Interstellar Travel

In the present day, interstellar travel is prolific across the Orion Spur. Hopping planet-to-planet or system-to-system to see friends, dispersed family, or to commute to distant jobs has become normalised. It is more uncommon to find someone who hasn’t travelled beyond their home system than has.

Space, however, is incredibly large. In the 25th Century though, both subluminal/Slower-Than-Light (STL) and superluminal/Faster-Than-Light (FTL) travel have advanced to a degree that travel across the 100LY³ region that is the explored Orion Spur can take months, at most. The Spur’s states have also seen the construction of vital transport infrastructure that permits the ease of this travel.

An uncountable number of STL transport means exist, from humanity’s old chemical rocket propulsion to electrical propulsion, such as ion propulsion, that sees usage in the by the skrell. But, only two FTL transport means exist — warp, discovered earliest, more widespread, albeit slower; and bluespace, discovered more recently, less reliant on infrastructure, reliant on scarce phoron — each with major drawbacks that have only been brought to the light amid the Phoron Scarcity.

Contents

The Interstellar Transport Database

The Interstellar Transport Database was created as an independent body in 2137 by the Solarian Alliance shortly after the discovery of warp. It initially served as a repository of all safely charted warp lanes and, today, has expanded to include bluespace ring connections and established, well-trafficked bluespace routes. Its travel maps and live data on in-use warp lanes and bluespace routes protects interstellar pilots from collisions or poorly placed bluespace jumps, seeing it receive various tongue-in-cheek, oft-holy nicknames by different groups.

Interstellar Travel Map

The Interstellar Warp Database's Travel Map, displaying warp lanes and established bluespace routes.

Expand the collapsible, and feel free to open the image link in a new tab for a closer and more detailed look! ▶

Note: An 'established bluespace route' is a bluespace route so frequently travelled, the systems it passes have phoron refuelling infrastructure and/or is patrolled by local enforcement. Bluespace travel is not constrained to these routes, but requires extra consideration into fuel supply.

Active Major Travel Advisories

Expand the collapsible to view active ITD Major Travel Advisories! Useful for Bridge Crew to know! ▶

The following travel advisories have been included on Live Travel Maps by the Instellar Transport Database, informed by both state, megacorporate, and independent organisations:

• Sparring Sea ― Extreme Piracy: Warp travel strongly unadvised; seek alternative routes where possible. Exercise additional care charting bluespace routes; do not exit bluespace in the region unless necessary. No reliable law enforcement in region.
• Southern Reaches / Pustkowie ― Decivilised, Extreme Piracy: Warp travel unadvised in all systems and strongly unadvised away from patrolled systems; seek alternative routes where possible. Exercise additional care charting bluespace routes. Refer to Solarian Navy notices for up to date information on anti-piracy operations and where to avoid.
• Crescent Expanse ― Extreme Piracy, No Refuelling Infrastructure: Warp travel strongly unadvised; seek alternative routes where possible. Exercise additional care charting bluespace routes; do not exit bluespace in the region unless necessary. No reliable law enforcement in region. Limited refuelling infrastructure.
• East Badlands, Lemurian Sea ― Extreme Piracy, No Refuelling Infrastructure: Warp travel strongly unadvised; seek alternative routes where possible. Exercise additional care charting bluespace routes; do not exit bluespace in the region unless necessary. No reliable law enforcement in region. Limited refuelling infrastructure.
• Light's Edge, Lemurian Sea ― High Anomalous Activity: Warp travel unadvised; seek alternative routes where possible. Exercise additional care charting bluespace routes; exiting bluespace in the region unadvised. Report unusual phenomena to local scientific and state bodies, including: stellar diffusion without supernova, sudden photon termination, and sudden warp field dissipation.
• Zeiqi-Tqrn ― Quarantine: Major epidemic of Black Blood disease. Military cordon enforced; special travel permissions required by local Nralakk Federation. Non-permitted vessels enter at risk of ship scuttling.

Warp Travel

Warp drives, less frequently referred to as Alcubierre-Akysonov drives, work by distorting the space-time continuum around a ship, where space-time is compressed at the front and expanded at the rear, creating a wave-like "warp field" which propels the ship forwards at superluminal speeds. Some warp drives and gates go so far as to generate a micro-singularity to further distort the space-time continuum around a ship.

Warp travel is a continuous form of faster-than-light travel, whereby a ship continues to exist within and interacts with realspace, and therefore must avoid physical obstacles the realworld presents. Warp travel can be incredibly dangerous for those outside of the warp field, as an object moving at FTL speeds will destroy anything it hits. Consequently, warp travel is confined to "warp lanes", and warp drives can only be activated within "warp zones" at the edges of star systems. It used to take several years to chart a safe warp lane; even today with the assistance of present-day Cartographer AIs, it can take a year.

Warp travel has no 'special fuel' requirement, unlike bluespace travel which rely upon phoron. However, warp travel has a larger power requirement, necessitating a dedicated power generator to overcome this obstacle: typically fission for smaller ships; fusion for larger ships; a series of fusion generators for gates.

Specifications & Travel Costs

Expand the collapsible to see the average prices and specs of forms of warp travel ▶

Warp Drive	Average Speed (Light Years per Day [LY/D])	Supported Class Sizes	Additional Requirements	Average Cost with Requirements (电) (Civilian)
Personal Warp Drive Models	~0.35 LY/day	Class I to II	Warp-dedicated Fission Reactor, with fuels (eg. Uranium)	~5,000电
Standard Warp Drive Models	~0.5 LY/day	Class II to III	Warp-dedicated Fusion Reactor (eg. Helium-3)	~15,000电
Heavy-Duty Warp Drive Models	~1.0 LY/day	Class III to IV	Large, Warp-dedicated Fusion Reactor (eg. Helium-3)	~50,000电
Suzuki-Zhang Hammer Drive Models	~1.5 LY/day	Class II to IV	Warp-dedicated Fusion Reactor (eg. Helium-3)	~100,000电

Note: Due to the abundance of warp gates, warp drives are typically only used in larger, state/megacorporate vessels, those charting warp lanes, or warp enthusiasts willing to deal with the longer transit times.

Average Warp Gate Use Cost: ~20电 to traverse a complete lane (eg. the many gates between Sol and Nova Patria).

The Spur's states and megacorporations reserve certain warp lanes for their employees or for regular travellers who have subscribed (starting at 50电/month) to avoid warp traffic.

Average Warp Gate Construction Cost: Immense, requiring multiple dedicated fusion reactors, a large contractor costs, and cartographers to ensure a route is safe. It adds up to compare to constructing an airport.

History

“It's pleasing to know that the many children who dream of living among the stars will have the chance I never did. Perhaps the generations born stars away will dream of life on Earth.” - Dr. Evgeniy Aksyonov, warp drive inventor.

The idea of warp drives in the context they are known today began to crop up in the mid-1900s, with Dr. Miguel Alcubierre expanding upon and providing the first equations in which a warp drive may behave and be possible. It wouldn't be until the mid-2130s, amid the Earth's Climate Crisis that threatened humanity, that Soviet physicists led by Dr. Evgeniy Aksyonov would design the first, functional warp drive. This discovery laid the foundations for humanitys' conquest of the stars, demonstrating the possibility of traversing systems and between systems within acceptable human timeframes. Only 17 years later, the first planet outside of the Sol System would be colonised — Tau Ceti.

In 2355, the Solarian Alliance would announce the Warp Gate Project, which would aim to connect all of humanity's well populated and profitable systems together with a series of warp gates. Einstein Engines would be contracted to complete this work and, in 2384, they would announce the completion of the last planned warp gate.

As these warp gates could be used without a drive, they kicked off an age of driveless FTL travel, with only those seeking to hasten journeys or take unconventional shortcuts installing warp drives into their vessels — as well as military vessels, not wanting to be confined to lanes. Warp drives are capable of bolstering the speed of warp gate travel though, and so larger vessels continued to field warp drives to make gate travel more efficient.

In the 100 years since then, warp travel solidified itself as the mainstay for interstellar travel, until the later discovery of bluespace travel that threatened to make warp obsolete.

Warp Lanes and Gates

Warp lanes are mapped out routes that avoid planets and stations, dense asteroid fields, and other objects that the Spur doesn't want a warping ship to collide with. These warp lanes can only be used by one ship at a time, and so bundles or highways of warp lanes exist, all connecting the same two locations, for well-trafficked routes. Warp lanes are all publicised on the Interstellar Transport Database — the bible for any pilot who travels interstellar — which additionally indicates when warp lanes are in-use and inaccessible, so as to avoid collisions.

It is a frustrating truth that even these highways can see traffic jams, as the Spur's commuters, pleasure vessels and logistic vessels all queue to enter or leave via the same common highways. Warp lanes accessible only to specific states or megacorporations also exist, ensuring those 'important' need not get stuck in warp traffic; subscriptions are also offered for regular travellers to use these exclusive routes.

Since the completion of the Warp Gate Project, many of these warp lanes are now connected by warp gates, negating the need for a warp drive to traverse a warp lane. They are reliably found in all inhabited systems and form a spider web of connection across the known galaxy. Though expensive to set up initially, they are quite easy to maintain compared to bluespace rings.

Most drives produced in the current day are locked to these warp lanes and gates, however those utilised by warp cartographers — or those jailbroken — come without restrictions and can freely warp anywhere, at others' and one's own peril.

Warp Cartographers

“Sir, I put a lot of thought into those― please do not engage manual— oh, you blithering buffoon!” - GERALD (2316-2329), Cartographer AI aboard the ICV Wizard Wednesdays; final transmission recorded on the ship's telecommunications blackbox.

For those wishing to avoid warp traffic or for those wishing to make a significant amount of credits or respect, it is possible to explore and chart your own warp lane — those who do this are known as stellar cartographers or, more recently, warp cartographers. This is an incredibly slow and arduous process, requiring a cartographer to meticulously calculate trajectories and velocities for a warping vessel to traverse between two points, then trace the route in their own ship. This can take up to a decade if done ‘’analogue’’ and is incredibly dangerous, with one large mistake seeing a cartographer's ship tear through a habited system, end up destabilised by a planet's magnetic field and atmosphere where it will then crashland and be stranded, or warp straight into a star. However, it has been made a lot simpler by sophisticated Cartographer AIs which can handle the brunt of the calculation load in a matter of days, though this still requires a warp cartographer to put faith in the resulting route. Alternatively, one can find a skrell to be their cartographer!

Unity Station is also home to the Cartographer's Monument that honours any cartographer who has perished charting a new warp lane - regardless of species, religion, nationalist, etc. It is a large, black obelisk with a shining, golden pinnacle, inscribed with all of the names of those who have given their life in service of other space pilots. Inscribed is the following, "Without their work and sacrifice, the modern Spur would be a collection of isolated systems, alone in the dark."

Dangers

“DEFENDANT: Yeah well, how could he have know it was me? There was like, no way to even see into the ship's helm when I warped through his solar array. I mean when my ship did.” - Exerpt from a Republic of Biesel court transcript.

Warp travel is dangerous — a fact drilled into the minds of those across the Spur by NanoTrasen Corporation's bluespace drive ad campaigns. Some of the heavy-hitter messages include:

• Warp Collisions: As warp travel involves an object moving at FTL speeds in materialspace, there is a massive risk of collisions. Warping ships not beholden to a safe warp lane may rip through stations, ships in subspace, or small habited exoplanets. For those inside of the ship however, warping into a planet or star's magnetic field will destabilise the warp field and see the ship plummet into the planet or star, either stranded or incinerated. A study published by NanoTrasen Corporation in 2463 estimated 21,487 deaths per year to warp collisions, but had the unintentional consequence of resulting in greater reliance on Einstein Engines' warp gates.

• Singularities: For those warp drives that augment their distortion of the space-time continuum with a micro-singularity, additional dangers are of course incurred, with the rare event whereby a singularity escapes its containment, consumes the ship, then goes on to create a blackhole (hopefully not in civilised space!).

• Warp Field Accretion, and Shotgun Warping: When a ship is soaring through space in warp, this warp field will 'catch' other particles in the trough-like space-time distortion at the front of the warp field, be it solid matter, light photons, etc. When the ship then exits warp, these accreted particles and matter - which accumulated immense energy from being propelled at FTL speeds - will explosively disperse in a scatter-ray of ionising radiation or superheated plasma. This is incredibly dangerous for other vessels, and is why Warp Zones are important. They can also be weaponised, with it not being a rare tale to hear of a pirate "Shotgun Warping" someone in an ambush, however this is an incredibly skilled maneuver to pull off.

• Arbitrary Warp Malfunctions, officially Warp NSCP Events: Warp drives and gates have an inherent 'failure chance' when primed for warp travel. In the latest models released by Einstein Engines, a warp drive or gate will malfunction 3 times out of 100. The malfunctions are usually not major, overloading and damaging components. This inherent failure chance is attributed to the relationship between FTL Travel and Time Travel, for anything that can be used to travel faster-than-light can theoretically be used to time travel. However, the universe is prepared to smite any attempts at time travel with what is known as the Novikov self-consistency principle (NSCP) - the universe's safeguard against the creation of paradoxes. When someone operating a warp drive or gate thinks of traversing time with the warp drive, that 3% chance to fail will always land on a fail chance despite its statistical improbability, as it must be impossible to time-travel, as that could create a paradox.

• Piracy: Though safe to use in well-patrolled regions, utilising warp travel through uninhabited or poorly-patrolled systems often leaves one at risk of piracy. Unlike bluespace travel which is direct to one's endpoint and occurs outside of the material world, warp lanes are fixed, predictable, and have multiple stops and interchanges that leave a ship vulnerable to piracy.

Suzuki-Zhang Hammer Drives

“We are no longer the Einstein of the past decades, reeling from defeat after defeat and barely keeping pace with NanoTrasen [...] we can not only meet NanoTrasen, but that we can best them even in [Biesel].” - Noelle Lopez-Zhang (2408—), October 17th, 2461, at the steps of Xavier Trasen Memorial Courthouse after Einstein Engines v. NanoTrasen Corporation.

The Suzuki-Zhang Hammer Drive model was designed in October 2462 by a team orchestrated by Einstein Engines's Chief Research Officer, Dr. Mio Suzuki. At first only fitted into vessels of the Solarian Alliance, a commercial variants of the Suzuki-Zhang Hammer Drive would be placed on the open market in July 2464. Not quite the ultimate bluespace drive replacement it was marketed to be, Hammer Drive models remains a feat of human engineering and is still markedly better than all other warp drives on the market.

Whereas other warp drives are negative warp drives, which generate negative mass particles to distort space-time to create the warp field, the Hammer Drive was the first positive warp drive to be designed. This is an unimportant distinction for most but, crucially, it forgoes the requirement for warp drives to come with built-in negative mass particle generators, massively reducing their size and power demand — two of the larger downsides for consumers. An additional benefit is that most warp interdiction technology targets negative warp fields, resulting in Hammer Drives being immune to most interdiction technology.

Only available on the open market in 2464, Hammer Drives remain expensive, though not prohibitively so: A Hammer Drive model costs fluctuates around 电100,000, and can reduce the average journey to a matter of weeks with none of the phoron cost of a bluespace drive, less power demand than other high-end warp drives, and can fit in ships other high-end warp drives could not.

Warp Interdiction

Warp travel is quite easy to interdict, unlike bluespace which cannot be interdicted from realspace as the target is in another dimension, requiring more complex nets to be positioned in bluespace.

Available on the open-market for bounty hunting and military use are warp field dissolvers or just warp interdictors, which can be placed into the warp lane someone anticipates their victim to be making use of. When the warping ship collides with the warp field dissolver, it prematurely aborts the warp travel, often causing electrical malfunctions, and allows the ship to be attacked.

Interdiction nets are popular with pirates who set them up where warp lanes pass through uninhabited systems, pillaging those they capture in their snare. Interdiction nets are easy to jury-rig and can be produced with inexpensive, modified warp drives, resulting in their widespread use by rather infamous groups. However, an advanced understanding of engineering and the internal complexities of warp drives is needed to make an improvised interdiction net.

In a military setting, specialised, destroyer-sized or larger interdiction vessels are also capable of preventing warp travel in a large area around the interdiction vessel. These vessels field warp destabilisers which ― by creating an odd, rapid undulation of space-time ― trigger the emergency shutdowns or prevent start-ups in most warp drives and gates.

Bluespace Travel

“It would be unwise to base the next foundations of the Spur on this cosmic madness.” — Dr. Vincent Chen-yue (2325—2442), Chief Research Officer with Taipei Engineering Industrial

Little is understood about bluespace. It is believed to be an alternative dimension 'overlayed' over our dimension — often formally named materialspace or realspace — where a position in bluespace roughly corresponds to a point in realspace. It also appears to be intrinsically tied to the phoron, with bluespace phenomena and phoron often coinciding: the Romanovich Cloud being the prime example, rich in both phoron and anomalous phenomena connected to bluespace.

Bluespace travel involves piercing a tunnel with a pre-calculated exit point in materialspace into bluespace, which the ship then is then pulled into — and any matter around the ship with it. After traversing through this bluespace tunnel for a short duration, the ship spews forth from the exit point. At the core of bluespace drives and rings are "bluespace crystal matrices" — series of phoronic bluespace crystals, that appear to display piezoelectric-like characteristics by forces believed to be exerted in the bluespace dimension. Inputting the destination for a bluespace jump will realign the bluespace crystals, then once further energised with an influx of fluidic phoron and a variable moderator, will create the bluespace tunnel. No one quite understands the mechanisms behind this - it just works; normally, this would bar the wide adoption of something, but not something as profitable as bluespace.

Like warp travel, bluespace travel must begin and end in designated bluespace egress and ingress zones, as the formation of a bluespace tunnel — entrance and subsequent exit — will displace and suck in nearby mass, ejecting them with the ship when it exits bluespace. These egress and ingress zones align with the warp zones on the edges of star systems and also — as bluespace travel occurs in another dimension and poses no collision threat — in high orbit and between planetary bodies.

Unlike warp travel, bluespace travel does not rely on ensuring a route is safe, only that your end point is clear of obstacles. As a result, ships are unburdened by specific routes and can go virtually anywhere. The Interstellar Travel Database does log well-established bluespace routes however, the systems of which a route passes often being built up with phoron refuelling infrastructure and being patrolled by local enforcement.

Limited by the size of any given vessel, bluespace drives vary in their power and precision depending on their design — how much phoron primes them, the fluid moderator choice, the size of the drive. The most powerful of bluespace drives are reserved for flagships of the respective nations and megacorporations within the Orion Spur, reaching shockingly high FTL speeds and with perfect precision.

Specifications & Travel Costs

Expand the collapsible to see the average prices and specs of forms of bluespace travel ▶

Bluespace Drive	Average Speed (Light Years per Day [LY/D])	Supported Class Sizes	Additional Requirements	Average Cost with Requirements (电) (Civilian)
Low-Power Bluespace Drive Models	~1.5 LY/day	Shuttles to Class II	Individual Phoron Canisters	~50,000电
Standard Bluespace Drive Models	~2.75 LY/day	Class II to IV	Small Phoron Holding Tank	~100,000电
High-power Bluespace Models	~5.0 LY/day	Class II to IV	Phoron Holding Tank	~300,000电

Average Bluespace Ring Ticket Cost: ~电250. NanoTrasen Corporation used to offer a subscription for frequent travellers, however it is now only offered to their employees for 1,000电/month.

Average Bluespace Ring Construction Cost: Insurmountable and will garner laughs from investors.

Blue indicates an active connection; Red indicates an intentional disconnection/prohibition; Yellow indicates an unintentional disconnection/maintenance.

History

Bluespace was discovered very recently in 2410 by Einstein Engines physicist Dr. Luo Qiqiang, who detected the first indications of bluespace phenomena while studying a particularly large deposit of phoron in the Romanovich Cloud, connecting the two. Following Dr. Luo Qiqiang's revelation in 2412, NanoTrasen Corporation's Dr. Samantha Tigard would go to lay the foundations of bluespace science as it is today, and design the first means of bluespace travel - the same year, the first commercially-viable bluespace drive would hit the market.

Bluespace travel saw rapid adoption after the initial skepticism wore off and saw widespread use among megacorporations, states, and express transport. Most of the Spur’s residents turned away from warp travel — both drive and gates — and had bluespace drives fitted into their ships, rendering pre-charted warp lanes obsolete in a matter of years now due to their crushingly slow speeds.

This wasn’t the end, as NanoTrasen Corporation envisioned a total replacement of warp gates, aiming to install a bluespace ring in every inhabited system where a warp gate sits. Shouldering the cost and with generous grants from the Solarian Alliance, construction of the first bluespace ring began in the Sol system in 2415. Growing pains were quick to present and it became clear that the phoron burden of installing dozens of bluespace rings was simple impossible, and so the project was downscaled to only the most traffic-heavy of systems. A total of 6 rings were constructed, with the last finished in Xanu in 2422. Despite only 6 bluespace rings having been constructed, they revolutionised Spur logistics, turning month long warp freight journeys with a half-dozen interchanges or month long bluespace jumps, into only a couple week long series of ring jumps.

In the 2460s, as the Scarcity continues to take its toll, circumstances are appearing to reverse and there are doubts as to whether bluespace travel will remain a viable option. NanoTrasen Corporation and the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate have invested significant amounts into alleviating the Scarcity and locating more phoron deposits, however Einstein Engines continues to undercut the bluespace market with more affordable and reliable warp drives — the Suzuki-Zhang Hammer Drives being the first of nails into bluespace's coffin.

Bluespace Rings

A NanoTrasen Corporation infographic presenting the benefits of bluespace transpot vs. warp, in the context of bulk, Spur logistics.

Bluespace rings are particularly useful for being the superhighway of interstellar travel. They are massive constructions which ships pass through to be transported, capable of hurling a ship through bluespace in any direction (though, in practise, stick to precalibrated routes) and — being so powerful — permit near-instantaneous travel, with a promised 5 minutes maximum transit time. As a result, the Spur's logistics rely upon these 6 bluespace gates for speedy deliveries, with the rare gate outage often wreaking havoc upon planetary supply lines.

Bluespace rings are overseen by Ring AIs ― all interconnected on a shared extranet network ― which permit access based on ship credentials and civilian records, and perform the highly-complex calculations required to calibrate a bluespace matrix and transport a vessel through a different dimension. Both the start-point bluespace ring and end-point bluespace ring must synchronise for a jump to be successful. In times of diplomatic troubles, bluespace rings can be blacklisted from connecting, as is seen with Sol's bluespace ring.

Bluespace rings can be found in the following systems: Sol, Nralakk, Tau Ceti, Haneunim, Xanu, and Tabiti. Of note is the bluespace ring between Tau Ceti and Xanu which, in 2462, is said to have “collapsed” due to reasons unknown. It is unclear what exactly happened or if the ring will re-open, as both governments and the corporations they contract keep their investigations highly classified.

Dangers

Einstein Engines and scientists in the wake of bluespace's discovery had and have a lot to say on bluespace travel. After all, it has never been wise for those to play with what they do not truly understand.

• Bluespace Dematerialisation, and the colloquial Bluespace Sickness: While in Bluespace, everything about you and the ship you stand upon is alien to this dimension, down to your matter. Matter does not like being unstable like it is in bluespace, and to stabilise it must convert into the same 'stuff' that permeates bluespace - obviously, this is not good for the ship or those within it. Bluespace drives are able to prevent this from becoming a problem, however particularly long journeys through bluespace will see a bluespace drive falter. Random particles will begin to 'vanish', overtime causing damage or malfunctions to ship equipment, or resulting in an individual developing an acute illness depending on where they have been affected, with symptoms ranging from memory loss, to temporary vision impairment, to skin rashes. For this reason, it has always been advised to plot a series of consecutive, mid-range bluespace jumps instead of one large bluespace jump.
• Bluespace Chronology Protection Events (BCPEs): Travelling along the X and Y planes in bluespace will correspond with locational movement in realspace, however travelling along the Z-plane is believed to correspond with temporal movement — after all, all FTL travel brings with it possibilities for travel. Similar to a warp drive's nonviolent NSCP events, though instead seemingly caused by sudden, immense energy build up, any attempts to traverse time using bluespace self-abort. Unlike warp drives however, this is handled destructively, whereby once a ship begins traversing the bluespace Z-plane, the bluespace drive near-instantly explodes, either damaging the ship after it is pulled out of bluespace or ― for those even unluckier ― simply sees the ship dematerialise in bluespace. NanoTrasen Corporation have kindly set a hard-lock in their bluespace drives preventing Z-plane traversal, though many an aspiring time travel have bypassed this lock only to next be seen drifting in a destroyed vessel or not at all.

C-Goliath Bluespace Drives

The C-Goliath Bluespace Drive is an odd marvel of engineering that is a hybrid warp and bluespace drive, designed by NanoTrasen Corporation in response to Suzuki-Zhang Hammer Drive models. The idea was to create a primarily bluespace drive with a built-in, fallback warp drive should the vessel ever find itself out of phoron fuel. However, the C-Goliath has proved impractical and inefficient for most uses, with it being simpler to just install both a warp drive and bluespace drive, or ― if phoron supplies are the concern ― axe the bluespace drive entirely. This hasn't stopped NanoTrasen Corporation and the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate's installing C-Goliath Drive models in their expeditionary vessels ― a niche that the C-Goliath could actually fulfill.

C-Goliath Bluespace Drives operate as bluespace drives for the most part, though are noticeably slower. However, when switched to their warp drive setting, must rely on forming a micro-singularity to warp space-time a sufficient amount, posing all the hazards a singularity does, compared to singularity-free warp drives.

C-Goliath Drive models are only available to the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate and NanoTrasen Corporation.

Interstellar Travel Infrastructure

A graphic representing warp zones and bluespace ingress/egress zones.

To sustain and ease the burden of regular interstellar travel around the Spur, networks of infrastructure have been established overtime. Without this infrastructure, or in the frontier where it begins to thin, most ships — except those designed for expeditionary purposes or with antiquated but hyper-optimised designs — begin to struggle.

Warp Gates and Bluespace Rings: As explained above.

Waystations: Interspersed along warp lanes, every several gates or so, are waystations. The most simple waystations contain refuelling facilities for travelling spaceships, ensuring one has plenty of opportunities to restock on fission or fusion fuels for their warp drive power reactors, or phoron for bluespace drives. More furnished waystations often included rented accomodations for short stays, allowing wary travellers a break from flying, and other premium facilities. Ownership of waystations vary by state: most in the Republic of Biesel are megacorporate-owned; independent waystations grow more common the further one gets from inhabited systems. Working on a waystation can be a dangerous job, as they are often prime targets for piracy in poorly patrolled systems.

Orion Express Mobile Stations: An Orion Express take on waystations. Orion Express mobile stations are on the smaller end of waystations and are posted on well-trafficked FTL routes ― particularly those used by the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate's constituent companies. Capable of in-system manoeuvers, but not FTL transit, they are capable of rendezvousing with a vessel in-need of resupplying.

Slower-Than-Light (STL) Travel

Sitting shy out of the limelight are subluminal means of transport, and yet every space vessel comes with at least one STL propulsion means to manoeuvre through a system between planets and other celestial bodies.

Up until the Second Space Age, direct STL travel was not possible, with — at the time — rockets and probes having to economically accelerate and decelerate and 'slingshot' off gravitational bodies, so as to conserve fuel. Since then, STL propulsion has grown strong enough to allow direct, constant acceleration transit, where ships can accelerate to and decelerate from extreme velocities that bypass the need to base manoeuvres off gravitational wells.

There are many tried-and-true STL propulsion systems, judged by their specific impulse — how much thrust can be generated with the least amount of fuel per second — with the most establisheed being:

• Chemical Propulsion: Seen as an antiquated, low-tech option — but still popular in parts of human space, and all of unathi and tajara space. Chemical propulsion involves igniting a propellant and chanelling the resulting high-pressure gas into space, propelling a vessel forwards. Chemical propulsion struggles to reach the extreme velocities that allow constant acceleration, and so is only good for short, intrasystem journeys. That was until the discovery of phoron; phoron chemical propulsion, due to the immense amounts of energy in phoron, are capable of propelling vessels as velocities capable of achieving constant acceleration. Amid the Scarcity, this is now seen as a tremendous waste of phoron, with there being a massive push to chemical propulsion alternatives.
• Ion Propulsion: The most common form of electrical propulsion ― popular in skrell space. Ion propulsion involves using electricity to ionise a propellant — typically xenon, a limited element due to its atomic mass ― and channel the resulting ions into the void, propelling a vessel forwards. Ion propulsion is slow to accelerate and decellerate, but has a greater specific impulse compared to chemical propulsion ― it is more economical and requires carrying less fuel mass.
• Stellar Sails, or Photon Sails, Solar Sails: Stellar sails are a scarcely used but very effective form of STL propulsion, 'catching' high momentum photons in stellar radiation and using their pressure exerted to propel a vessel forwards. This stellar radiation can also be augmented by a high-power laser attached to the ship directed into the stellar sail, but this adds an energy cost to what is otherwise a near-zero-cost propulsion method. The downside to stellar sails are variable speeds that depend on nearby stars, as well as poor manoeuvrability. Stellar Sails are only used on vessels not expected to enter atmospheric conditions, as stellar sails are incapable of propelling a vessel into orbit of planets notable gravity.
• Fusion Propulsion: The gold standard of STL propulsion. Fusion Propulsion involves fusing helium-3 in a magnetic confinement, then injecting a chemical propellant which is instantly superheated into a plasma and chanelled out of the vessel. Fusion propulsion is quick to accelerate and has an excellent specific impulse, and has the added benefit of also being able to generate power for small and medium-sized vessels. Following the discovery of phoron, superconductors and cooling systems inside of these fusion thrusters could be reduced in size, making fusion thrusters more scalable.
• Warp Surfing: In times of emergencies, it is possible to utilise a warp drive on a low power setting to move at non-FTL speeds. It is incredibly power inefficient and dangerous to nearby vessels, but is the fastest one could go without breaking FTL speeds. Due to its danger to nearby vessels, it is illegal in inhabited systems.

Since the discovery of phoron, many of these forms of sublight propulsion have incorporated phoron into to augment them. With the Phoron Scarcity chugs on, a Spur with diminished STL speeds once again looms, threatening to reduce intrasystem transport to a stagger or forcing states, megacorporations and other groups to refit entire fleets of ships to pre-Phoron STL models.

Ships and Stations

Transponders and IFF Tags

All ships are typically outfitted with a transponder which broadcasts an IFF tag and the ship's name for identification by other vessels. It is often a legal requirement for a transponder to be activated in habited star systems, however outside of habited systems it is rarely enforced but remains common etiquette. An IFF tag is a typically 3 letter prefix that denotes which state a ship was registered in or who owns it. Below is a list of IFF tags in use across the Spur:

IFF Tags

• Coalition
  • AKPV - Air Konyang Passenger Vessel
    
  • AXSV - All-Xanu Spacefleet Vessel
    
  • CCV - Coalition Civilian Vessel
    
  • FPBS - Frontier Protection Bureau Ship
    
  • GNV - Gadpathurian Navy Vessel
    
  • KASFV - Konyang Aerospace Forces Vessel
    
  • PCV - PACHROM Cargo Vessel
    
  • SFV - Scarab Fleet Vessel
    
  • USPGV - United Syndicates Planetary Guard Vessel
    
• Adhomai
  • ACV - Adhomian Civilian Vessel
    
  • DPRAMV - Democratic People's Republic of Adhomai Vessel
    
  • NKAMV - New Kingdom of Adhomai Vessel
    
  • PRAMV - People's Republic of Adhomai Vessel
    
• Corporations
  • EEV - Einstein Engines Vessel
    
  • EERV - Einstein Engines Research Vessel
    
  • EMV - Eridani Military Vessel
    
  • HCV - Hephaestus Civilian Vessel
    
  • HCS - Hephaestus Civilian Shuttle
    
  • IIV - Idris Incorporated Vessel
    
  • NTV - Nanotrasen Vessel
    
  • OEV - Orion Express Vessel
    
  • PMV - Private Military Vessel.
    
  • SCCV - Stellar Corporate Conglomerate Vessel
    
• Izweski Hegemony
  • HMV - Hegemony Military Vessel
    
  • IHGV - Izweski Hegemony Guild Vessel
    
  • IHKV - Izweski Hegemony Kataphract Vessel
    
• Diona
  • RCS - Rokz Clan Ship
    
  • SCS - Serz Clan Ship
    
• Sol
  • FSFV - Free Solarian Fleet Vessel
    
  • SAMV - Sol Alliance Military Vessel
    
  • SFAV - Southern Fleet Administration Vessel
    
• Other
  • BLV - Biesel Military Vessel
    
  • ENV - Elyran Navy Vessel
    
  • GDMV - Golden Deep Mercantile Vessel
    
  • HIMS - His Imperial Majesty's Ship
    
  • IAV - Interstellar Aid Vessel
    
  • ICV - Independent Civilian Vessel
    
  • IFR - Independent Freighter
    
  • IPV - Independent Passenger Vessel
    
  • NFV - Nralakk Federal Vessel
    

Civilian Vessels

Civilian vessels are routinely seen zipping around space, ferrying commuters from one system to another, delivering supplies and commodities across planets, or simply exploring the stars. All manner of hull types exist, from pleasure yachts to rag-tag skiffs, to modular freighters and enormous fuel tanks with chemical rockets strapped to them. The more functional the design, the cheaper; the more elegant and luxurious, the more expensive. Beyond the initial cost of the ship, a number of other factors may affect the price, such as whether ammenities and long-term entertainment and forgone for a cryogenics suite, etc. Ship classes are prescribed based primarily on total load, with a rough correlation to size.

Spaceliners

The average person who infrequently relies upon FTL transit or who only travels to commute more often relies upon Spaceliners to travel than a personal vessel outfitted with a FTL drive. They provide affordable and accessible FTL transit options between systems and between states, sparing most from shelling out on an FTL drive.

Up until the Phoron Scarcity, most spaceliners operated bluespace drives to promise the fastest journey times to paying customers. Today, bluespace drives are now reserved for luxury spaceliners, with more affordable options relegated to utilising warp gates.

Idris Incorporated maintains a notable monopoly on mid-line and luxury spaceliner options, with their standout subsidiary Celestrial Cruises being the pinnacle of comfort and extravagance while crossing the stars. They continue to field the latest bluespace drive models, promising the greatest speed in the market.

Civilian Vessels
Class	Average Length	Average Crew Complement	Average Price (Civilian)	Notes
Shuttles	10-25m	1-2	~电5,000	Typically used by larger ship classes for in-atmosphere operations and transit between vessels. Incapable of FTL, including gate travel. Less frequently used by wealthy individuals for transit around the same planet.
Class I: Skiffs, Yachts, Light Freighters, Light Tankers.	40-150m	4-20	~电30,000	These vary in costs depending on size, outfitting, in-atmosphere capabilities, FTL capabilities, and any ammenities.
Class II: Ferries, Freighters, Tankers.	150-400m	20-200	~电80,000	These are quite pricy for the average individual: a family or group of friends can field one; specialist groups often field a few. Usually utilise propulsion methods that prohibit atmospheric capabilities, requiring a shuttle.
Class III: Starliners, Large Freighters, Large Tankers, Expeditionary Vessels.	400-850m	200-500	~电200,000	Fielded by larger specialist groups, megacorporations, states, and the more wealthy of the Spur.
Class IV: Cruiseliners, Superfreighters, Supertankers, Large Expeditionary Vessels.	850-1500m	500-1000	~电800,000	Typically fielded for large, state or megacorporate operations.

Military Vessels

Military vessels, especially present-day models, are rarely found in the hands of non-military or non-megacorporate groups. In most regions of space, including the Republic of Biesel, it is also considered illegal to own a fully-furnished and armed military vessel without hard to source licenses for particular sensors equipment, armaments, etc. These vessels are all expensive to field and upkeep, equipped with all the latest equipment.

Outdated and stripped models are often seen available on open markets, though pale in comparison to fully furnished military vessels. Outdated models and salvaged military vessels can also occasionally fall into the hands of the unsavoury.

There is no one classing specification or series of ship designs due to the versatility of combat in space. Information on military doctrine can be found on respective faction pages.

Space Stations

Space stations are a common sight in orbit of planets and stars, to the dismay of planetbound astronomers, and vary in purpose, from scientific to industrial to military.

Unlike habitable planets which are limited in number and have both financial and environmental obstacles impeding colonisation, space stations can be easier for a group to establish. As a result, space stations are found all across the Spur where those looking to set up their own long-term community have decided to set up, be it a pirate freeport in an unclaimed system or Offworlder Humans setting up in orbit of civilised planets. Stations must be registered with the state who has claimed the system before being set up and, while autonomy may be permitted by certain states, they remain beholden to local laws and regulations.

Stations
Class	Average Capacity	Average Cost (Civilian)	Notes
Habitats, Small Stations	~8	~电20,000	A common sight in orbit of planetary bodies and similar gravity wells. Resided within by those who are unable to or reject life upon planets; still used for research purposes by states, megacorporations, etc. Their price varies depending on design, ammenities, specialist equipment, and such. They are not self-sufficient, requiring shuttled resupplies.
Stations	~500	~电750,000	Typically owned by specialist groups, businesses, or those wishing to setup a small voidbound community. Their price varies drastically depending on size, ammenities, specialist equipment, and such. They are not wholly self-sufficient, but can locally produce most necessities.
Large Stations	~5,000	Prohibitively Expensive	Uses for much the same purposes as standard stations, and also the size of a typical military station. Typically self-sufficient and capable of producing excess for bulk sale. Prohibitively expensive for individuals and small groups, and typically the largest station seen in Frontier systems.
Orbital Complexes	~250,000	Prohibitively Expensive	Orbital complexes go beyond self-sufficiency and aim to produce everything locally. They are rarely seen beyond the human Jewel Worlds or skrell Core-to-Contingent systems, where major planets often have one in orbit.
Orbital Supercomplexes	~1,000,000	Prohibitively Expensive	These go even beyond regular orbital complexes, and are often compared to cities in the orbit of planets. Only two exist: the NTCC Odin and the Unity Station. They are considered feats of engineering.