The Hypernet System

The Hypernet System is the FTL System used within the Steam Islands Galaxy. It is a two-part system, consisting of a Hyperdrive and a Hypernet Gate, which both will be explained in this help page.

Both the Hyperdrive and the Hypernet System were discovered and developed by the Empire of Olsteam, who shared the technology with many of the fledgling space nations throughout the galaxy, allowing them to build their own small empires.

## **Hyperdrive**

The Hyperdrive is the first part of the Hypernet FTL System. It functions similarly to the accepted Hyperdrive of many Science Fiction pieces. It is a drive installed into many of the spacecraft used within FTL nations. The Drive has a standardized rate of time per unit of travel. Going further means it will take longer, much like anything else. **Traveling a distance of One (1) Parsec, the average distance between solar systems within the Steam Islands Galaxy, takes approximately Twenty-Four (24) Hours.** For each Parsec, tack on another 24. So traveling across 30 systems, or 30 parsecs, will take 720 hours.

The Hyperdrive works by encasing the ships in question in a sort of bubble, which works to "shunt" the ship(s) from our dimension to a seemingly "other dimension" commonly called Hyperspace. Distances are shorter in this "other dimension", allowing for faster than light travel across far distances.

While in hyperspace, spaceships are typically isolated from the normal universe; they cannot communicate with, nor perceive things in real space until they emerge. Ships within hyperspace can only communicate in short bursts (think of the "Twitter System", messages longer than a Tweet (200 characters) will probably be lost to the void). To people traveling in hyperspace, time typically moves at its normal pace, with little or no time dilation; 24 hours in hyperspace equates to 24 hours in real space. This is due to the fact that typical hyperdrive scenarios involve only changing the *position* of the craft, without altering its *velocity* (i.e. a ship will emerge with the same momentum, kinetic energy and direction of travel that it had upon entering hyperspace, thereby avoiding relativistic effects).

Hyperdrive jumps require a considerable amount of planning and calculation, with any error carrying a threat of dire consequences. Therefore, jumps may cover a much shorter distance than would actually be possible so that the navigator can stop to "look around": take his bearings, plot their position, and plan the next jump.

The Hyperspace Dimension is described as being a dimension of swirling colors. For some species, they are unable to comprehend the dimension and some will go insane, while others are able to observe it easier.

## **Hypernet Gate**

The Hypernet System operates similarly to the Hyperdrive, but rather than being installed into every ship, the largest ships of a fleet have "Keys" which activate Hypernet Gates. Hypernet Gates are large, extremely expensive structures.

The Hypernet works by using the **Folded Spacetime Theory**, which uses the idea that two points in space can be moved closer together by "folding" the space between them to allow the ship(s) to skip over larger distances. At short distances, this is pretty impractical, but for larger distances is much more cost effective for larger empires covering larger distances. The gates themselves are constructed out of tethers that hold the hypernet energy matrix in place. Upon collapsing enough number of tethers, the structure can be collapsed according to models, although no-one has attempted to deconstruct a Gate by destroying tethers. There are also no reports of structures being removed, so rumors state if a gate is destroyed while ships are in transit, the ships may (according to the most popular theory) reappear in normal space some distance between the two gates, or be potentially destroyed (the other prevailing theory).

Each Hypernet System has a unique access code, which means no two nations' Hypernets can connect, that is preset on its construction, meaning that if a key is stolen, the code cannot be changed to prevent its use without destroying the entire network. A Hypernet gate is activated by a Hypernet key, which contains an encrypted matrix that correlates to the matrix within the Hypernet gate. Hypernet Keys are normally located on the largest ships When the key is activated, these matricies merge, which allows the creation of the "bubble dimension". The "bubble dimension" is believed to be a second layer of the Hyperspace Dimension in which the FST prevails.

Travel Time between two gates always takes 240 Hours, which is similar to Ten (10) Parsecs jump with a Hyperdrive. So for distances over 10 parsecs, this becomes a much more viable option. Traveling a distance of 100 Parsecs takes just as much time as 10 Parsecs, whereas it would take 2400 Hours with a standard Hyperdrive.

Similar to the Hyperdrive, ships inside cannot contact ships outside, as well as information sent between the ships inside must be 50 or less characters. Unlike Hyperspace, the "bubble dimension" does not have color, instead appearing as a pure black with some reports of dark purple or dark red also sometimes showing up within the darkness.

## **Owning and Operating your own Hypernet System**

All FTL-Capable nations can use Hyperdrives to their heart's content. Hyperdrives can be placed inside any ship large enough to accommodate the drive.

Gates, on the other hand, are **expensive**. They are not for those who don't produce enough. During your initial set-up, you will get two Hypernet Gates if you have 20 systems. You will receive an additional gate every 20 systems. So, by 100 systems, you will have 6 gates. The trend continues as you increase more.

More can always be built on your own if you can afford it.

## **Note Of Information**

This system was taken from prevailing Hyperspace Theory on Wikipedia and the Hypernet System from a Book Series. For our members, please don't look it up, some of their information is not what we use while other stuff we do, and I'd prefer that our members don't confuse it.