas were further reinforced, some damaged systems were replaced, and electronics were upgraded. In addition, a fighter compliment was finally embarked. Found out that they could embark a greater number of fighter than a normal Dwarven Iron Ship. The captain was able to recruit a squadron of “Shadow Gryphon” fighters aboard the ship although the remained of the fighter compliment is made up of Hyena fighters. Only a handful of troops had survived the battle and the troop compliment was also brought up to full strength.

This starship design uses modified starship speed and weapon range rules. See Revised Starship Rules for Phase World / Three Galaxies for more details.

Model Type: Modified “Royal Sovereign” class Battleship (Ocean).

Vehicle Type: Space Cruiser (Conventional / Techno-Wizard).

Crew: 285, including a magic team of 12 techno-wizards (levels 2-6).

Troops: 40 marines (Typically 20 stay on board for ship defense), 75 fighter pilots, 32 power armor pilots, and can carry up to 20 passengers in addition to crew and troops.

Vehicles:

Power Armors & Robots:

	20	SC-MM-1000 Stormcrow Space Combat Exoskeleton.
	12	W-F1 Flying Warlock Combat Armors.

Fighter Compliment:

	24	MSX-128 “Hyena” Light Starfighters (Standard Models).
	24	Ross Aerospace MSX-128-ICE “I.C.E. Hyena” Light Starfighters.
	12	WF-F20-X “Shadow Gryphon” Medium Fighters.

M.D.C. by Location:

	Rift Projector Cannon (One, in front):	1,500.
	18 cm Secondary Particle Beam Batteries (8, 4 each turret):	800 each.
	Quadruple 18 cm Particle Beam Turrets (2 - forward):	2,500 each.
	Point Defense Electromagnetic Rail Gun Turrets (8):	150 each.
	Point Defense Laser Cannon Turrets (8):	180 each.
	Cruise Missile Batteries (2, sides of hull):	600 each.
	Long Range Missile Batteries (2, sides of superstructure):	400 each.
	Medium Range Missile Batteries (4):	400 each.
	[1] Main Bridge:	12,000.
	[1] Auxiliary Bridge:	12,000.
	[2] Main Body:	36,000.
	Hangar Bay:	4,000.
	[3] Magical “Armor of Ithan” Force Field:	10,000.

Notes:

[1] In reality this is how much damage needs to be done for a weapon to hit the bridge through the ship’s armor. This ship also has an auxiliary bridge. Even if both bridges are taken out, the ship can still be piloted from engineering but ship is -3 to dodge and all weapon systems will be at local control. Weapon hits near the bridge that do not penetrate the ships integrity can injure crew members on or near the bridge.

[2] Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will put the cruiser out of commission. All internal systems will shut down, including life support and internal gravity. The ship itself will be an unsalvageable floating wreck.

[3] This is not a variable force field, but a magical shield that must be completely depleted. Once the shield has been knocked down, it will cost 1,000 P.P.E. and require one minute (4 melee rounds) of spell casting to restore the force field. Magic, fire, lightning, and cold all inflict one-half damage.

Speed:

Driving on the Ground: Not Possible.

Water Surface: 28 knots (58.9 km/32.2 mph).

Underwater: 20 knots (37.0 km/23.0 mph).

Sublight: Has a special sublight engine that allows the ship to travel up to 60 percent of the speed of light. Star Ship can accelerate/decelerate at the rate of 0.8 percent of light per melee.

Atmospheric Propulsion: Maximum speed is 120 mph (193.1 kph), can enter an atmosphere and can leave but is not designed for atmospheric flight.

Star Drive: Rift Jump Drive; maximum safe jump distance of 20 light years every four hours (Jump costs 4,000 P.P.E. per activation.)

Range: Effectively Unlimited by either drive system. Life support is “Sustain” spell and has effectively virtually unlimited duration (Requires 96 P.P.E. or 192 I.S.P. and has a duration of eight days per activation.)

Statistical Data:

Height: 74.4 feet (22.7 meters) main body; 198.5 feet (60.5 meters) from the bottom of the main body to the top of the superstructure.

Width: 128.5 feet (39.2 meters) for hull and 156.2 feet (47.6 meters) with cruise missile batteries.

Length: 944 feet (287.7 meters).

Weight / Mass: 144,950 tons (131,500 metric tons).

Power System: Combination Fusion & Techno-wizardry with 20 year life span. The cruiser also has a P.P.E. generator that produces 6,000 P.P.E. per hour / 25 P.P.E. per melee round (Activating the Rifts Jump Drive costs 4,000 P.P.E.) and can hold up to 20,000 P.P.E. in storage. This P.P.E. can be used to power the Rifts Jump Drive or can be used to power spells cast by the cruiser’s crew.

Cargo: Cargo holds can hold up to 10,000 tons (9,070 metric tons) of cargo in addition to standard compliment of supplies and ammunition. Each enlisted crew member has a small locker for personal items and uniforms. Ship’s officers have more space for personal items. Most of the ship’s spaces are taken up by extra ammunition, armor, troops, weapons, engine, and other equipment.

Market Cost: The cruiser would cost approximately 5 billion credits to construct due to not involving the level of magic of a standard Dwarven Iron Ship. Otherwise, only a single warship of this design has ever been constructed. Cost does not include embarked craft.

WEAPON SYSTEMS:

One (1) Rifts Projector Cannon: In the nose of the warship is large opening which is the main barrel of the cannon. The cannon creates a huge rift in front of the cannon that has a variable effect. This weapon can become a danger to the ship if it fails. The cannon has a 0.5% cumulative chance of failure (i.e., becomes 1% after two shots, 2% after four, and so on). This cannon has penalties to strike small targets. For more information on the Rifts Projector Cannon, refer to page 155 of Dimension Book 2: Phase World (Except ranges are 1,000 times range in book in space.)

Maximum Effective Range: 50,000 miles (80,000 km) in space and 50 miles (80 km) in an atmosphere.

Mega-Damage: Roll on table in Dimension Book 2: Phase World on page 156.

Rate of Fire: Can fire once per minute (4 melee rounds/ 60 seconds).

Payload: Requires 1,000 P.P.E. each time fired.
Two (2) Turrets with 18 cm Particle Beam Mounts (8 guns total): These cruisers mount a total of two turrets with four particle beams each. Both turrets are mounted forward of the main superstructure. Turrets can rotate 270 degrees and barrels have a 45 degree arc of fire. All turrets can fire to either side as a broadside. The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at faster than light velocities.

Maximum Effective Range: 70,000 miles (112,650 km)in space and 70 miles (112.7 km) in an atmosphere.

Mega Damage: 3D6x100 M.D.C. each (All four mounts in a turret can be linked for 12D6x100 M.D.C..)

Rate of Fire: Maximum of three (3) times per melee per particle beam.

Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
Eight (8) Point Defense 15 mm Electromagnetic Rail Guns: Unlike most of the rail guns used on Phase World / Three Galaxies starships, these are standard electromagnetic rail guns. They are used as an anti-starfighter and missile weapon and against targets that are impervious to energy. Each rail gun is in a turret that can rotate 360 and has a 180 arc of fire. When used in space, projectiles are fired from rail gun mounts at a significant fraction of the speed of light. The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at faster than light velocities. Rail gun uses 15 mm depleted uranium projectiles.

Maximum Effective Range: 16 miles (26 km) through atmosphere and 800 miles (1,290 km) in space.

Mega-Damage: Rail gun inflicts 3D6x10 M.D.C. for an 80 round burst.

Rate of Fire: Equal to the combined hand to hand attacks of the gunner (usually 4 or 5).

Payload: 16,000 rounds (200 bursts) each cannon.
Eight (8) Point Defense 2 cm Lasers in Double Mounts: used as an anti-starfighter and missile weapon. Each laser turret can rotate 360 and has a 180 arc of fire. The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at faster than light velocities.

Maximum Effective Range: 2.5 miles (4 km) miles through atmosphere and 250 miles (402.3 km) in space.

Mega-Damage: 2D6x10 M.D.

Rate of Fire: Equal to the combined hand to hand attacks of the gunner (usually 4 or 5).

Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
Two (2) Cruise Missile Batteries: Missile has a top speed of Mach 25 in an atmosphere and has an acceleration of 10% of light per turn (far faster than any starship) in space. Whether weapons can be shot down is calculated from the speed of target, launching starship, and missile. When drive goes dead, missile will continue to travel in a straight line unless set to self destruct or receives a destruct code but has very low odds of hitting star ships (Great for hitting bases and planets because target does not move and missile when dead is at -25% to detect.) missiles have penalties to hit small targets but are all considered smart missiles. Batteries can launch on multiple targets each at the same time. Batteries have a lower number of actual launchers than the modern CAF cruise missile batteries and each launcher is slightly larger in size.

Maximum Effective Range: Cruise Missile range is 8,000 miles (12,875 km) in an atmosphere and 4,000,000 miles (6,437,376 km/ 21.5 light seconds) in space.

Mega-Damage & Properties: See revised Phase World / Three Galaxies missile tables for details (Anti-Matter multi-warheads inflict 5D6x100 M.D.C. each and Fusion multi-warheads inflict 3D6x100 M.D.C. each.)

Rate of Fire: Can fire cruise missiles one at a time or in volleys of two (2), eight (8), sixteen (16), or twenty-four (24) cruise missiles per battery, per melee round, for a maximum of forty-eight (48) cruise missiles per melee. Launchers are reloaded on the same melee and can be fired again on the next.

Payload: 48 total, 24 cruise missiles per battery. Ship has 8 reload of missiles (384 cruise missiles reloads total.)
Two (2) Long Range Missile Batteries: Long range missile has a top speed of Mach 20 in an atmosphere and has an acceleration of 8% of light per turn (faster than any starship) in space. Whether weapons can be shot down is calculated from the speed of target, launcher, and missile. When drive goes dead, missile will continue to travel in a straight line unless set to self destruct or receives a destruct code but has very low odds of hitting star ships (Great for hitting bases and planets because target does not move and missile when dead is at -25% to detect.) Long range missiles do not have penalties to hit small targets, unlike cruise missiles, and are all considered smart missiles. Batteries can launch on multiple targets each at the same time. Batteries have a lower number of actual launchers than the modern CAF long range missile batteries and each launcher is slightly larger in size.

Maximum Effective Range: Long Range Missile range is 3,400 miles (5,470 km) in an atmosphere and 1,800,000 miles (2,897,000 km/9.7 light seconds) in space.

Mega-Damage & Properties: See revised Phase World / Three Galaxies missile tables for details (Fusion warheads inflict 2D4x100 M.D.C. each.)

Rate of Fire: Can fire long range missiles one at a time or in volleys of two (2), eight (8), sixteen (16), or twenty-four (24) long range missiles per battery, per melee attack.

Payload: 720 total, 360 long range missiles per battery.
Four (4) Medium Range Missile Batteries: These are standard merchant type batteries modified for greater magazine space. Each battery is on the port and starboard side of the ship. Missile has a top speed of Mach 15 in an atmosphere and in space has an acceleration of 6% of light per turn. Normally used for anti-fighter and point defense. Batteries can launch on multiple targets each at the same time.

Maximum Effective Range: Medium Range Missile range is 160 miles (257.5 km) in an atmosphere and 80,000 miles (128,750 km/0.43 light seconds) in space.

Mega-Damage: Varies with medium range missile type (Multi-warhead heavy warheads inflict 5D6x10 M.D.C. each - See revised Phase World / Three Galaxies missile tables for details.)

Rate of Fire: Can fire medium range missiles one at a time or in volleys of two (2), four (4), or eight (8) medium range missiles per battery, per melee attack.

Payload: 128 medium range missiles per battery for 512 total.
Techno-Wizard Modifications: The cruiser “Princess Royal” has the following techno-wizard modifications built into the ship. These require P.P.E. or I.S.P. from the ships crew or P.P.E. battery.

Special Features:

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Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

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