by Night Druid
A bulky but dangerous ship, the worg was the pride and joy of the hobgoblin fleets. While powerful warships in their own right, the worgs were never numerous and the last were destroyed during the elvish hunt. The last remnants of these craft were burnt out hulls left drifting in some battle-torn spheres.
Or so everyone thought. Since the end of the Second Unhuman War, worgs have begun to reappear at the edges of wildspace, representing a new threat to the elves. So far, only a few of these ships have appeared, but their numbers are slowly growing once more.
The design of the worg is very similar to that of an ogre mammoth, but much narrower and shallower. The worg has a large, open deck easily capable of carrying many more weapons than what it normally carries. The hobgoblins don't normally load their ships down with many weapons so that they have more space for lifeboats and boarding actions. Some craft are specially-rigged so that a pair of goblin blade fighters can land upon the deck and another 1-4 can be lashed to the underside of the ship.
A worg, as operated by the hobgoblins, will have a full fighting crew of 45, far more than the ship can normally sustain for long. The hobgoblins rarely used the craft for anything more than a short-ranged fighter, so they took aboard larger crews than normal. Each ship is ruled by a hobgoblin warlord with AC 2 (plate armor and shield), HD 6, and +3 to damage rolls due to their great strength. He will be protected by 3-7 (d4+2) bodyguards with AC 3, HD 4, and +2 to damage rolls due to strength. Hobgoblin ships will usually have lifejammers or minor helms powered by slaves or the rare hobgoblin shaman. Some hobgoblins hired human or goblin mages to power their ships. All hobgoblins will be skilled warriors and capable of holding their own when battle breaks out.
The primary purpose of the worg was war. The worg was a solid warship, capable of dealing out considerable damage while sustaining a great deal of damage itself. When on short-distance raids, the hobgoblins will load as many troops as they can, usually 150-200 hobgoblins (up to 300 can fit) and set forth to raid. Some of the more lucky captains managed to secure magical sources of air; such captains were bolder when selecting the targets of their raids.
The very few worgs that survived the First Unhuman War found their way into lawless hands. A few human and elvish pirates used worgs as their pirate ships, raiding shipping lanes at the edge of Known Space. The worg proved an excellent pirate vessel, but the number of vintage worgs was so few that the practice was abandoned within a century after the War because battle damage from frequent attacks left the ships crippled. Some desperate pirates tried to rebuild damaged worgs, but the repairs rarely held due to a lack of people experienced with the design.
Pirate worgs run by hobgoblins are starting to reappear at the fringe of wildspace. Some were captured from the scro, but others are from a completely different space power. Evidence points to a new nation of hobgoblins that is now sending out pirates to raid trade ships. What danger this new threat poses is yet to be realized.
A pirate worg operates as above, but will have minor modifications such as replacing a catapult with a heavy ballista or upgrading the rear jettison to a heavy. Most pirate worgs will have a wreckboat in case of disaster.
When the orcs that would become scro fled from the First Unhuman War, they brought with them a handful of these craft. Though not as powerful as their preferred warship, the mantis, the scro have other uses for the worg. Scro vessels have notoriously small cargo holds, barely enough to carry food and supplies for the ship. Other equipment, tools, and war materials need to be carried on other ships. The scro have adapted the worg as a cargo ship, as it has a large cargo hold but is more heavily armed and armored than a standard tradesmen.
Scro cargo ships sacrifice the rear catapult, turning that space into an observation deck and gaining 2 tons of cargo. The jettison is downgraded to a light jettison, gaining an additional ton of space. Such vessels were rarely seen in Known Space, as the scro only used the craft to supply their close-range bases.
A handful of these craft have fallen into the hands of adventurers, who adapt the ships to suit their designs. Adventurers usually plate their ships, giving them an Armor Rating of 4 and dropping the Maneuver Class to E. The rear catapult is sometimes replaced by a bombard, while other, richer captains fit the head of their ships with wildfire projectors that spew fire like a fire-breathing hound. Such ships are rapidly becoming known as Hell Hounds, and the design is gaining popularity once more.
An elvish company has captured one worg and have rebuilt it, replacing the snarling worg head with that of an eloquent wolf head. The ship, the Silent Wolf, is painted white and armed with an additional light catapult firing forward. The Silent Wolf has four flitters, two located topside, two underneath. The ship now serves as headquarters for the Wolves of the White Fire.
