-=FIREFLY=- И машина летит... | ходы игроков | Сеттинг

Верс в вики: ссылка
Верс в цифрах: ссылка

Карта Верса:



Она же, в читабельном разрешении (3125x2061): ссылка

Оборот карты, посредственное качество:


Планетарные системы:

THE CORE (Ядро, Центр):

White Sun 白虎 — Белое Солнце, Бай-Ху (Белый Тигр) ссылка


THE BORDER(Край, Пограничье, Фронтир):

Georgia 黄龙— Джорджия, Хуан-Лун (Желтый Дракон) ссылка


Red Sun 朱雀 — Красное Солнце, Чжу-Цюэ (Жар-Птица) ссылка


THE RIM (Окраина, Периферия):

Kalidasa 玄武 — Калидаса, Сюань У (Черная Черепаха) ссылка


Blue Sun 青龙 — Голубое Солнце, Цин-Лун (Лазоревый Дракон) ссылка

In the nine hundred years since folk dreamed about traveling to other worlds, all kinds of fancy scientific inventions have played their part in making that happen. If you had to pick just one that was most important, it would be the grand unification of the theories of gravity and electromagnetism.
This breakthrough led to a relatively cheap means of controlling gravitic attraction and inertia that changed the old notions of space travel and propulsion. Previously only elite astronauts could fly into the black. Now ordinary folk take such trips every day. The math behind all this will surely hurt your head, so we present the short version—the three techniques that cover most all of the basics:

Screening reduces the pull of one object (usually a planet or moon) on another (a spaceship, hovercraft, or maybe a chandelier) and essentially the other way around as well. This allows heavierthan-air vehicles to float without the need for wings and rotors and such. Putting up a screening field takes time and energy, but once the field is going, it doesn’t take much energy to keep it that way.
Since aircraft no longer have to fight gravity every moment, and they can take advantage of the almost total lack of friction when flying, aircraft are now practical for all sorts of jobs—from freight handling to rubbernecking. Spacecraft can save their fuel for getting up to orbital velocity.

Note that screening by itself doesn’t change the inertia—the resistance to motion—that heavy objects have, else ships would be blowing away in the least little breeze. Screening does put every object within the field in what amounts to zero gravity, which would be awfully inconvenient for ladies in them fancy hooped skirts, if it weren’t for artificial gravity, which is next.

Artificial gravity works the other way, pretending to be a planet-sized mass and pulling on everything in its range. Artificial gravity provides nearly the same effect as normal gravity inside a screening field and also on ships in free fall. Although artificial gravity can’t actually change the forces of ordinary acceleration, careful handling of the artificial gfield can cancel out most of the tossing caused by movement and—so long as the pilot doesn’t get too crazy—make for a smoother ride. Artificial gravity has also been used on a grand scale in the terraforming of small worlds and moonlets, allowing them to keep a breathable atmosphere despite how dinky they are.

One last benefit of g-fields has to do with fusion, which we’ll get into in a bit under the Power heading.

All this was a big improvement over brute-force rocketry and early space flight. Sailing to the nearest planets would have still taken months if it weren’t for the third technique: inertia reduction. Artificial g-fields and g-screening wouldn’t normally affect the inertia of a ship, but setting them against one another in a particular manner made it possible to drop the ship’s resistance to motion in a specific direction to next to nothing. Spaceships designed to take advantage of this trick have gained greatly in speed and efficiency, though there are some limitations (which we’ll discuss under Propulsion).

Even though screening, artificial gravity, and inertian reduction are three distinct effects, most folks just call the whole gorram thing a grav drive.


PROPULSION

There are basically two kinds of propulsion systems for air- and spacecraft in the ‘Verse: reaction thrusters and pulse drives.

Reaction thrusters are the most commonly found. They include any sort of engine that produces thrust in one direction by throwing energy out the other—remember Newton’s Third Law? Rockets, air-breathing jets, and airscrew propellers all fall into this category. The most common type of reaction thruster found on spacecraft is a “rocketbased combined cycle engine,” or simply a pod.

Pods are often mounted on movable hydraulic swivels that allow them to shift direction quickly and easily. An engine pod runs in one of three modes. In atmosphere, it’s open on both ends like a jet engine. Heated plasma from the fusion power plant is routed to the pod, heats up a mass of air, and blows it out the back to produce thrust. At low speeds, the heated air also spins a turbine that sucks in still more air from in front to get the cycle started. Once the ship goes supersonic, these turbine blades fold back out of the way and the pod continues in scramjet mode. Running the engine in air-breathing mode is very efficient, since most of the thrust comes from the air itself, and not from the plasma.

When the ship breaks atmo, there isn’t enough air for the engine to work on. The intake irises shut, and the pod switches to pure rocket mode. Extra hydrogen “fuel” is routed through the fusion plant to produce a steady stream of high-energy plasma, which the pod pumps out at extreme speeds to produce thrust. This uses a lot of hydrogen and is good for only limited “burns.” In between those burns, a ship can either coast or use her pulse drive (keep readin’).

Smaller boats and aircraft don’t carry big fusion plants, and use other kinds of reaction thrusters that have the additional advantage of being simpler to build and operate. These thrusters range from hydrogen-oxygen rocket engines to hydrogenburning jet engines to big electric turbofans run off power cells. Rockets like these can be very powerful and fast for their size, but are extremely inefficient with their fuel, thus limiting them to short range and shallow orbits. Attitude control jets on spacecraft, and chemical rocket engines on missiles are also widely used. The air-breathing types are, of course, restricted to atmo.

Pulse drives, now, are another animal entirely, separating deep space boats from short-range orbiters.

Take a ship equipped with regular grav and reaction drives. Tweak the grav and add some control hardware so it can work the inertia reduction trick. Strap on a high-impulse (but low-efficiency) rocket motor to give her a big initial “kick” and keep her moving, and voila!—pulse drive.

Pulse drives are very fast (around 60 times faster than reaction drives), but with that speed comes some severe limitations.

First, the ship is mostly lacking in inertia (thanks to screening), and so the extra speed she gets from the pulse drive isn’t real. That is, the ship keeps moving only as long as the drive is running. Shut it off, and she goes right back to drifting. Since you don’t want to be on the drift, pilots run the reaction thrusters as well as the pulse drive for some part of the journey to get the ship moving.

Second, because the inertia reduction works directly along the drive axis, the ship’s course is more or less fixed when you turn on her pulse drive (though it’s not strictly a straight line, due to gravity effects). The pilot can bend the heading, but only very slowly. To make a radical course change, you have to drop out of pulse drive, turn the nose, and re-initiate. This can use up your fuel real quick. Tian tsai navigators will plot a course to use as little extra fuel as possible, carefully choosing start and end points, and taking advantage of any planet along the way to change direction without having to burn by using a gravity slingshot.

Third, though the pulse drive is fast, it’s not very precise. Going from burn to off takes more than a couple of seconds—a ship can travel 10,000 miles in the interval. In deep space this doesn’t matter so much, but close to a planet (flying from one moon to another,) it is easier and safer to just use the reaction drives.

LIFE SUPPORT

People who spend their whole lives on the surface of a Core planet have a hard time appreciating how lucky they are. There’s air to breathe all around. Most places, fresh water falls from the sky. Meat animals and veggies are just there for the taking. Even if there’s an accident—a forest fire or a toxic chemical spill—a planet’s ecosystem is big enough to absorb the damage, spread it around, and recover.

For the folks living on the newer Rim colonies (where the finer points of terraforming are just starting to sort themselves out) life don’t go that smooth. Sometimes the rains don’t come.

But that’s nothing like venturing into the Black with just a thin metal and ceramic wall between your precious hide and all manner of hurt: no air, no water, nothing living, too hot, too cold, too little gravity, too much radiation. A ship in space is a little world unto herself. Life support has to provide everything needed to sustain life for a ship’s crew and her passengers.

HULL

A ship’s hull is more than just a box to hold all her parts. It’s a complex system that serves several critical functions. On the simplest level, the hull is a giant air tank that holds in atmosphere and keeps out the black. The hull wouldn’t be of much use, though, if you couldn’t get in or out of it, so this shell has access points—hatches, airlocks, ports, vents—through it. These have to be specially designed, so that you don’t lose pressure on the inside. Together with decks, bulkheads, and internal bracing, the hull provides a framework for mounting other parts. It has to protect the ship’s contents from damage (stellar radiation, micrometeorites, debris) and act as a conduit for the artificial gfield. Waste heat and comm signals have to go out through the hull and sensor data has to get in, so some sections of the hull are transparent to specific kinds of radiation. Selected panels may allow a gfield to pass through, too, but the strength drops off pretty rapidly. Finally, the hull must absorb noise and vibration, which would otherwise damage equipment and drive the crew nuts.

ATMOSPHERE

Maintaining breathable air aboard ship is a tricky proposition. Not only do you have to pull carbon dioxide and excess water vapor from the air, replace it with fresh oxygen, and circulate it evenly throughout the ship, you also have to balance temperature and humidity, filter out dust and pollen, scrub away more than one hundred trace contaminants, prevent the growth of bacteria and mold, and replace the inevitable losses from leaks and absorption. Fire detection and suppression is also part of the atmo system. To save weight, most long range vessels use a closed-loop air recycling system, with specialized algae tanks doing most of the work, helped along by mechanical and chemical processes. Purely physical recycling systems exist, but use a lot of power and are difficult to keep up. On short range boats, air is supplied from storage tanks and regulated by passive filters; this also serves as an auxiliary or back up system on deep space craft.

WATER

Some really big ships have closed-loop water systems. They recycle some waste water through the algae tanks, but distill most of it through heat exchangers attached to the power plant. Smaller ships make do with tanked water, supplemented by vapor condensed from the air and fuel cell exhaust. Water for drinking, cooking, and minimal cleaning runs to 6 pounds per person per day; washing and showering can add up to another 30 pounds, while laundering uses 30 pounds per person per day on its own. Clearly, the less used the better. Livestock carried as cargo have their own requirements.

FOOD

Growing fruits and vegetables in space has turned out to be too time consuming for all but the very largest ships, or those family-run vessels that have lots of extra hands. Most food production on shipboard is actually a by-product of the air recycling system. With just a little bit of artificial sunlight and some nutrients, tanks of blue-green algae take in carbon dioxide and give off oxygen as they grow. The algae is an almost perfect food, providing most of the proteins, vitamins, and calories a person needs to stay healthy. Eating the algae is a last-ditch survival effort for most, however, because the algae tastes like the pond scum it is. No amount of flavoring or bulk additives can make it taste like steak. Most folk think even protein paste is better. Needless to say, crews purchase real food planet-side when they can afford it. This can include shelf stable food packs, fresh meat, fish, and produce. Serving fresh, high-quality foodstuffs is the definition of “First Class” in space.

WASTE MANAGEMENT

Waste water is collected in septic tanks and spun to remove the solids. The water goes to the distillation rig to be purified; the leftover sludge is pumped out at each refueling stop. Big ships sometimes bake the sludge to sterile ash in a furnace first, to save on storage and get all of the water back. Trash and solid waste are compacted into standardized garbage bins that are swapped out in port. Docking fees pay for waste disposal, although some organic-poor moons have been known to offer discounts, since they can use it for the fertilizer.

NAVIGATION

Virtually all spaceships and aircraft have some kind of computerized fly-by-wire system installed that lets novices handle the controls without killing themselves. You may call yourself a great pilot, but unless you switch off the nav comp and go to manual, the ship is flying herself. You’re just telling her where you want her to go. Of course, she’s going to be fairly conservative about it. The mark of a true pilot is the ability to fly manually and get that last 3% out of her performance. Long before the war, the Alliance established a network of powerful navigational beacons throughout the Core, extending out to the Rim, though only in “high traffic” areas. Once you get out on the “edge”, there are fewer beacons around. This network is deliberately separate from the Cortex for safety and redundancy. Comparing the time-stamped signals from four or more of these satellites will tell a ship where she is and where she’s heading without having to shoot the stars with an astrolabe or something similar. In an emergency, coded advisories can be sent out over the beacon signals. All nav systems are required to be able to read the signals and inform the crew.

Worlds have their own, short-ranged systems linked into their communications networks, and ships use these when available to recalibrate their backup inertial guidance systems once they come off pulse drive. Even the poorest moon will have an electronic benchmark left by the initial exploration team somewhere near the docks that gives enough data for a rough update, so the ship doesn’t have to fly by guesswork.

SENSORS

It’s hard to be sneaky in space. The black is very, very cold, and a ship with any kind of power running stands out like a bonfire on the desert in a pitch dark night. The only place to hide is near something bigger than you are or (if your pilot is that good) in the blind spot caused by a ship’s hot drive wake.

Sensors come in two modes: simple detectors, designed to tell you that something is out there; and scanners designed to provide enough detail to tell you what that something is. Both types use a mix of active (transmitting) and passive (receiving) techniques spread pretty much across the electromagnetic spectrum. The actual hardware—antenna blisters and frequency generators and such—matters less than the signal processing that turns the entire ship into one big phased array antenna that allows you to hear and understand the softest whisper.

COMMUNICATIONS

The Cortex is a vast signal network that ties all the worlds in the ‘Verse together. It uses any and all available channels—laser, maser, broadcast radio—to ensure that a message is routed to the right destination. Due to the speed of light lag caused by the distances involved (up to eight hours to send out to the Rim and get a reply), messages, called “waves” because of the way they spread throughout the system, tend to be pre-recorded. Real-time conversations are limited to less than about 100,000 miles.

BEYLIX

While the planet has many large farming communities, Beylix has the distinction of being the system’s garbage dump (make that “reclamation and recycling center”).

The scrap yards and refuse centers are managed by United Reclamation, which owns property all over Beylix. Soon after the company began to dump trash here, its agents reported that scavengers were coming to pick over the remains, since there was little to no security. It turned out that what was trash to people on the Core was treasure to the folk out on the Rim.

United responded by licensing junk dealers. Some entrepreneurs began selling rebuilt ships—everything from old Starfinders to out-of-service Fireflies. Others devised creative uses for scrap, either jury-rigging old technology into something useful or turning it into art and selling it back to the Core where it decorates office lobbies.

Beylix is a place to start a new life, as you can often find some old ship and the parts to get her flyin’. Beylix is also a good place to drop off smuggled goods. It’s not as if the Alliance or the corporations want to pay any attention to this gorram heap of feh wu.

EZRA

A planet in the Georgia system, Ezra is currently in transition. Once Ezra was a relatively peaceful world known for farmers and ranchers. Then, near the end of the war, its governor died unexpectedly, throwing the planet in chaos. (Conspiracy theorists alternately blame either Alliance or Independent assassins, but in truth the man choked on a piece of chicken.) The lieutenant governor was ill-equipped for the job. To make matters worse, thousands of war refugees and former soldiers from both sides were pouring into Ezra. Jobs got real scarce, the ranks of unemployed swelled, and the economy went belly up. Criminals flocked to Ezra as word spread of overwhelmed law enforcement and the potential to hide under the larger problems.

It was during this chaotic time that a crime lord, one Adelei Niska, moved his skyplex into Ezra’s orbit and set himself up as the local power. Using some legitimate businesses as a front, he manages to avoid prosecution through the use of bribes, assassination, and the threat of his torture chambers.

The Alliance Parliament is currently considering what to do about the “Ezra situation.” A new governor is needed, but he or she would have to confront Niska, and thus far there have been no candidates willing to take on that task.

Farming and ranching are still common pursuits. Ezra’s business enterprises have at least provided jobs for some folk. The law of the gun is absolute on Ezra: if you can’t defend yourself or what you’ve got, someone will take it from you. That rule applies to people as well as property, since many slavers come here to pick up a little extra cargo. Despite the risks, there is now work to be found on Ezra, though it may not be to everyone’s liking.

HERA

Hera and Persephone were known as the Gateway to the Border. During the Unification War, Hera was held firmly in the hands of the Independents. While Aphrodite supported a significant Alliance presence, Hera was the jumping-off point to the rest of the Border, and to the Rim. While some continue to argue the strategic importance of Hera from the standpoint of military value and commerce, it remained the “center” of Independent consciousness after the loss of Shadow.

The Battle of Serenity Valley concluded the bloodiest engagement in the Unification War, and has been described by historians as “Gettysburg and Vicksburg all rolled into one place.” At the culmination of that battle, the Independents suffered their most crushing defeat, and lost their most strategic asset. While there were a few small skirmishes on other worlds, the Unification War effectively ended in Serenity Valley.

SHADOW

Once it was said that the prairies of Shadow stretched out so far under such a clear sky that a man could see from here to God’s plan. These days, all that is left is charred and blackened rock.

Shadow was known for its grain farms and cattle ranches. The planet was almost entirely rural, with small towns dotting the countryside. While it had a few impressive towns, there were no actual cities. Its people were hard workers and independent-minded. Shadow was one of the first worlds to stand against the aggression of the Alliance. Most of its young people volunteered to fight for Independence. The aggressive bombing of Shadow during the war was meant to teach the Browncoats a lesson about the might of the Alliance. Instead, the bombing only hardened the resolve of those who fought and increased the Browncoats’ hatred of their enemy. Those few from Shadow who survived this difficult time lost loved ones, their lives forever changed.
Shadow today is a ghost planet. No one lives there. No one can.

HIGGINS’ MOON

A man named Higgins was appointed magistrate of a small, unnamed moon. (There were rumors that he won his appointment in a card game.) At the time the moon was founded, it did not appear to have useful resources or much potential for agriculture. A few years later, it was discovered that some areas have a mineral-rich clay that can be harvested, chemically treated and kiln-fired into a ceramic that is ten times stronger than steel at half the weight. It formed a new industry: mud.

The company town of Canton was founded near the largest mud pits. Over two thousand workers, known as “Mudders,” live in Canton and work for Magistrate Higgins. Many of these are slaves and indentured laborers (who probably will never be able to purchase their way out of debt). Higgins rules through intimidation and the use of force, and is hated by virtually everyone. The foreman and his prods enforce the company rules, either with longterm hard-labor, imprisonment, or hacking folk up and rolling them into the bog.

The Mudders of Canton sing songs of a hero who has twice defied the magistrate and sailed away: Jayne Cobb. The Hero of Canton, they say, will one day return to Higgins Moon and free them from oppression. The more likely way for conditions to improve will be the magistrate’s son, Fess, who is quietly working to reverse some of his father’s harshest policies.

PERSEPHONE

Persephone is an interesting mix of people and cultures. The world’s environment is much like Earth-That-Was: desert, rainforest, plains, tundra, and such. While not as heavily populated as the worlds of the Core, Persephone still seems a very big place to those from the Rim. Persephone has a tradition-oriented aristocracy, a small but thriving middle class, a fair share of the poor and desperate, and a shadowy underworld.

The Eavesdown Docks is the largest spaceport on Persephone. Even folk who think themselves hotshot pilots are confused now and again by its chaotic layout. (And woe to the new pilot trying to make his way to a dock for the first time!) Ships often touch down only a few yards from street vendors selling cheap goods to the crews and potential passengers. The docks are situated in the poor section of town (the nobles and other rich folk have their own private airfields), but it’s just a short drive or a long walk to the business district—in which just about anything in the ‘Verse can be bought for the right price.

The docks are home to several criminal “lords,” who collect illegal salvage, move contraband offworld and have hundreds of other ways to make quick, if not Alliance-approved, easy cash. A good crew with a flyable ship could make good coin here, so long as their morals aren’t overly high and they don’t mind avoiding the Feds. Not far away is a famous racetrack that is home to a famous derby that brings in folk from throughout the system (not to mention the throngs of Cortex-viewers), offering a huge cash prizes to the winning horse.

Like the horses, the aristocracy of Persephone all lay claim to a pedigree. Then again, anyone with the right stack of coin can purchase his own lordship, what with its fancy sash and all. Noble families live on large estates, attending to business, dancing at opulent balls, playing golf or tennis, and settling matters of honor in formal duels.

Persephone is an impressive cross-section of humanity, which is just another way to say that it’s a world with an over abundance of opportunity and danger.

Note: The protostars Lux & Murphy reached their closest approach to each other in 2511, making the planets Persephone and Hera of vital strategic importance in the Unification War. Persephone was firmly an Alliance planet, while Hera was a major staging area for Independent Forces.

PAQUIN

Known far and wide as the “gypsy planet,” Paquin is home to more carnivals and sideshows, galleries and theatres than you could shake a cruisersized stick at. It also seems to be home to every conartist and swindler in the system.

When it was being terraformed, Paquin was chosen to host a grand opera house. Paquin’s unique atmosphere produces sunrises and sunsets the likes of which would lift even the burden of death, with colors ranging from purple to blue to red to orange. This stunning display provides a wonderful natural backdrop for the opera house, which is located on the shore overlooking a vast ocean.

As the new opera house brought theater lovers to the planet, more theatres were built to take advantage of the new trade. Paquin is the place to see all manner of entertainment from Noh theatre to experimental dance. Many new plays debut here, and those that become popular travel to the Core where they play for the elite. Artists and writers make Paquin their home to be “closer to the muse.” Paquin is the artistic center of the Border worlds and rivals Sihnon in terms of culture (though the people of Sihnon will get all manner of indignant denying this!).

Like other worlds, Paquin has a dark side. Countless carnivals and sideshows dot the world, providing good honest entertainment for the prairie folk, featuring circus acts and magic shows, freaks and jugglers. But there are those carnies who exist purely to fleece their patrons of all their cash or use their bright lights as cover for even darker activities.

SANTO

One of the great triumphs of terraforming is the planet Santo. The planet is picture-perfect, with clear blue seas, azure skies and ideal weather. Though it has a thriving agricultural base, Santo was once known for the tourists who thought it a paradise. The rich flocked to the planet as an exclusive vacation spot, and resort communities commanded every good view to be had.

The war ended Santo’s glorious days as a destination for the rich and beautiful. Though the planet escaped destruction, no one from the Core worlds dared travel here while the fighting was about. Hotels and casinos were abandoned. Those that stayed open did so by finding other ways to attract customers. Brothels, strip clubs, and other ventures catering to less savory appetites opened up. Santos has become known as a “fun” place, no matter what pleasures you’re into. After the war, casino owners found that they could avoid Alliance restrictions by operating in this out of the way place. The world became a Mecca for high rollers (and those who were not so high).

Santo’s resorts are now beginning to recover. No longer a playground exclusively for the rich, Santos attracts a more middle-class crowd. Its resorts are still beautiful, its small towns picturesque, its casinos open twenty-four seven.

You’ll have a good time here, but you might not want to bring the kiddies.

Деньги

Основная и единственная номинация валюты, утвержденная Альянсом, – галактические кредиты (обозначается буквой "С" перечеркнутой двумя линиями сверху вниз: ₡). Кредиты не имеют наличного эквивалента.*Расплата возможна либо с помощью персональной идентификационной карты, которая связанна со счетом в одном или нескольких банках конфедерации, либо с помощью федеральных чеков.

В связи с тем, что любая оплата галактическими кредитами автоматически становится известна Альянсу, многие предпочитают пользоваться другими формами оплаты:

Галактический Доллар – валюта, используемая Директоратом, все еще в ходу в Пограничье. Плюсы – банкноты практически невозможно подделать; минусы – данная форма денег признана отжившей, более не поддерживается правительством и постепенно выводится из оборота.

Примерный курс: ₡1 = $25

Независимая Фракция за годы своего правления ввела в обращение монеты, базирующиеся на драгоценных металлах. Эти монеты до сих пор в обращении и активно используются там, где не хотят вводить Альянс в курс дел. Ценность монеты напрямую связанна с ее весом, так что подобные монеты часто взвешиваются перед тем, как сменить руки.

Примерный курс:

Платина (1p) = ₡0.4
Золото  (1g) = ₡0.2
Серебро (1s) = ₡0.004

Стоит заметить, что галактические доллары более не поддерживаются Альянсом и не считаются валютой. Сделки, произведенные при помощи монет Независимой Фракции, – не легальны и, если Альянс узнает о подобной сделке, деньги и товары вовлеченные в сделку будут изъяты. Единственное, что можно легально сделать со старыми монетами, это сдать их в любой банк Альянса, получив при этом несколько заниженный эквивалент в галактических кредитах.

Цены, на товары, покупаемые в Ядре, приведены в галактических кредитах и весьма стабильны. Данные цены могут отличаться на периферийных планетах даже если сделка легальна, в зависимости от доступности товара или услуги. Цены на нелегальные сделки приведены в валютном эквиваленте Независимой Фракции и являются усредненными для периферийных планет. Подобные цены могут сильно варьироваться в зависимости от ситуации.

Credit Dollar Platinum Gold Silver
₡ 1     $25     2.5     5    250
₡ 0.4   $10     1       2    100

Cortex

• 1. What is the Cortex?

The Cortex is the 'Verse equivalent of the internet on Earth-that-was...but it's far more than its ancient predecessor ever hoped to be. The Cortex is -the- delivery method for news, information, and entertainment in the core. In the Core, over 98% of all planet-side data transmissions (and a surprising 34% of all ship-board transmissions) are delivered through the Cortex rather than actually broadcast.

In the Core and on the older Border worlds, the Cortex is treated like a basic, free utility. It is their library, their newspaper, their technical manuals, and a huge part of their schools. The secure layers of the Cortex carry local air traffic control, police radio traffic, 911-type emergency calls, bank transactions...the list is literally endless.

The Cortex is divided up into layers and domains similar to the way the internet was structured, but the layout is larger and more complex by several orders of magnitude. Each world in the 'Verse maintains its own Cortex domain and those domains are further broken down into layers based loosely on the content and function of the data stored on them. (Think .com, .edu, .gov, etc.) In the case of government sites and most commercial or corporate sites the address includes rough geographic information in addition to the basic domain.

Because of the light-speed barrier, most world domains are fairly well isolated from one another. The only exception to this rule is with regards to the close ties between the Cortex domains of a planet and its moons.


• 2. How do I access the Cortex?

First, it's important to note that almost every electronic device in the 'Verse can connect to the Cortex in some way or another, and in many cases the cost of the service for that connection is included in the initial purchase price of the device. Examples of this kind of access would be radios, televisions, GPS navigation devices, and any other device which needs to communicate with an outside source. More advanced access almost always requires a monthly or yearly subscription fee and special equipment. (Special equipment being anything from a PDA to a dedicated source box.)

In the Core and many of the Border worlds, the most basic level of Cortex access is free to everyone. This level of access allows a user to view local information (local being the immediate domain and its closest neighbors) and to perform basic searches for information. Beyond this basic level of service, advanced access must be purchased on an individual basis.

Advanced Cortex access can come from one of any number of different companies, but the three largest Cortex Access Providers (CAPs) are BlueStar, Mao Technologies Ltd., and Invenitech.

BlueStar is based in the Core and has Cortex satellites in every system, but they're nearly three times as expensive as any of their competitors. Most private citizens don't use BlueStar, but well over half of all Core-based companies do.

Mao Technologies Ltd. is based in the Mao system and has satellites in the Core, Mao, and Georgia. Like Invenitech, they're reasonably priced but can only offer real-time access in a fairly limited area. Mao Technologies uses a proprietary packet transfer technology that allows huge amounts of data to be transmitted in short bursts. They can send roughly twice as much compressed data as Invenitech or BlueStar per packet, making them remarkably popular for ship-board access. So far neither Invenitech nor BlueStar has been able to unravel MT's compression routines.

Invenitech is based in the Georgia system and has satellites in Georgia, Burnham, and Mao. Because they don't offer real-time access in the Core they tend to be overlooked by a lot of folks, but the service they do offer is affordable and surprisingly high quality. Invenitech is deeply ingrained in the Cortex infrastructure on most Rim worlds.

Most devices use biometrics (fingerprints, retinal scans, breathalyzers, voiceprints, etc.) to ascertain the user's identity, and to most citizens of the Alliance that's the only way they've ever accessed those devices. Using a userid/password combo is an almost completely foreign idea except in the case of extremely secure computing.

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