Prince Lewis

Bastard Son of King Random and the Lady Morganthe

 

Background

HMS Rebma

The HMS Rebma

Shortly after spending time in Prince Valentine's pocket shadow, Prince Lewis purchased the HMS Rebma. The HMS Rebma is a ship of the line, commissioned by Her Royal Majesty Queen Victoria and later sold into private service.

The Rebma is an ethership. it uses solar power to heat water and generate steam, which turns its ether screw, which drives the vessel through space. She is constructed mostly out of Martian liftwood, a lighter than air wood which provides enough lift to keep her airborne in planetary atmospheres. The Rebma is equipped with a secondary coal-burning furnace for journeys undertaken in planetary shadows or other situations in which solar light is unavailable.

The Rebma is comfortably designed with beautiful Officers' Quarters, a stunning Captain's Quarters, a sitting/billiards room, a gym and sauna, and many amenities. Due to its lightweight construction, the Rebma is unsuited to war.

The Rebma's crew consists of 100 women. All are indentured servants from various parts of the Empire.

Of the 100 crew, only 80 actually work on the ship itself. The other 20 are marines, trained in hand to hand and firearms combat. There is a weapons locker in the rear of the Rebma where rifles are kept.

15 of the 100 crew are officers. Each officer bears a saber, and each of the 3 marine officers also carry a flintlock pistol.

Since Prince Lewis is the Captain of the Rebma, and is uninterested in and ignorant of the workings of an ethership, Commander Ellen Wyndham is the de facto captain of the Rebma. She is a caring officer who seldom belittles her crew.

Lieutenant Caroline Wellesley is in command of the Marine contingent aboard the ship.

Meals are provided thrice daily. Officers are treated to fine meals, ranging from Filet Mignons and Prime Ribs to Rogan Josh and Coq au Vin. The crew is treated to a somewhat lesser fare.

The Rebma shares her pocket shadow with the moon of her native planet. An excerpt from a guide to that solar system is reprinted here:

The Moon

On the surface, the Earth's Moon appears to be barren and devoid of life. Yet that is literally a surface impression -- beneath the lunar surface lies a series of interconnected caverns and tunnels that is the home of a complex ecosystem and not one, but two races of intelligent beings. One of those races, the insect-like Selenites, are native to the Moon, and live a primitive existence harvesting fungus for food. Their society is described in detail in the Space: 1889 rulebook.

The second race, the mysterious Moon Men, are descended from a group that escaped from the planet Vulcan before it was destroyed to create the Asteroid Belt. They are the decadent descendants of an advanced technological people, and live deep within the Moon in the City of Light and Science, surrounded by machines that they no longer understand.

Very little of the Moon has been explored, and no doubt other mysteries await discovery below its surface.