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Superluminal
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AUTHOR
Devin Deng
LAST UPDATE
September 1st, 2021
Within the Milky Way Galaxy, there have been many methods in which faster-than-light (FTL) is accomplished and utilized. This article is a compendium of all faster-than-light capable phenomena and applications. It can be noted that many of these systems could be used in tandem for different results.
Warp is the compression and expansion of space-time using a warp drive. With advanced gravitics and quantum manipulation, a bubble is generated in which the area in front of the vessel is compressed while the area behind the vessel is expanded to compensate. Warp speeds are affected by the size, shape, and efficiency of the warp field.
When a warp bubble is projected, space-time in the area becomes skewed and difficult for sensors to understand. This allows ships that host a warp drive to use the bubble as a form of shielding.
Warp drives are extremely expensive. However, in rare instances, an explosive device can be fitted with a warp drive.
The Void is a higher-dimensional space that is composed purely of mana. One location in the Void can coincide with multiple locations in the Material Plane. This property allows for travel within the Void to be much faster than in the Material Plane, a practice known as void jumping. The Void is theoretically infinite and hostile to all forms of matter. As a result, travel into the Void requires using a reality stabilization field and a spatial auger. Spatial augers allow ships to tear through space-time and enter Void space while a reality stabilization field protects ships from the Void. Should a reality stabilization field fail, its contents would disappear completely. Travelers of the Void must also be wary of large gravitic influences that stem from the Material Plane, as gravity possesses the ability to penetrate space-time. If a vessel intercepts a large gravitational field, it may be pulled off its designated course. To address this, advanced computers calculate a voidjump solution before entering the Void.
Void Submersibles are ships designed to operate for long periods in the Void without the need to reenter the Material Plane.
Void Carriers are a type of spaceship that exhibits a very large reality stabilization field. This allows for ships without a void drive to hitch on for a ride within the field. However, this requires significant degrees of coordination as the ships have to move in unison and at the same speeds so as to not accidentally leave the field and enter the Void.
Just as gravity from the Material Plane penetrates spacetime into the Void, gravitic signatures could be detected within the Void from the Material Plane.
With the proper technology, constructs such as the Nexus and the Void Wyrms could be established within the Void.
While wormholes function within the Void, their calibration systems are skewed and thus have the possibility of inducing a paradox. Since a single location within the Void can represent multiple locations within the Material Plane, a wormhole passage can be split between multiple locations and destroy whatever travels through it.
It is common for spaceships to rapidly enter and exit Void space to evade the enemy during ship-to-ship combat.
A bridge between two spaces in spacetime is known as a wormhole. Wormholes are one of the fastest methods of FTL, but also the costliest due to the nature of wormhole energy consumption. While the size of a wormhole is expanded in a scalar fashion, the required energy input rises exponentially. It also takes a much larger amount of infrastructure compared to most other forms of FTL travel. Wormhole travel effectiveness drops over large distances due to an accumulation of Yunian Uncertainty. To address this issue, wormhole relay stations are utilized.
A system of wormholes gates was established by the Karanaan for the Galactic Commonwealth. Most major systems have access to one or more wormhole gates. These wormhole gates are relatively small and are open for short bursts at specific times. It is common to see fleets of spaceships arrayed in front of offline wormholes awaiting their opening. It is also common for ships to link their navigation systems with one another to maintain the best balance between speed and cohesion.
One of the main pitfalls for any spacefaring object is the amount of heat that needs to be released or decreased. One of the methods devised to help alleviate this issue was to use a wormhole as a cooling system. The high-energy matter would be dumped through the wormhole into an off-site cooling facility. This method has also been used in the reverse, allowing for ships with wormholes to be supplied indefinitely. The stellar engines used by the Traders of the Wandering Sun utilize this technology extensively.
Small wormholes are generated and allow for superluminal communications, which can include photons and radio waves.
Anima-based FTL can be divided into two categories. These are designated binary systems and singularity systems. A binary system requires the use of two hosts while a singularity system only needs one.
The Bygone Races had mastered the art of transpositioning, a method of FTL where an object is uploaded to the conceptual plane and placed via an anima in a different location. However, this requires a host to already be at the target location.
Ansibles are utilized by organizations such as the Scribes Consortium to allow for FTL communications using an anima as a medium.
Singularity systems use anima to produce the FTL systems described above. Essentially, they empower a host to be able to enter the Void, generate wormholes, or warp space.