Caduceus

Caduceus - (Alpha)
Size (metres, W×H×L)	73.6 x 31.4 x 127
Cargo capacity	25 T
Cargo bay extension	15 T
Maximum speed	0.4 LM
Manoeuvrability	Roll: 1.8 Pitch: 0.8
Energy banks	8
Energy recharge rate	Very Good (5.8)
Gun mounts	Front, Aft 6 broadside-mounted low-yield Plasma Cannons
Missile slots	8
Shield boosters available	Yes
Military shields available	Yes
Hyperspace capable	Yes
OXP or standard	OXP
Available to player	Yes
Base price	1200000

Overview

"Piss one of those things off, the last thing you're going to see is a sea of plasma green" Sector Chief, besieged Navy Sector Station 4-994.

There are many rare things in the 8 galaxies, the natural phenomena and then the sentient made from monuments to orbital grave yards. There are one or two oddities that fall into both categories, the Caduceus being one of them.

It is believed (according to several well read yet unofficial dossiers) that the Caduceus was the brain child of Udian Foraga Shulth, the youngest (and arguably most talented) son of the bio-maniac Mirias Shulth. Whilst several thousand books, personal testimonies, holo-recordings and overly sentimental documentaries have been penned as to the exploits of his father. Little is known about the formative years of Udian (most official records having been lost in the first great shard bio-purge). He does surface as a young adult embroiled in the new genesis war as something of an unlikely hero. Saving several sub-core trading systems from the gene-menace through the unlikely unification of celltec and nano-mechanics.

One of the few quotes directly attributable to Udian is also probably the most telling: "I don't build ships, I birth them. They are my children and like any good father I watch over them." Indeed most traders, pirates (who survive) or military personnel who happen to see a Caduceus, concur that there is something distinctly biological about its construction. They tend to be encountered cross station side of industrial planets, dropping in and out of the atmosphere delivering god knows what, to god knows where, for god knows who.

Few cast iron facts are known about these ships capabilities outside military circles, although this hasn't stopped the intergalactic rumor mill from churning, fueled by chance encounters and the odd station landing. Whilst sifting through this mass of conjecture, has been likened to digging through boobian bug guts looking for a nega-mass gem stone, certain "facts" appear more widely independently replicated and therefore believable.

Notable features

It would appear that these ships tend to be above average in most respects, lower top end in most categories. A speed 1 shy of half light, quickish turning circles, pitch and yaw, good shields and an apparent ability (as reported by station engineers) to successfully utilize a patch work quilt of non standard upgrades. More disturbingly, eye witnesses have reported the ship being capable of absorbing monstrous amounts of damage whilst retaining much of it's offensive fire power. Leading some ship designers to speculate that there maybe one or two specialist pieces of repair equipment that this bio-machine is utilising to 'heal' itself in flight.

The ship also appears to have some form of rotating thrust directors mounted over its two main engines. How these features adds to the ships performance, handling or otherwise improve the ship is as yet unknown.

So far 10 separate alpha class ships have been documented;

Arc Of Radiance

Apex Of Reason

Shard Of Destiny

Point Of Action (destroyed)

Edge Of Infinity

Circle Of Time

Crucible Of Destruction

Vortex Of Hate

Annulus Of Deceit

Digon Of Truth

Leaked military records recently reported at least one Caduceus has been confirmed destroyed (see above). This event occurred several cycles ago during a fierce Thargoid insurgency. It appears that the battle not only engaged the military, but also many reservists and privateers who were caught in the cross fire. Details are sketchy (the documents are heavily censored) but the battle appears to have taken place some where along the Lower Insurgency on the outer rim of galaxy 4 (probably MAINDICE or LEARVEXE given the speed of military intervention from GEONERBE). The ship in question seems to have purposefully manoeuvred in between several invading warships then proceeded to deliver a barrage of devastating broadsides, to both ships simultaneously. A tactic repeated several times until it was eventually overwhelmed by robot fighters. Although not pivotal to the subsequent rout of the invading fleet, the Caduceus' actions "significantly influenced the tempo of the battle" (Vice Admiral Mineemer).

Controversy

The real eye opener for the military was the subsequent annihilation of the remaining Thargoid ships involved in the conflict 5 days later, and the complete sterilization of all Thargoid held worlds within a 15 light year radius of the fleet. This count included two heavily defended system hatcheries.

Dispatches from Naval HQ indicates it is involved in "sporadic but ongoing negotiations" with the Shulth family regarding the acquisition of hyper-biomechancial ship building technology and any other advanced tech which may help secure victory in the on-going war. Indeed some maintain that said negotiations resulted the new Kirin military transport and lead directly to the TIBECEA incident which cost the lives of over seven hundred and fifty civilian pilots and crews. A planet side memorial for the fallen at TIBECEA, is currently under construction at the crash site of the Tabecean space station.

More recently,The Order of the Black Monks of St. Herod have been unavailable for comment regarding the loss of several of their dreaded Holy Avenger Mark II Tri-Laser Gunships or Black Monk Gunships, as they are more commonly known, apparently at the hands of one or more Caduceus pilots.

This also coincides with a reported alteration to the basic ships shape.

Wether this is due to a pan-galactic refit or some sort of spontaneous bio-mechanical "evolution" is as yet unknown. It is extremely rare to find one of these ships not in the hands of a Shulth or one of their associates. Still these ships occasionally appear for sale, always stripped down and curiously enough never in the hands of pirates.

Given the multi-generational reputation of its pilots and masters, the mere reporting of a Caduceus in system has been known to empty orbit stations soft-bars of pirate informants, hackers and one shot cargo ejectors. Oh and if you see a ship bay on station that appears to be empty but the dock manifest indicates it's paid for three times over, best not try and park in it eh?

Caduceus Omega

Rumor has it that there is an overclass ship floating around some where keeping a low profile. Known in navy circles as the Omega variation, its existance is little more than mere speculation, based on the mathematical impossibility of a group of standard Caduceuses causing the kind of catastrophic system damage inflicted during the Thargon insurgency.

Based on scientific samples brought back from the affected worlds, it would seem some sort of hyperpowered gravitationally constrained plasma weapon was used. Top brass christened it "The Sun-gun" and have added it to the list of things they wish to bring up with a Shulth next time they captur.. errrrrr... meet one.

So far only four Omega class ships have ever been identified:

Hammer Of Sorrow

Persistence Of Memory

Sword of Fire

Sun Gun

Credits

Modelled, textured & hosted by ClymAngus

This OXP would not have been possible without the support of:

Wyvern : Coding consultation, adoption and improvement.

another_commander: Shader code review and fixing

Eric Walch: Coding tips, cheats and work rounds.

Ahruman: For his vertex shader code

Griff: For his fragment shader code

Thargoid: For hosting above and beyond the call of duty.

Download

Thanks to Thargoid for hosting this Oxp during some unfortunate ISP issues.

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