SS Champ
| SS Champ AKA SS Shuroyoku | |
 Is it safe? | |
| Spacecraft Characteristics | |
|---|---|
| Base Hull | Custom: 6m diameter cylinder, 20m long, 'cigar shape' |
| Drive Type | Anti-gravity (Speed Drive) |
| Drive Rating | Max velocity 0.05c |
| Owner | Brains |
| Faction | 'Scure |
| Launched | Before Spring, 2008 |
| Purpose | Work Boat, Personal Transport |
| Primary Crew | usually Uran, occasionally Brains |
| Operational Status | Active |
Created by Ace Dreamer.
The "SS Champ" (more properly the Shuroyoku) was the second vehicle Brains built. Again, seeing as he planned to use it in the British countryside, and fly in the UKs highly restricted air space he made it effectively invisible to sight and radar, and equipped it with passive sensors to avoid collisions. He had settled into the idea of obscurity as a personal theme.
Unlike many Fen vehicles this was built from scratch, which Brains as an engineer thought himself quite capable of. The basic material was mylar, polyester sheet, waved into layers of the ultra-materials dureum, lux and relux, so they become nearly indestructible. He built it at night, in at clay pit, within a mylar dome. Then spent months outfitting it.
Initially just called the Work Boat, it was named the SS Champ by Uran, who thought the fancy Japanese name Brains had devised was stupid. The Champ was the second stage in Brains planned building of their Lunar home, and was the means to carry the home-building equipment to the Moon.
The basic invisibility comes from meta materials, with negative refractive indexes, bending light and radar around them. Then the equivalent of super carbon black, absorbing all wavelengths. Layered on this is an image generation system, which can produce a holographic image in light and sound around the vehicle; this can also absorb light and provide a moderate level of electrical power.
The Champ has no AI and started with minimal control systems; its navigation is 'point and fly'. Its design was inspired by EE 'Doc' Smith's Lensman, and by the works of John W. Campbell; indestructible ships that lacked such things as computer controls.
There is no obvious engine, no obvious fuel, no source for the life support or the protective force fields. In fact they are there, painstakingly layered as patterns and circuitry into the inner walls, almost bottomless power storage accumulators, MEMs 'gyroscopes' for gravitic flight, superconducting ribbons, all protected by further layers of ultra-materials. Brains prototyped all the designs, and where necessary miniaturised them, then tested them rigorously, before starting building.
There is massive redundancy in the Champ systems. In addition to the nested force screens and image projector there is a solar conversion field which can convert solar energy into electricity, over a radius of miles. There is also a tractor-presser system to help in building and excavation work.
Seeing as this is Brains home-away-from-home he has it outfitted with a workshop and living quarters. He effectively ended up living and working here after Brainless nudged him out of his English cottage home, while he was finishing the Champ, and then building their Lunar home. There is room in the hold for the SS Gee Gee.
The Champ is 71hex external, over 60hex internal (Hero System vehicle rules; a hex = 2mx2mx2m).
Known Vehicle Quirks
- It is possible to loose the Champ if you leave it somewhere invisible, unless you are particularly careful.
- If parked somewhere invisible, someone will almost invariably try and park in the same place.
- If the vehicle is cos-playing, say as 'War Rocket Ajax' (Flash Gordon), people wont believe it isn't the real thing.
- Performs best if "Ghost Riders In The Sky" is playing quietly, but is usable without this.
- Needs to get rid of absorbed energy, somehow, such as by a directed infrared burst.
Trivia
Shuroyoku means 'chief object' or 'main force'.
