Suntail
I wanted to design a ship that looks very alien, and I had this vertical, star-like design in mind. I also wanted to try to work with some greebler plugins and see how they work. This is the result.
For a long time, I wasn't sure about the aft section, until I had the idea to make something like the tail fins of a fish. I added the yellow light out of a whim, liked the idea, and the name "Suntail" was born.
The primary idea is that this ship belongs to an ancient species. Just a few of them are flying around, although nobody knows why. Communication seems impossible - they don't understand it, or they don't care. They also don't care about territories and borders. Some territorial species didn't like that, but quickly learnt to leave them alone, as their energy shields are impenetrable and although they are apparently only armed with two beam turrets, these beams, dubbed "solar lances", ignore shields and can cut through even the thickest armor like a hot knife through butter.
This is what I imagine the guys that fly this ship look like. https://www.artstation.com/artwork/OmJOnv
Side view with engines turned off. Some believe the ship's distinct aesthetic has a religious or otherwise symbolic origin.
The ship is facing left.
Side view with engines turned on. The bright ball of energy created by the engines is why the ship is called "Suntail".
Front view. The two orbs at the side of the "head" are the turrets. When active, they will spin rapidly. Instead of shooting one coherent beam, the emitter will constantly change, creating a high frequency pulsed beam. This prevents overheating.
Aft view. Close up of the engine section. It is not known how it works.
This was one idea for a more traditional aft section. I scraped it because the shape didn't fit the overall aesthetic of the ship.
The original idea was to have the engine mounted at the back of a central axle, and have the ring rotate around the axle when banking, while the head remained still.