The Mechane
Captain	Julio Scoundrél
Interim Captain	Beatrix "Bandana" Secundus
Head Engineer	Andromeda
Helmsman	Fidel Secundus (formerly) Beatrix Secundus (formerly) Felix Mateo
Aeronautical Engineer	Kwesi
Electrical Engineer	Felix

The Mechane is Julio Scoundrél's flying ship. It was introduced in the story to carry Elan and Thog to Azure City. Its home port is Cliffport.

Later, Julio used it to save the Order of the Stick at Elan's request from Tarquin. Feeling uncomfortable with having his apprentice around—since it was the perfect set-up for him to be killed by a villain leading to Elan avenging him—Julio chose to retire and left the ship to his first-mate, Bandana, telling her that her only orders were to take Elan wherever he asked.

The Mechane seems to have the oddity of increased speed when something is at stake, according to Julio Scoundrél.

The ship achieves lift through a combination of three lighter than air gas envelopes, magical lightening of the ship's structure, as well as two stern-mounted lift fans.^[1] Gas for the envelopes is summoned from the Elemental Plane of Air.^[2] The airship has an engine or engines that drives two pusher propellers on the transom, a third pusher prop under the stern, and two lift fans mounted on stern superstructures. Given the placement of the lift fans, they likely also control the pitch and roll attitude of the airship. Lacking any obvious rudder, yaw control is achieved by means of the pusher props. The airship is stabilized with dorsal and ventral vertical stabilizers on the gas envelope, and inverted V stabilizers mounted aft on the turn of the bilge.

For armament, it is fitted with six ballistae, three each port and starboard, mounted on through-hull turrets on the sides. The turrets can be ejected in an emergency to save weight.^[1]

There are three decks topside: a main deck, forecastle, and quarterdeck, the airship is helmed from the latter deck, which also has two superstructures to support the lift fans. The arrangement of portholes suggests there are decks below the quarterdeck and forecastle, a second deck below the main deck, and a cargo hold below that. At least two staterooms for the passengers have been shown, as well as a cargo hold and a galley.

Since taking the Order of the Stick on board, the Mechane has traveled to Tinkertown, Zenith Peak, Passage Pass to Firmament, and on to the North Pole under Bandana's command.

There are at least twenty active crew on the Mechane, three deceased crew, three known former crew, and three crew whose current status is unknown.

Crew

Named Crewmembers

• Julio Scoundrél, The Dashing Swordsman and the captain of the Mechane, he aided Elan and Thog to reach Azure City. He has since departed for a vacation to the Outer Planes, giving his Chaos Sabre to Elan and made Bandana temporary captain.

• Fidel Secundus, Bandana's father and former helmsman. (No longer with the crew.)
• Lakaita Secundus, Bandana's mother. (No longer with the crew.)
• Beatrix "Bandana" Secundus, Fidel's daughter and acting captain. Former helmsman.
• Felix, the ship's electrical engineer and senior helmsman, and Julio's personal sartorial advisor.
• Andromeda, alias "Andi", the ship's head engineer. Does not have a good relationship with Bandana.
• Carol, uncertain role aboard the ship. She never engages in the operation of the ship, only relaying orders or delivering a warning to the captain.
• Mateo, the ship's junior helmsman.
• Kwesi, the ship's aeronautical engineer, often seen operating the engine controls.
• Ozzie, duties unknown, possibly the ship's ferrier or leather worker based on his apron. He fights with a cutlass, and worked with Carol to jettison the ballistae.

Unnamed Crewmembers

• A light brownish gray-haired crewmember with a five o'clock shadow (seen in #935, #943, #948, #951, #990, #1028, #1051, #1053, #1060 (killed)). Referred to in cast lists as "Mechane Crewman with Five O'Clock Shadow".
• A peg-leg crewman (seen in #392, #933, #934, #1028, #1053, #1055, #1060, #1079, #1201). Referred to in cast lists as "Mechane Crewman with Eyepatch and Pegleg".
• A bald crewman with an eyepatch and a white beard (seen in #935, #948, #950, #952, #1028). Referred to in cast lists as "Mechane Crewman with Eyepatch and Beard".
• A crewman with a facial scar (seen in #392, #933). Referred to in cast lists as "Mechane Crewman with Scar".
• A crewwoman with blond hair in a ponytail (seen in #949, #1060 (killed)). Referred to in cast lists as "Mechane Crewwoman with Blonde Hair".
• A crewmember with short brown ragged hair and small brown beard (seen in #951, #1028). Referred to in cast lists as "Mechane Crewman with Goatee".
• An elven crewman with dark skin and blond hair (seen in #1053, #1060 (killed)). Referred to in cast lists as "Elven Mechane Crewman".
• Two crewmen, one dark skinned, one light, who dress as alligators during Elan's training montage (seen in #391).
• A brown-haired male and female who drop alchemist's fire (seen in #392).
• A bald crewmember with an earring on the right ear (seen in #934).
• A crewwoman with long, dark brown, rugged hair (seen in #935).
• A balding crewmember with light brown hair on his temples (seen in #935).
• A crewmember with a red head bandana with light dots and brown hair (seen in #935).
• A crewmember who may be a cleric (appearance in #952).
• A crewwoman with a long green coat and a butterfly (both seen in #960a bonus strip in Utterly Dwarfed).
• Ship's cook, with an orange bandana with light dots and dark hair (seen in #1043).
• A crewwoman with brown hair, white sleeves, and a grey vest who mans the balista (seen #1076 and in the extended version of #1051b in Utterly Dwarfed).
• A crewmember with an eyepatch and goatee with light brown hair who hands Roy a sabre (seen in #1069.
• A crewmember with an eyepatch and a hook hand who had unspoken feelings for the crewman with eyepatch and pegleg (seen in #1201).

Trivia

• It bears considerable resemblance to the Blackjack from Final Fantasy VI. Blackjack itself made a cameo in the comic as the first airship Elan and Thog tried to take to get from Cliffport to Azure City.^[3]
• The ship's name, Mechane, was the term for small cranes in ancient Greek theatre, used to lower flying characters, generally gods, onto the stage. Gods would often magically solve a problem after entering in this way, which is where we get the phrase deus ex machina, 'god from the crane/machine'. The Mechane is fittingly a device for creating deus ex machina.

Gallery

A turret being released off the Mechane in a pinch.

References