# Starships of the Imperial Exploratory Service **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Created:** [November 4, 2024, 2:52am UTC](https://eldraeverse.discourse.group/t/starships-of-the-imperial-exploratory-service/1604 "2024-11-04T02:52:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![avatar](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/eldraeverse.discourse.group/avatar/32/2_2.png) [@avatar](https://eldraeverse.discourse.group/u/avatar)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2024, 2:52am UTC](https://eldraeverse.discourse.group/t/starships-of-the-imperial-exploratory-service/1604/1 "2024-11-04T02:52:38Z")
Of course, what I didn’t establish in the previous posting is exactly where the _Empress Eledíë_-class fits into the line-up of starship classes used by the Imperial Exploratory Service, so that I shall expand upon in this post. The short answer is: basically, pretty much in the middle, in what we might call the “cruiser-weight” classes. Now, it’s somewhat harder than it might otherwise be to list all the classes the IES uses, because they’re big believers in the philosophy of modular design and assemble a _lot_ of specialized starships of one-off classes from parts when there’s a mission requirement (like, say, _[Sniffer Packet](http://eldraeverse.com/2015/04/06/echoes/)_), or even a mission convenience, to do so. But if one excludes those, a list of the most commonly used classes would read something like this, smallest to largest: **_Clairvoyance_**** -class far horizon probe** Which, as starwisps, are accompanied, naturally, by the previously described [_Lucifer VI-_class starwisp tenders](http://eldraeverse.com/2014/04/12/let-there-be-light/). The far horizon probes are tiny, solid-state AI craft whose job is to be the real “first in” explorers to any given star system, working beyond the boundaries of the stargate plexus, out in the Outback, looking for interesting systems to poke around in. **_Inquisity_-class planetary exploration vehicle _Vertiginous_-class planetary exploration vehicle** The lineal descendants of the rovers and robots that did the first planetary exploration way back in the heyday of the first Spaceflight Initiative, like _[Wayseeker](http://eldraeverse.com/2015/10/07/the-talentarian/)_, the planetary exploration vehicles carry out similar missions of groundside investigation even today. There are two distinct classes of PEV for two distinct types of planets: the rather more common _Inquisity_-class drives along the ground (or occasionally floats) for investigating those planets that have ground. The _Vertiginous_-class, contrariwise, flies throughout its mission, for investigating those planets that really _don’t_. **_Aval Cyprium_-class microscout** The chosen vessel of first-in scouts, the _Aval Cyprium-_class (named after famous historical explorers, starting with the one who found the Edgestorm the hard way) is a single/double-person landing-capable starship found flooding into newly opened constellations and chasing reports of anomalies all over the Worlds for the IES, doing preliminary investigations and figuring out if there’s need for follow-up and, if so, of what kind. **_Peregrine_-class scout** The bigger cousin of the _Aval Cyprium_, similarly landing-capable but with a crew of a dozen and a replaceable laboratory module that can be swapped out to suit the requirements of the mission specialists aboard, the _Peregrine_ is the “little workhorse” of the IES, doing a lot of those follow-up investigations and much of the general work of exploration and survey. When doing a whole-system or multiple-system workup, several of these will often accompany a – **_Empress Eledíë_-class explorer** [As described here](http://eldraeverse.com/2015/10/10/empress-eledie-class-explorer/). This is the first “cruiser-weight”, as you might put it, vessel of the IES. It’s the “big workhorse”, the dedicated exploration vessel that takes lead in going where no sophont but a first-in scout has gone before, and turns their notes on what a system is like into a complete, detailed, scrupulously accurate work-up suitable for inclusion in the Repository of All Knowledge. It also serves as the go-to craft for any large exploration missions of virtually any profile. It’s flexible and modular enough to support a wide range of roles, so when something needs investigated on a large enough scale that you can’t fit the mission profile or the mission specialists into a _Peregrine_, you send for an _Empress Eledíë_. **_Chatelaine_-class surveyor** The second of the cruiser-weights, the _Chatelaine_-class is a specialized variant of the _Empress Eledíë_ used by the IES’s sister organization, the Imperial Grand Survey, whose job rather than pushing into and exploring the unknown is comprehensively cataloging and checking on the _known_, and maintaining the essential infrastructure that keeps the known known. (Less respectful IES personnel sometimes deride the IGS as being naught but a bunch of asteroid-counters and beacon-fixers. The IGS responds that it’s all very well going off and having adventures, but if you want to be able to find your way home and be sure that it hasn’t been smacked by an errant comet in the meantime, _thank them_.) **_Calria Adae_-class establisher (DSOV)** The third, the _Calria Adae_-class (named after the first soph on one of Eliéra’s moons), looks very much like a miniature colony ship, because it is. When the IES needs to plant a hab (bigger, obviously, than an inflatable temp) or a planetside outpost somewhere for long-term studies to be carried out, these are the starships that do that.  **_Hello, World_-class contact cruiser** And the fourth of these, the _Hello, World_-class, is a specially dedicated vessel for the task of making First Contact with New Life and New Civilizations. It has more in common with the IN’s cruisers than most IES starships – hence its designation – because, sadly, experience teaches that sometimes, things don’t go smooth.  (Not necessarily meaning hostile aliens, of course. Sometimes it just means having to shoot down a whole bunch of ICBMs because  _anything_ appearing in the sky is _obviously_ a secret weapon of their local planetary enemy of the day. Eye roll obligatory.) **_Sung Iliastren_-class mobile research base** The _really, really big one_, for when they need to science the shit out of something in a hurry, the _Sung Iliastren_-class (named after the natural philosopher who basically invented the scientific method thereabouts) is a dreadnought- or even superdreadnought-sized agglomeration of laboratories, supercomputing centers, and other science-oriented facilities with a suitably large propulsion bus stuck on the end.  When you need an entire research institute somewhere in a hurry, this is what you call for. After serious budget approval.  (In some particularly interesting locations, there are very permanent-looking research stations that are actually one of these covered in a couple of centuries’ accumulation of add-on modules and temps.) * * * This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at [https://eldraeverse.com/2015/10/11/starships-of-the-imperial-exploratory-service](https://eldraeverse.com/2015/10/11/starships-of-the-imperial-exploratory-service) ---
**Author:** ![avatar](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/eldraeverse.discourse.group/avatar/32/2_2.png) [@avatar](https://eldraeverse.discourse.group/u/avatar)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 4:16am UTC](https://eldraeverse.discourse.group/t/starships-of-the-imperial-exploratory-service/1604/2 "2025-08-18T04:16:14Z")
**Comments migrated from WordPress:** > [@Gabriel Fonseca \ on 2015-10-13 13:50:11 wrote](#): > > “When you need an entire research institute somewhere in a hurry, this is what you call for. After serious budget approval.” > > I laughted a tad more than I should have after reading this. ---
**Author:** ![avatar](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/eldraeverse.discourse.group/avatar/32/2_2.png) [@avatar](https://eldraeverse.discourse.group/u/avatar)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 4:16am UTC](https://eldraeverse.discourse.group/t/starships-of-the-imperial-exploratory-service/1604/3 "2025-08-18T04:16:14Z")
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**Author:** ![John\_Dougan](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/eldraeverse.discourse.group/john_dougan/32/79_2.png) [@John\_Dougan](https://eldraeverse.discourse.group/u/John_Dougan)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2025, 6:17am UTC](https://eldraeverse.discourse.group/t/starships-of-the-imperial-exploratory-service/1604/4 "2025-08-26T06:17:19Z")
Here it specifies that the _Aval Cyprium_ class can land and in _Friendship is Sufficiently Advanced_ it is not supposed to land. Timeline divergence or oops? ---
**Author:** ![avatar](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/eldraeverse.discourse.group/avatar/32/2_2.png) [@avatar](https://eldraeverse.discourse.group/u/avatar)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2025, 3:55pm UTC](https://eldraeverse.discourse.group/t/starships-of-the-imperial-exploratory-service/1604/5 "2025-08-26T15:55:21Z")
…yeaaaaaah, let’s call that a timeline divergence… (On thinking back, I hadn’t done a lot of the fleet design when I started _FiSA_, with that one-off post, and a non-landing ship was required to make that work.) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Dougan](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/eldraeverse.discourse.group/john_dougan/32/79_2.png) [@John\_Dougan](https://eldraeverse.discourse.group/u/John_Dougan)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2025, 12:28am UTC](https://eldraeverse.discourse.group/t/starships-of-the-imperial-exploratory-service/1604/6 "2025-08-27T00:28:37Z")
Another option: there is a space only variant, call it the Type S. The cubic that goes to landing support instead increases range or comfort. ---
**Author:** ![avatar](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/eldraeverse.discourse.group/avatar/32/2_2.png) [@avatar](https://eldraeverse.discourse.group/u/avatar)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2025, 3:30am UTC](https://eldraeverse.discourse.group/t/starships-of-the-imperial-exploratory-service/1604/7 "2025-09-01T03:30:40Z")
Perhaps, for convenience, we can say the timeline butterflies accidentally swapped the designations of the _Aval Cyprium_-class microscout (landing-capable), and the _Aic Oricalcios_-class far microscout (not). ---
**Author:** ![doctorcatfish](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/eldraeverse.discourse.group/doctorcatfish/32/141_2.png) [@doctorcatfish](https://eldraeverse.discourse.group/u/doctorcatfish)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2025, 11:15pm UTC](https://eldraeverse.discourse.group/t/starships-of-the-imperial-exploratory-service/1604/8 "2025-09-09T23:15:59Z")
Wild guess: soph Oricalcios was the first eldrae to step onto Eliera’s _other_ moon? ---
**Author:** ![avatar](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/eldraeverse.discourse.group/avatar/32/2_2.png) [@avatar](https://eldraeverse.discourse.group/u/avatar)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 8:10pm UTC](https://eldraeverse.discourse.group/t/starships-of-the-imperial-exploratory-service/1604/9 "2025-09-15T20:10:45Z")
Yep. Pre-space explorers for the landing-capable class, space explorers for the non-landing-capable class. At least in the prime timeline.