Marigold Device
Created by Dr. Anton Marigold
forms a shift field around itself, allowing for the contents of the field to be transitioned into Fold Space
shift field - The field created by a Marigold Device that allows objects contained within it to enter Fold Space.
A Transition Drive uses the shift field to move a ship through fold-space.
When two (or more) shift fields interact in Fold-space, they produce a spectacular display of “lightning” that plays across the fields. The more rapid the merging, the more drastic the display. This interaction has been known to damage ship systems. Specifically the Marigold device, and to a lesser extent, the Transition drive. When shift fields must interact (to make safe ship to ship transfers while in Fold-space, for example) it is always done slowly, and with much care, to minimize the risk of systems failures.
Transition drive - the key component of the Transition Drive is the Marigold Device. using this allows the Transition drive to enter and leave Fold Space. Manipulation of the shift field, by the Transition Drive, allows for travel through Fold Space.
Fold Space - Fold Space is a dimension just below our own. Accessible through the Marigold Device, and traversable with a Transition Drive.
Fold space is a dimension of absolute nothingness. No up or down or otherwise. Blacker than black. More null than void. So mind numbingly empty is Fold Space that were one to observe it without the buffer of the Shift Field, a mind would go quite mad quite rapidly. Which was proven, several times over, during the initial manned tests of the Marigold Device.
This remains the one acknowledged yet rare form of danger in fold-space, fold-madness. Some people seem to be more prone to fold-madness than others. Claims of seeing Fold Ghosts is considered to be a telltale sign of early onset fold-madness. A person on their first transition into fold-space is usually monitored closely for signs of fold-madness. It is a cumulative degenerative disease with no known cure. Those proven to be susceptible to it are seldom allowed to travel by fold-space. Also of note is that a weakened or damaged shift-field could lead to exposure to fold-madness, but that would never happen under normal circumstances.
As there is no natural way to navigate while in Fold Space, the settled portions of the galaxy rely on Fold Beacons to get from point to point (It was the destruction of the Terran Beacon and several smaller way-beacons that lead to the loss of humanities birth world during The Breaking).
Fold Beacons are usually planet based Marigold Devices transmitting a signal into Fold-Space (often carrying local news and bulletins embedded in the signal)
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