Multiversal TravelWhen a star system's nearest neighbor may be in a different universe, the matter of interstellar travel becomes complex, especially as even the mundane universes differ in their physics, and travel may require passing thorough dimensions far stranger. The cohesion of Multiversal Harmony depends upon travel between worlds, whether by sub-light "slow-boats" or inter-dimensional Gates, spaceships with their own internal trans-dimensional Drive engines or "conveyers" on Nexus worlds. "Gates" and Nexus Worlds are the great valves and junctions of the Empire through which freight, people, and information flows from one universe to another. Networks of Links within particular universes, and slow-boat travel beyond these readily accessed areas, complete the communications and transportation web that binds the empire together. While some universes may contain hundreds of billions of galaxies with hundreds of billions of stars in each, most are rather smaller. Many are composed of a few or a few hundred layered shells of stars in an envelope about a vast, impenetreble sphere of proto-mundane stuff, not yet differentiated into matter and energy. Others contain just a few or a few thousand clusters of stars in a stable pocket of mundane space in a much larger, ratrher less hospitable universe. The variations of habitable "mundane space" are innumerable, but even so comprise only a small fraction of the total variety known. Most universes, let alone stranger dimensions, are uninhabited and uninhabitable. Many are so bizarre they cannot even be observed or studied directly. Such are of interest primarily to reasearchers and possible rescue teams.
Multiple Transport Technologies
These various "flavors" of connecting "Here" and "There" result in a wide variety of spaceship technologies. In some universes, the physics may permit ships to carry their own trans-dimensional Drive systems. In others, they must depend on external devices, such as Links. Some ships have several different engine systems, for travel through different "flavors" of universe, while others, with but a single system, are limited in where they may go without assistance. What system is used may make a great difference in the rout and length of time traveling between two worlds may take.
Mutiversal Cartography
In the context of transdimensional travel, star charts are only a matter of local concern - if that. For most people, when traveling between one star and another, it doesn't really matter whether they are traveling by shipboard trans-dimensional Drive engine about their local star cluster, by wormhole Link across their galaxy, or by Gate between different but similar universes. All that matters is that they aren't going by slow-boat, crawling at sub-light speed!
GatesGates are similar in appearance to Links, but their function is different. Gates do not move a ship any significant distance in mundane space. Rather, Gates allow a ship to access one or several other universes. When traveling inter-dimensionally through "Witch-space," chances are good that one of the many known mundane universes will have a star system rather closer than any star system in the same universe; a system's closest neighbor is rarely in the same universe at all. It is not commonly realized that most of the universes a particular Gate can access do not have systems of physics compatible with mundane life. This is why they must be explored - and used - so carefully. Lilited funding is available for study of such bizarre universes where neither life nor exploitable resources have been detected. Gates must be in a position of gravitational balance. A Gate generally rests at a "peak" between the gravity wells of several stars. In many universes, Links must be similarly balanced. Often, it is not possible to have both in the same region of space without triggering an inter-dimensional disaster. In some universes, possible sites for Gates are fairly common, while in others they are exceedingly rare. Gates are extremely expense; a star system may have to mortgage a continent or two, and perhaps a couple of moons, in order to commission a Gate. A new Gate may take quite a long time to be shipped and assembled, tuned and its access routs explored. It is not possible to ship a Gate from one universe to another. New Gates may be built, but where each can lead can only be determined only trial and error, the business of explorers either brave or foolhardy, dedicated or desperate. Most Gates are actually rehabilitated Ancients artifacts. Some Gates connect only two (mundane) universes, while others communicate with several. Some are reliable and stable, but others are not. Some universes are peppered with Gates, so there is more communication between such universes than within them. In other universes, only one Gate, a single, slender, vital thread of connection with the Empire and the rest of the multiverse, is known. Often enough, the Empire may have multiple but non-contiguous pockets within a universe, some so far apart that their existence within a common universe is only inferred, and has never actually been confirmed.
Links and Wormholes"Links" are artificially anchored wormholes, connecting distant points within a mundane universe, as differentiated from Gates, which connect different universes. Laymen commonly confuse the tems and use them interchangeably, as most travelers perceive little difference. A Link is technically an elongated point intersecting two otherwise distant parts of the same universe. This is made possible by the existence of a para-dimension, commonly called "Worm Space." Links are commonly grouped within galaxies (in universes which have such phenomena as galaxies.) Often, wormholes, stable or otherwise, are found in clusters, their ends anchored relatively close together. Wormholes are the super highways of space - where most folk are using foot paths. Ships in wormhole-rich space may need no independant Drive; they are limited to travel by wormhole and slow-boat propulsion through normal space. This can be the fastest, safest, and most economical mode of travel within a galaxy, given a network of good wormholes. Traveling by wormhole requires no expensive, bulky Drive, only an appropriate navigation system. Unfortunately, the natural wormhole network is fortuitous. In many universes, wormholes are very numerous, but most have one or both ends only weakly anchored and jump around a lot, or they may end in intergalactic deep space with no stars accessible, or have such a high "glitch rating" that only the mad or the desperate would use them. Many Links and wormholes are one-way, or have fluctuation patterns that may be analyzable to a greater or lesser degree, but are never 100% predictable, even with artificial anchors. There are a few common types, but all are unique, however subtly, and they change over time - sometimes drastically and suddenly. Many fluctuate and even close monitoring cannot predict their effects with total accuracy. Because of this, even the best have their use expressed as a percentage. That's the chance of a glitch. It could be so trivial as to be unnoticed, or it could be major. If it happens to YOU it will not be trivial. Some say all trips are glitched, but we just don't have sensitive enough equipment to notice the more subtle glitches. A glitch is ten times more likely to occure when Our Heros pass through than when any other folk do; this is why it is their adventuresa which we follow. Links are often "Artifacts," the products of vanished civilizations of the Ancients; they are "H" level technology, which, while possibly usable (more or less!), are incomprehensible; to understand would mean madness. No wonder most wormhole anchoring Links are damaged. Even in a state of partial decay, such Artifacts are immensely valuable. The Ancients may have generated an artificial wormhole, or attracted a natural one, or stabilized a natural wormhole where it was found. The wormhole may have changed during the millennia since the Ancients constructed the Link. Imperial technology can set up a more basic form of Link, one which simply monitors an existing relatively stable natural wormhole, giving data on its pattern and recommending the safest times for transit, and aiding by generating electromagnetic force-lines to guide ships smoothly into the wormhole along the optimum trajectory. This minimizes the chance of grazing the sides and being spun into a glitch. In Link-rich regions, often called "Link universes," even when it is only a portion oif the universe which is Link-rich, artificially stabilized wormholes are common and heavily utilized. All the best stars (by definition) have one or several Links within range. Whether "within range" means these Links are common and "tethered" in orbit at the lip of each star's gravity well (on the ecliptic plane, beyond the Oort cloud) or at gravitationally stable points balanced between stars, or whether the Links are rare and develop as "slow-boat" hubs, linking their local clusters of stars, varies. That which goes in one side of a Link comes out the other. The transition time varies, but is in most cases is only a few minutes and is rarely over an hour. The time experienced in transit is likely to be either about the same or to be squared, cubed or otherwise multiplied upon itself, the number of multiplications being (generally) stable within each wormhole, and may be the same all across a particular universe universe. The traveling is bracketed by "translation" into and back out of Link-space; these are the most dangerous points of the jourey. In some universes, the journey is done on auto-pilot, as no-one has survived translation whith their sanity intact. In a minority of universes Harmonic technology has been able to artificially generate stable wormholes. Generally, the two Link-anchored ends are originally at the same point, or are rather random. If they appear "twinned," the end points must be separated and stabilized by anchoring with Links; only then the ends can be move (by slow-boat) to the desired destinations. Whether Links are common, creating a scattering of access points across a galaxy, or are a rare and unreplicable phenomena, greatly impacts how civilization will develop and how the Harmony spreads in a particular region, galaxy, or universe. Immense natural wormholes are called Rifts. Not to be confused with Rift-Worlds, Rifts in space may be the size of a star or may be as long as a galaxy. Many are sites of bizarre natural phenomena.
Sub-SpaceSome universes have an underlying "Sub-Space," basically a network of interconnected wormholes. Navigating while traveling through such a complex, multi-para-dimensional network requires very specialized technology. Building Links to make new interfaces between the Sub-Space web and the mundane universe it inter-penetrates is a very sensitive high tech operation.
Slow BoatsGiven a network of Gates and Links, "slow-boats" may suffice quite adequately for local travel needs. Beyond the Gates or Links, more remote neighbors in the same region of mundane space may be reached by slow-boats traveling at sub-light speeds. Depending on what propulsion systems a particular universe's physics permit, and the physical distance to the next star system, such interstellar travel within a mundane universe may take only a few months or it may take centuries. Millennia of long-range Seeding and Colonization programs have lead to the majority of worlds the Empire has brought into the Harmony being months, decades, or even centuries of slow-boat travel time apart. These latter are generally classed as "unincorporated territories." Some are not aware that they are part of the larger whole of the Harmony maintained by the Empire. "Slow-boat universes" are those in which other means of travel are very rarel. Theory requires that there be a large number of universes where other means of travel than slow-boats are not merely rare but utterly impossible. It is, of course, not possible to verify this empirically, as, by definition, we cannot visit any such universe. We cannot even observe them directly, but hte interdimensional influence of gravity and other effects does support a belief in their exisence. Slow-boat propulsion systems Solar Sails Radient solar power and / or the solar winds may be gathered by great gossamer light-sails. This is an elegant method of travel within a dense star cluster, and to Gates or Links nearby. The working of such technology may be surprisingly similar to low tech water-borne sailing vessels, which may may for interestingly mixed crew backgrounds. The depths of space, far, far from any star, are too dark and still for solar sails to gather energy. Such "deserts" must be crossed by coasting. Solar sailing vessels may be given a boost by steady lazer cannon, great electro-magnetic nets that gather and funnel the Solar Wind, or other means, making established routs more economical. Rockets
Hydrogen is a common fuel. It may be refined from some gas giants, split from cometary ice or planetary water, or funneled in by an energy "net" projected ahead of a ramjet ship.
Radiocatives
Nuclear power is often used in conjunction with hydrogen. Black Box fusion engines allow for nucear powered vessels with a minimun of dedicate nucear engineer crewmembers.
Happily, in most universes, properly equipped ships may slip into a contiguous dimension (or para-dimensions) with different physics, travel in this other dimension, and return to the mundane universe at a distance location.
In most cases, such "faster dimensions" are accessible only in areas of inter-dimensional stability. Gravity wells, such as a star creates, at once anchor and destabilize such areas.
It is not possible to translate from mundane space to other dimensions or back too near the instability of a gravity well. How far one must be from a gravity well depends upon the physics of that universe, the particular gravity well, the dimensions in question and the technology being used. It is clear that it is not the gravity itself but trans-dimensional influences which seep through more strongly in gravity wells. It is equally impossible to translate through to another dimension too far from the anchoring effect of a gravity well.
As a result, dense areas of stars can only be readily accessed about their fringes, while slow-boats must be used to penetrate further. Fortuitously, these are the very areas where slow-boats are most efficient. The "deserts" of Deep Space, the empty vastness between drifts of clustered stars, where there is no anchoring gravity, are regions equally inaccessible.
Most Drives have in common an inability to function near normal matter. Thus, they must re-enter mundane space before approaching a star. Generally, any line of travel will be "captured" by any star it passes near. One result is the "depositing," or dropping back into normal space, of Drive ships on the star's ecliptic plane outside of its Oort cloud (comets and other debris, or where they would be if absent.)
Another effect of gravity sensitivity is that, unless a ship can maneuver and slide around, balancing one star system's influence against another, ships generally travel "line-of-sight" in segmented journeys, even if they have no other reason to stop in between. The ship uses its Drive engine to skip the mundane space between one star system and the next, then uses a slow-boat engine to travel across the star system to the other sude, where its Drive is re-engaged for the next skip.
Within the Pax Harmonica local authority usually allows for peaceful passage of those not stopping, despite local political conditions. Being able to re-fuel is very important, as many few ships can carry fuel for more than two or three skips.
No Crystal, no Drive. The heart of every Drive engine is a tuned Crystal, or, at higher tech levels, a matrix of Crystals. Crystals have several aspects; how these affect a ship depends on the type of Drive used. Different cultures' varent technologies utilize different types of Crystals with different levels of efficiency. Some Crystals types are inherently more efficiently for use in particular types of Drive. This has created a major trade in different types of Crystals.
Size: (carat weight) determines the mass the Crystal can affect. (Only the pure volume within the Crystal is considered in this calculation.)
Shape of the crystal determines the shape of its field. While a ship can be built in any shape that does not exceed the Crystal's tonnage, a hull which conforms to the Crystal's field shape can take advantage of special properties, such as tuning a force shield, either to protect the ship in mundane space or to make it "sleeker" while traveling in alternate dimensions. Turrets and other design features extending beyond are not a factor in basic hull shape. Thus, while there are standard hull designs to accommodate average crystal shapes, an oddly shaped crystal requires the design and construction of a special, customized hull to take full advantage of the crystal's field; a ship's main hull should reflect the shape of the crystal (or rather, its pure interior) as closely as possible.
Clairity: The longest axis of pure clarity within the Crystal impacts the maximum distance the Drive skip between points in mundane space. Recharging must be done in mundane space.
Purity determines "glitchiness." The Crystal also affects what is experienced while out of normal mundane space-time, whether there is a glitch or not. What is percieved is too like various halucinagenic patterns to be a coincidence; hallucinatins are likely the result of seeing through the veil which shields us from alternate dimensions.
Colour Hue
Colour Intensity
The interior of a Crystal may be affected by clouding (in which the shape, intensity, and colour of any clouding is significant), refraction planes and "floss."
It is believed that the Crystals are actually trans-dimensional artifacts. Most Crystals of ship-quality were brought to the mundane universe by the Ancients. Some are found today in strata within natural planets; the theory is that a smattering of Crystals falls from their "native" dimension into a new universe as it is being born, and naturally is eventually concentrated in select planets.
Crystals and Psionics
Ships' Crystal and Psionic Crystals are one and the same; Crystal-rich worlds often have psionicly active populations, sapient or no. Unfortunately, such Crystals are rarely of a type appropriate for utilization in a ship's Drive engine.
Psionics can also be harnessed for more precise navigation. With such transmundane assistance, it may become possible to exit and re-enter mundane space much closer to a gravity well than would otherwise be possible. This is especially true for civilizations whose fear of IA means they cannot trust computers to assist with the navigation computations.
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A "Worm-Drive" ship generates an artificial wormhole, then projects the wormhole through "worm space" until it touches some other, distant point in the originating universe. The ship then passes through, and the wormhole soon collapses. The ship essentially creates its own temporary Link. Some technologies may alow additional ships to follow in the wake of a lead ship, like a train of cars following a locomotive.
This is an exceedingly delicate operation. A worm-drive is generally only fired up in (and aimed towards) a true zero-G area, similar to the gravity peaks between star systems' gravity wells that are used to balance Gates. If there is a mistake, the wormhole is likely to become kinked and eject the ship in a random direction and distance, quite possibly wholly or partially reduced to a smear of single atom thickness.
Worm-Drive routs are determined by the density of stellar masses; one must go around or between high-density areas where the gravity wells make translation to and from Worm-Space impossible, but one must not stray too far away from the stars or it will not be possible to anchor the wormhole. Worm-Drive routs stitch together points between, but not too far from, stars.
Jump-Drive
Jump-Drive takes you from here to there without impacting the intervening space; it is a variation of Worm-Drive. Jump-Drive is affected somewhat differently by gravity; is generally used to travel from a point on the edge of a gravity well to a line-of-sight point on the edge fo the next star's gravity well, being drawn in towards the ecliptic plane. This means that there is a far shorter distance to travel from a world out to the point of translation (at the lip of the gravity well, rather than out deep in interstellar space.)
Unfortunately, Jump-Drive works in far fewer universes than Worm-Drive.
The Jump is blind. There is no way of knowing how long the duration experienced will be or how much time will pass while you're gone; the two have no relation to each other. A ship could Jump and reappear minutes later with its crew having experienced centuries of time, or a ship may appear which went missing millennia ago with a crew who only experienced an hour of travel time. Luckily, such extremes are quite rare; the qualities of the ship's Crystal affect the chances of such a glitch.
In "Jump-Drive universes," ships travel under their own power out to the edge of a star system, translate through to a contiguous and interpenetrating "Jump-space" dimension, and then drop back down into their own universe at the edge of the next star system. The details vary with the local universe, and often vary more or less by the particualr stars in question.
In universes where the inter-dimensional physics permit Jump-Drive, stabilized wormholes or other means of travel are generally rather less common; it seems the congruency of "Jump Space" (or its local equivalent) interferes with other inter-dimensional access, more so than the simpler Worm-Drive.
Flit Ships (or, Universal Worm-Drive)
Rumors of Ancient ships with Universal Worm-Drive, known in ledged as "Flit ships," able to pop about at will throughout a particularly favorable universe, persist. Despite millennia of tracking down such legends, no such ship has ever been found.
Please report all such legends to the appropriate authorities; a great bounty has been posted for information leading to the obtaining of any Universal Worm-Drive ship, defunct or operational.
Spin Drive basically "turns" a ship in place but relative to everything around it. Turn 90o to everything near you, and you're theoretically now 90o to everything everywhere. Spin Drive is a ship-portable technology for translating between dimensions. Traveling through mundane space is a separate matter.
The Drive does the turning and navigation deterimes to what otherwhere one turns. Don't get stuck!
Some types of Spin Drive encourage radially symmetrical hulls, and the ship actually starts by spinning in place, but with others the hull shape doesn't matter, and the ship looks as if it's turning a corner that isn't there. Various qualities of Crystal determine how far a ship can turn, how much ship can turn, how accurately, and chances of a major or minor "glitch."
Spin Drive is especialy useful with certain classes of Nexus worlds; the result can seem to the uninitiated rather like using that mythical trans-pan-dimensional Drive, the Tardis.
Hyper-Drive uses super-fast normal "slow-boat" space engines to get the ship going so fast that freaky relativity takes effect, and weird physics can let the ship punch in to Hyperspace.
Hyperspace
Normal universe stuff impacts hyperspace with a mass/energy-dependant "prominency" effect; if there's little to interact with, distance contracts; if there's a lot - such as a meteor swarm, electrical vortex, or other phenomenon - distance expands, so much so that the effect is as if one were moving at sub-light speed relative to the "prominent" phenomenon. The ship then drops back into mundane space. This effect is also triggered by other ships, whether they are in Hyper-Drive or not. Thus, in ship-to-ship interactions, it is the slow-boat engine that matters, whether it was one or both of the ships which was using Hyper-Drive. This means Hyper-Drive ships and slow-boats can interact on relatively equal terms.
"Nexus" worlds are basically planet-anchored Gates giving direct surface-to-surface access to several other worlds. Nexus worlds are prized more than ordianry star systems with multiple planets because there may be many worlds accesible, with greater or lesser degrees of difficulty. Even more importantly, from these other worlds whole other universes become accessible.
Theory suggests that there is a self-increasing tendancy for multiple worlds in differetn dimensions or neighboring universes to slide towards eachother until they come to occupy the same space, or rather congruent spaces, in different universes. Often, in such cases certian properties bring a number of the worlds closer until they converge, substantially or insubstantially. The phenomenon seems focused on, but not restricted to, planets with organic life. Gravity seems not to be the key issue; if it were, it would be stars that were so anchored.
Ghost Worlds or Haunted Worlds are rather like proto-Nexus worlds. Here there is likely to be no clue that the world is potentially a Nexus World, save, perhaps, for "ghosts," a symptom of natural "bleeding" of one dimension into another.
If a the proper technology for the particular trans-dimensional conditions of the worlds in question can be developed, it may be possible to construct an artificial Gate or a "Conveyer" to give access to these neighboring worlds. Until the proper technology for the are developed, such worlds remain distinct but very close.
Other worlds, sometimes called "wild Nexus worlds," have raw, natural inter-dimensional Rifts.
Extreme Rift-Worlds are the coalescing of several worlds which occupied the same position in different by neighboring universes. These universes are now fused together at the Rift-World where they overlap, with a direct exchange of materials.
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