The Mammoth is a spelljamming ship built and used by ogres.[1][2][3]
Description[]
The Mammoth is the pride of the Ogre fleets and is by far the largest ship ever produced by the so-called goblinoid species. The standard Mammoth displaces ninety tons, while larger variations (see the Archimperator) range as large as two hundred tons. No two Mammoths are exactly alike, with subtle variations between each ship. A Mammoth appears as an oval ship with the head, ears, tusks, and trunk of a mammoth. The head is small, enclosing a single room from which a lookout directs the ship in battle. Directly ahead of the lookout is the trunk and tusks. The heavy wooden tusks are sharpened into piercing rams to catch a ship and hold it while ogres board it. The trunk is a blunt ram reinforced to absorb the shock of a ram and protect the Mammoth (the net effect of this combination of ram types is the same as a standard piercing ram, but this arrangement allows this to be achieved without the heavy metal reinforcement that would normally be required on a piercing ram). Ogres will carve steps into the trunk to disembark when the ship is grounded. The ears are thick and wooden along the innermost parts. Sails painted with fearsome images are strung between the spars of the outer ear, radiating out from the ship above the gravity plane. Head-on, the sails make the Mammoth appear larger and more fearsome. At the very aft of the ship is a rectangular tail that is the position for the ship's jettison.
Mammoths were primitive ships by human standards. The ogres use stout timbers around a heavy frame of ironwood or oak. The hull is held together by a peg-and-slot method, where rectangular wooden pegs are pounded into slots in the hull boards. Wooden nails are driven into the boards to hold it to a frame of thick logs. The interior is made from unfinished timber; the bark is often left intact instead of stripped away. The boards in the hull are also likely left unfinished as well. Some ships will use a thick plaster to cement the timber together, though most ships do not have this innovation. Mammoths will be covered by hides sewn together to drive out rain and wind when planetside. Otherwise, Mammoths leak badly.
Despite their primitive construction, Mammoths are rugged ships that withstand incredible amounts of damage. A standard Mammoth had four decks and displaces ninety tons. The ship will be armed with four heavy catapults, four heavy ballista, and a heavy jettison. These weapons will be crude and cumbersome by modern standards but serviceable in the hands of ogre warriors. Packed with as many ogres that could reasonably fit inside the stout ships, Mammoths set off in search of conquest. Inside, ogres will decorate their Mammoths with furs, mounted animal heads, and crude furnishings. Doors are either heavy affairs that require great strength to open (min. str. 15 to open) or are curtains of animal fur. Rooms are dimly lit with torches enchanted with continual flame spells. Ceilings soar 12' overhead in chambers and passages. Floors are creaky from ogres stomping over them and difficult to cross without making noise (-15% to Move Silently).
The top deck of the Mammoth is an open deck for the weapons. The ears of the ship provide ogre warriors cover as the ship approaches its prey. Two heavy catapults with long arms are fired over the ears, directed by orders from the lookout in the ship's head. The ballista fire to the sides and aft, two per side or all four can be fired aft. The weapons are not turreted and are moved by the brute strength of the ogre gunners. The jettison can only fire aft and is only used if the ogres encounter a foe too great to easily overcome.
Below the top deck is the upper decks. The forward room is within the ship's head and is an observation room for the ship's lookout. The lookout is always an experienced ogre who barks out his sightings to the captain below and the gunners above. Behind the lookout is a long room where the ogres keep their weapons, cloaks, bags, and armor on pegs along the walls. Before battle, ogres will muster in this room to arm and ready themselves. Alcoves are divided from the larger chamber by curtains of animal pelts. Ladders pierce the roof above and a pair of ladders nailed to the wall allow access deeper into the ship.
The next deck down is the main deck, where the quarters of the ogres, the bridge, and even guest quarters are located. The crew quarters mirror one another in the forward half of the ship. The smelly rooms have bunks sized for ogres and a few chests for the strongest ogres to lock valuables. Wedged between the two crew quarters is an open commons area where ogre crewmen drink, play cards and knucklebones, and socialize. The walls are decorated with the stuffed heads of beasts, human skulls, and animal pelts. Behind the commons area is the bridge of the ship. The ship's charts and death helm are closely guarded in the bridge. Beyond the bridge are the quarters for the chief, the ogre mage, and guest quarters. The chief will have the best quarters available. A comfortable bed will be present, along with a wardrobe, a table and chairs, a choice of weapons, warm pelts on the floor and walls, and the best trophies. He will sometimes share this room with his wife if she is present. Opposite of his room is that of the ogre mage, who is responsible for guiding the ship through the stars. The furnishings of the ogre mage include a bed, a wardrobe of ceremonial robes, two or more tables covered by religious relics, and a weapon with religious significance. A quartet of guest quarters is aft of the rooms of the chief and ogre mage. These rooms can serve a variety of roles, depending on the alliances and needs of the ogre tribe. Sometimes, important guests such as ogre or orc chiefs will be put up into these rooms. At other times, subchiefs, women and children, additional ogre magi, and other leaders will stay in these rooms. If a Mammoth carries a large number of slaves, the rearmost rooms will be converted into slave pens.
The bottom deck of the Mammoth is devoted to cargo and some mundane operations of the ship. The bottom deck is opposite of the main deck on the gravity plane. The two decks share opposite sides of the same floor. The forward half of the entire deck is a single cavernous cargo hold. The cargo hold is almost never lit. Crates, barrels, and sacks of stolen goods are tossed carelessly into this room. Access to the cargo of illicit goods is gained through double doors or hatches in the bottom of the ship. The hatches are heavy doors of wood that are laid over holes in the hull. A team of ten ogres is required to remove each door so that access to the cargo hold is granted. The rear half of the cargo deck is given over to a secondary armory, a sickbay for wounded warriors, a kitchen, and the ship's mess. The armory is where the ogres keep spare weapons and armor that they are not currently using. Spare swords, pole arms, shields, spears, and javelins will be stacked in the room, with more valuable weapons wrapped by furs for protection. The sickbay has a dozen straw heaps that serve as beds on the floor. The walls and at least two tables are covered with herbs and medical tools. One section is curtained off for when the cleric needs to amputate a limb. The stench of blood and death permeates the whole room and is noticeable throughout the entire deck. The kitchen is always active with at least one ogress and two or more slaves preparing meals for their ogre masters. The kitchen has a small brick stove, dozens of pots, pans, ladles, platters, and so on. Sacks of flour and baskets of vegetables are tossed into the corners until needed. Slabs of meat, sometimes resembling humans or demihumans, hang from the ceiling. After the meals are prepared, slaves carry them on overturned shields to the hungry ogres awaiting in the mess hall at the rear of the deck. The mess hall will be crammed with a large rectangular table surrounded by benches and stools. The tribal chief will sit at the head of the table during meals, where he will show off his latest trophies, brag about his conquests, and decide his next target of conquest. The ogres keep kegs of ale in the mess to have a steady supply when they are feasting.
Crew[]
The number of crew aboard an ogre-operated Mammoth varied greatly depending on the ship's use. A typical clanship would have a crew consisting of 20-30 adult male ogres, a like number of females and children, from 1-6 ogre magi, as well as anywhere from 10-100 slaves of various races. The slaves will typically be made up of a mix of humans, dwarves, gnomes, goblins, orcs, and kobolds. When possible, ogres would capture a few bugbears as slaves. These bugbears, being of similar mindset to the ogres, and nearly as strong, would usually be treated better and given authority over the other slaves. As a result, the bugbear slave overseers would usually fight alongside their masters against any would-be rescuers.
The crew of a Mammoth operated as a battleship under a War King was very different in composition. Such a ship would carry from 1-6 ogre magi like a normal clanship, but the rest of the crew would be made up entirely of adult male ogre warriors. These ships would typically carry at least twice as many ogres as could be supported by the air envelope, making long journeys impossible. In some cases, War Kings were known to cram far too many ogres aboard a Mammoth, to the extent that the ship's air turned deadly long before it reached its destination.
Non-ogre crews of Mammoths vary widely. Human reavers may have as few as 27 crew (in which case any battle will be won by bluff and bluster alone based on the fearsome nature of their ship), or as many as 70 or so for more successful vessels. The few human nations that use Mammoths as warships will generally carry a full fighting crew of 90, since the Mammoth will usually be the heaviest warship in the fleet, and will only be used against the most dangerous of opponents. Illithid slavers will generally have a crew arranged along the same lines as the crew of a nautiloid, but the Mammoth will carry significantly more slaves.
Ship Uses[]
Clanship: The most common use for an ogre Mammoth was that of a clanship. The clanship, as the name suggests, would carry a single clan of ogres (including their adopted ogre magi), along with their slaves. Unfit slaves were served up as the ogres' next meal. The ogres were nomads in wildspace. They constantly moved from world to world, taking what they wished and departed before angry militias could muster and strike back. At times, clans sold their services to local armies as mercenaries. Many ogre clans found work with orc, goblin, even human and illithid navies. At other times, ogres were able to extract tribute from nearby ports and towns with the threat of invasion. A Mammoth clanship will typically be unmodified from the version given above. A clanship would often carry from 1-4 kobold Arrows or goblin Blades to serve as boarding boats.
Battleship: A Mammoth operating under an ogre War King was operated as a battleship. As discussed above, these ships would be crammed with as many ogre warriors as possible. A battleship would usually be unmodified, but it was not uncommon for such a ship to mount an extra two catapults. Mammoth battleships usually carried from 3-10 kobold Arrows or goblin Blades as boarding craft.
Slaveship: When operated by ogres, a Mammoth slaveship was simply a clanship with fewer ogres and more slaves than normal. Such a ship will often carry 1-2 Arrows or Blades for use as shuttles. The enclosed nature of the vessel, as well as its fearsome appearance, makes the Mammoth an attractive vessel for mind flayer slavers as well, however. Illithid slavers typically sacrifice the jettison and 4 other large weapons (the exact weapons depend on the preferences of the crew - all weapons removed from these ships are usually installed on other illithid vessels or bases), and sacrifice some armour. This raises the amount of available cargo space to 61 tons, although AR drops to 6. When possible an illithid slaveship will be equipped with a major helm powered by a captive spelljammer, but otherwise the original death helm will be used, despite its detrimental effects on the slave population. A Mammoth slaveship operated by mind flayers will usually be escorted by at least one Nautiloid.
Reaver: Some few human reavers have been able to acquire and use these massively powerful vessels as raiding ships. Such a reaver captain must be extremely bold, since a Mammoth attracts more attention from local authorities and pirate-hunters than a smaller, more common vessel would. These reavers will usually dispense with the jettison and often one or more other weapons as well in order to gain more cargo space. Often this extra cargo space is converted into luxurious living quarters for the captain. Often a reaver Mammoth will make up for its lack of maneuverability by carrying several Blades, Wreckboats, or Flitters to support it in battle. Some captains have been known to replace the entire tail assembly with a docking port for a Wreckboat which serves as an escape craft.
Other Configurations[]
Mastodon: These rare variants of the standard Mammoth mount an armoured dome, giving them a hunch-backed appearance. This dome contains three bombards, along with stores of smokepowder. The dome itself is intended to contain any explosion in the powder stores, so that it won't damage the rest of the ship. If the powder ignites, the resulting explosion will destroy the dome and all of its contents, but will inflict only 1-10 hull points of damage on the Mastodon, rather than the normal 10-50. In addition, the entire dome can be jettisoned if needed, either to prevent an imminent explosion from causing any damage at all to the Mastodon, or to serve as a powerful one-shot weapon in an emergency (in such a case, treat the dome as a heavy jettison attack for purposes of range and THAC0, but a successful hit will do damage as a heavy catapult, plus 1-10 hull points of damage if the powder explodes - if the crew of the bombards has at least 4 rounds to prepare the dome can be made into a more powerful bomb by removing some of the internal bracing, in such a case the explosion will cause 2-20 hull points of damage). The remainder of a Mastodon's weapons consist of a single heavy catapult, and two heavy ballistas. Bombard gunnery aboard a Mastodon is an unpopular duty, often given as punishment. The dome has no hatch leading to the interior of the ship, and must be entered by climbing along the outside of the hull along hand-lines.
Notable mammoths[]
- The Dark Oliphant was an infamous mammoth built of dark gray ironwood and commanded by the ogre magi Gamminole, Metsalix, Corvaad, Mucklgun, and Dakanan. The Dark Oliphant had an illustrious career, serving well after the end of the first Unhuman War, and was responsible for destroying a score of elven battleships, and was able to single handedly destroy twice its own tonnage in armada's. During one such engagement, a desperate elven mage teleported onto the Dark Oliphant's bridge with a large barrel of smokepowder and lit the fuse. The resulting explosion destroyed the ogre mammoth's series helm, allowing the surviving elves to mop up the remaining ogres, retrieve any surviving elven crew, and limp back to base. The wreck of the Dark Oliphant floats through wildspace to this day.[4]
- The dinotherium Elfsbane was the flagship of the scro Sky Shark battalion, under the command of General Grimnosh.[5]
- The Grinder was stationed onboard Gamaro Base in Moragspace, and was tasked with patrolling the crystal sphere.[6]
- The Thundertusk was the flagship of the scro Tarantula Fleet, under the command of Fleet Admiral Halker.[7]
Appendix[]
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ Ed Greenwood, SJR1 Lost Ships, 1990, (TSR Inc.), Ship Catalog chapter, pages 54-56
- ↑ Bruce Nesmith, SJS1 Goblins' Return, 1991, (TSR Inc.), Ogre Mammoth Ship, page 60
- ↑ Dale "Slade" Henson, War Captain's Companion, Ship Recognition Manual, 1992, (TSR Inc.), Ships of the Spelljammer Universe, page 33
- ↑ Lawrence M. Kapture, "Mammoth Problems", Dungeon Magazine issue 41, May/June 1993, (TSR Inc.), pages 36-44
- ↑ Elaine Cunningham, The Cloakmaster Cycle, The Radiant Dragon, 1992, (TSR Inc.), page 49
- ↑ Bruce Nesmith, SJS1 Goblins' Return, 1991, (TSR Inc.), page 8
- ↑ Roger E. Moore, The Cloakmaster Cycle, The Maelstrom's Eye, 1992, (TSR Inc.), page 98