The Things that Live in Jumpspace

"There's a reason every starship has thick shutters that block the viewports every single jump. People weren't meant to go to Jumpspace, and Jumpspace knows it. I saw a man go mad when the shutters failed and he looked into Jumpspace, poor Hattie never spoke again. There are things there, living things, things that want us gone from their home. Pray your drive never fails in Jump kid, or you're never coming home."

Summary

Jumpspace is known to be a strange place, it is difficult, impossible even to run sensors into it, and for as long as anybody can remember ships have been designed with heavy shutters that close in front of viewports to prevent people from looking out into it with their own eyes. When these shutters fail, those who do look into jumpspace report seeing strange things moving around in the extradimensional void. This has resulted in the creation of a number of 'old spacer's tales' that can be heard passing through the myriad starports of charted space, often recounted by veteran spacers in order to scare their less experienced bretheren. The widest and most prominent, and ultimately the most diverse however, is the story of the Things That Live in Jumpspace.

Historical Basis

Initiated jump drive <<unintelligible>> days ago. Results have been unexpected. Hearing <<unintelligible>> noises from outside the hull. May be a consequence of radiation from gaseous hydrogen bubble. There are strange <<unintelligible>> patterns in <<unintelligible>> however, outside what was detected by previous uncrewed tests before. <<untintelligible>> the hull <<untintelligible>>. Knocking sound <<untintelligible>> airlock as if something intelligent wants to come in. Will have to investigate.
I have also experienced sickness in jump <<untintelligible>>, vomitting, severe migranes, and... other side effects. <<untintelligible>> a polyphonic sound not from outside the ship but within my head. The sensation is <<untintelligible>>. Symptoms worse when viewing space outside viewport have applied measures to obstruct these ports temporarily. Hopefully that will help. <<untintelligible>> will come to an end in four days <<untintelligible>> time before jumping back.
-Georgios Gagarin, Head of Flight Team, Project Valeria

Historically, early Jump Trials met with mixed success, though many ships managed to survive jump intact, the few records that survive these initial trials indicate that in manned trials, more than a few of those who went out in the jump often suffered from severe physical and mental illnesses as a result. Others reported hearing unusual noises emanating from outside the ship, or experienced hallucations. These phenomena were referred to as "Jump Sickness" and treated as a form of illness rather than attributed to any entities in Jumpspace.
Additionally, attempts have been made by Jumpspace scientists to study unfiltered the nature of Jumpspace by projecting scientific measuring tools out of the jump bubbles of ships transiting between systems. All attempts to gather data have resulted in the destruction of sensing equipment with the longest known record of out of bubble survival being 125 nanoseconds, with only enough data to record the rapid molecular decay (akin to the device undergoing trillions of years of aging in seconds of time) of the sensing device. However the tether to this particular device bore strange markings that non-scientific members of the crew likened to bite marks, giving rise to the notion of fauna living within the largely unknown dimension.
To correct against this 'jump sickness' large shutters for the viewports became a common safety feature in most starship designs, and most jump drives were reconfigured to emit opaque Jump bubbles in order to cut visual access to Jumpspace. In the event of a shutter failure, it is longstanding spacer practice to abandon the affected part of the starship for the duration of jump if possible. However, even with these protective measures some passengers and crew report experiencing strange noises or sights even with appropriate protective measures in place. While most scientists continue to assert that these witnessed phenomena are hallucinations or the effects of jump sickness, many Psionic peoples with telepathic abilities have likened it to the 'song' of a Jred worldmind, or to psionic resonance of certain Pardian artifact technologies.
As the exact nature of Jumpspace is, at this time, virtually impossible to measure scientifically, especially without risking serious mental or physical harm, many have discredited the typically offered medical explanations, thus giving rise to the notion that Jumpspace, like Realspace is a place that harbors life, but that the life in Jumpspace is either incompatible with or hostile to Realspace beings and activty weaken or harm those who travel through Jumpspace. This has given birth to the myth of The Things that Live in Jumpspace.

Variations & Mutation

"Look out for the flitting forms outside the bubble. If you aren't careful they may decide to bite"
-Early spacer's proverb

It is difficult to pin down an exact nature attributed to the Things that Live in Jumpspace, moreso even than it is to properly understand that twisted dimension. Indeed there are nearly as many variations of Jumpspace Things as there are Spacers who have experienced a bad jump. Broadly speaking however there are a few common categories of Jumpspace Entities with widespread acknowledgement:
Travelers From Another Universe: The most 'scientific' postulation about Jumpspace Things is that Jumpspace is a transitory dimension, and that it is connected to a possible ominverse of infinite universes existing alongside each other. In this fashion it is not unlike the sea connecting distant landmasses. In this theory, The Things that Live in Jumpspace, don't actually live in Jumpspace but are instead, Spacers from other universes, and that it is a dissonance between them that causes the Jump Sickness phenomena. This theory is perhaps the one with the widest spread acceptance in academic circles, though as Jumpspace is very difficult to get any sense of, all hypotheses of this nature are virtually unfalsifiable.
Energy Based Lifeforms: Another attempt at 'scientifically' discussing the Things that Live in Jump Space argues that they are simply native lifeforms to the alternate dimension that is Jumpspace. Given the alien nature of that realm, it is believed by some that these beings are incompatible with Realspace life, or are otherwise alien to it, existing within Realspace as entities of the pure roiling energy of Jumpspace. These energy beings either react with hostility to those they consider to be intruders, or simply that their mere presence brings harm due to the sheer incompatibility of Realspace and Jumpspace. This particular notion tends to be more popular in the Coreward sectors of Civilized Space, as well as the Pardian Frontier. It is considered to be an object of legitimate study among Xenobiologists studying within the Yuan academic sphere, though the findings of these academics remains contested.
Lost Souls: As misjumps frequently result in the complete loss of the ship that made the jump, it is widely believed that those who were on such ships are trapped in Jumpspace. Those who are not consumed utterly by the alternate dimension are instead changed by it. However, they never forget where they originally came from. It is said that they try to enter ships transiting Jump and that if a Jump Bubble vibrates with the right frequency, they can attune themselves and break in. Attempting to reach out to the crews is said to result in malodorous results. In more sinister versions of this variation of the myth it is said that the Lost Souls try to reclaim a body to regain the life they once had, and that Jump Sickness, particularly the psychological changes are the result of failed, or perhaps successful attempts as possesion. This particular variant is extremely popular in Frontier Space, and among worlds with a proud maritime or spacing tradition.
Supernatural Demons: A common view among the superstitious is that Jumpspace isn't a rational realm, instead being in a certain sense a realm of supernatural, cosmic evil. Within this theory, the denizens of Jumpspace are not really living things but supernatural entities. Fiends that are hostile to humanity, looking for any chance to kill, maim, and mutitilate any human beings they come across. These 'demons' are kept at bay only with the help of the hydrogen bubble keeping them out, the presence of a little piece of Realspace acting as an acidic poison protecting travelers from the fiends that live in Jumpspace, even though they sometimes pass through the barrier anyway. These breaches are blamed for those who are lost in misjump, and the superstitious pray for a quick demise at the hands of the Fiends. In more extreme cases it is said that supernatural entities far more powerful, gods live in Jumpspace, toying with the outside world at their whim, or sleeping, awaiting the time they can breach reality and consume the universe.

Cultural Reception

Failure to show up for J-Drive maintenance shift will result in being fed to beings outside the bubble.
-Text of common satirical starship engineer workplace safety sign

The notion that there are living beings in Jump Space is usually considered to be empty Spacer's Tales with no basis in reality. With comparatively few academic institutions actually studying the possibility. Indeed outside of travelling circles the Things that Live in Jumpspace are rarely considered at all. However, for those who do regularly make use of jump the tales are extremely popular, even for those that don't necessarily believe them to be true can see the utility of scaring inexperienced crew members into making sure Jump systems are well maintained and the procedures followed rigorously as misjumps Things or no, are to be avoided at almost any cost.

In Art

The Widow of the Warp crys all night to you,
She wants to find herself inside of you,
Heed not her cries, and close your eyes,
For those she finds join her and die.

-Except of song Widow of the Warp

Tales of the Things that Live in Jumpspace are generally spread orally, typically passed down from senior engineers to rookie spacers, especially junior engineers under their command, and as a result establishing a literary canon for the Things that Live in Jumpspace is a difficult proposition. The most famous person to attempt to do so, Gennady Billups Liv wrote a long series of holonovels on the topic of Jumpspace Things focusing on the Things as Demons angle, which remain the most popular examples of written work on Jumpspace things to this day. Traditional films and Trid have been more common hosts for stories of Jumpspace Things typically as horror films with the Scipion Studio Enterprises multimedia franchise Tales of the Warp proving exceptionally popular with audiences around Civilized Space. However, as with the sea shanties of Old Earth, most tellings of Jumpspace things are spread through song. The most widely known of these include The Widow of the Warp, Drunken Spacer, and Forms of Dark.