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Hyperspace

Hyperspace drives enable interstellar travel. Ships can enter a space in which only massive objects—like stars—are detectable and the distances between them are compressed. It is possible to drop out of hyperspace anywhere, but it is unwise to do it in between star systems unless you know for sure that you have the resources to re-enter.

The hyperspace drive is usually divided into these components:

• Folder - folds space
• Cutter - creates an opening from normal space to hyperspace
• Zipper - seals the opening from the hyperspace side
• Unpincher - unfolds hyperspace
• Pincher - folds hyperspace
• Unzipper - creates an opening from hyperspace to normal space
• Stitcher - seals the opening from the normal space side
• Unfolder - unfolds space

Ordinary propulsion and sensors are used within hyperspace.

Hyperspace drive faults:

• Failure of the folder makes it impossible for the cutter to work, since it can only cut folded space.
• Failure of the cutter makes it impossible for the ship to enter hyperspace (unless it can use an existing opening).
• Failure of the zipper makes it impossible to seal the opening from the hyperspace side. The affected space cannot be unfolded or unpinched until the opening is sealed.
• Failure of the unpincher makes it impossible to unfold hyperspace .
• Failure of the pincher makes it impossible for the unzipper to work.
• Failure of the unzipper leaves a ship trapped in hyperspace (unless it can use an existing opening).
• Failure of the stitcher makes it impossible to seal the opening from the normal space side.
• Failure of the unfolder makes it impossible to unfold space.

Space-time pollution and other unfortunate events

Folding space within a gravity well causes a massive explosion and potentially opens an irregular hyperspace rift which is extremely difficult to close. The weaponising of this extremely undesirable side effect has been banned by a convention which both the Empire and (amazingly) the Tribe have signed. Ships are strictly forbidden to use their drives within a certain distance of planets and suns. Most drives are fitted with a variety of safety overrides which will cause them not to function if a strong gravitational force is detected.

Hyperspace openings stretch over time if left alone; if a ship leaves an opening unsealed it may become a permanent hole unless it is sealed in time. There is a limit on the size of opening a given zipper or stitcher can close. Some systems have large semi-permanent hyperspace gates which are bounded by encircling structures and occasionally shrunk a little by weak stitching. Some unfortunate areas have giant irregular rifts, which can break up planets or smallow them whole.

Hyperspace folds are a space hazard left behind by ships with faulty unpinchers and unfolders. They can interfere with navigation, and have a tendency to stretch and move in much more unpredictable ways. There is some concern that unattended folds may drift into planets and suns, with explosive results, but there have been no verified incidents so far. Collisions between folds and ships are usually fatal for the ship, but ships don't have enough mass to cause further problems.

Caveats

Ships can't see each other in hyperspace in a conventional sense, because they're not actually next to each other even if they entered an identical gate seconds apart. This is because hyperspace is actually a hell of a lot more complicated and ugly than the simplified model everyone likes to imagine.

Communication between ships is possible, but the signals travel through bizarrely convoluted paths and arrive extremely distorted. Specialised encoders and decoders are required for this to work at all, and the technology is still very primitive. Some degree of manual tuning is usually involved.

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