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"For the four hundred years between the 23rd and 27th centuries, the people of the Sol System and of extrasolar colonies were isolated from each other. Most colonies still had communication with Sol (and received regular technological updates), but that was it. And since those colonies had been founded by unmanned ships carrying human DNA, no physical humans had ever crossed the mighty expanse between the stars. Until, of course, the mid-27th century, when the Quantum Drive was invented.

"The Quantum Drive, or simply Q-Drive, is a machine that liberates virtual particle pairs. These particles appear out of nowhere and annihilate each other in a billionth of a nanosecond. Because of their extremely short lifespans, virtual particles don't affect much (except for Casimir plates and black holes). However, if virtual particle pairs are kept from annihilating each other, they not only become real particles, but act to release all their potential energy. The virtual potential energy of a single liter of empty vacuum is enough to boil away Earth's oceans, or destroy a small moon (which is exactly what happened to Uranus's moon Miranda in 2736). It also allows for a 2.5-million-ton spacecraft to accelerate to near lightspeed.

“A wholly new breed of spaceships was designed. Ships that are, essentially, flying cities. Lightships accelerate constantly at 1g, and take nearly a year to reach 99.9% of lightspeed. They travel at relativistic velocities, and because of this, people on lightships experience a lot less time passing then people planetside. Their layouts are like that of skyscrapers, and ‘down’ is towards the engine. Q-Drives produce a titanic amount of heat, so three vast, flat radiators are used to dissipate that heat. The ship’s cross-sections are made as thin as possible to mitigate the damage done by dust grain impacts. Coupled with the heat radiators, this makes lightships look like enormous, 4-kilometer-long Lawn Darts.

“These starships – the largest in human history – are the cornerstone of interstellar trade and travel. Lightships are crewed by Spacers, a loose faction of humanity based solely in the enormous ships. Spacers are paid to ferry people and goods between systems. They are more or less self-sufficient, and only ever go down to a planetary surface when absolutely necessary. Spacers are unified by their distaste for living on planets (or anything with a strong gravity well). They prefer living their lives hurtling at near the speed of light, through an ocean of stars.

“Lightships can also be exploratory vessels. Many are being used to travel to the most remote corners of the galaxy, and beyond. Most of these haven’t reached their destinations yet, even after centuries of traveling, because space is just that big. Some lightships may not arrive for thousands of years – millions, for those traveling beyond the Milky Way. It’s very likely that the Spacer crews of these lightships will outlive the rest of humanity.”

From ENCYCLOPAEDIA GALACTICA, excerpt by Forven Geisler

Description

"For the four hundred years between the 23rd and 27th centuries, the people of the Sol System and of extrasolar colonies were isolated from each other. Most colonies still had communication with Sol (and received regular technological updates), but that was it. And since those colonies had been founded by unmanned ships carrying human DNA, no physical humans had ever crossed the mighty expanse between the stars. Until, of course, the mid-27th century, when the Quantum Drive was invented.

"The Quantum Drive, or simply Q-Drive, is a machine that liberates virtual particle pairs. These particles appear out of nowhere and annihilate each other in a billionth of a nanosecond. Because of their extremely short lifespans, virtual particles don't affect much (except for Casimir plates and black holes). However, if virtual particle pairs are kept from annihilating each other, they not only become real particles, but act to release all their potential energy. The virtual potential energy of a single liter of empty vacuum is enough to boil away Earth's oceans, or destroy a small moon (which is exactly what happened to Uranus's moon Miranda in 2736). It also allows for a 2.5-million-ton spacecraft to accelerate to near lightspeed.

“A wholly new breed of spaceships was designed. Ships that are, essentially, flying cities. Lightships accelerate constantly at 1g, and take nearly a year to reach 99.9% of lightspeed. They travel at relativistic velocities, and because of this, people on lightships experience a lot less time passing then people planetside. Their layouts are like that of skyscrapers, and ‘down’ is towards the engine. Q-Drives produce a titanic amount of heat, so three vast, flat radiators are used to dissipate that heat. The ship’s cross-sections are made as thin as possible to mitigate the damage done by dust grain impacts. Coupled with the heat radiators, this makes lightships look like enormous, 4-kilometer-long Lawn Darts.

“These starships – the largest in human history – are the cornerstone of interstellar trade and travel. Lightships are crewed by Spacers, a loose faction of humanity based solely in the enormous ships. Spacers are paid to ferry people and goods between systems. They are more or less self-sufficient, and only ever go down to a planetary surface when absolutely necessary. Spacers are unified by their distaste for living on planets (or anything with a strong gravity well). They prefer living their lives hurtling at near the speed of light, through an ocean of stars.

“Lightships can also be exploratory vessels. Many are being used to travel to the most remote corners of the galaxy, and beyond. Most of these haven’t reached their destinations yet, even after centuries of traveling, because space is just that big. Some lightships may not arrive for thousands of years – millions, for those traveling beyond the Milky Way. It’s very likely that the Spacer crews of these lightships will outlive the rest of humanity.”

From ENCYCLOPAEDIA GALACTICA, excerpt by Forven Geisler