Sylvian Starsailor: A LEGO® creation by Eric Landreneau : MOCpages.com

Sylvian Starsailor

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A home away from home between the stars for tree-huggers and earth mothers.

About this creation

SAIL AND SENSOR ARRAY

The broad, semi-organic photosynthetic sail increases the light-drinking surface area of this living, growing cyborganic treeship. Force fields projected from the edges extend the sails out for miles, creating enough surface to catch the delicate, diaphanous solar winds within star systems, allowing this ship to maneuver about in-system without polluting the environment with toxic fusion exhaust.

The array of sensors, beacons and receivers at the center of the sail allow the treemind and the passengers and crew to maintain constant contact with the other unwashed hippies of the galaxy, and track down and clean up every last bit of debris, down to the last organic burrito wrapper, left floating about after the latest zero-g jam festival.

HABITATION ZONE

Shunning the bulky steel and spun-polymer hullplates of the ships churned out by the corporate industrial machine of mainstream galactic culture, this ship's only hull is a transparent force field, letting all the light of the galaxy soak in uninterrupted. When travelling between star systems, the crew sets up a small fusion event inside an orbiting force bubble to take the place of sunlight.

The ship was designed by the giant sentient tree, in conjunction with the hippies... I mean human crew. The humans live in the habitation pods in the tree's branches, and work in the various pre-fab shacks around the base of the tree, in the engineering zones, or in office space in the upper branches.

The green dome at the very top of the tree is the bridge.

ENGINEERING

The giant treemind's roots grow down through the habitation zone and into the moisture-rich air around the power-plant. When the ship voyages between star systems it collapses its force-field sails and feeds power to the Trans-L drive, blasting the hive of tree-huggers off to the next protest or interplanetary be-in.

Before the tramps split your system, and good riddance to them, you may want to ask yourself 1 question: Do you know where your daughters are?

Are you sure?

*This model was heavily inspired by Dan Simmons' "Hyperion" books, as well as Kevin Anderson's "Saga of Seven Suns," though I'd bet money he read Hyperion before he started writing the Saga. If "Avatar's" Na'vi ever went into space, it might be aboard something like this.

**Builder's complaints: Wish I had enough appropriate brown pieces to make the tree bigger, especially taller; Wish I had at least 6 more sails, to make the sail slightly closer to the size it should need to be for a ship like this.

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I made it

Eric Landreneau

June 26, 2012

Quoting Clever Crowe Wish more of your (quite nice, I shouldn't wonder) Pictures weren't broken, because this is a beautiful Ship. Reminiscent of the Solar Sailers in the original TRON, but a stylish re-imagining of that look. I also love, and highly commend the SCIENCE in your Science Fiction, loving that you've either incorporated function into your build as you went (indicating good organization and pre-planning), or, you've wrapped science around Form (which would indicate an adaptable imagination). BOTH win. Cheers!!!

Pictures fixed! Hey, thanks for the comment. The build was a mix of both pre-planning and improvisation. I was doodling with using the brown tubes to make a twisted tree trunk, but then didn't know what to do wit it... till I thought of Dan Simmons' Treeships. Some of the science is stolen from his books... actually, all of it is :-) Either way, I always create stories in my head while I build, so I keep thinking of how the build would be in "real life". I try to make things complete. That always involves thinking about what sort of technology would have to be in play. Thanks again. I mostly prefer system building to bionicle-style construction, but your creations show me what bionicle-ish bits can really do.

I like it

Clever Crowe

June 24, 2012

Wish more of your (quite nice, I shouldn't wonder) Pictures weren't broken, because this is a beautiful Ship. Reminiscent of the Solar Sailers in the original TRON, but a stylish re-imagining of that look. I also love, and highly commend the SCIENCE in your Science Fiction, loving that you've either incorporated function into your build as you went (indicating good organization and pre-planning), or, you've wrapped science around Form (which would indicate an adaptable imagination). BOTH win. Cheers!!!

I like it

El Barto !

November 17, 2011

Crafty design!

I like it

Matt Hanson

October 8, 2011

B- for the build itself but A for the sheer scientific jibber-jabber and thoughtfulness that goes with it. Of course, the green is great as well. You put a lot of thought into your posts, nice work.