The Invention of the Hyperdrive

"*For fast travel over interstellar distances, hyperspace is optimal.*"

**The Invention of the Hyperdrive** was one of the most critical and fundamental steps in history, allowing for the colonization of the galaxy and beginning of galaxy-wide relations between worlds. Without the invention of the hyperdrive engine, galactic exploration had been limited to shallow travel within local star systems and colonizing neighboring worlds. The hyperdrive allowed for galactic governments and trade to prosper.

## Prelude

##### Previous: Formation of the Galaxy / Birth of the Force

The invention of the hyperdrive was a key step in the history of sentient life that altered the galaxy forever, opening the galaxy up for exploration, having come around after millennia of evolution and birthing of sentient life across the galaxy. In all corners of the galaxy, sentient species had been looking to the stars for exploration and answers to find other life forms. Space travel had been established several thousand years prior to the invention of the hyperdrive, but trips took long periods of time and were incredibly unsafe. Maps of the galaxy had not yet been developed. Some species had already colonized other worlds within the same star systems.

## Recount

Approximate dates of the following events is precisely unknown, however we can assume that roughly 50,000 years prior to the Battle of Yavin, sentient life forms began to look to the stars. Having built civilizations on their own planets, these sentient species began looking for new territories to claim and explore the galaxy. We can assume that more than one sentient species began to do this at around the same time.

#### Creation of the Hyperdrive

One of these many species would have eventually crossed paths with the rare and beautiful creature known as the purrgil, a semi-sentient species that was able to naturally jump to hyperspace. Their study of the purrgil would have continued to allow this unknown species to develop the very first hyperdrive, allowing starships to travel at speeds beyond lightspeed. This meant that the galaxy could be navigated from end to end in about under 200 hours. This made the way for galactic exploration to begin. Those responsible for the invention have been lost to time, however some legends credit the invention to the Rakatans from the planet Rakata Prime.

#### Galactic Exploration

As explorers with hyperdrives reached new planets, their technology would be passed across civilizations, allowing for a more diverse galactic community to begin to form. Worlds would be mapped and explored, creating the first definitions of the galaxy, mapping the Core Worlds, through to the Outer Rim Territories. The Outer Rim Territories would remain deeply unexplored for thousands of years however, the vast majority of exploration taking place closer to the center of the galaxy. This also allowed for the further rapid increase in the construction processes on Coruscant, making it the most advanced world in the galaxy. The Unknown Regions would continue to remain untouched by explorers, barricaded off by a wall of space phenomena.

## Timeline of Event

* An unknown sentient species begins studies of the purrgil.
* The same unknown sentient species develops the first hyperdrive, allowing them to travel the galaxy at beyond lightspeed.
* Galactic exploration begins.
* The galaxy is mapped, noting the planets through from the Core Worlds, through to the Outer Rim.
* The Unknown Regions remains unmapped, stopped by the wall of space phenomena.

## Aftermath

##### Next: ...

The galaxy had been opened up to exploration and mapping, creating the way for the Old Republic to be born, the galaxies first and oldest ruling government. For millennia, the mapped galaxy became the battleground for numerous wars, hyperspace travel being a necessary component to the dominion of the galaxy.