Lombardia:

A modified cruiser capable of destroying most - if not all - ships that attempt to bring a grim fate to the magister's enemies.

The Lombardia is a cruiser that was originally designed to be a flagship for House Tsukimoto, though ended up as a repurposed vessel by Vincent. A cruiser is generally a middle-weight combatant that is faster than a dreadnought and more heavily armed than the swifter frigates. They are standard patrol units which often lead frigate flotillas. This specific cruiser is roughly three hundred meters long and houses five different decks: the Combat Information Center, the Engineering deck, the Hangar, the Crew’s Quarters, and the Central Laboratory.

The ship has been snatched from a universe which information has not yet been disclosed, and modified by the magister mage Vincent Fiorelli. Although not skilled on a technological level, he has been able to apply his knowledge of witchcraft, magic, and blacksmithing in general to completely modify the cruiser, further enhancing the ship’s armor plating and installed weapons. The material “Fiorellite” has come into play for this upgrading, a special ore that straddles the line of metallic and non-metallic properties. In reality, the material is alive and ever-changing, and it could very well be said that objects created with Fiorellite grow with their wielder. Be it a weapon, a piece of armor, an ornament, or a vehicle, the object gains a sentience of its own but it will obey the desires of their owner or wielder, and they will grow accordingly depending on the combat experience they gain with each battle.

Let us rewind for a brief moment and talk about Lombardia's decks, as these are the rooms every person that boards the ship will be treading daily:

   • The Combat Information Center (CIC) – It is comprised of the ship’s bridge, the smaller Research and Tech Labs, the Armory, the Communications Room, and the main airlock. The bridge is generally manned by one or two people who are in charge of ‘driving’ the ship, so to speak. The CIC is centered around a large galaxy map, which can be projected on the floor tiles or even in midair, and which can be used to plot Lombardia's next destination.

   • The smaller Research and Tech Labs are situated behind the CIC, and they are used for analyzing small samples of materials and the like as well as figuring out their possible implementations. The person in charge of these labs is also in charge of the Central Laboratory. More information on the latter down below.

   • The Armory houses the weapons available to the crew as well as the addition of newly acquired and newly developed weapons and armor. Generally there will be a few people in charge of organizing the crew’s loadout before deployment.
   • The Communications Room is dominated by a large, round conference table where the person in charge of a previously discussed mission can hold briefings and discussions with the crew. Aside from this, it can be used by crew members to communicate with other people throughout the multiverse in real time thanks to the ship’s communications array.

   • The Engineering Deck – This deck houses Lombardia's core. It’s a large, pulsating mass of metal and flesh-like tissue which brims with raw power. Engineers housed here take care of maintaining the core as well as fixing whatever needs fixing within the inner workings of the ship. There is a trash compactor located in the Starboard Cargo Area, complete with a video surveillance monitor that aids the engineers with faulty systems and the like. The monitor, much like Lombardia, is fully sentient, often making small talk with the engineers and helping them out whenever necessary.

   • The Hangar – This is the lowest deck in the ship and where various shuttles and vehicles available for deployment are stored. Nothing much else to say about this room.

   • The Crew’s Quarters – This is where the crew spends most of their time within the ship. It includes a specific room for each crew member where they can perform their regular and daily activities, bathrooms, life support control, a mess-hall run by a chef skilled in multiversal delicacies, and the AI core. The latter is located at the rear of the medical bay, which is run by a doctor specializing in magical, technological, and standard methods of healing. Aside from these rooms, there is the Starboard Observation chamber, where the crew’s library is located, the Port Observation chamber, which includes a small entertainment center and a minibar, and the Gaming Zone, which includes computers, consoles, and various other means of entertainment. The Playstation 35 and the Xbox 9600 stand out the most amongst the consoles, while the Pentium 555 appears to be the top choice for PC gamers.

   • The Central Laboratory – This is where the bulk of the crew’s research and experimenting occurs and the newly created pieces of armor and weapons are tested. There are various protective runes and systems overlooking the process of creation, testing, researching, and experimenting which effectively capture, purify, and absorb any energy released in the event of an explosion or in the event of instability. Thanks to these systems, any member of the crew can try their hand at creating new objects, weapons, or armor, so long as it’s beneficial for their comrades and the mission at hand.


Lombardia's Armaments

The weapons and armor that Lombardia possesses are far from standard, as the mixture of technology and magic has changed most of their original aesthetics and effects.

• Runic Disruptor Torpedoes: These are powered projectiles with warheads that create random and unstable fields of energy when triggered. These fields warp space-time in a located area through the use of ‘dark energy’. Dark energy is the name given to the universal “fifth force”. Like electromagnetism or gravity, dark energy influences all matter and its effects can be seen on both cosmological and subatomic scales. The repulsive effects of dark energy are the primary reason the expansion of the multiverse is gradually accelerating. All in all, the rapid asymmetrical mass changes causes the target of the torpedoes to rip itself apart. During flight, torpedoes use a mass-increasing field which makes them too massive for enemy kinetic and psychokinetic barriers to repel. Because extra mass retards acceleration, torpedoes are easy prey for defensive weapons systems and must be launched at extremely close range. These torpedoes possess several sets of runes that nullify damage to the parent craft, meaning that they can be launched right away without the necessity of ‘cold-launching’ (releasing them before their thrusters ignite) them. These runes can also protect the torpedo from at least one attack, be it magical or physical, before fizzling out.

• Titan Cannon: The Titan Cannon is a powerful weapon specifically designed as one of the tools capable of turning the tides of a battle – or of outright eliminating the opposition in one fell swoop. It uses an electromagnetic field to shape and accelerate a stream of superheated molten metal to relativistic velocities, which then impacts its target and deals horrendous amounts of damage. The weapon’s fire appears as a bright blue beam and is strong enough to destroy a Dreadnought with one shot. Vincent has made several modifications to the original cannon of the ship, further enhancing the power of the blast. Runes etched on the barrel of the cannon add a special anti-barrier property, giving the stream the capability to outright pierce through kinetic and psychokinetic barriers amongst others. A second set of runes protect the ship and the cannon from overheating in the process of firing, allowing several consecutive shots in a relatively short span of time. Any excess energy will be received by the third set of runes around the barrel, recycling and using it up in the event of future shots.

• Good Ol’ Lasers: These standard lasers have been further enhanced by magic and the same runes capable of adding anti-barrier properties to the weapon. As with the Titan Cannon, excess energy is absorbed and used up in future streams of ether-, mana-, or regularly enhanced superheated light.


Lombardia's Defenses

• Fiorellite Armor: The armor plating is nearly unsurpassed in strength and can resist even the tremendous heat and kinetic energy of starship weapons. The original plating was already powerful enough to withstand many kinds of hardships, given its central material - carbon nanotube sheets woven with diamond Chemical Vapor Deposition which are crushed by extreme pressure fields into super-dense layers able of resisting extreme temperatures; the process also compensates for diamond’s brittleness. The Fiorellite ore added onto this armor causes the material to grow in strength with each battle the ship sees, eliminating the ever growing list of more and more weapons that could penetrate through the ship’s hull as time passes.

• Runic Cyclonic Barrier Technology (RCBT): RCBT attempts to solve the higher-end limitations of the traditional kinetic barriers. Whereas traditional kinetic barriers cannot block high-level kinetic attacks such as disruptor torpedoes because of the torpedoes’ dark energy fields which add to their mass, the RCBT violently slaps aside rather than halting incoming linear force. By rotationally firing their protective field projectors, Lombardia can create rapidly oscillating kinetic barriers instead of static ones. Shooting through the RCBT is like trying to shoot at a target inside a spinning ball. The runes added onto the module further enhance the strength of the barriers and, should the RCBT emitter be damaged, it corrects itself to become a traditional shield array enhanced by the runes. These runes also give the RCBT the capability to actually deflect magical or energy-like attacks back towards their attacker, but it is a feature with a cooldown of three minutes per reflection.

• GUARDIAN: The General Ultimate Area Defense Integration Anti-spacecraft Network consists of anti-missile and anti-fighter laser turrets on the exterior hull. These have been further enhanced from the original installment on the ship, altered with Fiorellite and with Vincent’s magecraft. Each turret can fire a network of lasers that intercepts incoming missiles and even pursue fighter and interceptor class ships. Up to ten lasers can be fired from each turret, each with homing properties that are virtually incapable of damaging the parent vessel due to the aforementioned defensive capabilities. Aside from that, the GUARDIAN lasers can also be fired at cruisers, dreadnoughts, and other ships with 100% accuracy. Since lasers move at light speed, they cannot be dodged by anything moving at subluminal speeds. Unless the beam is aimed poorly, it will always hit its target, however, GUARDIAN fire is not 100% lethal nor does it have to be. Lasers are limited by diffraction. The beam ‘spreads out’, decreasing the energy density the weapon can place on a target. Any high-powered laser is a short range weapon. GUARDIAN networks have been enhanced to remove the limitation of heat as, normally, weapons-grade lasers require a cooldown time during which heat is transferred onto sinks or radiators. As lasers fire, heat builds within them, reducing damage, range, and accuracy, however, this is null and void for the GUARDIAN.


Lombardia's Propulsion And Power Systems

• Enhanced Antiproton Thrusters: These eight large antiproton thrusters have been further enhanced to provide more than enough mobility and speed for the entire ship, with both aft and forward exhausts. Antiprotons are injected into a reaction chamber filled with hydrogen and the resulting matter-antimatter annihilation provides unmatched motive power. The exhaust of antiproton drives is measured in millions of degress Celsius, and any vessel caught behind them will melt like wax in a blowtorch. The Fiorelli’s involvement with these thrusters allows the ship to use an extremely minor quantity of fuel, compared to the original array, in a much more powerful manner. Endless magic has been applied to the extended fuel cells that the magister found in the propulsion system, quite literally giving the ship an unlimited source of fuel to burn.

• Draconic Drive Core: The DDC is powered by raw streams of ether and by a central nuclear fusion plant. Disruptive defensive technology prevents outer influences from controlling or manipulating the ether within the core. H-fuel cells can provide auxiliary power in case the main reactor is shut down. Aside from that, a secondary DDC generates mass concentrations that Lombardia “falls into”, allowing it to move without the use of heat-emitting thrusters. It also generates a powerful field around the ship that enables FTL travel. Aside from this, the two DDCs serve a secondary purpose; transformation. Lombardia possesses a module that allows it to completely change its form into a beast reminiscent of a dragon. Not only do its weapons systems become further empowered, but the ship can utilize powerful Fiorellite claws and tail to tear enemy ships apart and rend them asunder.


Lombardia's Additional Systems

• Modular Probe Bay: Probes are small crafts designed solely to recover valuable resources from planets and investigate anomalies detected on them. Up to 100 probes can be stored in the bay. Vincent has enhanced these probes so that the resources gathered are automatically transferred to a pocket space which is then accessed by Lombardia to recover resources without any major issue. Bear in mind that the pocket space is protected by multiple runes that even act against anti-magic equipment, rendering it useless, in order to protect Lombardia.

• Auric Sensors: The regular sensors for this ship used passive and active scanners, such as visual, thermographic, and radio detectors, radar, and LADAR (LAser Detection and Ranging). LADAR has a narrower field of view than radar, but ladar resolution allows images of detected objects to be assembled. Vincent, after fiddling with the equipment, has managed to install Auric Sensors to the ship. These are capable of mapping out an entire area based on the readings of aura – lifeforce – of living and non-living objects, and then classify each one with specific names and colors.

• Runic Stealth Systems: Lombardia has the capability to not only sink its heat within the hull and combining this with the refrigeration of the exterior hull allowing for it to travel undetected for hours. It has the capability to turn completely invisible when traveling through open space or even when hovering near a planet. Vincent has melded his knowledge of technology with his knowledge over magecraft to design a spell capable of being triggered and reused multiple times through the application of Endless Magic which practically causes the ship to literally absorb and refract light perfectly without leaving a glass-like pattern behind. Should this approach fail, the ship can phasewalk, becoming invisible in one realm yet visible in another.