SS Peritia

Science Ship Peritia is a civilian research vessel, originally commissioned and operated by the New Oxford University from Pluto.

One of the few ships to survive the War unscathed and with its crew intact, it was saved by the remoteness of its mission; it was performing a long term scan of the Archon Nebula, with most of the crew continuously in hibernation.

Peritia is currently one of the oldest ships in existence. It was built shortly after Britain decided it had enough of Terra and all the other people living there, engaged the gargantuan thrusters it had secretly built under the sea and flew into outer space with all of the British isles in what has been forever known as the Final Brexit.

Great Space Britain, the small nation that was created as a result, established a lot of the more remote colonies in the Solar System and beyond and invested heavily in research. New Oxford, and in turn, Peritia, was a result of one of these endeavors. GSB was of course later consumed by the Greater Commonwealth, but by then, Peritia had already been two hundreds years old, performing scans deep in Archon and unaware of going-ons in the wider galaxy.

The existence of Peritia was forgotten when New Oxford tried to use the “academic freedom” defense when faced by the armies of the Uprising, quickly becoming No Oxford. Since the Archon Nebula was of no strategic importance to either side of the conflict, the science ship remained undetected.

Peritia is of a somewhat experimental design, with a large scanner at the front and two huge electro-magnetic repulsers on the sides. These can generate a massive, directional field that can protect the ship from impacts. Unfortunately, they drain a lot of power and as a result can only be engaged for short periods of time when there is imminent danger.

Inside, the ship is spacious, providing comfortable living quarters for a crew of 35, with all the modern amenities that a bored spacer can dream of.

It carries no weapons, its only defense the repulsers and a powerful plasma engine. Peritia relies mostly on stealth to survive. Since all of its life-support systems are still fully functional, there is little need for the ship to hang around occupied space. This is probably the main reason why it has avoided capture or destruction so far.

“They say a white ship will come, carrying with it the hope of a new beginning. A ship like no other, with the smell of a thousand armpits inside, full of people in sweat pants and sneakers, a ship of light and dazzle and endless knowledge. A ship of old.”

– Jerry Sínoshe, the far-seer of the Adhoc Empire

Notes

  • This is probably one of my favorite ships so far, I am not even sure why. It started very randomly, with no clear goal in my mind, but I quite like how it turned out.
  • The build could be sturdier. 🙁 The back part especially is quite fragile.
  • The ship has a few moving part. The back “wings” can be both moved around a bit  and the middle glass section opens.

Building instructions

Peritia building instructions