A recent design, the sealship is unique to Twilitespace. As of yet, only a dozen or so of these craft have been built, but because of the great success of the design, at least a dozen more are slated to be constructed. All this has made the minor city of Greywolf very rich, and will likely continue to bring it wealth.
The basic design of the sealship is not too dissimilar than a hammership. However, it is much smaller than a hammership, making it easier to operate and cheaper to maintain. It requires only a skeleton crew to fly, making it ideal for long voyages.
The sealship has three decks and a forecastle. The "brains" of the ship, the bridge, is located within the forecastle. Two large windows, the "eyes" of the sealship, provide the bridge with an excellent view of wildspace to the port and starboard. Directly above the bride is the medium ballista in a protective turret. Ammunition is stored inside the turret, granting easy access to weapons crew during a fight. Behind the bridge is the captains quarters & the chart room, both located within the forecastle. At the aft of the ship is the turreted catapult which can easily be swung to face an enemy from almost any direction.
Below the top deck is the main deck, which contains many officer and crew quarters, in addition to the main cargo hold. The mess hall and galley are also located on this deck, between the crew quarters and the officer quarters. Below the main deck is the cargo deck. This, the lowest deck, contain the quarters of the lowest ranking officers, more crew quarters, and a second cargo hold. This secondary cargo hold is used for the equipment and spare parts to keep the ship running.
With a few sails and a simple pulley system, the sealship can easily be flown with eight crewmen, including the captain and spelljammer. A mere six men are needed to operate the sails for course corrections and combat maneuvers. Five more crewmen are needed to man the weapons and keep them firing at full efficiently. Typically, sealships will carry a total of 18 crewmen, keeping the extra crewmen on board as replacements if other crewmen fall in battle.
The helm is located in the bridge, where the helmsman and two guards are found. The captain commands from the forecastle, where he can get a clear view of wildspace. A voice tube carries his orders to the helmsman below. The first officer is in charge of the aft catapult, and is always ready to take charge if something happens to the captain.
Trading: The majority of sealships are used for trading purposes. While the sealship is only slightly bigger than a standard tradesmen, the sealship is far more maneuverable and combat worthy than a tradesmen, thus becoming a popular trader. The merchants of Greywolf prefer it over a tradesman as much a matter of "national pride" as for its improvements. Virtually all trading class sealships are part of the Five Stars trading company, and this ship has become its trademark.
Military: A single sealship has been sold to Elvish Fleet of Twilitespace, who are currently testing the craft out as a possible light escort and/or supply ship. If the design works out, they intend to order a dozen craft to fulfill such roles.
Greywolf itself has two sealships on military duty, and plans to expand its fleet to more than a half-dozen battle-ready sealships. One of the sealships is always on patrol duty around the moons of Artimis, while the other is docked at Greywolf. In the future, it is likely that these ships will travel in pairs or even packs of three.
A Greywolf military ship is almost identical to a trading ship, but has some minor changes. Military sealships always carry full crews, with half of the men onboard being marines. Two more medium ballista are added, one firing portside, the other firing starboard. The hull is thicker than normal, dropping the AR of the ship by one while reducing the cargo hold to a mere 12 tons. Such ships only carry supplies; trade goods are never carried on these ships.
Exploration: A couple of sealships have been sent out on exploration missions to other spheres. These missions are aimed at finding new markets for the goods and services offered by the Five Stars trading company. Such ships are equipped with large quantities of supplies to allow for long voyages.
There are currently too few sealships available for any major different configurations to arise. This will likely change as more ships become available to the general public.
