Arhulian Vessel: Astral Wayfarer
Another excellent commission from @skekla!
This time, it's an important piece of Arhulian Technology, their great living ships.
The vessel takes the form of a large spherical or ovoid core enshrined is a cage of semi-metallic material that looks like a cross between grown wood and sculpted bone. The ship moves with no apparent propulsion. Most Arhulian ship's have a dominant direction of travel, though they can generate secondary thrust in any direction. This particular specimen is a few hundred meters long for the exterior structure, and the core of the vessel is a few dozen meters in diameter. These ships can travel in space via several methods from direct spacial translation (normal movement), Faster than light directional travel, translocation to a known point of space/beacon, and can shift between real space, and umbral space - a shadowy dimension that's a reflection of real space, but can almost never interact with directly.
The core is the central habitation part of vessel with itself containing a pocket dimension. Inside this pocket dimension is an area of habitation directly suited for Arhulians - often resembling a portion of their home world. Exact dimensional translations are not known, but the pocket dimensions can be anywhere from ten, to well over a hundred times what it's real space dimensions would suggest. The core acts as a physical anchor between the the pocket dimension and real space. While the superstructure largely serves as a focus for the vessel's real space capabilities such as propulsion or energy projection. The ability to directly manifest and channel energy can be a deadly surprise to other space faring civilizations who assume the vessel is defenseless from it's wiry and streamlined appearance.
The core is extremely dense and resilient to to physical damage. Unlike a lot of attempts to create pocket spaces with magic or technological means, the pocket of umbral space the core houses is self stable - should the core be destroyed - the interior space is unharmed and the vessel simply loses it's ability to shift in between dimensions or move. Being stranded until a new anchor is produced is a comparatively minor problem to have versus your mass detonating like antimatter because physics no longer exist and you spontaneously decompose with unimaginable violence.
The ship's superstructure looking like sculpted wood or carved bone is no coincidence. 'Arhdrargyrum' is the "living metal" that make up Arhulian bones, and physical tree-like structures. A Vessel that has it's Anchor destroyed can grow a new anchor in real space given enough time. Meanwhile powerful Arhulian psions can individually shift in and out of real space to bridge the gap.
Eons ago, such a vessel came to the primordial rock that would then become known as earth. The original vessel has since "taken root" both in real space and in umbral space as a permanent Arhulian colony. Any other vessels in the region of this pale blue dot are seeds borne of this original arc.
