Space Travel

Basics

Metadimensional Space

A higher-order continuum of spacetime that allows for faster travel between star systems. A ship can only enter metadimensional space from the edge of a star system, where the star's gravity is weakest.

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Rutter

A documented pathway through metadimensional space. These pathways are continually shifting, requiring constant updates to rutters between known locations. Regular maintenance of pathways can help prevent shifting.

Spike Drives

Ship engines that can manipulate space and time to allow the ship and its inhabitants to enter metadimensional space. Each drive has a spike rating that indicates how far through metadimensional space the engine can go in one trip.

Spike Drill

The process by which a pilot engages the spike drive and navigates through metadimensional space. It's imperative to have a current rutter to navigate safely, and attempting a drill without a rutter is dangerous to the point of being suicidal.

Primers are articles covering base concepts that help bring context to other articles. Read the others here:

Did you know?

All ships are required to have a safety feature that prevents a pilot from initiating a spike drill without a rutter. Protectorate guidelines prohibit overriding this feature without proper authorization.

Travel Time and Distance

Star systems are mapped in a hexagonal grid based on known metadimensional pathways between them. The shorter the pathway, the closer the systems are on the map. This is unrelated to physical distance - systems that are metadimensionally-adjacent might be on opposite ends of the galaxy. The map requires updates when pathways mutate or new rutters are developed.
A ship's spike rating describes how many hexagons the ship can traverse in a single drill, as well as how quickly it can make the trip.

• Spike-1 engines are common in freight and personal ships. They can only travel to adjacent systems and take 6-10 days to get there.
• Spike-2 engines are in most commercial and military ships. They halve the travel time of a spike-1 and can traverse between all clusters.
• Spike-3 engines are rare. The intense power draw often requires pre-tech to support, which few private citizens could acquire. A spike-3 is the only way to reach Rada.
• There are records of spike-4 through spike-6 engines existing centuries ago, but nothing this powerful has been redeveloped.

Traversable stellar systems
Key planetary locations
Metadimensional distance

Sector Map

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The hex map of this galactic sector. Positions of planets indicate access via known metadimensional pathways, not physical proximity.