(By Illuminati on Shipbucket with technical and design aid by myself)
The CB-133 MBT, was the result of the joint efforts of the POP nations to develop and successor to the venerable but increasingly outdated and unwieldy STRV 131, leveraging lessons and technologies learned and developed during the MFP program. The STRV 131 and resulting variants were becoming increasingly overweight and the small chassis provided no easy solution to upgrade the powerplant. Furthermore, the tanks proved to be maintenance heavy and costly to operate. This, combined with the apparent stagnation of ESO armor development and recent trends in guerrilla conflicts, demonstrated the potential vulnerabilities of the STRV 131 should it be deployed on a high intensity combat environment. Attack drones, ATGMs and NLOS precision munitions were expected to become the major threat and the already problematic mobility of the JHGC meant that up-armoring upgrades were sometimes suboptimal due to weigh constraints.

The CB-133 solved many of these issues. The all crew in hull design (driver, gunner and commander) reduced the amount of armor modules considerably, thus reducing weight and freeing up space for extra systems. A hybrid diesel-electric propulsion pack provided a huge increase in range over the thirsty EMESA turbine found on the STRV 131, and the batteries negated the need for a dedicated APU. Another setback of the JHGC was the relatively reduced ammo load of 26 rounds. The 130mm caliber, while formidable, meant that only so many rounds could be carried at once. Thus a decision was made to a lower caliber but higher pressure 120mm gun, with a unconventional autoloader, and ammo stored in the turret basket, something reminiscent of contemporary to ESO designs. This allowed to keep comparable performance (at the cost of lower barrel life) while increasing the ammo count to 38 ready rounds, feed to the gun by the autoloader, located behind the gun. The autoloader system was capable of a cyclic RoF of around 7 seconds, with automatic casing ejection and automatic restock capability via the access hatch on the top of the turret.

Another concerning aspect of the STRV 131 was that all the ammunition was located in the turret bustle. The profile was optimized for frontal protection, and while still a safe layout, crew survivability wise, it now proved to be very vulnerable to attacks from above, where the ammo was now exposed from 4 sides, leading to a easy mission kill. Now on the CB-133, the ammunition was to be stored in the hull, more easily protected from top attack munitions.

The hull ammo storage however raised concerns that any hit to the ammo in the basket would result in a catastrophic explosion, dooming the vehicle and the crew. To prevent this, extensive measures were taken. Individual ammunition pieces were now properly compartmentalized in individual armored bins, and the carousel itself was now armored from the sides and bottom and coated on the outside and inside with spall liners. Furthermore, a comprehensive fire suppression system was installed, with direct connection to each individual round, meant to put out any fires that started in the compartments within milliseconds. The propellant used was itself less prone to accidental combustion and could only be properlly triggered via the electric plasma ignitor on the firing assembly.
Should all this fail, the 2 maintenance hatches were also designed in such a way as to act like blow-out panels for the hull ammo, venting the explosion to the top of the turret.

To counter the now prolific drones and ATGMs, all tanks were equipped from the start with a hard-kill APS, along with radio jammers and a comprehensive LWR/RWR suite.
Both the commander and gunner had access to 3rd gern thermal sights, with a back up 2nd gen pop-up sight. Along with this, all crewmembers had access to 360 IR and visual light cameras for increased situational awereness.
Hidropneumatic suspension allowed for increased mobility, a feature retained from the STRV 131, allowing for more gun elevation and depression than the mechanicaly allowed -7/+27 degrees.

Zorustache sailor uniform above only differs in the pants' hue; tbh, the right one looks better, eh.

This uniform consisted of a polo shirt, pants, a sailor hat, and a putee.

The color of the shirt and hat uses teal to match the sky, while the pants use ocean green to match the ocean.

Thank you for visiting my mockup presentation, have a great day.

(DISCLAIMER: This post and/or art depiction is NOT meant to promote the ideologies shown, but rather to depict how they would react & function in a civil conflict, & show the evils they can truly be capable of. I myself astoutly disagree with said group being depicted here, however this civil war scenario is supposed to be realistic & highlight aspects of American history, culture, and politics, which includes extreme & fringe ideologies. I deeply apologize if this does not come off in good taste or discomforts people, especially victims to the predjudice of these groups. As for would-be supporters of these groups, you are not welcome to spread hateful ideologies here, and no, you are not the good guys here, this is not meant to make you look cool.)

Throughout the history of America, ever since the end of Reconstruction, the idea of the confederacy and "Dixieland" never truly (or at least fully) died out, persevering through racial violence, regional nationalism, and revisionist narratives, like that of the Lost Cause theory. This concept of sovereign American southern states known by many, would end up becoming inseparable from racial tensions & christian-conservativism in the modern era, almost 200 years after the Confederacy lost the 1st civil war. In the powder keg that was the Crumbling 30's, these beliefs, kept alive by far right movements seen in rising prevalence in the 2010s & 2020s, used the unrest of the Post-Trump era to imbed their beliefs in the populations of the South, with one of them being the League of the South (Alternatively labeled the Southern Nationalist league). Originally founded in Alabama, 1994 as a fringe neo-confederate organization, they went from a declining, rotting bunch to an active political voice of Christian nationalism by preaching on the fears many former MAGA voters. That however, would not be the only way they grew, as they would also target propaganda & recruitment efforts- both in outside rallies/in-person conversing, and in targeted social media posts- to sheriffs & deputies throughout Alabama, as a maans of infiltrating law enforcement. Despite still maintaining their segregationalist & radical secessionist views- things that would be a tad bit unappealing to a mainstream Christian conservative- they were decently successful in increasing their numbers (going from hundreds to thousands) and actually gained more from the county sherif & deputy system then they expected. Many of their members in their militia branch, The Southern Defense Force, had owned quite a few firearms as well, though they often avoided displaying them & being too loud about it to avoid investigation & conflict from law enforcement. When the keg blew open in the 2040s, members of who successfully managed to avoid the military & surveillance technology scrambled to organize as much of the Southern Defense Force as they could, and had their connections from the County Sheriffs offices & Deputies secure ungaurded/ low-activity areas in Alabama. Since chaos had begun erupting throughout much of the nation, and the Militaty & national Gaurd were spread thin or focused on urban areas, the SDF took advantage of this and began taking over rural & low-population counties throughout Alabama. After 11 months, through the use of low cost guerilla fighting & drones, and the mobilization of any members who weren't already involved- they had begun to encompass most of Alabama, had built up a decent sized fighting force, and with the help of the deputies & sheriffs they had, were able to control the people under their territory much easier. The US military & national gaurd still holds out in the state via pockets of military bases & some counties, and the surrounding areas are still under government control, however the Military is still spread thin, and those pockets are either stuck with no means of gaining significant supplies, or are occasionally Airdropped supplies. Regardless, the Leage of the South has begun embarked on its journey of reuniting the southern states under its own banner, and alongside this, seeks to do so with laws written in the name of God, aimed at maintaining ideological dominance & supressing racial minorities through segregation and deportation. though its fight has only just begun, and they are noticeably pinned, & forced into being defensive over the state of Alabama.

Since they lack the technology, significant manpower, and the logistical capabilities of the US military, the League of the South/ Southern Nationalist League equips members of the Southern Defense Force with civilian weaponry & equipment, usually either being previously owned by the soldiers or supplied from law enforcement armouries, gun stores, and army surplus locations. They all generally wear LOS/SNL branded black & white shirts, usually with varied camoflage pants & other cosmetic accessories. They also often wear PASGT ballistic helmets branded with insignia, and also mostly wear variations of branded load-bearing vests in favor of typical plate carriers due to their superior mobility & capacity for holding items. While they are a relatively organized rebel army, they fight asymmetrically & lack standard issue loadouts for their men. Soldiers of the SDL may often be carrying molotov cocktails, modified drones, mechanical tools, radios, flares, IEDs, knives, bandages, snacks, water bottles, flash grenades, smoke bombs, extra ammunition pouches, riot sheilds, cameras, or flashlights. As for their weaponry, they are similarly mostly limited to civilian firearms, with most SDF soldiers using AR-platform rifle configurations, usually chambered in 5.56 NATO. Some also may use shotguns for shooting drones, bolt action rifles & marksman rifle configurations for sniping, and may even carry sidarms as well.

>"Rescued Imperials from a sunken ship are spreading rumors about a new type of weapon, and engineering bureaus across the country are beginning to try to create a Ferrian response to a new word in weapons science. <...>"

from the one issue of Les Heraut Liberaux, Ferrian national newspaper.

The first Ferrian submachine gun was designed when Ferria was still neutral and non-aligned. It was designed in a matter of three weeks and it was immedeately put in production.

Cheap. Light. And... uh... it's... Yeah, I can't say anything positive about this SMG. Perhaps it was the fastest SMG by the time of manufacturing criteria. I think you can literally make one in 3 hours.

It was shooting just a little bit slower than Imperial "Defender" SMG, but does it even matter?

The 2nd Union is widely regarded as the successor of the Federal Government, with most of the Federal Infantry Divisions at their disposal and the capital being in D.C. , they are also one of the 2 strongest factions in the former United States, on par with the midwestern successor state

The Union, during its founding after the collapse of the United States, funded the D.C. National Guard into a militarized police and counter-terrorism force as well as a regular division of infantry, they have the highest standards for regular national guard infantrymen due to the Capital being the most important city in the Union, they are rarely deployed outside the District Of Columbia, Virginia and Maryland

The 1st Infantry Division, the “Big Red One” is the oldest continuous serving United States Army Division, based in Fort Riley, Kansas prewar, the Big Red One, like most Federal Infantry, sided with the Union during America’s collapse and retreated towards bases like Fort Campbell, Fort Bragg and Fort Eustis (Joint Base Langley-Eustis), the Division was a critical component of the Union’s spearhead into the plains of the Midwest, facing relentless attacks across many states along with the 3rd, 101st and 82nd Divisions

As America tore itself apart, their neighbor, Canada at first chose not to intervene in America’s affairs, but, faced with threats to their hydroelectric dams in the Niagara River, the Canadian Parliament greenlit the 4th Canadian Division to cross the Niagara Causeway into Niagara Falls and Buffalo to secure the American and Canadian dams along Western New York, although the people mostly disagreed with it, it was ultimately necessary to secure Canadian water supplies

Canada sent approximately a Battalion of Infantrymen with LAV-6s, Leopard 2A4s and Leopard 2A4M CANs into New York, where they dug in to deter other factions from attacking the new security zone

The Canadian and American flags would fly in Buffalo until a remnant of the Federal Government reunifies the United States, if not, Canada will hold on to the territory and it can only be conquered by force

ARS Rightous Frenzy is a concept first thought up before the end of the Liberation War as a method to ambush and raid Imperial shipping before fading away without needing a Gate or Leap Carrier.
It wasn't economical at the time, due to the lack of drives in rebel possession. But, in the years after the war when a bunch of low grade drives were available, the Aurumites started making a line of Cruiser-Raiding Torches to control their vast territories and attack those who stand against their King.

Each Raiding Torch of this type is uniquely designed to the specification of its commander, and the crews are hand picked by their superiors ( general spacers are picked by junior officers, senior officers pick junior officers, commander picks the senior officers) for their loyalty and ruthlessness.
These ships are not as combat effective compared to non-FTL craft of the same displacement, as they dedicate a lot of mass, power and heat removal to their FTL infastructure. This does give them some benefits, like a lot of power that can be shunted to sensors or even heavy-duty shielding like BattleScreens that its peers cannot do, but the mass dedicated and high cost isn't considered worth it in many cases.

Conditions are pretty nice onboard, and the pay is really high for them, since they get prize, plunder, and resale money. But it is infinitely more risky than being on a normal, supported torchship.

Righteous Frenzy is commanded by Fyodor Adina, a former Imperial spacer for whom atrocities seem to be his bread and butter. He plundered hundreds of ships throughout his career, bombed a dozen worlds back into compliance, and has the distinction for killing the only Union’s Pride-class Battleship ever destroyed in combat with torpedos while it was orbiting Gal'Haidan providing fire support to provisional government forces. He was ennobled for that, and his crew supposedly made enough money that they didn't leave Obeld Station's pleasure quarters for a week.

My Idea: What if you take a Stug 3 Chassis, modernize it, and weld the biggest engine block you can find to the back... And make it about 2.5 times in size... You get the A-60

Description. The A-60 is in use by the Federation's military and saw widespread use in the third world war from 2055-to this day where it fights as one of the main armored vehicles for the Federation and UNIDAD against the forces of the United States and later the United States Military Authority.

Dimensions with barrel:

Length: 12.1m

Width: 5.4 m

Height 3.5 m

It weighs around 82 tons.

Weaponry:

The main weaponry of the A-60 is made of one large main cannon, a secondary cannon, and 12 rocket-mortat pods. The main cannon is generally used by the Federation to destroy heavily armored positions. For that, it uses a variety of different munitions including the dreaded Acid Rounds: Rounds that spread an aerosolized acid after detonation with devastating, yet be it cruel, effect for surrounding infantry.

The secondary weapon is mounted on top the main cannon and is intended to engage smaller armored targets like vehicles and small fortifications. Since the tank can only store a limited amount of primary cannon munitions, the secondary gun is used mostly for engaging light enemy armor, small bunkers or infantry.

On top, the A-60 features 12 semi-smart pods holding rocket-mortar rounds. Based on the tank's position, the crew can mark a target on a map of the surrounding area which the pods then turn into coordinates and launch with the specific flight path up to 500 meters. Types are generally split between a direct hit munition, or a clustered munition which breaks off mid air to release dozens of smaller explosive pellets for area denial.

Other weaponry includes a top mounted Furia XMG heavy machine gun.

The crew of the A-60 includes four men. The driver, the primary gunner responsible for both main cannons, the secondary gunner responsible for HMG and the mortar, and the loader, who has to load both main cannons. Since both weapons cannot be fired simultaneously, the loader relies on verbal instructions from the primary gunner for which weapon to load the respective munitions

General Strengths and Weaknesses

- It is primarily used to engage heavily fortified and or armored positions with its main guns. Other than that, it is exceptionally well armored, even on top, which makes it very effective and important in urban street to street fighting.

- weaknesses include the quiet vulnerable tracks and the back of the vehicle, where the massive diesel driven engine is located.

- another weakness is the vehicle's fuel demand and size. For both, it relies on the large logistical network to supply it with adequate fuel reserves and necessary combat engineering when demanded (most infamously specialized pontoon bridges or bridge layer vehicles)

I created this in blender. However, I've used certain parts from the sketchfab creator Hakuu Inan, mostly the smoke launchers, for kitbashing some details. If you spot any imperfections, that's just me not being that good at blender as of now as I only just started doing it.

The Great War, the final battle, the last catalyst. Many names have been given to the event that forced man kind to flee old earth and venture into the stars, yet one title, one universal title is known upon all of the future human civilization that would settle into space, The Shattering. During the last wars, one of the great powers of old earth activated a weapon that broke the crust underneath, ushering great horrors once thought to be nothing more than tales. The powers that would be fled with their best and brightest, people they deemed valuable, of use, who could continue their legacy into the stars. The rest of humanity were left, forced to fester in the dying plaguing carcass that has become their home

From the cosmos, two civilizations would be born, out formed out of the fires of the old world, seeking to emulate the past, while the other has longed moved pasted it, learning to adapt to its current environment

Federation marine : Most of the federation forces are heavily comprised of Automation, with the Federation ground army being entirely made up of drones of various kinds. However human manned combatants still exist. The federation marines act as an elite shock troopers tasked with executing more precise roles that the regular army isn’t able to perform.

U.A.S Volunteer: Due to the nature of the U.A.S being a loose coalition of independent systems rather than a central government like the federation, the idea of a centralized unified military force had never entered the conversation until its conflict with the federation. Prior, the U.A.S had mostly relied on its own systems to create and use their own military force for protection, usually against pirates. But with the growing conflict against the federation, it raised the issue of its lack of military readiness. The newly established U.A.S military were predominantly comprised of volunteers forces of former system militaries that have now joined as one. As such uniform, equipment and personal can vary greatly, with some soldiers hailing from human origins and being issued different equipment than their extraterrestrial counterparts.

M17 BDU (Battle Dress Uniform)

Manufacturer:

Marineris Arms Logistics Corps, based in Valles Marineris, Mars. Adopted in: 2157 In use between: 2157-present (2308) In use by: UWS (United Worlds of Sol) Marine Corps, UWS Army (Limited use), undetermined amount of surplus gear in circulation, Nemesis Fortification Group (PMC)

In-universe context:

The M17 BDU is the slow culmination of decades in suit development, with the aim of making an EVA suit that's compact and mobile enough to be adopted in military use. It was originally commissioned by the UWS Navy as a new interior uniform for their crews on smaller craft like patrol vessels and corvettes, but showed promise for a combat role when ballistic tests were done. It was put into service in 2157, originally only for the UWS Navy and Marine Corps, but some branches of the UWS Army, the Martian and the Titan branches, adopted it for their special forces units. The uniform was tested on Mars, Titan, the radioactive ruins of Washington DC and Ganymede. As the design is over 150 years old, it is extremely common. A variant of the M17 BDU is still in UWS service, nations and organisations in other star systems rely on it, even the civilian sector employs surplus M17's for their rugged nature. Mercenary groups or irregular military often use these too due to ease of acquisition. This leads to common jokes and sayings that "Everybody uses an M17 variant, just with their own coat of paint". The mantra isn't 100% true, as of course some nations or groups have the means to design and manufacture their own suits. The current estimate for produced M17 BDU's is 60 million, but the exact number is unknown due to the amount of suits produced outside of MALC factories under license or copied.

Environmental specifications:

Can survive pressures between vacuum and 2 bar, but internal pressure should be regulated to allow for easy movement. Fabrics and armour have a thin aerogel layer for temperature insulation. With the internal mechanism, it can allow the user to survive temperatures between -200C and 80C within 1atm. The life support allows the user to operate independently of an Earth-like atmosphere for approximately 15 minutes. When entering a breathable atmosphere, the suit can reset the air filters for another 15-minute session. When combined with a proper EVA life support pack, the life support time can be extended to several hours. Radiation protection is adequate for most activities, but long term exposure is still unsafe. Cancer growth prevention meds are recommended when going through on EVA often, and good luck surviving a long time around Io.

Armour specifications:

The main plate is slightly flexible (Not a standard fabric, but enough for the user to bend and turn unhindered) and has a shear thickening fluid layer within. That property lets the armour absorb kinetic energy from impacts, preventing internal damage (Like a cracked rib). It can shrug off 9mm (and equivalent) pistol cartridges, might survive intermediate rifle cartridges (5.56x45mm NATO and equivalents) from the right angles, but a battle rifle round (7.62x51mm NATO, the UWS standard round) will penetrate. Not all surfaces are made of this material though. The shoulders and thighs are covered in the same fabric designed for survival and light puncture protection. The forearms and legs are have traditional non-articulated ceramic composite armour, as those areas can be used to attach equipment and they aren't as vulnerable to kinetic energy as the torso (They only have flesh and a single, relatively tough bone inside). The helmet offers protection similar to 20/21st century combat helmets, being able to block pistol rounds and potentially survive rifle hits with a combined ceramic composite/ST fluid build. The visor is vulnerable to most weapons fire, meaning headshots are lethal more often than not.

Tech integrated:

The visor has several features. To help with intense light from firefights or sunlight in vacuum, the polarisation level can change to accomodate the current situation. A HUD system is present too. It displays basic information like oxygen and electricity levels, ammunition count and a reticle for weapons (Provided that they have a compatible laser aiming module) and rangefinder data. Connected to the helmet's side camera, it can highlight targets based on IR readings, like an augmented reality headset. To prevent the likelihood of friendly fire, the helmets have and suits have an IFF tag that changes the highlight on friendly troops. A basic comms suite is present, allowing for communication over 20 kilometers away. Attachments are popular with the helmet system too, allowing for extended communications range, painting targets for air/artillery support, or optics that can spot targets far enough to turn infantry combat into near-BVR warfare.

Variants presented:

Pilot: Armour stripped down. Helmet replaced with a variant that can easily connect to spacecraft life support systems, has a clearer view, less protection and a more advanced HUD system that can read eye movement for controls.

Up-armoured: Heavier, adding a faceplate on the visor (With redundant cameras and an internal projector for vision, removable if damaged), reinforced alloys in some locations, shoulder pauldrons and applying the ST fluid layer in more areas, hindering movement slightly. On paper, a soldier clad in this can survive anything short of an anti-materiel rifle round. In practice, that claim isn't as solid, but this configuration gives an edge in CQB nonetheless. It is an unpopular variant due to extra mechanical complexity and reliance on the cameras built into the visor cover. Due to the added mass of the armour sections, many users wear a compact exoskeleton under the pressure layer (Under as it's isolated from the elements therefore less failure-prone).

Author's notes: Yes, the pilot helmet is inspired by the F-35 HMDS :) I'm sorry if the human anatomy is imperfect. My goal was to present the general details of the suit. I might post specific modified variants in the future. Sorry if my sentence structure is subpar, English isn't my first language.

I am currently working on a setting with late 19th century black powder weapons technology and one of the factions has Krupp breech loading steel cannons, Gatling guns (rifle caliber for horse artillery, 37mm HE shells for foot artillery) and mammoths.

So now I'm wondering how big a cannon they could strap on the back of a mammoth. I know that cannons were historically fired from the backs of elephants, but I don't know what caliber (or shell weight, since cannons were for a long time denoted as 6-Pounders for example) that would have been.

So my first guess was to give smaller wooly forest elephants of the region either rifle caliber manually operated MGs (Gatling, Nordenfelt, this one) or single shot breech loading 37mm guns while the mammoths carry 37mm Gatling guns with 3 or 5 barrels. So basically, mammoths would combine the rate of fire of these manually operated MGs with the explosive power of the swivel guns.

But for the big, single shot guns, I am not sure how big would be reasonable.

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SG-74M with a Vita Vt-1 Telescopic Sight.

The SG-74 is an Battle Rifle Manufactured by Isle Technology Weapon Industries (ITWI) and chambered in 7.62mm Gewehr.

History

In 1962 after Isle Independence from the State Of Konsovyla, the nation needed a Weapon that is cheap enough to produce and easy enough to use in any terrain.

Development

By 1963, they start to make some prototypes, the first prototype was called PG-63, chambered 7.62mm and can fit 30 rounds and use gas-operated mechanism.

But the millitary disliked it, calling it as "Cheap but Unreliable", because it has too many problems. One of the problems are it doesn't have selective fire mode and the millitary hate that problem.

So in 1973, they made a new one and it was called the SG-74, can put attachment, have selective fire mode, and easy produce.

SG-74

Type: Battle Rifle (SG-74).

Semi Automatic Sniper Rifle (SG-74L).

Trainee Rifle (UG-74).

Place of Orgin: Isle.

User:

• Union Federation Konsovyla.

• Federal Republic Of Isle.

Manufacturer: Isle Technology Weapon Industries (ITWI).

Conflicts:

• Isle Crisis (1976-1979).

• Konsovylan Embassy Siege (1979).

• Second Moravian invasion of Konsovyla (1982).

In service: 1974 - Present.

Specification

Mass: 4,25-kg.

Length: 1,090-mm.

Barrel length: 533-mm.

Cartridge: 7.62mm Gehwer.

Action: roller-delayed blowback.

Sights:

• Iron Sight.

• Telescopic Sight.

On an alternate Earth, the church slowly assumed all nations until it was but a single one, known as Novus Eden.

Novus Eden is led by a Tripaparchy, with three ordained government leaders of equal power, in reference to the Holy Trinity, known as “The Word”(Legislative branch), “The Wrath”(Judicial) and “The Will”(Executive).

Latin phrases on their office seals;

verbum eius, lex nostra (His word, our law)

iram eius timemus (His wrath, we fear)

voluntas eius fiat (His will be done)

Directly below The Will are the Hosts. Seven members who each oversee a different aspect of the military. They are the highest-ranking military members, and have a special title “Host (Surname)”, which stands for “He/Her of St.”. When using the abbreviation, you state the person’s name instead of the saint they represent. If you say the full title, you say the saint they represent instead.

Greetings all, I recently figured out a whimsical tradition of one of my setting's space navies. The picture above aims to illustrate the scope of this tradition. It combines Sequoia-like trees with Sweden's Navy Forest on the island of Visingsö. The Senaka trees are found in a Cheyenne descendant state on the arboreal world of Cascadia, the second colonised world in the capital star system of the Casarian Star Kingdom. Like the real Sequoia trees, it's named after a Native American.

Credits: The photograph—titled Sixteen mounted soldiers of F Troop standing in front of "Grizzley Giant" —was taken Charles C. Pierce in California circa 1900.

Ship's Masts

Each vessel constructed in HM Astral Service of the Casarian Star Kingdom is officially baptised in the mast-stepping ceremony. This peculiar ceremony finds its origins in the sailing ships of maritime navies, where coins were placed beneath a mast to carry good luck. During the final stage of construction, the ship’s first commanding officer places a steel coin, after which the mast is placed on top of it. Following the mast-stepping ceremony, the ship's name, the name of her first commanding officer, and the inscription carried upon that officer's service cutlass are inscribed onto the exposed faces of the mast on the quarterdeck and bridge. Subsequent commanders and their chosen inscriptions are added during change of command ceremonies, transforming the mast into a living chronicle of the vessel's history. This tradition has directly inspired His Majesty’s Astral Service anthem Starwards, Heart of Senaka, a ceremonial quick march with sung lyrics played at important events like the mast-stepping ceremony.

During the mast-stepping ceremony, as well as decommissioning and change of command ceremonies, the mast receives a blessing according to the commanding officer’s religion or the monarch’s religion in case the commander is irreligious. Likewise, battle honours and the service cutlasses of notable commanders or flag officers are enshrined upon the exposed faces of the mast during ceremonial observances, becoming permanent fixtures of the vessel's living history.

The mast itself is a large pillar running from the ventral to the dorsal side of the ship and must have exposed sides in the quarterdeck and bridge. Moreover, it's incorporated into the ship's internal architecture and serves a largely ceremonial role. Because of these requirements, natural Senakan wood is used, which is cultivated on multiple military worlds. Originally named after the pioneer Senaka of the Confederacy of Sutaia, these fast-growing behemoths can reach up to 120 m in height and trunks of 12 m, making them ideal for their ceremonial function aboard ships.

Although these masts historically ran throughout the many decks of a vessel, the tradition persists, and masts have been shortened to accommodate the spinal helical rail cannons that shape modern Casarian naval doctrine. Nevertheless, these masts are placed uninterrupted from the ship’s bridge at the centre of the vessel all the way to the exposed quarterdeck.

After either decades or centuries of service, when a ship is decommissioned, the mast will be removed, and the steel coin reused for another vessel, which is believed to carry on the good luck. Through specialised arboricultural techniques, the mast is regenerated into a living Senaka tree and then planted in so-called Astral or Naval Forests as a testament to a ship’s service. These forests hold great cultural importance throughout the Star Kingdom and are at present maintained by the Royal Auxiliary Navy, which retains a dedicated Forester rate for their stewardship. From these trees then sprout other trees that are in turn used as starship masts, creating a palpable century-spanning national heritage. A large proportion of these forests are found in regions with strong naval traditions, such as the Elymeric Reach and Tozorian Corridor. The oldest such forest is situated in the Confederacy of Sutaia on Cascadia. Additionally, local forests also name specific breeding trees after naval commanders of particular renown whose origins are found on the respective world.