The Majarthian

''She is a starship, but not according to most standard definitions. She is relative-capable, heavily armed and armoured, and possessed of a unique and darkly quirky personality, but none of these specifications correspond to any Corporate or known Alien technology. She travels the trackless emptiness of Dimension after Dimension by a whimsical itinerary of Her own.''

''It has been theorised that, when Arbus Rosedian began work on his deadly defence platforms and the autonomous weapons they carried, it was from the Majarthian that he took his darkest inspiration. Indeed, if Rosedian’s Daughters are the fangs of the Gods, the Majarthian is the beast in the maw of which they should rightfully reside.''

She is the Majarthian, and She is unlike any other vessel in the known urverse. - The Big Book of Corporate Space Vessels

The Majarthian is technically classified both as a Divine-level supernatural life-form and as a starship, a practically unique double-classification in Corporate records. She manifests as a vessel, but displays recognisable consciousness and intelligence.

The Majarthian's origins are unknown but ancient, as references to Her exist in the earliest writings of the Elder Races. In times when the only technically classified Gods were the Firstmade Gods, the Majarthian had nevertheless existed and therefore calls a lot of Divine theory into question.

Construction
The Majarthian's precise attributes are largely unknown, but She manifests as a merging of natural stellar matter and a physical construct. More like a growth than a vehicle, the Majarthian was several thousand kilometres long at last sighting, although reports vary. She is described as being dark and craggy and stone-like, grey-black in colour, Her hull slick from the thin, turbulent atmosphere-pockets that have collected in certain areas of Her superstructure.

Whether She has a crew, or builders, or is entirely self-determined, remains unknown. On some stretches of Her hull, rows of lights like windows have been sighted. There are many theories about Her interior, but they are limited to speculation.

According to immortal testimony, the Majarthian has grown to Her current dimensions. She had once been little more than a strange monolith, an extrusion of some unidentified but presumably God-adjacent matter into the mortal sphere. Over the years of Her active duty, however, She has grown and changed.

Shapes have been recorded decorating Her hull - growths or reliefs, buttresses and carvings. These growths are rumoured to be capable of detaching and acting autonomously, similar to the Flesh-Eaters of Arbus Rosedian's Godfangs.

The Majarthian is relative-capable, although Her top speed registers have never been ascertained and She may also be capable of accessing God-space. She possesses weapons and armour analogous to that of other starships albeit of an unknown power level and not corresponding to any Corporate or known Alien technology groupings. She seems to prefer stellar void or vacuum types of in-Dimensional space, although She has been reliably witnessed travelling in other environments and on the Interdimensional Highroads.

Purpose
The Majarthian’s sole purpose appears to be the safe transportation and storage of dangerous Gods.

The ultimate authority to which She currently answers is the Corporate High Council, although they do not often invoke this authority.

While awaiting orders, the Majarthian flies from place to place in little-known or uncharted areas of the Corporation and Beyond the Walls, gathering up Gods and delivering Them to Their assorted places of imprisonment and torment. The apprehension of Gods appears arbitrary, sometimes according to orders and sometimes simply attacks of opportunity. The duration of Her passengers' journeys also varies, sometimes a direct flight from A to B and sometimes an indefinite incarceration in the Majarthian Herself.

With each new prisoner She takes in and carries and – usually – releases, however, the Majarthian has grown and changed. It is theorised that each inmate, each impossible containment of sentient power wreaks indefinable alterations on Her substance.

Origins
The Majarthian has not always anwsered to the High Council. The Corporation, after all, is a relatively new arrival on the urversal stage.

A prevailing theory of the Majarthian's origins is that She is an offshoot of the Leviathan’s dominion, a lost shard of the mysterious objects that formed the Dark Realms and the Gods within. A sixth Dark Realm, in fact, of a more independent and rebellious nature. This is fanciful and compelling but unfortunately impossible to verify.

Another theory not mutually exclusive with this is that She is allied with or in the service of the Shedders. Some theories suggest She is Herself a Shedder.

Cultural significance
The Majarthian is not without followers. She flies through a wide range of Dimensions and environments, and even along the Highroads from time to time, but one thing remains constant: where the Majarthian flies, Gods tend to creep away and keep quiet silent. A certain type of nomad - one without a strongly developed sense of irony, for example - finds that absence desirable. A travelling flotilla-city of assorted creatures subsequently follows in the Majarthian’s wake, although they maintain a cautious distance due to disappearances and strange events occasionally taking place in proximity to the vessel.

The Majarthian can be addressed, although even the highest mortal powers of the Corporation seldom dare to do so (and the immortal powers not at all). She can be appealed to, in times of great need, and called upon to do Her work of extracting and transporting Gods. This is not generally something mere mortals do, since a destination place of containment is usually required unless one wishes to take the gamble that the Majarthian will contain the indicated God indefinitely on request.

Still, the Majarthian has been known to detour from Her unknowable flight plan - if such can be accurately described as a detour - and visit the home worlds of Her mortal complainants. Her decisions, upon arrival, are impossible to predict, and Her followers are generally not the sort of people one wants to bring down on the place you live. Such appeals are therefore rare.