Hyborean Caledonia Cruiser

When the Howard expedition vanished from its planned course, few on Earth suspected that they might have been transported far across both time and space. Emerging onto a seemingly deserted stretch of space with a plethora of habitable planets, they began building and expanding swiftly. Resources were plentiful and all seemed well.

Within a few decades, nationalist tensions among the colonists drove the nascent confederation into division. What had been a united series of colonies fractured into a half-dozen states each proclaiming their own sovereignty. Contact with the Draconian Empire and the Tharkad Supremacy complicated the colonists' defense needs even further.

Founded by colonists hailing from Scandinavia and the British Isles, the Kingdom of Hyborea was one of the largest of the human realms in what would come to be known as the Hyborean Reaches. They would bear the brunt of the assault in the First Draconian War, and despite their early losses they would fight hard and long for their freedom.

The Caledonia-class cruiser is the workhorse of the Hyborean fleet, produced in large numbers and deployed in nearly every role the fleet fulfills that does not require a capital hull. Two pairs of Worcestinghouse 'Kestrel' hyperdrive coils provide her excellent FTL speed and maneuverability, matched by four Penn-Sylvan third-generation EMPulse thrusters for the STL envelope.

Her weapons suite is equally impressive, centered on the four twin-barrel positron cannon turrets. Comparable to battleship primary mounts of the First Draconian War, these guns enjoy an impressively wide field of fire - two to three turrets can almost always be brought to bear on any target. Supplementing these are twenty broadside-mount shock-bolt projectors, short-ranged but potent in their own right. Four torpedo launch tubes, mounted to either side of her bow, can carry warheads ranging from sensor or ECM packages to anti-matter charges.