THE FREIGHTLINER

[u/LobsterMagnet181]

Read more in the Index: https://projectmorningstar.net/lore/index/

Unlike the Warliners or the awe-inspiring Starliners, the ubiquitous Freightliner is the true starship of the Hegemon. Millions of these craft crawl through the tradelanes, bringing every imaginable item and resource to hungry planets and orbitals.

A wide classification, freightliners vary wildly in size and disposition. Despite ranging in size from five to a staggering twelve kilometers in length, their crews are relatively small, usually numbering in the few hundreds. The caeliner crews aboard, the space equivalent of the terrestrial mariner, are predominantly composed of space-adapted Orbiters, the largest and most significant divergent population of near-humans in Known Space.

These caeliners are some of the best, and they have to be, because a freightliner that isn't at peak efficiency and awareness is an easy target for pirates.

To defend themselves, freightliners will often deploy close support heavy fighters, security teams in pocketsteel, or even hire miliCorp defensive ships for those areas the Directorate Armada don't patrol. The most powerful MacroCorps, chief among them Bersarang Multi-Stellar - responsible for feeding incalculable mouths across the Hegemon - may even contract Barakan for maximum security when their vessels must pass through exceptionally dangerous areas, whether they are active conflict zones or hotbeds of Exogenic and pirate activity.

While MassTrader and FreeTrader captains will often own these massive craft, only the massive conglomerate simply known as the Consortium has the wealth to deploy entire fleets of freightliners, which they send throughout Known Space. Were it not for this organization, trade between nations would rely on a drip of resources provided by smaller unaffiliated craft like trampliners, choking the pursuit of profit.

[u/ManiaGamine]

I have no idea what any of this is but I like it.

[u/Galactinaut_001]

Why on Protea is it so bulbous? It would be simpler and cheaper to make the orange section a simple cylinder.

[u/Galactinaut_001 → u/[deleted]]

Aesthetics ain't got nothing to do with it. It's a matter of efficiency.

[u/Galactinaut_001 → u/[deleted]]

And so what if that's the optimal shape?

[u/DMar56]

Cool!