In the Extended continuity, the Lunar Whale is a Loporrit-made prototype vessel, meant to serve as the basis of other spacecraft that would have assisted in transporting people and materiel to the moon as part of evacuation preparations.
Shortly before the Seventh Umbral Calamity, a test flight was conducted. However, the Whale experienced a failure in the navigation systems during descent, later determined to have been interference caused by the Garlean Empire’s experimentation with Dalamud. The Whale crash-landed us off the coast of Vylbrand, near the Mist residential district. Because of policies forbidding contact with the local population, the Loporrit crew abandoned the Whale and used their emergency teleportation magicks to return to Bestway Burrows.
In Shadowbringers Patch 5.5, rumors began circulating about an Allagan-like vessel deep underwater, frightening Mist residents who were at the beach. Valkyrja immediately dove into the ocean to investigate, discovering the backside of the Whale jutting out from the sand. Afterwards, she reported back to Hikaru, who contacted both the Maelstrom and Garlond Ironworks to determine how to deal with this unusual craft. Since most of the party had the Kojin blessing allowing them to breathe underwater, the decision was made to send Hikaru and Valkyrja to attempt to board the vessel and determine if it could be activated and, if so, to extricate it from the ocean.
Hikaru and Valkyrja swam down to the Whale’s backside, and were able to locate a maintenance entry hatch, allowing them to enter. Despite having crashed, the Whale’s localized gravity still functioned, and so the two of them did not need to worry about remaining upright while the vessel was at an angle. While exploring the Whale’s interior, they found that it was not, in fact, Allagan in origin as had originally been presumed, as the walls bore Loporrit iconography. Upon arriving at the bridge, Hikaru and Valkyrja set about accessing the main computer, whose interface was in a slightly archaic version of the common tongue but still readable. They determined that the navigation system was operational but in “safe mode,” but the fuel had been depleted and the backup energy storage was nearing depletion as well. As a last resort, Valkyrja connected herself to the Travel Crystal’s auxiliary port, using her internal reactor as a battery, as it would provide enough power to start up the Whale’s propulsion systems enough to extract it from the ocean floor.
The plan worked a little too well, as the Whale rocketed out of the ocean and landed rear-first on a nearby uninhabited islet. The Ironworks engineers examined the Lunar Whale and aside from some water damage in a number of walkways and maintenance shafts, the vessel otherwise didn’t need much in terms of significant repairs. What the engineers weren’t able to determine was the method of fueling the whale; the main computer simply listed “compressed aether” in the system specifications, but it could mean anything from ceruleum to crystals. In the interest of drawing upon materiel that was readily available, the engineers recommended ceruleum as a temporary measure with the caveat that it would be less efficient and that another fuel source should be investigated on the long term. While the Maelstrom could have seized the Lunar Whale as it was discovered in Lominsan territory, Admiral Merlwyb decided that because Hikaru and Valkyrja found the vessel, they should keep it.
“The Warrior of Light is like a ship’s captain. She therefore ought to have her own vessel, even if hers sails the sea of stars instead of the waves.”
But all ships require crews. The terminals aboard the Lunar Whale appear to have been designed for small hands. On a whim, Violetta suggested fielding a crew of Moogles, which, given their size in relation to the terminals, actually made sense. With Phil bankrolling the crew, Hikaru directed Violetta and Kupo to go about recruiting some “crewmogs” to staff the Whale. Many of the crewmogs were hired from the Mogmenders in the Churning Mists, while Kupo reached out to Kuplo Kopp and Stiltzkin to see if they knew anyone who might be interested. Stiltzkin himself would become one of the crewmogs, operating as an associate of Rowena’s House of Splendors. A Postmoogle was also hired as part of the crew.
The Lunar Whale would henceforth serve as the party’s base of operations during Endwalker, though most frustratingly it was not able to achieve escape velocity when Aurica and Valkyrja attempted to follow Hikaru and Yoshi to the moon. The navigation system threw errors upon reaching the upper stratosphere, presumably because it was still in safe mode, and Aurica was forced to abort the ascent. At Aurica’s request, Numair used the Tower of Babil’s teleporter to send Kiros, Valkyrja, Violetta and Faris to the moon while Aurica worked to locate the cause of the error messages.
During the revisit of Labyrinthos, Aurica met Livingway, who was surprised that humans were able to restore the Lunar Whale to even partial operation. Livingway offered to send a crew to service the Lunar Whale and further instruct on its operations, but the Loporrits had no desire to reclaim the vessel as it was sorely outdated compared to the likes of the Sharlayan-made Ragnarok that was being readied. While Hikaru’s party traveled to Ultima Thule, Aurica plus a crew of handpicked Loporrit engineers not only fully restored the vessel’s capability for space flight but also added shard travel functionality through the installation of a piece of the Crystal Tower as an add-on for the Whale’s Travel Crystal.
A number of others who happened to be in the area also contributed to the maintenance session; in particular, Nero of Garlond Ironworks supplied a number of his latest iteration of kettles to be installed in the kitchen as well as individual cabins. Cid and Stephanivien installed some large phasmascape displays in the cafeteria and viewing area, and even some of Radz-at-Han’s artisans joined in, contributing fresh linens for the bedding.
In 6.05, Aurica attempted an experiment by placing a beacon device (that also contained a fragment of the Crystal Tower) near the Lakeland aetheryte on the First. The experiment was meant to provide an alternate method of shard travel should the target destination be somewhere the Whale could not physically travel to first.
The ability to travel between shards was considered a stretch goal and a bonus feature at the time, but ended up becoming extremely helpful during Patch 6.4, when the party had to travel to the Red Moon on the Thirteenth to search for Azdaja. Because Hikaru’s team alone was now comprised of 12 people, it would not have been practical for all of them plus the Scion complement to ride on Vrtra’s back, therefore it was decided to have the Whale follow the dragon through the voidgate. At the beginning of Patch 6.5, Aurica reinforces the Lunar Whale with dragonscales to prevent damage from void exposure.
In Dawntrail, the Lunar Whale is not permitted to dock in Tuliyollal, citing safety concerns by the Landsguard, and thus Hikaru’s party had to travel by sea. When Wuk Lamat and Koana were crowned as co-Dawnservants, however, Koana lifted the restriction, allowing the Whale to dock in Tuliyollal. He did ask to inspect the Whale, not as a requirement for clearance to dock but rather for his own curiosity. When Zoraal Ja launched an attack on Tuliyollal, Hikaru directed Hamilton to take as many civilians aboard the Lunar Whale as could fit and evacuate to Kozamau’ka.
During Patch 7.1, Aurica had Hikaru, Kiros and Numair bring a beacon to the unlost world and deploy it near its primary aetheryte so that the Travel Crystal could lock onto and teleport there, repeating the feat from 6.05 to enable the Whale to travel to the First.
Facilities and amenities
Physically, the Lunar Whale is about four times the size of a mansion. As it was originally meant to be a transport vessel, it is capable of bearing a modestly-sized crew and over two dozen passengers in relative comfort. It also has a generously-sized cargo storage bay on the aft side, near the “tail.” The cargo bay is large enough to store Cruise Chaser and still have plenty of room for materiel and backup fuel storage. A full-service infirmary is located on the ground level near the main entry.
The cafeteria and viewing platform are on the forward side. The back of the cafeteria features three large booths: one for the kitchen, one for mail and parcel service, and a third as a shop manned by Stiltzkin, who serves as the Whale’s tomestone and scrip vendor.
The Lunar Whale does not have any weapons (such as cannons or ballistics) to defend itself. While such things were considered during the restorative maintenance session while the party was in Ultima Thule, it would have required a complicated rewrite of the Whale’s operating system to integrate them. Therefore, the best and current alternative would be to have Cruise Chaser on standby to be deployed should the Whale come under attack.