Van'Dal-class Cruiser

Van'Dal-class Cruiser

"Our people have been roaming the star for millennia, its thanks to these warships that our civilian populace has stayed safe.. Now that we have a world to call home however, I entrust these vessels and their crews to you; Victor of Clan Drag'gon."

- Van'Dal High Chief Emrikk to Victor Dreago upon forming the Mandalorian-Vandal Unified States

The  was a model of warship used by the Van'Dal species as the sole defense force for their nomad fleet, protecting the unarmed civilian ships from all threats for thousands of years.

Details
An ancient starship model, it was first produced some four to five thousand years prior to even the Clone Wars, when the Van'Dal homeworld, Vandross, faced destruction due to its own star going supernova. After the Van'Dal civilization migrated into the stars after Vandross was lost. These ships originally numbered in the tens thousands, however as the centuries passed by, their numbers would wither, as the ships that were past the point of being repaired were simply dismantled and had their useful parts attached to the remaining ships. This process would come to be the reason for the erratic looking design of the Van'Dal-class, and the radical differences in size and shape between each individual ship as each would come to be a unique ship, similarly to the Mon Calamari MC-80's.

Production
In a nearby galaxy, hundreds of years prior to the destruction of Vandross, when it was determined for sure that their star would go supernova withing the next couple hundred years, the ancient Van'Dal government commissioned the Nomad Fleet; a massive civilian fleet that would come to become the home of the Van'Dal species as well as the last remnants of Vandross, with many of the ships that composed the Nomad Fleet being built out of pieces of Vandross landscape ranging from mountains to large fields and prairies. However among these harmless civilian vessel, several smaller ships would be constructed as well, these would be small warships made to defend the fleet when the launched into space.

Thousands of years later, when the Van'Dal reached the known galaxy on 25 BBY, these ships would serve as escort ships once again, defending the vulnerable Nomad Fleet from the numerous pirate and criminal groups that were found in the outer rim. Eventually upon meeting with the Mandalorian Clan Drag'gon and joining them, the Nomad Fleet would finally set down on a new homeworld: Garos 3. After the Van'Dal people were secured a new homeworld, the leader of the Van'Dal, as a token of gratitude, donated the entire fleet of Van'Dal-class cruisers to the Mandalorian Fleet, these donated ships would be brought into service as the main element of the defense fleet over Mandalore and Garos 3. After becoming Mandalorian Fleet assets, the Van'Dal-class would start seeing mass production and their numbers would rise up dramatically.

Usage
Initially the ships did not see much use, as the trip across the inter-galactic space was rather peaceful. During this time, the most use these ships saw was when the fleet passed by asteroid clusters or comets, as they would be used to destroy any asteroid or comet that the nomad fleet ships could not avoid or their shields could not handle.

Upon entering the known galaxy, these ships would immediately be forced into much more often service, being used to fend off pirate incursions and other less-than-favorable ships.

After the meeting of the Clan Drag'go and the Van'Dal fleet and the forming of their initial alliance, a large portion of these ships were used to take back Mandalore. Later when the Mandalorian-Vandal Unified States were formed and these ships would begin mass production, they would become a staple of the Mandal-Vandal fleet.

Obsolescence
Despite being an ancient class of ship with over 4000 years under their belt, these ships would continue to see service and never be decommissioned as they were super simple to produce as well as cheap, and despite the ease of construction and funding, they were outstanding warships for their category due to their use of Mass Drivers as the primary weapons.

Behind the scenes
This ship was created using the Lego Digital Designer.

The class was and the faction these ships belonged to, the Van'Dal, were meant to be a 4th separate faction originally. However due to the player that used the faction leaving, it was merged into the then-smallest faction, the Mandalorian Clan Drag'gon.