Mosquito (spelljammer)

This article is about the spaceship. For the insect, see mosquito.

Mosquitoes were small spelljammers. They were among the smallest vessels capable of carrying a spelljamming helm, second only to the elven flitters.^[1]^[2]

Description[]

A mosquito was an open-deck ship. Only one person was necessary to fully operate it, but it could support a compliment of up to six creatures without compromising its air supply. For that reason, it was considered an excellent personal transport. Domed-deck variants were not uncommon, and were typically employed by light-sensitive occupants such as mind flayers.^[1]^[2]

Mosquitoes were capable of landing on both water and land. For that reason, many larger vessels employed mosquitoes as shuttles, landing vessels, lifeboats and rescue ships. Mosquitoes employed as landing vessels were usually stripped of their helms.^[1]^[2]

Thanks to their small size and versatility, mosquitoes were also frequently employed as spies and infiltrators, sometimes with small modifications that made them more difficult to detect, or stripped-down versions, known as gnats, which were incredibly maneuverable. They were, however, very delicate, a trait that made them generally unsuitable for combat.^[1]^[2]

Despite that, some combat configurations existed. Known as stingers, these variants consisted of replacing the ship's cargo hold with a single weapon, such as a ballista, catapult, or jettison. Other combat modifications included suicide ships, whose cargo holds were filled with Greek fire or other highly flammable materials. They were then stripped of their helms and cast adrift toward other ships, igniting them on impact. Another application of these bomb ships was to create minefields, where swarms of drifting flammable mosquitoes were left in orbit around planets.^[1]^[2]