Kharadron Overlords

An Aether-Khemist is an invaluable addition to an airfleet. The armour of these specialists incorporates an array of high-tech tools, including quadbreather apparatus that allows them to sniff out aether-gold hidden within thick cloud banks. In addition to harvesting and assessing airborne resources, their atmospheric anatomisers can vacuum away a foe’s breathable air or spray a cloud of lethal chemicals. Pressurised gouts of poison gas can be fired forwards in a deafening blast known as the ‘Roar of Grungni’, or a shimmering golden cloud of chemfog can be released with the pull of a lever, a metallic fug that boosts the power of nearby aetheric weapons.

Masters of the guiding winds, Aetheric Navigators are aero-cartographers, atmospheric map-makers that help chart courses, find currents and steer along perilous trade routes. Even the most journeyed Admirals value the counsel of an Aetheric Navigator, for they can see barometric eddies and electro-aetheric vortices, and can plot a course through such hazards. Using a plethora of mechanical wonders, an Aetheric Navigator can influence the winds to gain the weather gauge, speed up his fleet or slow down flying foes. They can even call upon aetheric currents to disrupt enemy spells, and their keen eyes ensure that they are proficient in the use of firearms.

An Arkanaut Admiral is the leader of an airfleet. An Admiral does not have a ship of his own, as each ship has a Captain at the wheel, but will nominate one craft as his flagship. It takes success and tremendous profit for a duardin to catapult themselves into the upper echelons of the airfleets, and individuals that have done so are battle-scarred veterans that have seen countless wars, boarding actions and aerial bombardments.

When it comes to feet on the ground, the Arkanaut Companies form the Kharadron Overlords’ main fighting forces. Descending swiftly via a Frigate’s grav-ladders or suspension ropes, an Arkanaut Company can deploy rapidly into the fray.

The Arkanaut Frigate represents centuries of refinement by the shipwrights of the Endrineers Guild. In its design, a balance was struck between speed, transport capacity and firepower to create a versatile craft that could serve as the mainstay for the airfleets. With its sleek hull and powerful buoyancy endrin, the Arkanaut Frigate is fast and powerful enough to escape the gravitational drag of a density hole, while retaining enough firepower to level a city should the need arise.

The jewel in the crown of the fleet, the Arkanaut Ironclad is a majestic airship. Bristling with weaponry, its deep cargo holds can be laden with aether-gold or it can be loaded to the gunwales with Arkanaut Companies or Grundstok Thunderers. Advancements made by the Kharadron’s endrineers have allowed for ever-larger vessels of the skyfleet, and the Ironclad is to date the biggest. Clad in layer upon layer of riveted iron plates, these massive ships pour astonishing amounts of aether-shot, bombs and torpedoes on anything with the temerity to get between the Kharadron Overlords and their bounty of aether-gold.

Brokk Grungsson exemplifies the self-made Kharadron Overlord privateer. He is rapacious in the hunt for aether-gold, and daring in his explorations of the skybound wonders of Chamon. Brokk Grungsson is the only Admiral that has successfully led a fleet around the Spire, the fabled Horn of Chamon. Some Kharadron would be satisfied having achieved such honours, but Brokk Grungsson strives on, hungry for ever-more success and recognition – his natural aeronautical abilities and aggressive nature mean these successes are rarely far from his grasp.

Endrinmasters are senior members of the Endrineers Guild responsible for the upkeep of the fleets, and they take great pride in the speed and firepower of the craft under their auspices. They can strip down and reassemble an aether-endrin while hanging upside down miles above land, and pick out a single misalignment amidst thousands of moving cogs using a mechanical intuition that other races might call magic.

Grundstok Gunhaulers streak through the air, weaving between the larger Arkanaut craft. They are two-duardin vessels tasked with eliminating threats before they have a chance to endanger the ships under their care. In this the Grundstok Gunhaulers are ideal, for they are fast and agile craft, being little more than a gun platform carried aloft by a buoyancy endrin. Their speed and agility, and their ability to deliver firepower at a moment’s notice, make them invaluable additions to every prospector’s arsenal.

The Grundstok Thunderers are militarised formations employed by the fleet to help defend it. The endless training and drilling conducted by the Grundstok Academies results in high standards of discipline and marksmanship in their graduates – upon commands from their officer, the Grundcaptain, they march, wheel and ready their aim with awe-inspiring speed and precision. Firing in near-perfect synchronicity, a line of Grundstok Thunderers temporarily disappears among eye-searing flashes and weapon reports as they unleash a storm of munitions that can halt even the most well-armoured foes in their tracks.