DIMENSIONS

TRAVEL DIMENSIONS

 Science has discovered that there are multiple dimensions that are connected to the one most sentient beings inhabit. Well, in fact, it has discovered three others, and others are theorised, but no one has proved their existence, let alone accessed them. The other dimensions all appear to have strong ties to this one, and have all proved inhospitable to full time (or even part time) habitation by beings from this dimension.

Owing to this fact and the often unique physical laws that operate within these ‘planes’, their predominant usage is to overcome the light barrier for ultra-fast intergalactic travel.

Every star faring race has encountered the same problem early in its journey to the stars. Galactic distances are enormous, and, regardless of the propulsion systems used, it is impossible to travel faster than light. Great minds have constantly sought to over come this, but, put simply, the results were unanimously catastrophic. Light was the speed limit for the universe, and that was that. But, of course, with the discovery of one of the ‘other’ universes, it was also discovered that that particular restriction could be …sidestepped. Movement within the other space was mirrored in real space, but the differences in distances and speeds were staggering. And so, each race in turn found themselves part of a vast network of trade routes and a (somewhat dysfunctional) family of inhabited worlds. 

A few points need to be made about the various dimensions. Firstly, few things are equivalent throughout the four planes. A vessel outfitted to survive the rigours of one may be badly damaged or even destroyed utterly by contact with another. Navigation systems, even methods of flight within a particular plane may not function at all within another. Because of this; and because each species inevitably discovered the existence of one of the three ‘FTL’ dimensions long before the others; most Ships can only travel through real space and one of the others. A few vessels are fitted to traverse two, but the requirements are vastly expensive, complex and unreliable.

REAL SPACE/NORMAL SPACE/PRIME SPACE

Prime Space is the universe as is – the airless void through which planets whorl. Home to every sentient species that has so far, been encountered. Called primespace because it is the first and most important spatial dimension discovered by any species, or real space, because it is where everything is ‘real’- forces, planets, distance etc. Real-space and items within it obey the known laws of physics (unless otherwise stated.)

GRAFF-KATA SPACE/KATA SPACE/HYPERSPACE/COMPRESSED SPACE

Named after the Human scientists who ‘discovered it’, although three other species use GK space, having discovered it separately and having alternate names for it. Travel through G-K space is staggeringly fast, distances between things are much shorter than prime equivalents, hence ‘compressed’ space. Navigation is a complex business, relying on the gravimetric shadows of large primespace bodies, which are cast into GK space. Thru triangulations/septrangulation of clusters of these shadows it is possible to plot a course thru GK space to arrive at a known destination point. Navigation is then handled by the computers; following a course line straight to the desired point. Matter still exists within Hyperspace, seemingly highly compressed, and the gravimetric shadows are more like solid representations of their realspace partners. This means it is possible, though dangerous, to ‘fly’ GK space. Using long range scans, you can jump to a point near suitable landmarks (distant planetary systems etc). If this is off the pre-calculated /mapped areas of space (called trade lanes/star-routes), it means the pilot has to manually navigate, purely on grav scans and their own reflexes. If the matter of the ship contacts the compressed matter of the GK shadow of a large primespace body… well, then it’s a short trip. By some miracle, time is ‘normal’ within GK space. It passes normally, minute for minute, for the crew in the ship as it does in primespace.  The difference is purely the distances/speeds involved inside GK space. It is possible to compress journey time by going faster or slower. The slower you go, the less danger, (more warning of approaching shadows etc). This means well travelled routes can be traversed at very high speed. The journey compression speeds are in factors of 100. Theoretically, there is no ‘speed limit’ in GK space, but even computers can only operate so quickly…

FOLD SPACE/DARKSPACE/HELLSPACE.

Fold space is…odd. Travel through Foldspace is instantaneous as far as the rest of the universe is concerned. Just not for the passengers and crew of the vessel travelling trough. This can lead to problems. Yes, a military vessel should arrive as soon as it is ordered, making for truly useful reinforcements. However, those troops may be disorientated, having spent a significant time holed up in a ship travelling through the most unpredictable and disturbing phenomenon in the known universe.

Things…live in foldspace. No one knows exactly what they are, or how they live there. Anything other than a Sl’a exposed to fold space that is not protected by shielding is dead in nano-seconds. The Sl’a seem to have fewer problems traversing darkspace, even without a craft, claiming it has a breathable atmosphere, and that the creatures rarely attack them. That would be rarely, rather than never. In addition to the inhospitable environment and ‘monsters’, time also presents an issue.  No one has ever been able to predict how much time will pass for those inside a given vessel in Fold-space. Some times a journey is over in a few hours, leaving the crew nervous, but unharmed. Other times, a ship will spend months inside fold-space, only to be hurled out seemingly ‘back’ in time. Stories abound of ships emerging from Fold-space with a crew of insane degenerates, who have spent months, even years being tormented by dark-space. Starvation is not unknown, and it is a poorly advised captain who does not stock up on supplies before trying to traverse the dark.

Having a Sl’a navigator increases the likelihood of the vessel coming out the other side of the journey. It is possible to open hellspace gates and navigate mechanically, but the failure rate is far higher than many are comfortable with. But then again, Sl’a don’t always come out the other side unscathed. Sometimes, they don’t come out at all…

THREAD-SPACE/SLIP-SPACE/SLIPSTREAM/THE TUBEWAY.

Thread-space is the safest of all the travel dimensions. At least, it is if you are travelling in a vessel equipped for it. If not, then severe damage or destruction results from even brief contact. It’s called the tubeway because that is exactly how it appears. Using certain frequencies of energy allows ‘holes’ to be opened in realspace. These temporary anomalies reveal thousands of openings, like the mouths of tunnels. A vessel merely continues to emit the energy signature, and it enters one of the tubes. Speed, distance and direction are all calculable by either an experienced navigator or a well-programmed computer, based on the appearance and energy-pulse signature of each tunnel.  A well judged tube will take the vessel several systems in a single jump, a badly chosen one will jump the vessel a single system, or perhaps to the edge of the system they started in. Throughout the journey, the pilot must follow the tunnel, staying within its energy signature, or they will be expelled from the tunnel. There are few downsides to this happening. The energy flow to the engines will have been disrupted, meaning another jump, or worse still, any kind of movement is impossible until the system is re-started, but unless the ship emerges in hostile space (and there is a lot of it…) Thread-space is totally harmless. It is also the slowest of the travel dimensions. Each jump, for reasons beyond any currently theorising scientists, lasts exactly 45.3 minutes (Sapien time measure). Regardless of how far you want to go, regardless of how many jumps you make. Given that even the best navigators can only find tunnels that take them a maximum of three planetary systems or so in a single jump, the time begins to add up swiftly.