A Private Merchant Airship: the Nuage d'Or

The Nuage d'Or is the pride and joy of her captain, Jean-Michel du Pont-de-la-Vierge.  She's one of about 30-40 merchant class ships built  by the North during the Civil War.  Some of them were captured by the South and after the war some of them were bought by folks in the South.  Number 24 of the series, the Pride of Akron was confiscated when her owner neglected to pay certain "taxes, fees and considerations" (read "bribes").  Jean-Michel paid what was necessary and renamed her Nuage d'Or.

As the Free State of Orléans is reputed to be crawling with pirates, many people have a tendancy to avoid anything that flies its colours.  Fortunately, in New Europa, pirates sound more exciting than in in the New World, so public reaction is generally more curious than hostile.
 

Basic Design

Custom Modifications

After purchasing her, Jean-Michel brought a few modifications to the Nuage d'Or: three Gatling guns (one forward starboard, one forward port, one aft center), and light armouring overall (including some on the external gasbag envelope).  "Light armouring" would stop smaller caliber bullets, probably Gatling gun bullets as well, but definitely not an artillery shell.  The armouring is concealed and the guns are kept very low profile.

A modification added a bit later was to section off part of the cargo area into rooms which could serve as either smaller, securable cargo areas or else as very modest passenger quarters.  The Nuage also has more winches and secondary mooring points then would be found on most merchant ships; since she frequently goes to primitive areas where there are no mooring towers, Jean-Michel has had to tie off onto whatever's in the area.  This includes: trees, large trees, very large trees, cliff faces, a sunken riverboat, houses, large boulders and combinations of the above.  Passengers and light cargo can be lowered in a basket or, for the truly adventurous, a harness rig where a person can slide down an inclined rope (very much like what you see in an Army obstacle course).  It can be done solo, in which case the traveler had best be aiming for loose sand or something to cushion their landing, or else someone on the Nuage can control the descent by paying out a line attached to the harness.  For something to really write home about it can be done between two airships at several thousand feet.  Not recommended for the faint of heart...
 
 

Characteristics

Very tentative outline, in Castle Falkenstein system:

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