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The Frontier!
It is a region of
densely packed stars, unexplored worlds and the mysteries of deep space. It is a place where the boldest members of the United Races can seek adventure and fortune. Some find fortunes, in trading, mining or plunder. Some find adventure in exploration, colonization or war. Some find only sudden death.
Beings and products from dozens of worlds are gathered at Triad, Gran Quivera and the other great centers of civilization. Away from these thriving capitals are isolated and bleak worlds where pirates skulk or courageous pioneers work to build a new life in the wilderness. It is a time of exciting growth, as more and more planets are discovered and opened up to colonization.
With the spread of civilization comes danger. Pirates inhabit many of the abandoned asteroids and barren planets. Their swift ships ambush the plump targets on major trade routes, and the pirates have no mercy for the innocent victims caught in their ruthless assaults.
The Interstellar Law Enforcement Organization—more commonly known as Star Law—fights a neverending battle to keep order in the space lanes. Pirates and outlaws have learned to fear the deadly effectiveness of the Star Law Rangers and their Spacefleet. Even so, a few ruthless bands have grown so powerful that they operate as independent nations, and have even attacked Star Law ships.
Fear comes from inside and out. Even these mercenary raiders were forgotten when the Sathar came. Traveling in mighty vessels of war, attacking with unbelievable savagery, the worm-like creatures leave only death and destruction in their wake. Political and business differences were put aside as all four races banded together to face their common enemy.
INTERSTELLAR TRAVEL
The independent discovery of the Void engine by all four races allowed for interstellar travel and the development of the subspace radio, Once a starship equipped with Void engines accelerated to a speed of 12 million kilometers per hour (1% of the speed of light), its engines had generated enough power to create drivefields which created a pocket of alternate spacetime in which the ship's relativistic mass remained at zero, allowing it to accelerate to the speed of light and beyond with little expenditure of power. The ship seemed to disappear from normal spacetime, the alternate spacetime in which the ship now existed being called "subpsace," "drivespace,' or. more commonly, "the Void."
Time is very distorted in the Void, with 15 seconds passing in Void for every 20 hours in normal space. If a ship decelerates slightly while in the Void, it will emerge into the "real" universe at some point far distant from where it left the universe. While in the Void, a starship travels at a rate of one light year per day.
The characters who live and work on starships call themselves "Spacers." They include members of all races, united in an elite group that is not bound by the restrictions of a single planet or even a single star. Spacers live with danger, never knowing what peril waits for them at the end of a jump. But they live with mystery and excitement as well. It is said that once a person has tasted the thrill of crossing the Void, charting a world never seen before, or guiding a mighty starship on a trip to the stars, no tiny bit of planet will ever again be called his home.
