index Draft
Hard-SF Federal Republic; FTL via vortex engines & beacon-marked hyperspace lanes; intelligent life believed human-only.
World Overview
Known space is governed by the Federal Republic of Worlds, bound together by tolled hyperspace gates. FTL is real but limited (TL11 super-science, mostly FTL): ships ride beacon-marked lanes through hyperspace, dropping to real space to cross between routes, and no one has ever found intelligent life out there but us. Humanity is alone in the dark, and mostly too busy taxing, mining, and surviving each other to wonder about it.
At the frayed end of all this sits the Thides System — a charted dead-end under a dim amber star, home to MacMillian Mining and Extraction Corporation’s last rusting boomtown station. See the domain files below for how the world actually works.
The Domains
- FTL and Hyperspace — travel & technology — vortex engines, gates, lanes, beacons, light-speed sensors, and bandwidth-starved relay comms.
- Politics and Citizenship — law & governance — the Federal Republic, the jump tax and licensing, and the hard line between citizen and resident.
- Federal Credits — money — the three forms of currency: electronic balances, letters of credit, and the regulated Federal alloy.
- Interstellar Travel — getting around — passenger passage by price, from stateroom to frozen third-class cargo.
- Silicon Heaven — society & belief — the installed faith that keeps synthetic assets obedient, and how P.E.T.A. cuts the leash.