Aethi Star Navy

The Aethi Star Navy, as the name suggests, is the starship navy of the Aethi Imperium.

Organization

The Aethi Star Navy is divided into 12 athliir, or legions. The First and Second Legions are strictly defensive, stationed in the core of the Imperium's territory to defend against any incoming threats, while the remaining ten are assigned to roles ranging from patrolling the outer territories or providing protection and resources in exploratory expeditions, to waging offensive war against the enemies of the Aethi Imperium.

Ranks <UNDER CONSTRUCTION>

From lowest to highest, Aethi Star Navy officer ranks are as follows:

• (Ensign)
• (Sub-lieutenant)
• (Lieutenant)
• (Senior Lieutenant)
• Arvedras, Dleni'entaari (Captain, of Second Rate)
• Arvedras, Kosi'entaari (Captain, of First Rate)
• Arvedras-e-Veithar (Captain of Squadron/Commodore)
• (Lieutenant-admiral)
• (Admiral)
• (High Admiral of the Legion)
• (High Admiral of the Star Navy)
• (Lord Admiral): Honorary rank reserved for the Emperor.

Ships

The following is a list of all known Aethi Star Navy vessels.

Fighters

The smallest common classification of ships, Aethi star fighters are compact, maneuverable ships designed to counter similarly-sized enemy ships and strike at weak points in larger hostile vessels.

• Torok-Kras-class Fighter:

Length: 31 meters

Armament: Dual Explosive Cannons, Point Defense Turrets

Status: Decommissioned, undergoing consideration for refit.

The Torok-Kras-class, meaning "Storm-beast," was a compact fighter with cannons capable of piercing armor and shredding enemy systems. However, as technology marched on, the rather restrictive configuration of the Torok-Kras resulted in it being unable to be effectively refitted for its role. Several slightly larger designs have been considered, and a newer Aethi fighter model will begin production in the near future.

• Taalasar-class Fighter:

Length: 75 meters

Armament: Rapid beam array, Piercing warhead launchers, nen'Kiel II point defense grid

Status: Initial field testing

Some would argue that the 75-meter-long, 55-meter-wide Taalasar-class craft should be designated as something other than a fighter. However, being a highly maneuverable, single-man (or automated) craft designed for combat against other small craft and precision strikes on larger targets, the label remains accurate.

The Taalasar is the bigger, stronger, and faster successor to the Torok-Kras. Among its improvements are better point defense systems, upgraded propulsion systems, more powerful armaments, and better hangar integration features. Being designed for maneuverability, the Taalasar's design could not include dense stabilized onium plating, and so relies on shields and agility alone to defend against energy and projectile weaponry.

Corvettes

While larger than fighters, corvettes are also typically designed for maneuverability. They are able to outmaneuver larger ships, and can be a considerable threat in large groups. Most Aethi corvettes are designed with artificial intelligence capability integrated into them, allowing the deployment of large swarms with no risk of casualties.

• Kalen-Miris-class Corvette:

Length: 131 meters

Armament: Semi-ionic sustained beam arrays, spinal pulse-beam lance, long-range guided torpedoes

Status: Decommissioned

The Kalen-Miris-class, meaning "Stone-lance" in Aethi, was intended to be a quick and maneuverable little ship that had considerable firepower for its size, suited for system patrol and escort duties. However, low levels of automation, various engineering issues, and a restrictively slim profile (leaving insufficient space for internal systems, facilities, and equipment) meant that the ship could never quite fit its intended roles. It has since been replaced by the more advanced, powerful and resilient Arveth-class.

• Arveth-class Corvette:

Length: 109m

Armament & Equipment: [Classified]

Status: Active

The Arveth-class Corvette was commissioned to replace its underperforming and severely outdated predecessor, the Kalen-Miris-class. It sports a range of state-of-the-art weaponry as well as upgraded defenses. The Arveth's hull has a slight resemblance to a manta ray.

• Kelith-class Corvette:

Length: Unknown

Armament: Tetryon Beams, Long-range Missiles, two light beam turrets

Other Equipment: Turbocharged gravitic impulse engines, siege shielding

Status: Active

The Kelith-class Corvette is a tough but quick little vessel, developed using various adapted technologies pioneered on other vessels. It borrows field projection tech originally designed for the much larger Avar-Kiaan-class Cruiser, as well as a similar turbo engine setup to the Kaier-Verien light commercial mining vessel.

Frigates

Larger than corvettes, frigates pack heavier firepower, and sometimes heavier armor, at the cost of some maneuverability. They are still considered to be light vessels, however, and can typically fly circles around lumbering cruisers and battleships.

• Eser-Kalan-class Frigate:

Length: 202 meters

Armaments:

Standard:

Four heavy hybrid orb turrets, two armor-piercing dual missile launchers, ion beam emitter, plasmic tetryon beam arrays

Advanced:

Four heavy hybrid orb turrets, pulsed shield-overloading ion stream emitters, ionic beam array, rapid-fire pulse warheads

Other equipment: Heavy siege shielding, anti-point-defense flare launcher

Status: Initial Field Testing

The Eser-Kalan-class Frigate was once one of the most advanced ships in its fleet, purpose-built to house the newest and greatest of Aethi technology and designed to replace the practically-ancient Arai-Torok-class battlecraft which once constituted the greater part of the Imperial fleet. However, its unusual construction made it rather fragile in combat and made maintenance and refitting complicated and labor-intensive. The many original Eser-Kalan hulls have been transformed using a state-of-the-art hull reconstitution method, in a major refit project known as "Project Elii'aena," or "Project Sunbeam."

This new refit transforms the originally ineffective hulls into powerful flying weapons. The frigates are now armed with four hybrid heavy orb turrets, four point defense turrets, two beam systems, and two dual-missile launchers. Some of the newly reborn Eser-Kalan-class vessels were further refitted with a highly advanced explosives-based weapon loadout, several ion-based weapons for shield disruption, and a new, experimental form of siege shielding technology.

• Sorek-Thalian-class Frigate:

Length: 178 meters

Armaments:

Rapid missile launchers

Other equipment:

Sequenced anti-countermeasure flare system, reinforced armor, internal bulkheads

Status: Active service

The Sorek-Thalian (meaning "Fire-spear" in Aethi) is a long-ranged missile combat frigate. Sorek-Thalian-class starships are capable of firing large numbers of devastating guided warheads while remaining out of range of most particle beam and projectile weaponry. While the large energy signatures of the ship's missiles would normally present a prime target for missile countermeasures, the Sorek-Thalian is equipped with a large store of light, cheap flares which can create essentially identical energy signatures and confuse missile defense grids' targeting systems.

The Sorek-Thalian-class has slightly weaker shielding than most Aethi vessels, as the large missile holds and firing systems take up a large amount of space that would normally be given to shield generators and distributor grids, but the vessel's angled hull, reinforced outer plating, and internal bulkheads are adequate to diffuse incoming energy and projectile attacks, and an advanced kinetic missile defense grid guards the frigate against anyone seeking to respond to the Sorek-Thalian's devastating missile assaults with their own guided missiles.

• Aieth-Ilyaana-class Frigate

Intermediate Vessels

The designation "elyevaari'kadaan", or "intermediate vessel", is given to ships too large to be considered frigates, but too small or lightly equipped to refer to as cruisers. Aethi intermediate vessels tend to be specialized craft, built around bulky hardware such as high-power disruptive electronic warfare systems or special weapons.

• Ajir-class Strike Ship:

Length: 318 meters

Armaments:

Embedded point defense system, 10 nen'Kiel-type point defense turrets, 4 heavy hybrid orb turrets, 4 light orb turrets, spinal charged particle lance, rapid-fire ion cannons, piercing torpedoes

Other Equipment:

Internal Bulkheads, low-level ionized shield emitters, compact hyperluminal drive

The Ajir-class Heavy Destroyer is a joint project between Aethi Star Navy Engineering, Aeruun Applied Gravitics, and Sakaalra Driveyards. With its large spinal particle lance weapon, the Ajir is a starship largely dedicated to damaging and disabling shielding and critical systems on large enemy vessels and stations.

Cruisers

In many space forces, including the Aethi Star Navy, cruisers are the backbone of the fleet. Typically measuring between 350 and 450 meters in length, Aethi cruisers often fill the role of fleet command ship, working as a central command center for great ensembles of smaller craft.

• Avar-Kiaan-class Cruiser:

Length: 400 meters

Armaments:

Large nen'Kiel II point defense turret grid, ionized pulse beam array, kinetic cutting beams, plasma pulsewave emission system, quantum torpedo launchers, 4 grav-stabilized orb turrets.

Other equipment:

High-powered long-range scanners, forward Siege Shielding, energized hull plating, Turboshuttle docking bay, large shuttle hangar with 4 transport pod bays, hyperluminal synchronous warp drive

Status: Active

The Avar-Kiaan-class Cruiser is the signature vessel of the Aethi fleet, sporting a large offensive weapons suite along with advanced technologies such as frontal siege shielding, energized armor plating, and synchronous warp drive. The Avar-Kiaan's extensive internal facilities support scientific, humanitarian, and diplomatic missions as well as extended wartime deployments.

All Avar-Kiaan-class Cruiser hulls in service recently underwent a similar reconstitution and overhaul process to the Eser-Kalan's Project Elii-Aena. This overhaul allowed Aethi Star Navy engineers to integrate new technologies into the cruisers, such as synchronous hyperluminal drive and far more effective weapons systems. However, due to internal space constraints and power grid issues, the tri-mode gravitic manipulation beam system integrated into the original Avar-Kiaan forward deflectors was removed, along with certain other peripheral features.

The name Avar-Kiaan means "star-tide" in the Aethi Language.

• Avar-Sorek-class Cruiser
• Avar-Lieth-class Cruiser

Battlecruisers

• Tlaiath-Varias-class Battlecruiser

Battleships

• Vaiye-Saerias-class Battleship

Technology and Construction

Construction

Most Aethi starship hulls are not constructed conventionally using fabricated armor plates. Instead, they are "grown" using nanites guided by immensely powerful magnetic fields, which assemble the hulls as a single piece from a brown composite material known as Ariskai, named after the unbreakable stone ariskiir in ancient Avrai mythology and the Aethi word for "material," laskai. Then, interior modules and systems are installed and plates of black stabilized onium are installed within the outer hull and over the construction access ports for reinforcement purposes.

Technology

Propulsion

Aethi Star Navy starships use a type of gravitational asymmetry drive for primary propulsion, both at sublight and superluminal speeds. However, maintaining superluminal travel using gravitational drive required an immense amount of energy, resulting in the development and integration of 'hyperluminal' subspace warp engines for quicker FTL travel. High-density particle thrusters are used for fine maneuvering and smaller velocity changes.

Weaponry

The Aethi fleet typically utilizes particle beam weapons and antimatter missiles.

Defenses

Aethi starships feature a number of active defenses, including energy shields and hull-reinforcing energy fields. Many also have numerous small turrets designed specifically to destroy incoming missiles and projectiles.

Additionally, most Aethi ships have hulls internally reinforced with "stabilized onium," a dense and extremely strong substance created from normally-unstable quantum particles forced into a stable, solid state.