Built and crewed only by the most powerful industrial settlements, Dreadnaughts are enormous vehicles that function as mobile trade-centers, and warships of terrifying force. 

The concept of extremely large “mega frost-ships” has existed since the Widow’s Passage. Most factions decided against such a risky undertaking and opted for smaller, more maneuverable craft.Even though Cities in the Guild typically possessed the raw resources needed for creating mega-ships in their early years, they continued to produce smaller craft in order to stay competitive with their neighbors. With the creation of the Guild and the shift towards heavy-industry, designs for ships became “bulkier”. Vehicles produced during this time (2033-45), had a primary emphasis on storage-capacity. They were slow, easy prey for the Clans. After Tara’s final proclamation at Conver, aggression against the Cities increased significantly. The Clans started coordinating their trades and raiding to strategically weaken the Guild’s component settlements. Although the cities themselves remained unassailable, they continued to bleed resources and personnel due to attacks on shipping. 

By 2043, the situation was clear: the Guild could not maintain power through economic strength alone, they needed offensive assets. Furthermore, they needed something that the Clans couldn’t compete with. Once again, mega-ships came back into consideration. Vessels of extreme size could support the heavy armaments designed for city walls while having high storage capacity for trading. The main problem was the energy-source for such a project. 

Hydrocarbon engines were strongly opposed. Even though the Guild could manufacture versions powerful enough to move a mega-ship, their fuel consumption would be incredibly problematic. Nuclear power was also considered. However the Guild decided against it due to the obvious radiation hazards, and the ethical danger of WOMDs. 

Formers introduced Bazmin, Jim Rillerman’s adopted son and a promising Caller (His name was derived from his only words for two years after being rescued, “I was found in a basement”), to redox reactions and proposed that they could be used to power a super-vehicle. They specifically targeted someone with skill at mystic-framing to increase the overall significance of Dreadnaughts to the Guild— instead of another technical innovation, the super vehicles would herald a new cultural era in the Cities and America as a whole. This intervention happened in the summer of 2043 while Bazmin was on his pilgrimage in the Strets. During the rest of the trip, he compulsively sketched concepts, outlined speeches, and framed the argument he would present to the Guild. His “pitch” to a senior CC (Contingency Committee) at Conver was a handful of readings from a fictionalized Clan perspective on interacting with a Guild super-vehicle. In this interaction, he coined the term “Dreadnaught”. The CC was intrigued. Sensing the project’s potential, and risk, they told Bazmin to assemble a company and head to Denver, Colorado. The city was a lesser member of the Guild. It had been initiated shortly after the Widow’s Passage with the intent of securing Guild interests in the West. However, with the advent of the Federation and Hellridge’s dominion over their exports, Denver was struggling. The city was desperate enough to risk a project like constructing a Dreadnaught, and expendable enough to have that project to fail spectacularly. 

By the winter of 2044, Bazmin had Denver’s complete backing in his vision. The people there were hopeful for a future where they were not constantly abused by the Clans, and eager to serve the Guild in a meaningful way. 

Bazmin divided his company to tackle the primary challenges associated with building the first Post-Burnout super-vehicle:

• The reactor and fuel-source: After further experimentation, the chemists in Bazmin’s company designed an ideal fuel-mix for the project, which would become known as “Rustfire”. They then constructed a boiler made from specially-prepared concrete and a schematic for the vehicle’s internal thermodynamics. 
• Resource Acquisition: Bazmin’s steel-tongues worked with Denver’s to procure the specific resources needed to construct the vessel. The Guild had agreed to finance the project, and did so by funnelling the required metal sheets and beams through the Swells. 
• Structural Manufacturing:

Realizing that the Dreadnaught simply couldn’t be built entirely on one location,

Bazmin’s chief engineer sent a detachment to prepare the Dick’s Sporting Goods sports stadium on the outskirts of Denver to accommodate the 500-foot frame. This team then created the Dreadnaught’s “skeleton” out of structural beams and an improvised power-hammer. As components were completed, they were sent over to the stadium, or its surrounding lots for, fitting and extended testing. They were also responsible for planning the vessel’s final assembly.

• Component Manufacturing

While the basic structure was made in a sports stadium, the main components of the vehicle were made separately under a handful of overpasses in the main city. Crews would build the component, disassemble it, and ship it over to the stadium where it would undergo testing and be fitted. A train-system was developed exclusively to move the parts between sites.

• Theoretical Training and Indoctrination

By far the most difficult part of building the first Dreadnaught: forming a highly-trained crew for a vehicle that didn’t exist yet. Bazmin personally recruited 120 “Denvees” to undergo rigorous, hypothetical training. As the vehicle took shape, and weak points or mechanically problematic areas were identified, Bazmin’s team trained the crew on how to respond. The crew was also schooled in defensive warfare by a cadre of veterans from other Cities. Most importantly, Bazmin heavily indoctrinated the recruits in what was essentially an improvised cult. He worked on producing “scripture” on the proper reverence that a Dreadnaught was entitled to by its crew, the miracle of Rustfire, and how their project’s impact would reshape the Passage Lands. 

After two years of labor, and several test-drives in the Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Refuge Park, Rust Child, the first Dreadnaught was ready for launch. Her destination was OMAHA? With a cargo of three Rustfire reactors. Dever’s current niche in the Guild is a two year manufacturing cycle of Dreadnaught-specific components: the reactors, pressure-routing systems, steam-turbines, and whatever locomotion devices the “client city” has requested for their ship. Depending on various conditions, they typically make the parts for a new Dreadnaught every cycle. 

Cities use their own resources to produce the frames, weapons and everything that Denver can’t ship to them. However, they must request components a year in advance, wait through a manufacturing cycle, hope the completed parts are not raided en-route, and finally test their new Dreadnaught. A Dreadnaught takes 5 years to go from early design to finished vehicle. This way, each member of the Guild produces a unique “genus” of Dreadnaught with different emphasises on speed, range, defensibility, and firepower. 

Regardless of genus, all Dreadnaughts are fully enclosed and heated. Certain members of the crew can spend whole expeditions without sunlight or fresh air. Because of the vehicle’s size and complexity, substantial portions of the crew are dedicated entirely to maintenance and cleaning. Activities are tightly regimented and there is little personal freedom or time for anything except sleep. With these circumstances in mind, Bazmin wrote the initial theory on an altered-state that the entire crew could enter. Through conditioning by mystics, physical exhaustion, low light, and even the acoustics of the vehicle’s interior, crewmembers can slip into a sort of “ego-death” that brings heightened awareness, cohesion, and obedience— all while experiencing a profound satisfaction in their work.

The actual management of a Dreadnaught is too multifaceted for a single person. A “Master Council” is elected to oversee the vehicle’s activities:

• Steering and navigating the ship
• “War-captains” to coordinate the vessel, troops, and supporting fleet during combat.
• Daily Maintenance and repairing between attacks
• Trading with other factions
• Political correspondence with the Guild, other Dreadnaughts, and whatever factions the ship is currently involved with
• “Senior Callers” who handle the canonization of events, and bolster morale

Many of the individuals on the council are trained in performing several of these roles. Some members will oversee the day-to-day of the ship, while others will work separately on their own projects.

Just as Formers had hoped, the arrival of Dreadnaughts in the Passage Lands brought a profound impact on the Guild and the Clans. Both sides viewed the advent of Dreadnaughts as an act of retribution against the Clans for their continued abuse of the Cities. There was a consensus that the Guild had been forced to “beat the Clans at their own game” by making ships that their rivals simply couldn’t compete against. Indeed, traditional assaults crumpled against the heavy armor and heavier cannons of the Dreadnaughts. Thus, a small group of rogue companies were commissioned by the Great Clans to develop weapons and troops exclusively for attacking Dreadnaughts. These siege-companies were not intended to tip the scales in the Clan’s favor: they created a balance of power. With their agonizingly long production time, Dreadnaughts are slow to innovate, but their individual value is akin to a Great-Clan’s armada.