Spatium Sperma - World Ships by Uros < Submission | Inkbunny, the Furry Art Community

Keywords short 4009, sci fi 804, lore 732, snippet 19, mothership 4, world sized ship 1, artificial world 1, dimension jumper 1

World Ships

World Ships were the last hope of humanity, now they are the few places with any degree of safety inside the `Predator'. While most of them have been long consumed and assimilated (the rest never being finished in the first place), these massive, planet sized structures are, for lack of a better world, `home' for what is left of humanity.

Designed to hold billions of people on board in most cases, these ships were the only ones designed to have Jump Drives capable of punching through dimensions to escape the Milky Way. As the Jump Drive technology must be fine tuned to every species that uses them, or group of species, which takes incredible effort, detecting a Jump signature of an unknown drive is nearly impossible. However, thanks to the Betrayers all but cutting their nose to spite their face and allowing themselves to be taken by the `Predator', the Jump Drives of humanity became known, and their plan to immolate after being captured was thwarted.

Thus now the World Ships remain, but subservient to the `Predator'.

There were many conceptualized models of World Ships; their sizes allowed for many ideas and possibilities after all. But it was ironic how these two things became massive drains in almost every test build. The titanic size of the ships and the many possibilities went from assets to literal hazards: Structural failures aplenty, excess complexity and empty spaces that sucked every bit of efficiency and made the World Ships end up as floating chunks of metal... There were so many complications that it became absurd.

Gravity had to be maintained, energy had to be stable and structural integrity had to be perfect or everything would either crumble, explode, implode, or just stop working altogether. In the best case scenario of a failure, it would kill billions while erasing all connection to the Cloning Centers across the fleet, so an extensive number of experiments and prototypes ended up not making the cut.

By the time the World Ships were being manufactured en masse, roughly half a dozen designs had been confirmed to be as close to `perfect' as they could be. They weren't the only ones, but the original number was the most widespread selection of variants. To top it off? These designs were named by the team that finished them, and considering they were of Greek descent and nerds, all of the World Ship variants took on Greek God names. All of them became very well known all over the Milky Way before everything went down.

It would be a small fib to say that these ships being named this way didn't create some friction. The sacrifice of humanity's legacy had been meant as an equal partnership, and it had been until the creation of the World Ships.

Without a standard blueprint and working prototypes, there had been no naming nomenclature or rules. This may sound superficial and, admittedly, petty, but trying to keep society without friction is impossible, and even a single year without a problem would only boil down to someone finding a reason to fight for whatever reason, even if it was short lived.

Luckily for everyone involved, the fact that these prototypes seemed to be viable made it possible for many people to try their own, and soon hundreds of variations, with many people trying to tie cultural roots that had been, supposedly, expunged. It was a damn mess, but in the end humanity got what they needed, and while there are a huge number of variations and designs that had certain preferences or workarounds for many things, the ones to remain most known were the `Greek Gods'.

Here you have a list of those ships and their functions, as well as how they are referred as, at least by those born inside the `Predator', after they were absorbed, as well as their `function' as far as the `Predator' is concerned with them.

World Ship Class Eros

Human Designation:

Civilian Class. All Purpose Hull.

Spatium Sperma Designation:

Breeding/Cradle Ship.

`Predator' View:

Womb Ship.

The greatest achievement of its time and the first design to be both structurally sound and technologically advanced enough to support the billions meant to live within, the Eros Class was the first of its line to complete production and offer all that was asked of it. However, despite its advancements and marvelous capabilities, this ship was a jack of all trades and master of none when compared to the real diversity and specialized ships that were designed down the line. Despite the clear obsolete design once World Ships became more widespread thanks to this venerable construction, the Eros Class was still viewed as perfectly serviceable, extremely cheap (as far as world sized ships can be anyway) and easy to maintain, making it a mainstay.

Its main design, despite being called a `jack of all trades', had to do with population and population control. The Eros Class has the most numerous Cloning Centers of all ships, barring medical ones, and a very balanced number of facilities for food production, waste processing, water purification and above average living conditions within its many designated city spaces. As such the Eros W.S is qualified as a `civilian' class World Ship with mid-high class of living compared to others while also having decent functions when it comes to manufacturing goods, both simple and advanced.

Fit for populations rounding up to ten billion souls among all decks, the Eros Class had what could be considered a `low' level of manpower capacity when compared to other `City' or `Civilian' class World Ships. Despite this the ten billion souls inside its metallic hull, the ergonomic design ensured spacious living, easy to reach workspaces and a lack of other designs' convoluted clutter to favor efficiency above livability. Considering the dire situation of the Milky Way during the design process of many of these World Ships, the Eros Class could be considered a `luxury' version of many of the civilian hulls, although they pale in comparison with the research ship from the same designers.

Capable of doing nearly any other job beyond food production at a satisfactory, but otherwise `slow' pace when compared to other World Ships, the Eros Class' infrastructure is self sufficient, but barely capable of servicing other World Ships and only able to maintain a very small group of Escort Ships. Despite this lack of features it would have been perfectly capable of mining, processing and even seeding other planets and sectors of the galaxy it had landed on, had humanity escaped the `Predator'. The large volume of Eros Class made would have more than made up for its `low output', making it the most successful World Ship, if only in quantity and human preference alone.

Within Spatium Sperma the Eros Class W.S is considered among the `Breeding' or `Cradle' ships, generally designated as `Wombs' by the `Predator'. While the `Predator's' interest in humanity is great, the ships designed to escape its clutches are... rudimentary, in its view. For the gigantic monster they are all varying degrees of mundane, and the Eros Class is, thanks to it being the first design to ever be functional, akin to a monkey smashing stones together and achieving fire while being lucky enough not to get burned. Despite its simplicity however, the `Predator' knows of its use and finds it perfect for its personal classification as one of the many ships fit for its new assimilated species' reproduction.

ADENDUM:

The Eros Class World Ship is also the one to house Spatium Sperma's main story. Others may be shown, but this is the quintessential World Ship for all intents and purposes.

World Ship Class Hephaestus

Human Designation:

Civilian Class. Manufacturing Hull.

Spatium Sperma Designation:

Processing/Decomposer.

`Predator' View:

Digester Ship.

One of the two designs to come after the Eros Class and the one that paved the grounds for much more complex Manufacturing World Ships, the Hephaestus is a refurbished Eros hull that subtracts greatly from living facilities to make way for processing plants and various types of purifiers and specialized hangars for mining barges and other such equipment. These World Ships were hastily constructed in hopes to produce a serviceable design that could supply not only a much smaller population within, but a larger Escort Ship fleet or, in a pinch, another World Ship with equipment, spares and materials.

In spite of its early design, the Hephaestus easily accommodates for its intended task, being able to not only service a relatively large Escort Fleet but also partially provide for most models of World Ship. Inefficient in resource extraction and processing when compared to models that came long after this one was made, it is a much more friendly model for a large population of roughly four billion souls without becoming as oppressive as much more advanced models. In exchange the Hephaestus can make almost everything but the most advanced components that would be required to construct further World Ships, instead being much more capable of producing handheld equipment and tools as well as most light and medium weaponry for void craft.

The lower capabilities and population size are not for mismanagement of the inner space, however. Purposeful or not, the Ephaestus class is smaller than the Eros and most of the creators' other designs, made as a `compact' World Ship that would offer great returns for a much lower investment in its design. For this purpose the Ephaestus excels at what it does and offers, but it is this size reduction that makes it impossible for the World Ship to produce the materials and parts required for further World Ship creation, while at the same time making it so that everything within is more compact and closer in connection than other designs.

Slightly dependent on other models with better food production and that can produce all the amenities its citizens may need, the Hephaestus is a relatively comfortable model for a working population, but noticeably more cramped than the original Eros design. It is incredibly capable, useful and supremely sturdy thanks to the compact and robust design, which would have breed generations of craftsmen, miners and resilient people had humanity escaped. As it stands these ships are great havens and incredibly common thanks to the comparatively cheap process to create them.

As far as the `Predator' is concerned, these plentiful ships are perfect as `Processing' and `Decomposing' ships that can easily work with all the materials it needs to digest, thus labeling them as nothing more than `Digesters', as there are much more complex and effective ships to work as anything it would fully consider a `Stomach' or more complex system. They are useful, slightly more complex than the Eros, but also lack much space to work with, making the `Predator' scoff at these creations, only seeing their use when it comes to their number and the fact that, as far as it is concerned, it acquired all of them for `free'.

World Ship Class Athenea

Human Designation:

Civilian Class. Basic Research Hull. Luxury Research Barge.

Spatium Sperma Designation:

Thinkerer.

`Predator' View:

Minor Brain Ship.

The second of the two designs to come after the Eros was finished. The Athenea Class was designed, with a similar size to the Eros, when compared with the smaller Ephaestus class, generally designed to be larger not out of necessity, but because the creators of this design wanted a more luxurious World Ship for fellow researchers. This design choice makes the Athenea a more frivolous and less efficient design in comparison, but it also revealed a much more efficient cooling procedure for ships designed with similar functions to the Athenea.

Scientific ships are filled with water almost everywhere, creating a partially oceanic world. The Athenea spearheaded this design by creating large pockets of water, almost similar to oceans and waterways to connect them all. Many of the research centers and even living hubs under a much thicker outer hull are covered in super dense glass that allows for a partial view of the `oceans' outside. These waterways and large oceans have a temperature regulated by the constantly functioning super computers and research labs, creating a stable ecosystem that works by creating foodstuff for the human population from waterbound farms and free range fish farms while also offering many species a more or less `natural' way of life.

Beautiful, relaxing and usually inspiring, the Athenea's insides makes for a perfect world for many to live. This World Ship Class is, however, heavily dependent on outside sources for almost everything: The Athenea lacks manufacturing beyond the most basic features and their food production, unless you wish to partially feed yourself with nutrient paste, is below basic self sufficiency. On top of this the Athenea class has one of the lowest number of Cloning Centers of all the original models, which is paired with its low population cap of roughly two billion souls.

With so much of its mass composed of water, sand, rock and ample space for its marine biodiversity, the Athenea is a sight for the eyes and minds where many experiments can take place. However, as an original design? It is inferior to many future models by far, offering mostly a luxurious `resort' instead of the utilitarian and easy to make homes that humanity required during this ship's creation. However it proved itself truly capable of doing its job and while not directly contributing to humanity's immediate output, the Athenea Class was seen as a forward creation that would prove its worth after humanity escaped the `Predator'.

Ironically, the `Predator' also likes this design. The mostly water bound titanic sphere had so many creatures it could toy with and liquid regions to use for its own purposes that it had no problem labeling them as `Thinkerers', basically working as secondary or `minor' brains for the creature. Simple as it could be considered for a beast of its size and age, the Athenea was perfect for the `Predator's' desired purposes, and its rarity (as this design wasn't as popular as many of the originals) made them slightly more valuable to the gargantuan being.

World Ship Class Ares

Human Designation:

Military Class. Barracks Ship.

Spatium Sperma Designation:

Musterfield.

`Predator' View:

Marrow Ship.

A response to the Athenea Class being poorly received despite its efficiency. While the Athenea Class was indeed functional and brought innovation, it was also excessive in most people's eyes and offered poor returns when compared to other designs made for research. Survival was paramount, luxury was secondary; a necessity in those World Ships where many would be living close to one another so as to minimize conflict through diversion, leisure and simply having enough space to negate squalor and have both physical and mental health on the rise instead of the decline as the population was maintained. As a response, the Ares passed with flying colors by being a utilitarian and purely serviceable design.

Of a size between the Hephaestus and Athenea/Eros Class, the Ares was a semi compact, sturdy beast designed for military purposes. While it was never meant to be made as a weapons platform, the Ares Class is a spartan design when it comes to the interior: Barracks, training fields, shooting ranges and maintenance bays for anything ranging from weapons, armor and even vehicles of all sizes, including massive hangars for voidships in the fleet. Anything from direct combat to support roles is meant to be found for both practice and implementation inside the Ares Class. Even the many people that piloted the Escort Ships during the short lived fight against the `Predator' had many of its members training within one of the many Ares Class long before their first and last battle.

Never meant as a deterrent towards the `Predator', the Ares class was only designed to field troops that would be needed to support other World Ships in case of boarding action. The idea behind this design was one with tight corridors, reinforced sections, armed transports and a heavily reinforced super structure that could sustain fire from an equivalent sized ship for long enough to have its countless warriors delivered. No one knew if such a thing would be needed, but humanity was willing to fight in every way possible just to see another day.

There was one glaring flaw that should've been made apparent however: As a hyper specialized design for training and `warfare' (at least in a sense), the Ares Class was never meant to work on its own as a World Ship thanks to borderline no food production and barely passable resource reutilization. Unlike previous designs, the Ares Class would effectively starve itself within a few years if left with its storages full if it faced a lone departure.

Instead this class of ship was meant to accompany other World Ships, generally as the military support for groups of three to four, designed with the maintenance of the Escort Ships when other World Ships weren't capable of doing so and providing quick military relief for any emergency that took place. Thanks to a small standing army of anything from two to four billion souls, they would have manpower to face nearly anything, or that was the hope. For this reason many variants with the Ares as its inspiration were made, but the vast majority of those had a much more refined design that generally favored one type of training (infantry, void ship handling, vehicle crew, engineers, support roles...), which made the Ares a relatively rare design to be found as time went by.

Within the `Predator' these ships are rare, rare enough, and diverse enough in function, to be widely referred to as `Musterfields'. As for the `Predator'? It refers to these ships as `Marrow', if only because the Ares Class is perfect for the `Predator' to hoard White Cells and other warrior cells within if needed. A useful design, but one that the `Predator' finds no more useful than its own organs, and one it could, if it so wanted, replicate to easily produce areas more suited for any of its Human Cells to create more warriors to maintain its internal functions free of pests.

World Ship Class Demeter

Human Designation:

Civilian Class. Farm Ship.

Spatium Sperma Designation:

Breadbasket.

`Predator' View:

Chloroplast Ship.

The first design to go above the established base size of the Eros, the Demeter Class was an attempt to cover a great deficiency within all other designs that quickly spawned after the Eros had been developed: Food inefficiency. With billions of souls being crammed into every World Ship, and a multitude of facilities taking incredible amounts of space, replicating food that wasn't just basic nutrients with bland, if any flavors, was difficult. Many designs, like the Eros, could compliment this with real farming, be it for plant or meat based products. But access to fresh food was impossible.

A Demeter Class solves this by having a minimal space designed for self sustainability when it comes to repairs and general maintenance, relying instead on other World Ships for such care. Instead of large, advanced cities, most of the inner workings of a Demeter class is composed of large fields, sparsely populated areas, automatons to help with farming, land reinvigoration and more. While the Demeter Class does not lack in self defense and toughness as a design, most of its infrastructure was made to allow for a lower number of levels with the best possible design for growing crops, sustaining animals and keeping various climates in perfect balance.

Such space for food made the Demeter Class become popular, and the modified design for size was copied and later augmented further, but there was a limit to how big a World Ship could be made even with the best improvements and technology, at least before the costs got prohibitive. As a proof of concept, despite its heavy dependency on other World Ships, the Demeter passed with flying colors.

Population wise, this World Ship was doomed to be qualified as a failure. To maintain animals, land and every ecosystem in perfect balance without harm and with the best returns, the population is required to be specialists in their field and have low numbers. As such the Demeter Class could, at most, field two billion souls, but usually they accepted only one with an equally low number of Cloning Centers to keep everything and everyone in order, instead having a dense number of medical facilities for animal care. While a worthwhile sacrifice, the most important duty of a World Ship was to ferry people outside of the Milky Way, so the Demeter, albeit successful and praised, was seen as inferior for this particular flaw that other World Ships would iron out as time went by.

Of the original designs, this was one that pleased the `Predator' for the simplest of reasons. Labeling it as humans would, a `Breadbasket', the `Predator' found out that it could easily command the plants within to subtract even more energy of all resources it absorbed, thus it just referred to these living batteries that were the Demeter Class as a `Chloroplast' which, in turn, also helped the `Predator' design a few plant based Human Cells. To the monster, a good catch, to humanity... Well, at least these World Ships were some of the few left largely `intact'.

World Ship Class Chronos

Human Designation:

Military Class. Cloning Center Ship.

Spatium Sperma Designation:

NULL.

`Predator' View:

Mind Storage Ship.

A World Ship frozen in time, the Chronos was the most prominent innovation in the original batch of designs. Created as a fully automated ship at first, this was meant to be the largest hull size to date, and indeed the Chronos Class was close to the largest size that a World Ship could attain. But the Chronos was meant directly as a response for one of the biggest dangers of what could come to happen outside of the Milky Way.

The destruction of another World Ship.

With established networks to keep anyone from permanently dying, or at least ensuring a low count, thanks to the Cloning Centers, safety was largely assured in the Milky Way. Outside? Every World Ship was meant to have Cloning Centers of their own and a way to ensure no human being would lose their consciousness if accidents, or worse, came to happen. But transmission of such data, without damaging the person coming on the other side, was impossible between World Ships: The network that kept humanity's long lifespan, close to immortality, was a very delicate thing and the Cloning Centers meant to receive and process it were equally finicky. In a machine as large as a literal world every test to transmit the required data to save someone from a different World Ship within range had a high chance of failure, with said failures producing imperfections which would have meant a permanent death for whoever had their data even slightly scrambled or corrupted.

The creation of the Chronos was perhaps the only World Ship design never to be modified: A complex machine the size of a world that could receive such complex information as what could essentially be considered a soul, then bring back the body. For this process to work the whole World Ship had an incredibly small population cap, one in the low level of a couple hundred million, with most of its surface occupied by Cloning Centers and computers made purposely to keep the flow of information next to perfect in what could be the vast reaches of empty space.

For this purpose alone the Chronos was the only World Ship of the original designs to be armed. With its huge size and the densest armor and most powerful defensive measures, as well as a complex network of computers deep within its shell where the citizens live and from where they can man any and all defenses, the Chronos was meant to be a fortress that could keep the very literal souls of humanity alive no matter the dangers outside. Of course this hyper specialized World Ship would only function in conjunction with a few others, as anything from feeding their own populace to maintaining its function was next to impossible, relying on sister ships to keep humanity alive even after death.

Such a design wasn't without other complications, though. Considering its lack of resources and dependency on other World Ships that would, in optimal conditions, be also well staffed, the death of a World Ship would send an incredible number of lives to the Chronos Class ship that was closest. These people would be frozen in time (Hence the name of Chronos) until revival, a process that, in the past, had created harmful results for the people that could not be brought back right away. Within the Chronos these problems were solved, which is why the Chronos itself, despite not being a World Ship that could function as intended originally (A population carrier) thanks to its low capacity, was a very widespread design: Anyone within its data banks would just be `dreaming', instead of the uncertain condition of most Cloning Centers without the same measures as the Chronos.

*It is important to note that revival of a dead person in the past took, at most, days. Month long waits created complications and no revival ever took longer than that, so long as the person could be brought back. Revival after a month could, at best, cause amnesia, temporary or permanent depending on how long the way, while the risk of permanent personality alteration, or full ego death, were very real dangers after the three month mark.

As for the `Predator'? Believe it or not, the Betrayers' World Ship had designs for many of these large void craft. Whether they had them on board with the purpose of sabotaging their cousins or not, it is unknown, but the `Predator' analyzed all the data it got. Quickly discerning the importance of the Chronos Class, the `Predator' designed it as a `Mind Storage' entity, not even giving any other name a thought. It is through these World Ships that the `Predator' got a hold of nearly every single instance of human within its body without great damage to their minds, quickly connecting every Chronos as a data network that would further perfect its hold over mankind. It is ironic that one of the most important World Ship designs would aid so greatly to humanity's own enslavement. Although it is just as true that, without the Chronos, the `Predator' would have taken them all in almost as easily, but the capture of so many craft of this kind just made things even easier for the monster.

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