# The House of Crown Meridian
*Crown Meridian Ship Catalog, Armored Hulls of the Irnan Directorate for Void Drifters. Source: https://exodusnds.com/sourcebooks/crown-meridian/the-house-of-crown-meridian*
Crown Meridian Shipworks began as a government-chartered naval yard of the Irnan Directorate and grew into the most visible industrial shipbuilder in Directorate space.
> **Crown Meridian sells the ship that is still there at the end of the fight.**
It builds patrol ships, colonial transports, convoy escorts and heavy industrial hulls. Its ships are common wherever a government wants predictability and an insurer wants a clean maintenance record. Crown builds for people who expect the ship to be inspected, documented, repaired properly and used for decades.
## How a Spacer Reads a Crown Ship
**It is hard to kill.** Crown's Signature systems are hull integrity, armor, damage control, power distribution, defensive control and security. Those are the systems that keep a crew alive when the fight goes wrong. A Crown engineer working on a Crown system has room to work, accurate manuals and labeled panels.
**It is not subtle.** Crown's Weak systems are signature management, atmospheric handling, flexible cargo conversion and luxury. A Crown ship is visible, documented and fixed in its role. It does not sneak, it does not skim a low atmosphere gracefully, and it does not turn a cargo bay into a ballroom.
**It is costly and predictable.** Price tier is high but steady. Financing runs through long-term federal loans, fleet contracts and insured leases. Parts are excellent in developed space, and authorized service is common across Irnan and League ports.
The saying along the docks: *"Crown ships keep flying long after the crew gives up."*
**Crown Meridian at a Glance**
| | |
|:--|:--|
| **Common name** | Crown Meridian |
| **Alignment** | Irnan Directorate |
| **Market** | Naval, federal, patrol, industrial |
| **Reputation** | Reliable, heavily documented, difficult to surprise |
| **Price tier** | High but predictable |
| **Financing** | Federal loans, fleet contracts, insured leases |
| **Parts** | Excellent in developed space |
| **Service** | Common in Irnan and League ports |
| **Gray market** | Moderate; firmware locks complicate it |
| **Authority heat** | Low, unless military systems are fitted without certification |
## What This Book Covers
**Eight ship lines.** Boarding craft, armored shuttle, armored cutter, vault courier, escort corvette, industrial vessel, institutional frigate and convoy carrier. They run from Scale 3 to Scale 7, the ceiling for commercial shipwrights.
**Eighteen hulls.** Every line has two or three generations. Crown names a generation with a trailing letter, as a federal contract revision: the CM-440, the CM-440A, the CM-440B.
**Every hull is built to the same grade.** Crown is a certified corporate and contractor yard, so every hull in this book is Professional grade. Chapter 2 explains what that means for reading an entry.
**Signature components.** Chapter 9 lists the modules and systems that only Crown builds, with their Native and Certified status.
**Ownership and refit.** Chapter 10 prices each generation new and used, and what an upgrade costs at a Crown yard.
**What Crown does not build.** Yachts, liners, luxury couriers, stealth ships, light unarmored freighters, and anything made to work gracefully in an atmosphere. A crew that wants a Crown ship to carry freight should look at Openframe, Crown's Partner.
## Using This Book
**The Vehicles Manual comes first.** Where this book and the Vehicles Manual print the same Crown hull (the CM-440, CM-540 and CM-640), the two stat blocks carry the same numbers. If they ever differ, the Vehicles Manual governs.
**Class follows Scale.** A hull's class matches the size category it sits in. The CM-540 is an escort corvette at Scale 5 and the CM-640 an institutional frigate at Scale 6. Earlier printings call them an escort frigate and an institutional cruiser. The hulls themselves have not changed.
**Prices are catalog prices** for a factory-new hull at a Crown yard, with the factory package fitted. Chapter 10 has used prices.
