The Fenris is a generation ship carrying an active crew, a contingent of vikings, and thousands of galactic citizens in cryosleep. The overall superstructure of the Fenris a classic spine-and-wheel design that leverages Newtonian physics to provide for artificial “gravity”. Individual components of the ship can be swiveled to take advantage of either this rotational force, or pseudogravity, resulting from linear acceleration of the ship.
The Fenris is divided into three regions: Public, Restricted, and Command. Vikings are permitted free access to public sectors, including the habitation areas that make up a large portion of the ship. Vikings are also allowed to access the majority of the cargo areas, especially to help Fenris crew in managing the various resources necessary to keep the ship operational.
The grav rings of the Fenris are connected to the spine via spokes that house elevators and other machinery designed to quickly transport individuals and small goods from the outer regions of the ring to the spine of the ship. Grav rings host two main types of components that are attached to the base ring and spoke structure, colloquially dubbed panels and pods in honor of their corresponding shapes. Both panels and pods are designed to swivel in order to take advantage of the rotational gravity provided by the grav rings or the linear acceleration of the ship. Panels are flat structures attached to grav-rings and host low-life-support areas designed for bulk cargo storage. Multiple panels can be stacked on a single grav-ring hardpoint to maximize surface area on which to attach cargo, which can include anything from shipping crates all the way up to entire asteroids. When transporting bulk goods from one area of the Fenris to another, the cargo to be transported is often loaded up onto a single panel which is then transported by tug to its destination.
Pods are pill-shaped capsules, designed for supporting organic and construct life. They include atmosphere, water, and other environments amenable to life. Pods are the majority of the spaces vikings occupy while onboard the Fenris. Viking factions, supercorporations, and other groups typically have "territory" in the form of a pod and maybe a panel stack or two. Individual groups are responsible for maintaining their own territory but they also get vast leeway in what they do with it. Pods tend to be laid out and decorated according to the cultural norms of the faction or corporation they belong to, and it's generally obvious who lives there as soon as one enters.
Given the fairly open superstructure of the ship, lots of bulk transport for very large materials (e.g., ship components, replacement module segments, etc.) occur outside of the ship via tugs. Most grav rings and other major areas of the ship include docks for these tugs and other craft, some of which are atmosphere capable. The Fenris, most of the time, is not so much a single ship, as it is a shifting constellation of lights around a central pillar. Some more mystically inclined vikings even read these as almost literal constellations, a substitution for astrology in a constantly shifting reference frame. Notably, Vanadis Aurum, of Helix Pharmaceuticals, has published several lengthy documents, with complex charts and calculations, claiming to predict the future using the observed orbits of ships from onboard the Fenris. Few take them seriously, but it is agreed by most that the sight is enough to inspire a sense of mysticism. Only when the Fenris makes a jump to a new planet do all its tributaries return and it resembles a single object.
By far the largest of these ships is the Great Hall, the dropship used for planetary expeditions. It sometimes also serves as a common gathering place for vikings while onboard. It is essential that while on missions any interpersonal or factional squabbles are left behind for the sake of the mission, and there is an unspoken social contract that this neutrality is transitive to the Great Hall even when docked.
There is a nominal day/night cycle, but, given that running a ship is a 24/7 operation, command areas are "always on". Crew sections of the ship are on three different 24 hour cycles of 12 hours on/ 12 hours off, staggered by 8 hours each, in order to ensure that crew get proper day/night cycles. Crew are on duty during their specific "daytime" and allowed to rest during their "nighttime". Crew tend to think of these divisions in the same way we might think of time zones. However, vikings and passenger sections are kept on a single 24 hour day/night cycle (12 on, 12 off) for consistency and to minimize logistical overhead.
Command areas are off-limits to anyone except crew. These include Engineering and Command rings, primarily at the front and rear of the ship, but also along areas like the conical fore-bridge (sensors, navigation, etc.), the spherical mid-bridge (operations, CIC, etc.), and the deeper parts of Engineering (thrust, energy generation, etc.). It's rare that vikings try to try to enter these areas, and when it does happen it's usually dealt with with at minimum a formal reprimand and some time sobering up.
Restricted areas include portions of the ship that were not properly renovated or prepared for use before the Fenris left Etheriet. This includes several pods, panels, spokes, and even an entire grav-ring that have been sealed off and are rumored to be haunted. Chief Psychological Affairs Officer Ctheno has issued several official pronouncements that these areas are definitely not haunted and there is absolutely no such thing as being haunted. The fact that these statements need to be made regularly says a lot about their efficacy. Repair crews are constantly working to get the inoperable sections of the ship working as well as make sure that what's currently working stays that way. Vikings assigned to assist with repair efforts are naturally permitted to enter these restricted areas, though Fenris crew make every effort to prevent unnecessary access.
The four pods containing flight decks and support workshops near the mid-bridge are also restricted areas. Originally designed as hangars for small fighter and scout craft, these massive structures currently lie largely empty and are primarily used as holding areas for excess ship resources.
The official mission of the Viking Program is to gather resources to keep the ship running and to chart a safe, long-distance route to keep ahead of the Maelstrom. Gathering resources includes scrounging for MSCs (Material Storage Containers) and other materials from planets the ship visits. These can include anything from HEMEs, biomass for food, to metals and magitek circuitry for ship repairs and other purposes. Another important element of this mission is to gather intelligence and navigation data from planetary networks for navigation purposes. Due to the rushed nature of the beginning of the mission, the Fenris’s navigation suite is not fully functional. Of course, the Maelstrom wreaks havoc on any navigational attempts even in ideal circumstances, so the crew rely on accurate intel from vikings to chart their course.
All passengers aside from Fenris Security are forbidden from carrying weapons while aboard the ship proper. Fenris Security maintains a series of weapons lockers and security checkpoints at the Great Hall Embarkation Dock, and vikings are required to surrender all weapons upon entry. Once docking procedures are complete and maintenance crews have swept the Great Hall, Vikings are permitted to come and go from the Great Hall and its docking area as they please.
Security takes any and all threats to the ship extremely seriously. No one wants a bar fight to escalate into a hull breach. Generally speaking, this is rarely an issue, as vikings are largely unified in their dedication to the mission of the Fenris and the survival of the thousands of souls in cryostasis. With rare exceptions, inter-faction conflict takes a form more like sibling rivalry than gang warfare.
There are practically no spare seats on the Fenris, so every member of the Viking Program has earned their spot on the ship in some way. Generally speaking, in order for someone new to join, someone has to leave. While there is a small amount of spare space, it's extremely restricted. Some vikings completed training and preparation early on in the mission, and thus have been in the field for a while, while others are still being brought up to speed. Along with the official training given by the Fenris crew, most factions also have various training, hazing, or initiation rituals to celebrate a viking going on active duty for their first time. Supplies are manageable but tight, and the amount of that leeway fluctuates with the success of exploration and scavenging missions.
When vikings are not on active duty, they typically tend to their personal faction areas, sorting through materials, helping with fabrication, analyzing navigation data, and other tasks that the crew can outsource to them. Vikings also engage in various social activities, which differ according to faction, personal preference, and proclivity for danger. Gatherings are common, ranging from quiet group meals to raging seasonal celebrations that can range across several pods. The Crew know that these are important as psychological defense against the precarity of their situation, and rarely interfere except when a party endangers infrastructure.
The Fenris is a bustling, always-awake place, with complex mechanics, both physical and social. Hundreds of waking souls (and thousands sleeping) all locked in a space the size of a large city, hurtling through space in a desperate slow-motion race against annihilation, make for an interesting place.
Return to: The Fenris