The Nine-Five

EastSpace super highway

The 9/5 is a band of warped space that circles through Eastspace but originates all the way from Weltinadir. In the band space and time are stretched and pulled along its length. A ship moving inside the band can travel faster than the speed of light without breaking Newton's laws as the band is ostensibly an elongated wormhole. Ships must navigate the Nine-Five carefully as it bends and twists and changes shape as it continues to move slowly about its path. A ship not piloted well may find itself flung out of the band at a newly formed “bend” and have to double back to re-enter the band to continue their journey. The band was artificially created during the beginning of the first dark age. Wellington Sciences, experimenting with the discovered element (G) attempted to create a “Gate” that would link them back to earth. Unfortunately the Dark Fields began during the experiment but instead of simply shutting it down the wormhole erupted and reacted with the large amount of element (G) in the planet. The world was then “broken” and the wormhole arced through space, expanding into the area now known as Eastspace.
After the Dark Age, the band gave the surviving Wellington descendants, now known as the Welts, an early advantage. They were able to strike across Eastspace with impunity until the band was discovered by the Arcadians who broke the Welts fledgling empire.
Now the band is a significant factor in commerce, war and unfortunately pirating. As the band bends and twists, ships that fall out of the band may find themselves set upon by pirate ships waiting in ambush. Strategic points along the band, commonly used for invasions by warring worlds are monitored heavily by military outposts. The band does not cross all of Eastspace so there are few worlds with easy access to it but almost all worlds are affected by it. New bends in the 9-5 discovered by pirates are used as ambush sites. Unwary ships falling out of the band at those points are more vulnerable to attack as it often takes a while for the ships sensors to recalibrate for “normal” space.

created by Howard Night