HOME | DD

Description
Flagship of the Imperial Navy.

Beam length: 825 feet
Full sparred length: 300 feet
Crew: 757 total (65 officers, 412 gunners, 280 sailors)
Carried Craft: 2 pinnaces, 12 launches, 30 escape pods
Armament: 176 moveable light pulse cannons, 44 regular pulse cannons, 224 heavy pulse cannons, 4 super-heavy pulse cannons, 1 gravitic cannon

The Gladius Russus is the latest flagship of the United Empire of Earth, and represents the ultimate development in Imperial Naval technology. Personally commanded by Grand Admiral Tréan Maeglan herself, the ship is equipped with a level of armament that is absolutely unmatched anywhere in the Empire. It's distinctly shaped crimson sails and titanic size make it instantly recognizable, and any doubts as to the ship's identity are quickly squashed by the sight of its distinctive figurehead--the magically preserved one-eyed skull of a nightmarish astral dreadnaught, one of the most lethal lifeforms in space. The skull also contains concealed within its jaws a weapon that makes the Gladius Russus nigh unbeatable in almost any battle: the gravitic cannon.

A development of Bluestone Technologies special military sciences division, the gravitic cannon fires a pulse of concentrated gravitons suspended in a field of arcane force. The impact of the blast alone is enough to shred most smaller ships, but not even the largest vessels can withstand its final effects. Upon impact, the field of arcane force expands and multiplies the effects of the weapon's gravity field. After a sudden spherical burst of energy, the field implodes to create a short-lived micro-singularity which can instantly crush and consume a quarter-mile asteroid, leaving nothing but dust and scattered debris no larger than the size of a smallish jar of jam.

(This was hand-drawn in pencil on graph paper, then scanned and dropped on a parchment background. For more on the Grand Admiral, check out =temiel 's gallery)

Description
Flagship of the Imperial Navy.

Beam length: 825 feet
Full sparred length: 300 feet
Crew: 757 total (65 officers, 412 gunners, 280 sailors)
Carried Craft: 2 pinnaces, 12 launches, 30 escape pods
Armament: 176 moveable light pulse cannons, 44 regular pulse cannons, 224 heavy pulse cannons, 4 super-heavy pulse cannons, 1 gravitic cannon

The Gladius Russus is the latest flagship of the United Empire of Earth, and represents the ultimate development in Imperial Naval technology. Personally commanded by Grand Admiral Tréan Maeglan herself, the ship is equipped with a level of armament that is absolutely unmatched anywhere in the Empire. It's distinctly shaped crimson sails and titanic size make it instantly recognizable, and any doubts as to the ship's identity are quickly squashed by the sight of its distinctive figurehead--the magically preserved one-eyed skull of a nightmarish astral dreadnaught, one of the most lethal lifeforms in space. The skull also contains concealed within its jaws a weapon that makes the Gladius Russus nigh unbeatable in almost any battle: the gravitic cannon.

A development of Bluestone Technologies special military sciences division, the gravitic cannon fires a pulse of concentrated gravitons suspended in a field of arcane force. The impact of the blast alone is enough to shred most smaller ships, but not even the largest vessels can withstand its final effects. Upon impact, the field of arcane force expands and multiplies the effects of the weapon's gravity field. After a sudden spherical burst of energy, the field implodes to create a short-lived micro-singularity which can instantly crush and consume a quarter-mile asteroid, leaving nothing but dust and scattered debris no larger than the size of a smallish jar of jam.

(This was hand-drawn in pencil on graph paper, then scanned and dropped on a parchment background. For more on the Grand Admiral, check out =temiel 's gallery)