How do vanships stay aloft?

Question

In Last Exile, the aircraft known as vanships do not rely on wings to generate lift. So, has the technology that the vanships use to fly been described in any detail?

Answer 1

The floating ships in Last Exile use something called the Claudia Unit (see picture).

These units use a mixture of Claudia, the glowing blue ore, and water/alcohol as fuel. The Claudia Units themselves are fairly complicated devices and are provided solely by The Guild on loan to engineers of the different factions/countries. When warships become damaged, their Claudia Units detach and can fly its way back to the Guild, which usually leads to the demise of the ship. Additionally, the Guild can remotely recall Claudia Units. The exception being the Silvius which has a stolen unit that the Guild cannot recall.

The smaller Vanships also use Claudia fueled engines (called "Claudia Engines" to differentiate between ones that are used by the larger ships) that are much smaller and simpler than the units that the Guild controls. Some of these engines are so stripped down, they require external electricity to "start" the engine.

In this picture of the Silvana and Claus and Lavie's Vanship, you can see details of the Claudia Unit and Engine.

Anthony Kostabi mentions that the burning of Claudia inside the engines/units create a some kind of field (I think he uses the term "magnetic field") directed downwards to produce lift. In Episode 13, we learn that Vanship engines work by circulating near-vaporized Claudia at very high pressures through pipes at the rear of Vanships. You can see the pair of pipes in the rear of Tatiana's Vanship:

The Vespas from Last Exile - Fam, The Silver Wing are smaller than Vanships but still use Claudia engines: