Hibernation Bay

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In each of the Helas Vessels, there are rows upon rows and decks upon decks of them. Hibernation chambers, each acting the same way as the spell Temporal Stasis. On deep voyages, even the great size of the ships could not supply the needs of 20,000 primordial soldiers itching for battle. Some say it was Beldileck who invented them, but I believe the nature of these hibernation chambers, there strange gooey membranes, speaks of another.

- Ptah, from the Covenant Archive on Jovar - "Primordial Troop Carriers"

Hibernation Bays are used to put Helas Vessel passengers to sleep. As Ptah mentioned, it works like the spell Temporal Stasis. They were made during the Creation War. A conflict that Beldileck saw as going on for a long time. The distance between a world and its moons, or even further, to another world, was so great and time-consuming that these Hibernation Bays were invented to solve two problems. The first was food for passenger complement of up to 20,000. The second was to keep the crew and passengers from hurting each other. Given the nature of their soldiers, children of Chaos, this was perhaps the most important reason. One of the first Helas Vessels used in war, the Vuvile Helas, did not have these Hibernation Bays. Half-way through the voyage, following a number of large gang fights, the ship fell under control of an underling. Now since only the commander was tied to the ship's living engine, and he was dead, the Vuvile Helas stayed on its last course, disappearing into the Void.

The most documented use of the Hibernation Bays happened in the Durkoth evacuation of their home world. The best of the best were selected to board four Helas Vessels. The went into the Void with no course set. This was not intentional. The Durkoth simply did not know to operate them. They trusted the genius of Beldileck's arks to save them. In 537 HE, they left most of their people behind. Three centuries later, in 862 HE, the Helas Vessels arrived on Bal-Kriav. As they entered this world's atmosphere, the 15,000 to 20,000 occupants in each voidship came out of hibernation and prepared for landing.

On the world Bal-Kriav, hibernation bays have been salvaged from all the four Helas Vessels. In the Durkoth Descent (995 HE - 1355 HE), many were taken to the seabeds, with vaults and then a city built over them. They became the home of many Durkoth when they supposedly disappeared. In other areas, they have been used to store their occupants until a cure for a poison or disease has been found, to preserve one's mortal existence a little longer, and as prisons. In 1105, the lich Caliguworm, the False Emperor, was unmasked and captured. The League of Magicks took their prisoner to his new home in Uriall-Madiess, where he was slated to spend an eternity in one of these ancient sleep devices.

The Crillion Comet is another vessel with hibernation bays.