Graviton Manipulation

**Graviton manipulation** is a field of scientific and technological development that revolves around the generation and control of the universe's fourth fundamental particle, the graviton. The discovery of this fundamental particle, and the subsequent technologies born from this discovery, are what allow many races to grow into interstellar civilizations, as it enables things such as artificial gravity and faster-than-light travel.

Being such an integral part of the universe, the graviton, and the technology that incorporates it, is of critical importance to almost every interstellar civilization in the known universe. Many characteristic technologies of spaceflight, including artificial gravity and gravity tethers that help spaceships dock in microgravity environments, rely on a keen understanding of the graviton in order to operate properly. Though the specifics of graviton science are much more complex, the basic behavior of the graviton is relatively easy to understand. Anything that has mass constantly emits gravitons in all possible directions simultaneously at a fixed rate (which accounts for the fixed gravitational constant of the universe). Objects with more mass will emit more gravitons. All mass in the universe is attracted towards gravitons, so therefore, all mass is attracted to all other mass. The density of an object's graviton field gradually decreases with distance due to the dissipation of the particles and their increasing spread, which accounts for the weakening of gravitational fields due to distance. The more fine technicalities of graviton science come into play when trying to manipulate gravitons and shift them out of their ordinary alignments in relation to matter. This has been accomplished in a wide variety of ways by several different civilizations, including microsingularities and the Metasubstance Lavernium. However, the end goal is always the creation of technologies that can manipulate gravity beyond its natural constraints for a beneficial effect.

Though artificial gravity and zero-g construction aid are important facets of graviton manipulation technology, its greatest application lies in the realm of faster-than-light travel. With proper configuration, artificial singularities can provide the exponential acceleration required for FTL travel, a fact that has been used to develop several different methods of FTL travel. The Fold Drive, an FTL device used by a tremendous variety of civilizations, is the most common application of graviton manipulation technology, and often emerges as the first product of an emerging interstellar civilization's graviton science exploits. Derivative FTL methods of the Fold Drive, including the Fissure Drive and Punch Drive, operate by similar principles, but require a more extensive knowledge of graviton science and better graviton manipulation technology due to their increased complexity and power. Gravity reducers, devices that shunt gravitons away from objects so as to artificially lower their weight, are another good example of a widely-seen application for graviton manipulation, and have been used to make the construction of many ultraheavy ships and megastructures more feasible for several interstellar civilizations. Since graviton production and manipulation is accomplished through the usage of graviton centrifuges or Lavernium, which responds to electrical impulses, the only upper limit of a civilization's graviton science is the degree to which they can produce and store energy, making the graviton an extremely versatile particle for civilizations that benefit from power sources such as cold fusion and antimatter annihilation.

While graviton manipulation is a science that almost all sapient races have had experience in at one point or another, there are certain civilizations that are notable for their advanced graviton science and the technologies spawned from it. The First Vecuuri Empire made remarkable advancements in graviton manipulation during the height of their civilization, which allowed them to create some of the most advanced Fold Drives in the Spur Trinity. This technology gave the Vecuuri excellent leverage over neighboring civilizations, and, though its quality was somewhat diminished following the destruction of the First Vecuuri Empire and subsequent emergence of the Second Vecuuri Empire, it eventually allowed them to avoid conflict with the turbulent and unpredictable Tychoprians by trading their technological marvels in exchange for a prolonged ceasefire. However, even the graviton science of the Vecuuri was nothing compared to that of the Infinity Guild. Through their connections to the Only Hierophant and his cohort of Black Witnesses, the scientifically inclined upper magistrates of the Infinity Guild made breakthroughs in the field of graviton manipulation unheard of by other civilizations, giving them access to the single most efficient Fold Drives in The Cluster, as well as a host of other technologies that allowed the Infinity Guild to improve almost everything through careful, highly-efficient graviton manipulation. It is believed that the Tuoctlo also had a similarly advanced understanding of graviton science, as evident in the powerful Fissure Drives their derelict ships are equipped with, and the tremendous size of most Tuoctlo artifacts which could only be made feasible through hyper-scale graviton manipulation. Through the analysis of remnant Tuoctlo technology, many civilizations in the Triangulum Galaxy and, to a lesser extent, the Andromeda Galaxy, have been able to heighten their understanding of graviton science considerably, but they still don't measure up to the advanced nature of the technology in the Milky Way Galaxy, which is often thought of as the center of graviton science within The Cluster.