Juggernuaghts of the sky: What do?

[Kriegson]

The subject has been poked at a few times, from curiosity surrounding the ruins in duel and the desert map (name escapes me) and boss battles have been mentioned and spoke on a bit during the adventure mode kickstarter. I also remember reading a little bit somewhere pertaining to the massive ships in regards to "If only we could find out who keeps making these things..." insinuating there are more than just ruins of these leviathans about the world.

So from the insinuations of them still being produced, boss battles and the simple fact that they HAVE existed, one might imagine we see these pre-war re-fitted warships with balloons to carry them.
But assuming a great many things, what role could they possibly serve in the overall game world? Could any particular nation lay claim to them? Or does one in specific have agency? Would they be more of a "random event" kind of deal, or even a balancing one in which a faction pushed too close to the brink lashes out desperately with technology that should have been left buried?

Assuming they exist, what role might they serve?

[Lord Dick Tim]

Capitol ships I'd assume, forming the nerve center for a flotilla in most cases.  Though I also see them filling the Dreadnaught role, the siege breaker.

I've constructed a few narratives in my head about what these monstrosities could be like.  Mostly from the point of view of a foot soldier, the awe or horror of first seeing something that defies reason floating in the sky.

"Four days the shells fell, four days we fought and pushed back the Anvalan advance while airships screamed rockets above and guns reported across a no mans land of burnt trees and churned earth.  Then it all just stopped, the wind whistled afore as a beast took into its lungs a great breath to usher forth the death knell of Yesha.  The Naglefar's horn called out three times with a wind that bent trees and shattered a mans resolve to fight.  As the great Wolf of the north eclipsed the sun, her guns brought eternal rest to all those caught in the night cast by her bulk."

[Kriegson]

Nice narrative! I think there's a lot you could play with in regards to writing the emotional response to something as jarring as an airship the size of a city, bristling with guns droning overhead. Mankind isn't really wired to expect threats from above, so such a thing could be pretty jarring indeed.

And I agree on their role. In any kind of organized fashion, a ship that powerful DEMANDS escorts. The same is true throughout actual history regarding main battleships and carriers always being provided a screen of destroyers and cruisers for escort, and that would make good ingame content in regards to a sort of raid culminating in a boss fight against the dreadnaught.