Description
Beta-Class Time Ships are the Authority’s earliest large-scale temporal vessels—designed not for elegance or precision, but for brute-force incursions into the past. Each ship is the size of a floating city, built around a bulk-phase temporal core capable of tearing open stabilized corridors in time.
These ships are not surgical. They are invasions. When they arrive, planets tremble, the skies warp.
The Temporal Systems
- Uses a Bulk-Phase Temporal Engine: opens corridors wide enough to move entire fleets
- Consumes energy equivalent to vaporizing a moon just to stabilize a single jump
- Corridor stability is poor—jumps often leave temporal radiation scars and echo signatures detectable for centuries
- Known for time drift errors—sometimes arrive years off-target
Nickname: "Slave Ships"
- So named because they were used for mass abductions from the past—entire villages, species, or populations pulled from pre-Authority eras
- Prisoners were stored in cryo or stasis for analysis, experimentation, or repurposing
- Corridor stability is poor—jumps often leave temporal radiation scars and echo signatures detectable for centuries
- Survivors from these raids (like Kor) often remember them only as “the ships that tore open the sky”
Kor’s Capture
- Kor was taken aboard a Beta-Class vessel deployed during a deep-time raid on Korrus, around -20,000 AE
- The mission’s official goal: “Species Preservation and Genetic Archive”
- The real motive: testing Authority control over pre-conscious lifeforms for military and civilian repurposing
- Beta-Class ships were expected to be retired due to the rise of more subtle temporal tools—like the Aetherion and Black Veil (that never happened)
Visual Impression
- Appears like a falling fortress when entering a planet’s atmosphere
- Their arrival causes massive environmental disruption: tides shift, electromagnetic fields spike, plant and animal life collapses
Names for the Beta-class vessels:
Axiom
- Meaning: An undeniable truth. The ship represents the Authority’s unquestionable dominance and belief in control through certainty.
- Tone: Cold. Precise. Imposing
- Nickname (used by crew or rebels): "The Truth Ship"
Gravemind
- Meaning: Refers to memory, death, and overwhelming knowledge. A nod to its vast databanks and its role in erasing civilizations.
- Tone: Haunting. Methodical. Silent.
- Nickname: "The Collector
Dominion
- Meaning: Total rule or sovereignty—especially over time and space.
- Tone: Authoritarian. Towering. Absolute.
- Nickname: "The Kingkiller"
Legacy:
- The term “Beta-Class” is now synonymous with brutality and time violation
- Survivors of their incursions, like Kor, retain deep psychological scars, even if they don't understand the full scope