Hull Classes & H-Ton Displacement — Concord Registry Public Brief (Unclassified)

Concord Registry · Technical Publications

Hydrogen-ton displacement (H-tons)

is the number on your registry plaque. It is not how heavy your ship is in metric tons. It is the Concord Standard Fuel-Volume Index — how much liquid hydrogen bunker capacity (cryo-rated) your hull is certified to carry for one gate-safe cycle: main jump tank, 10% mandated reserve, and standard in-system thruster margin.

Concord

— the corporation that built and owns the rings — bills jumps, insurance bands, and many yard quotes off Concord Hull Class (CHC), which is derived from H-tons. CHC applies to gate-rated commerce — the balanced hulls of 2277, built for the rings. Not every hull humanity launched. Not every hull they scrapped on purpose.

Legacy ships vs the rings

The rings

— spacer slang for the jump-gate network. Couple, jump, pay. Minutes between hubs if the queue isn't punishing you.

Legacy ships

— built before the rings, could star-hop without coupling: own fuel, own vector, own schedule. They are not ring-fast. They are ring-free — and that's why they're almost gone.

Concord

runs a quiet locate → buy → scrap pipeline against Legacy ships: registry ghost purchases, salvage acquisition, "obsolete drive hazard" yard orders. A hull that skips ₡2,100 per hop is a tariff riot in steel. Super rare in 2277.

Three Legacy families (then CHC)

• Colony Drive (CD, 2101–2111): Megadrive + cryo bulk — engine dominates; crew block is payload. Registry CD — not gate-rated. Many still inbound.
• Lane Scout (LRLS, ~2151–2190): Scoop + megadrive — 90% drive, 10% crew wedge; mapped corridors one route at a time. Registry LRLS — class extinct.
• Legacy independent: Scoop + onboard crack — years between ports; Serenity territory. See Legends archive Before the Rings.

Gate-balanced (CHC 0–VI, 2185 → present):

Crew + cargo + tanks in proportion — the rings set the optimum. This is what Concord bills. Verdigris-class mids exist because tariffs, not romance.

CHC 0 — Skiff (0–12 H-tons)

Typical 8–18 m pods, EV tenders, and rich-kid runabouts. Crew minimum: 1 (solo legal with certified assist AI). Weekly upkeep (hull only): ₡400–₡800 before berth. Usually tendered through a parent ship for gate cycles — you don't buy independence, you rent a parking orbit.

CHC I — Light (13–35 H-tons)

20–45 m couriers, prospectors, corp mail sleds. Single fusion core, no room for philosophy. Crew minimum: 2. Upkeep: ₡1,200–₡2,500/week. Hub→rim jump multiplier ×0.45 on the Class II base tariff. Popular with belt guilds and people who think "light" means "cheap" until the ice hits.

CHC II — Mid transport (36–110 H-tons)

55–95 m — the working class of the arm. Independent freighters, bounty sleds, short-hop liners with bad carpets. Three decks common; optional dorsal garden for awakened crews (add ₡650+/week — see Garden Premium). Verdigris-class independents sit here at ~72 H-tons / ~82 m. Crew minimum: 3 (pilot, engineer, loadmaster). Upkeep: ₡3,700–₡5,300/week hull systems before ₡1,540–₡3,150 berth and food. Jump multiplier ×1.0 (hub→rim ₡2,100 base before per-crew scans, fuel dock ₡350, manifest ₡120). Monthly registry ₡380; junker insurance ₡520.

CHC III — Heavy (111–280 H-tons)

100–160 m company haulers, real passenger liners, serious ore crates. Dual cores, company payroll, union stewards who own clipboards. Crew minimum: 6. Upkeep: ₡8,000–₡12,000/week. Jump ×1.6. You stop calling it "my ship" and start calling it "the assignment."

CHC IV — Bulk (281–650 H-tons)

170–280 m branded logistics, tanker frames, corp bulk. Escort contracts standard on rim legs. Crew minimum: 12. Upkeep: ₡18,000–₡28,000/week. Jump ×2.4. Pirates file paperwork before attacking.

CHC V — Capital auxiliary (651–1,400 H-tons)

300–450 m fleet tenders, colony seed carriers, mobile yards. Crew minimum: 25. Upkeep: ₡45,000+/week — round numbers for people who invoice in committees. Jump ×3.8 without diplomatic waiver.

CHC VI — Super-heavy (1,401+ H-tons)

450 m+ gate-era seed carriers, mega-bulk, treaty carriers. Crew minimum: 40+. Jump ×5.5 unless treaty counsel is on speed-dial. Upkeep is a budget line, not a bar story. Do not confuse with Exodus Colony Drives (CD) — kilometer-class 2101–2111 arks carried millions in cryo on sublight vectors and were never CHC-rated.

Legacy registrations (not gate-rated)

• Colony Drive (CD): 2101–2111 Exodus megahulls — 0.05–0.12c; 40–200 years star-to-star; billions embarked; many still inbound.
• Long-Range Lane Scout (LRLS): ~2151–2190 — scoop corridors, beacon chains, 12–40 crew. Class extinct — corps bought and scrapped most after the rings lit up.
• Legacy independent: Pre-ring scoop hulls — super rare; same scrapping pipeline. Official cause of death: insurance.

Features that move class (inspector checklist):

rated H-bunker volume, gate coupling hardware, radiator squareage, life-support person-days, cargo pressurization zones, optional mana-garden tonnage (does not lower your bill — Concord charges awakened crews for existing).

Maintenance culture:

Every class assumes active flight. Deferred work adds Wear; at Wear 8+ your d100 chart gets cruel. Field patch = sweat + ship metal lbs; yard moderate (2d6)×₡200; major (3d6)×₡200 — scales with severity, not class envy.

Crew minimums are legal floors, not comfort:

CHC II with two souls aboard is a fine waiting to become a headline. CHC II with three broke freelancers is a TV show.