Ooarai Shussin-Chifuni

A Shussion-Chifuni, or 'Hometown Ship' is in other words, a city ship. This is somewhere between a dedicated Ark class type megacruiser and a raft city, but demonstrating the visual and living aesthetic of an authentic feudal Japanese village.

The Ooarai

Oorai class Details: 1 in class

Length: 1399 meters long

Displacement: 250,000 tons

Decks: 15

Speed: 18 knots

Capacity: 7,000 passengers, 45,000 tons supplies

Crew: 700

Facilities:

Aerodrome - the Oorai has a rear deck aerodrome 'under' the lip of the Promenade deck. This facility can handle the Emperor's personal aerospace craft, Shogun One. When Shogun One isn't berthed, the facility can handle dozens of VIP helocraft, or three passenger liner aerospace craft so long as they have VTOL or hover capablity. It does not have a landing or take off runway, but it does has a linear rail launcher for passenger craft that need a kickstart launch.

Command and Communications center - The Oorai has all the electronics to ensure that despite being on holiday, the Emperor and his attendees are still fully connected to the government. This includes encryption, cyber protection, and the rest of the safeguards for the Emperor and his family.

Garrison - the Oorai has a compliment of highly trusted soldiers as it's marine compliment. The ship is the floating home of the Otomo Battalion, seasoned and veteran soldiers who have repeatedly demonstrated their utmost loyalty and devotion to not just the Emperor, but Nippon as well. The majority of the Otomo are older, and are highly skilled. The Battalion numbers around 100 members, but they are augmented, commandos, samurai, cyborgs, and parapsychics. Most Otomo members could defeat a conventional infantry battalion on their own.

The Shussion-Chifune is the idea of creating a recreational area that is not tied to a specific location, but also completely free of the incessant barrage of technology and media that dominates almost every population center in the Cosmic Era. Nippon has long lead the pack on immersive technology, omnipresent media and advertising, and the in-your-face style of news and entertainment. This creates a sort of tech and media fatigue, that wears on the soul. The Emperor, in his wisdom, instructed Midway Shipworks to build for him a retreat vessel, a place where he might contemplate the grave matters of state and humanity that faced him.

The Uzumi

The Uzumi was roughly the same size at the Oorai, but much more lavishly appointed. Named for the Nipponese goddess of dawn, the Uzumi was a five start hotel and resort with associated luxuries, one of the finest pleasure craft assembled. Midway had already starting laying down the hulls for two more in the Uzumi class, slightly and formally inferior to the Emperor's intended ship. The Emperor paid the facility a surprise visit, and espoused his extreme disappointment with the work that had been done. If he wanted a luxury ship, he would have requested a luxury ship. He had no need of another such craft, as Nippon had many such resorts, he wanted something peaceful, meditative, a respite from all of the things that the Uzumi was built to enshrine.

Midway completed the Uzumi and were able to recoup their expenses through selling the ship to the Red Sun organization. The two partially completed hulls were repurposed and put into service. The Hyuga would see service as a cruise tender, resupplying Nipponese civilian spacecraft. The Ouka was completed as a hospital cruiser and still is operation in the SE Asian sector of the Pacific Rim Coalition.

With Old Purpose

The Emperor waxed poetical about a village, Oorai, from the records. It was quaint and feudal, with a blacksmith shop, and none of the of the modern accommodations. When asked about Cognet, the Emperor rebuffed the builders, telling them that Oorai didn't have electricity or running water. There were small horses and other beasts of burden, and the wealth and prosperity of the village flowed from the bounty of the ocean and the wealth of the forest. This is what he desired.

The Promenade of Oorai

The top deck of the ship is a recreation of a feudal Nipponese village, with the homes built of mundane materials like wood and rice paper. The only entertainment came from musicians and traveling actors and their Noh theatre. The year was marked by the harvest and the Fire Festival, and other auspicious holidays tied to the field and the part of the sun through the heavens. There is a simple castle that houses the superstructure of the ship, concealing it's communications tower, and observation platform. Around there there are a dozen homes, an actual rice paddy, and the other facets of a feudal village. Many of these are not for show, the rice is alive and growing and is cared for, and the forge in the blacksmith shop works. It is considered an honor for a metalworker to have the chance to work at the Emperor's forge. To sate his desire for the old ways, the Emperor even re-established the art of swordmaking. In an era of masers and gravity bombs, there are swordmakers in Nippon who use nothing but coals, bellows, and hammers to craft swords of flawless craftsmanship.

The bow promenade of the Oorai has several zen gardens and a Shinto temple. It was designed following the tenets of feng shui to create a peaceful and harmonious environment for the Emperor to meditate. Plans were made to have a formal prayer temple built on the area, but the Emperor declined, stating that such a thing would engender visits from heads of state and corporations seeking to kowtow to gain favor. Such things were handled well enough by the temples in Edo. The shrine is attended by a small group of Miko, shrine maidens. These young women tend the shrine, perform ceremonial duties, and carry on the almost forgotten tradition.

The Sakura Garden is a copse of 108 blooming cherry trees near the center of the ship, between the caste and the Shinto shrine. There is a reflecting pond, a walkway, and several tableaus for introspection throughout. While it is certainly possible for the Emperor to have everblooming cherry blossoms, the trees on the Oorai are a genetic preserve, being unaltered from their natural state. The trees do not care who walks under them, and they will bloom for the Sun and Amaterasu, but for the whim of no man.

Crew

The Oorai has a crew of 700, with the majority of those members never seen on the promenade. These men and women attend to the function of the ship, it's aerodrome, and it's security. Less than a few dozen crewmen have any jobs on the promenade, and those that do are groundskeepers and handymen keeping the surface in flawless condition.