Vessel Name: SHELLWARD (dock-name: “Broly’s Turtle”)
Class: Chelonid Battle-Caravel (Land/Sea/Submersible Hybrid)
Owner / Commander: Broly Hastings (Harlet Sixty)
Status: Active — 700,000 coin build verified by Highport Ledger invoices
Primary Purpose: Armored escort, breach denial, extraction platform, mobile siege point
“It doesn’t sail—it arrives. Like a fortress that learned the tides.”
—Highport pilot, after watching it turn inside its own wake
At distance, Shellward reads as a turtle-shaped caravel—a low, wide-backed hull with an arched “shell” superstructure and a blunt prow that resembles a forward-reaching turtle head. Up close, the illusion becomes doctrine:
The “shell” is not decoration. It is the ship’s primary armor geometry.
The “head” is not a figurehead. It is the ship’s single massive cannon housing.
Shell Material: Titanium lamination + pearl-dust composite over reinforced heartwood ribs.
Finish: Grey-white, matte, with a faint shimmer where pearl dust is densest.
Durability Note: The armor is expensive because it’s layered wrong on purpose—built to flex under impact and distribute force instead of cracking like a proud plate.
Key Benefits
Shrugs off normal cannon scatter and reef-collision shear.
Dampens resonance shock better than standard metal skins.
Keeps integrity during rapid-turn maneuvers (its defining trait).
Key Weakness
Maintenance is not “patch and pray.” It requires dust re-sealing and seam listening or the shell develops “dead spots” that ring like a bell when struck.
A) Sea Mode (Primary)
Hull sits low and stable, built to turn fast instead of running straight.
Rudder system is oversized and reinforced; the ship can pivot tighter than most vessels in its weight class.
B) Dive Mode (Secondary)
Full submersion enabled by sealed shell ports, ballast channels, and pressure-rated ribs.
The caravel “tucks” itself before diving—outer openings close, internal vents shift, and the ship becomes a blunt, dense shape meant to sink controlled, not glide delicate.
C) Land Mode (Tertiary)
Ventral chassis uses heavy skid runners and retractable traction assemblies (dock crews call them “belly wheels”).
It does not move like a wagon. It moves like a creature dragging a fortress, slow-to-start but unstoppable once momentum holds.
Best use: short overland cuts, beach landings, cliffside portage, city-street intimidation.
“You hear it on stone before you see it—like a mountain learning footsteps.”
Designation: The Chelonid Maw (common: “Headgun”)
Configuration: One forward-mounted super-cannon, housed in the prow “head.”
Doctrine: Shellward is not a broadside ship. It is a point-and-end ship.
It turns fast to line the Maw.
It commits to a single, decisive shot.
It survives long enough to line the next one.
Operational Note: The Maw’s recoil is controlled through shell geometry and internal bracing; when it fires, the ship “hunks” like a creature biting.
Because Shellward rotates hard in turns (and may rotate in dive transitions), the interior is built around a level-locked deck ring—a stabilized central corridor system that keeps the crew functioning even when the hull is doing something rude.
Mess and bunks cling to the stabilized spine.
Cargo holds are partitioned to prevent shift-inversion.
Medical bay is anchored near centerline where motion is least violent.
These are logged as “lair actions” because the vessel behaves like a moving fortress-beast once engaged.
The ship retracts exposed fittings, locks shell plates, and clamps ports shut.
Effect: The shell can withstand up to 200 damage before failing (treat as a hardened damage buffer).
Tradeoff: Movement and firing arcs are restricted while sealed.
“When it shells up, you’re not fighting a ship. You’re arguing with a bunker.”
A sudden pivot that drags the stern around and lines the Maw.
Effect: Rapid reposition; can break enemy firing solutions and force missed volleys.
Tradeoff: Stresses bracing; repeated use without maintenance risks seam-whine.
Emergency ballast drop and port seal—Shellward “bites down” into the sea.
Effect: Instant dive transition to dodge cannon fire / boarding hooks.
Tradeoff: Crew must brace; loose cargo becomes lethal if stowed wrong.
Engages ventral traction assemblies and uses momentum like a battering shove.
Effect: Overrun barricades, push smaller craft on beaches, destabilize dock lines.
Tradeoff: Loud, slow to stop, and leaves an obvious track.
A turbulence-shedding maneuver—turning hard to throw broken water behind it.
Effect: Hinders pursuers, fouls grapnels/boarding lines, disrupts small skiffs.
Tradeoff: Burns stamina and stresses the rudder assemblies.
Required discipline: High. Shellward rewards calm, punishes panic.
Best crew types: bracers, riggers, seal-checkers, ballast hands, and a helmsman who understands momentum like a language.
Limitations
Not a stealth vessel. It is a statement.
Repairs are expensive and specialized.
The Maw is devastating, but singular—if enemies swarm from multiple angles, Shellward must turn faster than they can surround.
Classification: Legendary utility-siege hybrid
What sailors say:
“If you can’t outrun it, outthink it.”
“If it shells up, stop wasting shot.”
“If the turtle turns to face you… you’re already late.”