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"A Singularly Bizarre Device" (WIP 3) by ACBradley

"A Singularly Bizarre Device" (WIP 3)

ACBradley

Following the Battle of Laurent Abyss, just two of Aludra's twenty-four Dreadnought battleships limped home to port in Alurna, with only the Lady Irene still seaworthy.

While it was known that something had impacted the ship's stern below the waterline as she turned away, it was not until she was laid up in drydock that the impact was assessed; within a narrow hole punched above the missing no. 3 propeller was lodged "a singularly bizarre device" which looked for all the world like a tiny vessel, forty-five feet in length.

Following a careful operation to cut the device free without damaging it, the Aludrans became the first on the Continent to see a self-propelled torpedo up close; within days the dud torpedo was delivered to the Imperial Academy of Military Science for study. While the war in Linthe delayed shipbuilding efforts, a squadron of ten torpedo-equipped destroyers escorting the Lady Irene would later sink all three Dreadnought battleships belonging to the state of Lis and seriously maul their entire fleet, bringing down the Lisian monarchy and signalling Aludra's rebirth as a naval power.

Lady Irene was a rarity in that her name was written in Aludran; the first of what came to be known as Dreadnought battleships, she was named so as a measure of Aludra's pride at their new invention. Given Aludrans are all female, "amiza" does not actually directly translate to "Lady," rather it is related to mizan, to take a stand; an amiza is one who stands for something.

I've yanked out a bit of the background for now to work up the skyline, since Alurna is supposed to be an ancient and beautiful city that's going to take a bit of work.

Just for fun, here is the period version.

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Rating:
General
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Visual / Digital

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