Moon Balloon
Moon balloons offer slow but dependable transportation between the Shards of the Shattered Moon. They rely on hot air or lifting gases to fly and manually powered fans or propellers for propulsion.
We even get moon balloons down here in the Zone. They're cheap and effective and don't take a mage to run 'em. The only downside is they're stupid-looking! You'll never see me riding in something so ridiculous.
Moon balloons are the main mode of transport between the Shards of Thaya on the Shattered Moon. Winged beasts, mostly giant dragonflies, provide faster transportation, but they can only carry a small amount of cargo. Moon balloons carry more cargo, but travel at a fraction of the speed.
Moon balloons were created by the Lapin, tribes of rabbitfolk who lived on the moon even before it shattered. They mysteriously survived the Shattering of the moon when their settlement, the Great Warren, was thrown up into the air and stayed there, locked into some place through magic or some miracle.
Although safely removed from the Far War raging below and around them, the Lapin depleted their food supply faster than they could regrow it. In desperation, the residents of the Lapin Shard developed balloon technology that allowed them to travel amongst the far-flung shards to gather much-needed resources.
In addition, they developed war balloons and zeppelins that allowed them to take part in the Far War. Their clever, if unorthodox, technology helped them to join the fight and eject the Great Old Ones from the world.
Now the slow but reliable moon balloons are the major means of cargo transport between the shards. Moon balloons are preferred by the regular folk. They don't rely on unreliable (on the moon) hex crystal magitech. Binding elementals to vehicles requires high level magic, not available to commoners. They are simply hot air balloons with propellers that can be powered through mundane means.
One of the most famous moon balloons is the Cloud Warren, a fortified zeppelin flown by the famous author and adventurer Ambrosia the Shard Drifter. She is currently visiting each of the 7,000+ Shards and documenting them in the quarterly periodical, Journeys of a Momma Bunny.
I think I've said this before somewhere, but I am living for Sgt. Kill Flayer's commentary on these articles. I used to skip past all opening quotes, on every WA world, but now I look forward to what the Sargent has to say every time I open one of your articles. :-)
Thanks! If you go watch the game I ran for WriterGreg last week, you'll see me roleplay as Sgt. Kill Flayer!
Take a look at my Institutions of Learning challenge article.
Learn about the World of Wizard's Peak and check out my award winning article about the Ghost Boy of Kirinal!
Excellent! Yes, I have that saved in my YouTube queue.