SporeWiki
Register
Advertisement

Over the past 250,000 years Draconid Imperium has developed highly advanced technology based on miniaturisation and using energy emitted from black holes. Their widespread existance means that many races have encountered their technology in one form or another and their technology is very common in Segmentum Draco. Technology has many social and philosophical effects and research focuses on developing present technology and making it more efficcient rather than experimenting with outlanish technology or novelties.

During their expansion they have come across numerous worlds bearing technology once used by the Four precursor powers of Andromeda. Over time they have adapted this technology to suit them with the precursor worlds becoming tourist hotspots for scholars and historians. The origins of technologies based on precursor tech is kept highly classified by the Royal Academy for fear that aliens who hear of it may try to hunt for such sites ro even raid known archeological sites out of a desire to have the technology themselves.

Military Technology[]

Ammunition[]

To accomodate the widespread use of magnetic induction coils (MICs) in projectile weapons has prompted the development of ferromagnetic slugs. Most rounds consist of a nickel casing with a tungsten core and nib designed to shatter against the target due to high velocities. To encourage this the tungsten component is designed as a molecular-scale honeycomb to promote the fragility upon impact. When these rounds impact the target they initially damage the surface while the core and the rest of the casing acts as a miniature fragmentation grenade.

Shotgun 'smartrounds' are designed to break apart via a gas explosion after reaching a certain distance from the barrel and are activated as they travel down the barrel. Unlike other designs, the user must program the fragmentation distance into the weapon before firing. AP rounds do no not use the honeycomb structure and are instead tipped with nanotubes to maximise penetrating power.

Larger-calibre rounds such as those used in starship batteries are designed to cause as much damage as possible. Unlike small-arms projectiles, cannon rounds are designed with an ultrahard nanotube 'drillbit' designed to bore partway into armour while the shell itself contains minute amounts of high-impact explosive such as antimatter that detonates shortly after (typically +300 microseconds) impact. A typical 610mm starship cannon round is designed to shred ablative armour and if it penetrates can injure crewmemebers caught in the shrapnel blast.

Armour[]

Military forces are often equipped with ceramic armour in the form of various reinforced plates, the most common material of use being the metamaterial Tungtabon sandwiched between honeycombed layers of an ablative ceramic compound which is shaved off by kinetic impacts and extreme heat. Tungtabon-ceramic plates are engineered for the points of impact to flex in order to absorb the kinetic energy of impacts while electro-kinetic collectors convert some of the kinetic and thermal energy from the impact to use within the armour's systems. The use of hermetically-sealed full-body armour is standard-issue amongst the Aetheral Talon Body to protect soldiers from the hazards of hostile terrestrial environments or the vacuum of space.

Vehicle protection ranges from several forms of reactive armour for light-to-medium vehicles and angled ablative armour for heavier vehicles and starships. Most combat vehicles use angled plates to negate impact damage or possibly deflect the shot. The angle of armour is most extreme with layered ablative armour found on main battle tanks. When an impact hits, a layer of armour (Normally 10-45 micrometres thick) dissolves off while the angle spreads the impact as much as possible. Many combatants refer to attacking layered ablative armour as 'fruit peeling' (Normally an analogue of the onion, depending on species). The prevalence of beam and missile weapons in space make ablative armour a common sight on starships of all sizes.

Battlestations[]

DI-Battlestation-Horizontal

A side-on view of a battlestation

Measuring several kilometres high, imperial battlestations are behemoths of construction. Capable of dwarfing the kilometre-long battlemaster-class capitals these orbital fortresses are typically stationed at locations the empire considers strategically vital - such as critical systems, gateway systems and choke points - their presence can be seen in the sky above a stationed world and also represent the empire's overall strength.

The structure focuses around a central disk where most of the weapons batteries are installed along with the primary docking ports and sensor equipment. The station then extends outward from the top and bottom of this disk; above are accomodations and armouries and below are factories, storage chambers and secondary docking bays within the bulb at the base. Gravity is maintained through centripedal force which maintains an average of 1g. Deeper inside gravity is maintained with a-grav generators.

The battlestations provide more than just defence; factories and offices allow for more rapid development of the orbiting world and in some cases the planetary or system governor will take up residence on board. In some circumstances a planet would have more than one battlestation orbiting it. The empire refrains from stationing these structures within interstellar space - where they would have no anchor point and could be easily avoided - and gateway systems will usually have highest priority demand.

Energised Weapons[]

Often incorectly referred to as energy blades or phasic blades. Energised weapons sheathe the metal blade in a disruption field emitted from inside the blade that allows it to more easily cut through denser material. The blade is still sharp without this disruption field since that is the actual cutting tool. Energised blades are commonplace throughout the empire but their relative cost compared to a normal longsword means they are generally used by officers and dedicated swordsmen.

The blades themselves are powered with a high-efficcency battery in the handle that can continuously power the blade for five hours. Dedicated swordsmen will carry a replacement battery repladed by unscrewing and removing the pommel at the handle's base.

Fusion weapons[]

Draconis Fusion rifle

Marine-Issue Fusion Rifles are symbolic of the Imperial Marine Corps and Draconis ground forces

Coined for either their firing method or their use of extreme high-energy plasma, and one of the Draconid Imperiums' signature battlefield technologies, "Fusion" (Patented as Quark Plasma Radiance by High Energy Particle Beam Confluence) weapons function by the meeting of two a pair of high-energy particle beams that when they cross, create a particle collission which generates such extreme temperatures that the point of impact is converted into quark-gluon plasma. Anything that is hit by the quark-gluon impact, a sapient being, a tank, or an adamantine bulkhead is reduced to subatomic particles, visibly vanishing in a flash of light as the impact zone is bathed in high-energy radiation. While the concept is theoretically feasible for many high-tier powers in the Gigaquadrant, the Imperium is one of the few who have managed to miniaturise the required technology into personnel-scale weapons. Most famously the fusion pulse rifles found among the Talon Mairne Corps. How this was achieved and the finer points of modern designs are a closely guarded secret by the state and the technology's primary manufacturer, Kartokus Weapons Systems.

The typical design features two particle emitter lenses, one for each stream that sync with a laser rangefinder to pinpoint the distance the particle streams must travel before they intersect. More straightforward models will have range designation and calibration as a separate function while more advanced models (such as those possessed by Imperial spacial forces or elite legions) will take advantage of high-speed computing to rangefind, calibrate and fire in a single pull of the trigger.

Fusion weapons have a solid reputation over the Imperium's history of being almost usntoppable. The high temperatures make any kind of physical armour ineffective and phasic shields must handle the energetic gamma ray flash that accompanies an impact on the barrier. Because of their nature as very destructive personal weapons, and a desire to keep the technology out of the hands of pirates or hostile factions to the Imperium. Imperial high law states that only Draconis military personnel can qualify to use fusion weapons, and any non-draconis caught with fusion weapons would face sentencing for theft of government property. And it has proven to be one of the only weapon arms manufacturers cannot sell to buyers outside of the imperial borders.

Larger-scale forms of the technology include tank cannons, starship cannons, ship-to-ship missile warheads and ship-to-surface bombarment cannons. Dispute exists whether the hypermatter particle cannons counte as the spinal guns on several warship classes might also be a form of fusion weapon. Regardless, their affinity for disintegrating a target down to their smallest subatomic components has made them particularly attractive as anti-demon weapons, particularly in recent years. Being able to eradicate any trace of a structure or person who may be afflicted with corrupting Essences such as Nightmare, Descension or Demonic Energy.

Holofields[]

A common infiltration device, the principle involves creating a forcfield and either projecting a holographic image over the top or bending light to create the illusion that something is bigger or smaller or a different shape than it actually is. Holofields have better use in military applications than they do in civillian areas. Unlike other forms of shielding the holofield only creates a weak solid boundary. A projectile or energy weapon would simply pass through along with any other solid object given enough force (the field's density is controlled by the user). The user can theoretically look and feel like anything along with providing an illusion that might not entirely fit the user's anatomy.

Holofields can also be used to create decoys, these can be just as solid or porus as fields generated by generators designed to be worn. The civillian applications primarily include the holodeck, which along with recreation is used or a variety of physical activities including military use.

Hypermatter[]

The most common form of hypermatter used within the Imperium is the tachyon. Due to its fundamental property as a faster-than-light virtual particle it is commonly used for FTL communication and energy transmission.

Other forms of hypermatter are more rare and the Imperium typically uses it for large-scale power genration (although there is competition with Penrose Process singularity cores) and as the siege cannons of larger warships. Due to the instability of hypermatter in realspace these reactors are constantly monitored and are used alongside matter-antimatter reactors. Hypermatter particle cannons fire their payload as a confined beam and are capable of dealing immense damage to enemy ships. The largest guns have the capacity to annihilate a continent-scale area of crust and expose the mantle.

Hypermatter reactors pull material directly from hyperspace, gathing immense ammounts of energy to fuel the typically-colossal warships they are built in to. Ship captains can also set the hypermatter siphons into an overdrive setting as a self-destruct mechanism; causing containment to fail and release enough energy to completely destroy the ship it is conencted to along with the surrounding area to take as many hostile targets down as it can.

Hyperspace Cannon[]

Developed in response to the growing threat of hyperadvanced shielding and armour, the weapon developed underProject:Riftfire is made of two components: A large hyperspace-traverseable warhead installed with unstable high-energy explosive and a railgun fitted with a hyperspace rift generator. The warhead is fired down the barrel and is sent through an opening into hyperspace at the barrel's aperture. After a while the shot will then leave hyperspace where it will detonate at the exact moment to send a spacetime shockwave and exposes a point of realspace to background hypermatter.

The warhead has to be precisely calibrated so that the detonation occurs at the right moment when the warhead leves hyperspace. Because the shot travels though 4th dmimensional space most engineers program the detonation to occur inside any shield or, preferebly, within the target itself for maximum effect. Because it is possible for objects in hyperspace to exceed 550kc, meaning shots and impacts from the cannon occur simoultaneously even at solar system scales. Such a weapon is so far only muntable on anything larger than a battleship due to recoil, magnetic forces and the enormous amounts of energy required to use it.

Magnetic[]

For a long time the Imperium has largely phased out the use of pressurised gas propellant for most firearms in favour of electromagnetic induction weapons which operate by propelling a slug containing a magnetically attractive compound down a barrel surrounded by a variable magnetic field created by a powerful series of electormagnets. Because magnetic induction weapons can generate a lot of heat from friction these magnets are kept cool by being laced with capillary piping that pumps a supercoolant thoughout the barrel which can then be vented as a gas.

Modern engineering methods including room-temperature superconductors and metamaterial-fabricated components that are highly insulative and resistent to temperatures of over 4000°C mean that the Imperium's magnetic induction weapons are relatively high-efficiency, comparatively quiet (as there is no explosive gas used) and generate only a moderate amount of heat buildup even after several hundred repeated firings.

Coil[]

Magnetic coil induction launchers (MCILs or coilguns) are the primary form of propellant within the Imperium. They function by having the projectile 'ride' a magnetic field via alternating electromagnet coils; as the bullet reaches a coil it turns off and the one in front turns on. Their popularity stems from their more flexible nature comapred to railguns along with a faster firing time, lack of noise and easy maintainance. Coilguns, like their rail counterparts, are capable of firing rounds at supersonic speeds, the sonic boom that follows (the only source of sound) can have a further deabilitating effect to the unprepared.

Coil weapons serve as the core of projectile weapons technology distributed across the Imperium and ammunition involves a magnetically attractive slug as part of the design.

Rail[]

While not as common as fusion, the main advantage of rail weapons is their immense velocity and range and is often used for artillery, anti-air and within long-range personnel weapons. The velocity of the weapon provides considerable penetrating power, making it commonly seen in lanchers. The immense heat and pressure generated by such technology during firing can wear down the barrel quickly. Along with supercoolant flowing through larger weapons rail weapons are often fitted with easily-detachable barrels that can be quickly replaced. Rail technology is mainly seen on starship batteries and high-power sniper rifles and is rarely seen in anything that requires rapid-fire capabilities.

Despite the flexibility the Talons normally equip auxillaries or militia with coilguns (Imperial Law states that use of Fiction:Draconid Imperium/Technology#fusion technology is restricted to Talon Marine Corps personnel and cultural personal weapons of Draconis. Marine Corps Soldiers may keep a fusion pistol as a sidearm when not on active duty). This, combined with the relative expense of a fusion weapon on the black market, means that coil weapons are a common sight within all but the most lavish of organised crime groups and civillian frontier groups.

Missile[]

Missile technology focuses on internal damage. Both RPGs and larger missiles are designed to burrow into a target before exploding. To achieve this missiles consist of four components: A fuel propellant, gyrostabilisers a specilised warhead and a nanotube-laced drillbit. The idea is that as the missile leaves the launcher it spins rapidly, as it nears a target the drillbit activates in order to burrow through (The nanotube drillbit is harder than diamond and can be sharpened to a single atom in diametre). As it is drilling it is kept in motion through bursts of propellant and the spiral design of the drillbit. Upon reaching a certain depth the warhead detonates, the effects of the impact varies depending on the type of warhead used:

  • Fragmentation warheads are designed to discharge many thousands of shrapenel capable of tearing organic tissue to shreds, the purpose is to incapacitate as many crew members as possible. The explosive force is also capable of causing considerable damage to armour.
  • Antimatter warheads, like fusion warheads, are designed to render the region they hit completely useless through matter-antimatter annihilation. Antimatter warheads are an effective way of stripping armour from a target along with denying material to any repair systems that lack matter-energy converters.
  • Plasma warheads discharge a container of plasma inside the hull. The rapid expansion of the plasma effectively turns an enclosed area into a furnace. Like fragmentation warheads these are designed to primarily incapacitate crew. The shockwave (both of heat and gas expansion) can cause considerable damage to living tissue and, even if one survives the explosion, survivors would be severely deabilitated if not dying.
  • Fusion warheads act in a similar manner to plasma variants. However they are capable of damaging machines as well as organics due to the reactive nature of the sunatomic particles involved. Unlike plasma the impact of a fusion warhead renders the chamber useless as the particles dissolve every surface they touch.
  • Dragon warheads are designed primarily to destroy or tear away armour. Frequently used on vessels with considerable heavy armour, the warhead burrows within the hull (designed not to go as far as other warheads) and then explodes. The explosion not only tears away armour but effectively converts the armour itself into a fragmentation grenade - bombarding anyone in or near the vicinity with superheated shrapnel.

The system used in the warheads is completely automatic, warheads are calibrated prior to firing and en-route to account for distance and the armour thickness of the target. Warheads contain an advanced targeting system and are capable of weaving past various obstacles. The fuselage itself is also converted into an explosive upon detonation, igniting any remaining propellant. The size of missile varies greatly depending on purpose from 20cm long RPGs to the 200m crustbuster warheads used during orbital bombardment.

As of ID.219505, the use Angelfire missiles introduced to the Imperium by France and the Tybusen Intergalactic Allied Federation and modified to have modular warheads by Talon Engineer Corps began to replace the Imperium's own long-range models, increasing the effective combat range of Imperial warships considerably. Some members of the Talon Engineer Corps have also attempted tweaking the transwarp drive systems to materialise within the targeted starship, allowing for a guided armour-bypassable and hyperspace-capable warhead.

Morphis[]

With this technology we can be the pinnacle we desire. Imagine it, with this we have the power to control our evolution.

- Professor Vidius Senvinus

The nanotechnology codenamed Morphis conists of a colony of nanomachines that are designed to modify the body of the host with cybernetics on a sub-cellular level. The nanites primarily modify what is already present with cybernetics rather than replace or remove organs and large areas of tissue. Controlled by the willpweor of the user, they can modify a variety of different aspects of the user's body making them highly adaptable to various situations. Morphis-bult impants use a revolutionary biotechnology that mimics the functioning of the host's nervous system while at the same time boosting its performance. Under normal circumstances this technique prevents implant rejection and provides considerable resistance to an Electromagnetic Pulse. The changes made by the technology are mostly internal, with few external modificatios. Some of the various modifications include:

  • reinforced skin/scales and bone
  • stronger muscles
  • better eyesight
  • Improved brain functioning
  • Improved digestion
  • longer lifespan
  • Increased resistance to damage
  • Immunity to disease and poisons

Presently Morphis remains as a military application primarily distributed amongst the Imperial Talon marines and Talon Ground Legions. Due to the fact that it is tradition for Draconis to serve in the military it is likely that within a few generations most of the draconid population will have some degree of Morphis. This is migitated by the fact that morphis is primarily distributed amongst frontline forces but the benefits for fighter pilots, engineers and many support applications is obvious.

Plasma[]

Imperial Talon forces use plasma grenades in place of fragmentation grenades. Most grenades come in the form of a sphere with a red button set at the top. When the grenade explodes it exposes anyone within the blast radius to a shockwave, intense heat and superhot corrosive plasma. The mix of these can leave the target severaly deabilitated. Their nature has led to them being nicknamed 'dragon's breath' on both sides, plasma grenediers are often nicknamed 'dragons' because of this. Plasma shells are also used in anti-vehicle weapons; The confined spaces inside leave the crew easily exposed the to the charge, killing the entire crew in seconds and leaving the exterior virtually unscathed.

Somewhat less common are plasma firearms; Although they aren't used by Talon Marines, several protectorates have been known to use them and on occasion a voulenteer has been granted permission tu use these weapons in the field.

Civillian Technology[]

Biotechnology[]

Genetics has found common use within the imperium. Many species of animal are genetically modified to adapt to new conditions prior to being deployed in terraforming projects and stem cell implementation has made the need for organ donors obsolete. The extent of the application of biotechnology varies widely within the empire, with draconis cultural norms supporting it to an extent. Within the Draconis territories, the application of life-enhancing biotechnology has superseded bionic implantation in a variety of military and civilian applications. Genetically modified crops are common, producing long-lasting bumper crops to provide for the quadrillions living in imperial space.

Genetic engineering is the core of the galactic seeding program undertaken by hundreds of Imperial companies such as XenoGenesis, who each work to create billions of genetically-adapted artificial species that have been designed based on mathematically-calculated environmental parameters and fostering a multi-trillion-credit industry. Due to a number of genetics-based initiatives, medical advancements within the Imperium are of a sophistication where most member species are largely devoid of genetic defects and illnesses and most pathogen-based ailments are considered easily treatable.

Imperial genetic engineering capacity has long been at the point where sapient creatures can be created from the ground-up or uplifted though genetic modification of a species' brain such as with the Szyarthwa. Many of these artificial sapiens are kept under observation and examined for the value they could contribute in joining mainstream Imperial society. Since the perfection of the process, it is not unheard of for some individuals to opt for artificial sentience enhancement, the most common method of doing so presently being brain "refurbishment" by nanotechnology while the host is kept unconscious for a span of a week or so depending on how radical the modification is.

Compability Injector[]

Pioneered by the (now defunct) biotech firm Applied BioSymbiotics Inc., the Compatability Injector is a device designed to splice the genetic makeup of a piece of organic tissue with the template markers of another lifeform in order to render it edible by those who share similarities with the donor template.

Originally developed as a way to more easily create hybrid plant organisms by altering the genetic makeup of the seeds, the technology was further developed and combined with nanotechnology so that both living and dead tissue could be altered. The injector combines a DNA sample from a template structure with a "blank" bacteriophage agent (one that lacks any RNA) within mass-produced capsules. When the two combine, chemical reactions within a combiner chamber insert select fragments of the DNA into the bacteriophage.

This is combined with a nanite serum and injected into the organism. In dying tissue the nanites carry the bacteriophages to the various cells. Because the infected cells need ot be converted, the host tissue msut either be still alive or at least capable of making biological changes. The nanites provide either an accelated or 'replacement' metabolic rate to facilitate the conversion once the template fragment has been combined with the host DNA chain.

For health and safety reasons, the bacteriophage agent capsules are marked with a biohazard warning sign. There is no risk of mutation so long as the donor template comes from an organism that already shares the template code with the consumer. The technology has been perfectedto suc an extent that the consumer can share as little as 10% of their genetic code with the donor sample and not risk mutation.

Computing[]

The silicon microchip has long-since been phased out within most areas of the Imperium, largely replaced by quantum processors. Room-temperature superconductors (which exhibit zero thermal resistance at temperatures around 294K) revolutionised both the power grids and the electronics industry throughout the Imperium. Combined with Senvinus reactors the discovery has led to a post-scarcity energy revolution providing all but the most basic of colonies with free limitless energy along with making countless energy-demanding technologies very affordable and feasible. Room-temperature superconductors can be found in countless places including maglevs, home electronics, fusion and matter-antimatter reactors and can be considered chiefly responsible (along with terraforming techniques) for the Era of Diamonds - The Imperium's second major technological golden age.

Citizens are forever paranoid of threats both within and without. Quantum encryption is a common form of guarding communications channels and secure documents and can be found in any security system. Higher levels will use further encryption such as ciphers, letter/number swapping and reversal (which makes things more difficult for translators that use fewer than 30 letters), enigma and the use of the Draconis-exclusive language of High Dracid.

Artificial Intelligence[]

Computers are divided into two distinct groups depending on the level of sapience: Low-A.I.s (lAI) have little to no free will and only mimic a level of intelligence while true-A.I.s (tAI) are capable of independent thought. lAIs are the most common types available and are widely distributed throughout imperial space from calculators to personal computers and phones. On the other end are supercomputers which, although very powerful, border just below true sapience. Higher-grade lAIs also serve on vessels as the onboard computer cores and are capable of stringing together unique sentences.

TAIs, while capable of independent thought are designed so as to pose minimal threat to the crew. In the event a tAI does go rogue the crew can remotely activate a shutoff switch - disabling and resetting the system. Quantum tAI systems have a unique personality which changes in the new system whenever the software is duplicated or reset; resetting a quantum tAIs system creates an entirely new personality. As a result tAI personalities are always unique and there have been urban myths of one personality going rogue, getting shut down and being restored with an even worse personality.

Devices[]

Most electronic devices rely on interchangeable and modular components to improve the life of the product. Components such as as screens, computation material, casings and connectors are modular and easily replaceable, vastly increasing the period of time before a completely new device has to be purchased.

Most computer systems forego keyboard analogues and other peripherals in favour of speech-to-text, handwriting recognition and touchscreen interfaces. Rather than typing, most users write or speak what they desire on the screen and recognition software often 'corrects' the handwriting to a more uniform look unless the user sets otherwise. Because of the widespread use of touchscreen technology, monitors designed for such purposes are frequently made of light, durable and easy-to-acquire materials to ensure cost-effectiveness and long life of the screen and to increase resistance of wear-and-tear.

Processors[]

The advanced processor capacity that many consumer and military electronics hold is largely due to the widescale availability of the quantum nanoprocessor. Advanced materials sciences and understanding of quantum processes allow for the large-scale production of processors that are a few nanometres in size arranged onto boards of dielectric compound alloy that on the surface appear as unassuming glossy grey sheets and thin enough to be flexible. Even the most disposable of boards (such as those found set within electornic paper) have registered processing speeds of 450THz. Quantum nanoprocessor boards are found in everything from personal tablet devices and electronic paper to some of the Imperium's most prolific of AI cores.

More advanced processors come in the form of quasicrystal matrices. These matrices take on the form of either small gemstones or crystalline boards made up of an artificial five-fold symmetry quasicystal fluid. Like the quantum nanoprocessor, quasicrystal matrices rely on quantum processes in order to achieve computational power on-par with sapient brains due to the neuron-like arrangement of the crystals. To less advanced societies, found matrices have in the past been mistaken for precious stones or jewelery components.

Cybernetics[]

Due to millennia of social stigma regarding the distancing nature of bionic or cybernetic enhancement (that is replacing degenerating, damaged or even perfectly healthy body parts with non-organic prostheses), the common trend amongst designers of bionic implants has always been to make such augmentations as ergonomic and organic as possible with consumer budgets in mind. The common image of a cyborg in most locales within the Imperium is hard to differentiate from a baseline person as much of the common circuitry is tied to the nervous system via silver hairlike filaments.

Artificial prostheses combine with biotechnology in many cases, resulting in sleek, organic-looking external prostheses that are often covered in a sheathe of artificially-grown hide that is tailored to match each host with implanted stem cells used to seal up the join seamlessly. Most cyborgs are difficult to differentiate from the baseline population and most who do take up implants will commonly only take on selected implants depending on their needs or desires, with full-body conversion being extremely rare outside of high-grade mercenary corps or ITN special forces groups.

Engineering[]

Many of the megastructure projects currently within the imperium owe their existence to the advent of "Tungtabon" in ID.213, a nanoengineered metamaterial that consists of an alloy of titanium and tungsten interlaced with carbon nanotubes for strength and flexibility. Over the millennia the metamaterial has been constantly refined and miniatureised to make it stronger than both carbon nanotubes and titanium combined.

Minos D Skyline Window

The legendary megacities of the Imperium might not have been possible without the development of metamaterials such as monopolium and and tungtabon

One of the most common ways to describe the cities of the Imperium, primarily in the most sprawling metropolitan locations, is the term "gold and glass", referring to the abundant use of gold framing and plate glass used within the skyscrapers that make up such megacities. Aesthetic also leans towards more organic tower shapes to minimise the extremity of artificial wind currents and maximise the energy-efficiency of the constituent buildings. While the flexibility of tungtabon means that while these buildings can sway and bend, the composition prevents these buildings from toppling or snapping in the high winds. It is a requirement of every building over 400 metres in height to be fitted with a counterweight in the upper levels to prevent the building from toppling when it does sway and to also minimise the extremity to which it sways.

The Exonet[]

The Imperial Exonet is the Empire's answer to the internet. The expanded nature of the empire make the exonet highly dedentralised, there is normally one server hub in each cluster connected to central hubs within each subsector. Data is sent via tachyon pulses - subatomic paticles that travel at superluminal speeds. The tachyon relay network also makes up the basis for galactic communication. Server hubs and tachyon relays are often placed together and at least one gateway world will have one (referred to as exonet relays) within a subsector.

Relay boosters are one of the facilities within exonet relays; Their purpose is to boost the strength of a signal before it travels through a wormhole, it is also capable of boosting a signal that emerges from a wormhole. Despite EM interference, little data is lost in transit since the pulses are arranged in a digital nature. Only the more well-established worlds can have access to more advanced exonet hubs. Tachyon tranamissions themselves are very basic. However they are 'padded' on the other side via tachyon relays meaning a holotransmission only requires as much bandwidth as a video recording despite being projected from a wall panel and providing a crisp, full 3D image.

Imperial Throne[]

The Imperial throne is a device used solely by the Paragavatus of the Imperium. On the outset it appears to be a large, ornate throne decorated with marble, velvet, gold and platinum. What makes the throne special is that it houses machinery designed to enhance the occuptant physically and mentally. Occupants who sit on the throne for an extended length of time have been observed to display enhanced senses and reflexes, increased lifespan and vitality and observers have accounted an air of command around the throne's occupant. the device is kept updated constantly with the latest technology and it has been documented that under the long-term effects of the machine, occupants have lived for over 1000 years.

The throne itself has existed since the earlier days of the Imperium, however after paragavatus Orillion Vospus III contracted an incurable case of lung rot in ID.15445. In order to sustain himself his daughter Galicia requested that a life-support system be built somewhere to sustain him. It was decided that the throne be hollowed out to fit a life support machine. Although Orillion was never fully cured, the effects of the throne allowed him to venture outside for several hours. The throne was redesigned at the request of paragavessa Elissia Vospus V under the premise that the paragons represented the Draconis and the imperium.

The machine's intricacies are kept secret by a collective of engineers living within the palace. Information on its workings is kept secure in such a way that no one engineer has access to every piece of information about the design. To prevent accidental use, the throne is tied to a biometrically-responsive reciever (often hidden in an item of clothing) to make sure only the paragon recieves the effects. In ID.72400 engineers developed a remote unit that coudl be worn to extend the throne's effects should the occupant be away for extended periods of time.

Megastructures[]

Unlike more expansionist civilisations, the Draconid Imperium has long preferred to focus more on the assets it possesses within its borders. And throughout its long history has been slow to expand. It is for this reason that imperial space is populated with a large quantity of large-scale engineering projects designed to improve quality of life and provide for the Imperium's vast populations.

Aeon Engines[]

A subset of Dyson swarm and officially termed Large Self-Expanding Neurosynaptic Computational Intellects by the Alcanti Royal Academy, "Aeon engines" are large-scale artificial intelligences that have been designed to dedicate part of their function to expanding themselves using local materials. Aeon Engines are characterised by their ability to increase their computing power as they age via a combination of re-engineering and self-designated construction. This makes Aeon engines one of the few exceptions to Imperial legislation on self-expanding systems, as most are fitted with overrides that allow external users to negotiate how quickly the intelligences expand themselves. Although newly-established egines can take at least twenty years to mature, Aeon engines - particularly the older intellects that still function - represent some of the most powerful computing systems within Imperial space and serve a variety of practical purposes that include scientific contributions, simulation and streamlining the Imperial administration. Older engines have historically also contributed as probability calculators; providing a wide range of possible simulations that act as predictions for various military, social and scientific projects.

Aeon Engines are typically placed in orbit of stars to maximise the amount of available energy and space available to them. While previous engines rely on regular shipments of construction and computation material, an increasing number of the current engines are fitted with quantum replicators that can use the material ejected form a star to become any sort of element or material needed for the star to expand itself and make them increasingly self-sustaining.

Because of their complexity and nature, Aeon engines older than a hundred years are considered sapient entities and are thus subject to the Imperium's laws regarding the rights and responsibilities of androids and artificial intelligences. Out of respect, many universities are known for encouraging their students and alumni to credit the older Engines in published scientific journals. The contributions made by engines over a century old are widely understood to be voluntary. It is often believed that the nurturing efforts of each engine made by both public and private organisations encourages feelings of respect and gratitude to emerge and be upheld by engines. Whether this is true however, has been known to depend on the engine.

Artificial Ring[]

DraconisPlanetaryRing01

Such megastructures are a dream for any imperial colony.

Artificial rings are small-scale megastructures designed to shift industry and trade to a planet's orbit, easing up traffic to and from the surface. Materials, passengers and goods are transported from the surface either by shuttles or space elevators in the form of diamond-filament tethers.

The rings are built using similar materials and techniques to the Senvinus Reactors to prevent collapse from the structure's own mass. Space traffic control often directs traffic to them and for worlds that have these structures, they will be the first location visited by offworlders.

Although trade passes through them, they primarily house factories, foundaries and refineries that proccess what is brought up or imported. Several planets with these structures (such as Voss prime, Almatima III and Dreveda prime) become industrial hubs. Planets hosting these rings typically become industrial hubs for the local system. For the sake of convenience (and since much of this orbital industry is automated) some secondary industry usually remains on the planet along with most forms of primary industry.

Dyson Swarm[]

The Imperium harvests energy from stars by a network of satellites that orbit at a safe, geosynchronous distance from the local star. These satellites generate an energy 'net' around the host star that collects matter and EM radiation ejected from the star's surface. This energy is then confined into a laser that is projected at the intended target (such as a planet or moon) and collected using photo-voltaic cells or collection dishes. To ease the transmission of this energy the channels within the energy grid also channel the collected energy. All satellites are capable of emitting this laser. Because the systems maintaining these swarms are often populated the net does not capture all heat and light ejected from the star.

Another variation (typically used on lone stars or uninhabitable systems) uses gravity wells to pull matter from the star and convert what is collected into energy. The method of conversion varies from a self-sustaining fusion reaction to monopoles converting some of the matter into antimatter for matter-antimatter annihilation reactions. These 'star eaters' slowly drain the star of useable material and then project the collected energy via tachyon emitters to the greater network.

Theoretically the Imperium could focus clusters of emitters found on any dyson swarm to convert the megastructure into a stellar-scale laser beam equivilent to a minor gamma ray burst. Although the potential exists there is little evidence to suggest the Imperium has resorted to such a tactic within its own history.

The prohibition of star-eater variants within populated systems stems from the Imperium's policy of ensuring that resource sites last for as long as possible, even if the star-eater's actions only shortens the star's lifespan by a few thousand years at a time.

Dyson Habitat[]

DI Dyson Station 2

Corona-pattern Dyson Habitats

Colloquially called "Sun cities", Dyson Habitats serve as a way to house large populations in high-popularity systems, particularly within the Imperium's core worlds. These sun-orbiting space stations are clustered to accompany purpose-built energy collectors and using a series of solar arrays on their underside to contribute to the harvest of stellar output. around the equatoral rim of each station are numerous docking ports for ships of all sizes to land, often providing tourists, new inhabitants, delivering freight or exporting materials out into the Imperium.

Each station measures at 300km in diameter and can hold a maximum population of 800 million people. Environments on bard vary wildly to simulate landscapes residents would find appealing. Each station is equipped with the intention of being self-sufficient on using quantum replicators, urban agriculture, water recycling (among numerous other utilities) and artificial sunlight to sustain their populations. Inside each station are multiple levels of all kinds of environments, along with well-planned cities, comfortable housing and all manner of amenities to attend to the needs of the populations inside. Cities are frequently a healthy mix of tall buildings and open plazas and parks carved into welcoming environments such as featuring plenty of trees and beautiful water features. Gravity is maintained through numerous micro black holes spun into disks in order to control the direction and extend of the gravitational forces.

The appeal of such utopian stations has meant that they are growing in popularity. At present, it is estimated that there are between ten and forty thousand such locations scattered across Imperial space, primarily within the Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies. With more being built as more and more planets come under threat from the increasing risk of such crises as the Andromeda War.

Industrial Capacity[]

For millennia, most of the Imperium's heavy industry has been based in orbit of black holes and stars. Catalysed by the first Senvinus Reactors, the Imperium has shifted much of its manufacturing industry to high-energy sites such as dyson swarms or black holes. These "stellar manufactories" provide a large part of the Imperium's industrial base. Stellar manufactories most often work as shipyards due to the large amounts of material required and the fact they must be space-bound to be wholly effective. They consist of three key facilities that work together.

  • Large-scale collectors and quantum replicators that convert harvested material and energy into the base materials used by most industries. Can be supplimented with imported material.
  • Nanoforges and the factories themselves that assemble the parts using 3D printers and nano-replicators on automated production lines.
  • Delivery bays where starships pick up the finished goods to be shipped to other locations.

Most planets maintain a minor industrial base to uphold the Imperium's regulations on self-sustainability and most forms of agrarian and pasture farming are performed planetside. The local benefit is that pollution is kept to a minimum and building projects that are deemed undesirable by local populations are kept out of the way. Some had at first argued about this, citing that such a shift would cause widespread loss of jobs. Local governments countered this by agreeing to keep certain industries planetside such as farming and small-scale manufacturing.

The wealth of the goods now provided and the sheer volume of goods that could be produced without so many constraints of space and desireable locations on a planetary service, the "stellar industrial revolution" was one of the key catalysts for converting the Imperium's economy into a post-scarcity society.

Shell Worlds[]

Devised as a method of more efficient use of a planet's volume for living space, Shell Worlds are large oblate spheroidal structures formed from planetary material that is siphoned from the interiors of stellar bodies and pumped as a rocky soup into a mesh to create a shell of rock that is often many times the diameter of the planetoid it was created from. Shell worlds have captured the imagination of apsirational engineers and explorers for generations, seen as engineering marvels that can take a generation to build. Shell worlds are often artificial, representing a mere step away from constructing planets but a more efficient solution to demands for space and comfort where a torus or even a planet will not do.

Because they are of diameters many times that of the exploited planet, shell worlds have surface areas many times greater than most planetary bodies, but maintaining standard gravities using centrifugal force and negative mass cores that occupy the centre of spin. While it is suspected some may have been lost to time, it is believed that at least a dozen of these structures occupy known Imperial space, often acting as major population centres or havens for the elite who make use of the wise tracts of land the structures offer.

Worldbuilding[]

As part of their ongoing project to make Andromeda more habitable the Imperium has established moon building projects to stabilise the orbits and tides of many worlds, both inhabited and uninhabited. Construction involves colliding asteriod (or rocky planet) matter above a planet via a large and intricate network of orbital rings flooded with coolant. The rings act as a braking system for the incoming matter and to cool the forming mass. Construction can take hundreds to thousands of years and such projects are typically restricted to moons rather than full-sized planets. Whether or not the Imperium has the capability to create even a small-scale planet is questionable.

Because of the timescale and material costs, worldbuilding is often left to a few of the most powerful industrial corporations. These companies would gain a profit by selling the energy generated from the heated coolant to the Imperial government or leasing the future planetoid to nobles along with a stipend from the Science Council for advancing the Imperium's Galactic Restoration Project.

Nanotechnology[]

Nanites are robots a millionth the scale of a grain of sand that arrange molecules at a molecular level. Programmed with basic algorithms they can make anything from tanks and spaceships to perfectly-weighted masses and even (in some cases) food. Draconid nanomachines use carbon instead of silicon for the electronics and as with other forms of technology their components resemble sheets of electro-conductive medium such as graphene. Due to imperial law established within the last century, nanites developed within the Imperium are not self-replicating in order to maintain a level of control of how many are available, this also prevents the grey-goo scenario from occurring within Imperial space. The use of nanomachines has revolutionised the chemical industry, allowing corporations to make 'ideal' medicines and stimulants.

The reputation of nanomachines has been tarnished in the last century due to the Mecha-Wasp war and although the advancements made by the necha-wasp have been acquired and reverse-engineered by scientists many are still against self-replicating machines.

Certain devices also use more mundane variations of microscopic mechanisms to make their products as compact as possible. Surveillance devices, toys and gadgets use micro-mechanisms to work; meaning less bulk is required within the product.

The creation of nanofibres has allowed industries to greatly strengthen materials from textiles to steel sheets and vehicle armour. Nanofibres are created using nanobots that weave threads (which can be as thin as several atoms in diametre) out of alloys of titanium, aluminium, silicon, graphene and carbon (the ratios vary depending on product purpose). These nanobots then arrange the threads to create the product. Because nanofibres can be weaved to an incredibly low thickness and can be harder than diamond, they are a popular choice for use in armour-piercing rounds and in missile technology (warheads are fitted with a drillbit harder than diamond allowing them to burrow into a target before exploding) and are a key component of ceramic armour.

Picotech[]

Due to the atomic scale of this technology, picomachines are never buit using traditional atoms due to the fact a single component atom would be many times larger than the constituent atoms.

One niche military use for picomachines is Yrsalimus, a picomachine utility fog which acts as an anti-Essence agent. The Picomachines achieve this by first being inserted into the host bt one of several ways such as:

  • A wound from a blade coated in the agent.
  • Recieving a bullet containing the agent
  • inhalation from an airborne fog
  • contamination in food or water

Once inside the body, Yrsalimus spreads itself thoughout the body and works to hinder the quantum tunneling effect of subcellular biophotons that jump between realspace and foruth-dimensional Hyperspace. The effect of this hinderance is that depending on the power of the host, metaphysical abilities including telekinesis, telepathy and even astral projection can be reduced in magnitude or even completely nullified. Yrsalimus mostly finds application amongst the ranks of the Grand Inquisition as well as clinics that deal with essence-sensetive patients.

In order to achieve neccessary coverage, utility fog such as Yrsalimus requires a way to independantly expand its volume in order to effectively work inside a host body. Due to passing of the Nano-Replication Regulation ID.219396, self-replicating utility fog is widely considered an illegal product and as a result, outside of illegal activities and the Inquisition, most applications require adminsitration of a significant doseage. In the case of clinics this means the patient is regularly administered the agent while in military cases several shots are required before a noticeable effect is seen. To improve effectiveness, Yrsalimus agents are typically programmed to prioritise attacking the spinal cord and higher cognative regions of the brain of the host in order to maximise effectiveness with limited doseage volume.

Memetics[]

Memetics or Meme Theory is the idea that ideas and social concepts are passed between individuals and serve as the genetic expressions of a particular society. Within the Imperium memetics has been found to have countless uses and the multi-millenial history of the Imperium and there are strong indicators that the understanding of meme theory plays an important part in conveying Imperial science politics and social ideas and its spread has become common understanding, particularly amongst members of the various universities and scientific institutions.

It is possible that that the Imperium's understanding of memetics is one of the factors that has allowed them to spread as far as it has into the mindsets of others across the firt gigaquadrant. Presently, while the Imperium may only have token physical presence in locations such as the Cyrannus, fiction:Quadrant Galaxies quadrant Busen galaxies and a former presence in the Kraw galaxy, there is immense interest in its culture; as with many followings, there is a minority that take the interest to the extreme. More intriguingly, interest in Imperial culture has been observed to emerge as a niche following in locations that might otherwise dislike it such as the Krawnak Arkil Consulate or the former Drakodominatus Tyranny.

Programmable Matter[]

Sometimes referred to as "smartforms", "intelligent matter" or "p-matter", programmable matter is a term for matter that can have its properties changed though a form of programmable input such as an electrical impulse or a detected change in the environment. Since its inception in the early centuries of the Imperium, programmable matter has found use in countless applications including aircraft, electronics, munitions, industrial processes and energy generation. The method in which matter changes varies from use to use, with p-matter used in the most complex tasks being the forms most-often complimented with a form of artificial intelligence within the material itself.

Programmable matter sees an enormous variety of uses both in military and civillian purposes, permitting the feisability of hundreds of different technologies and on some planets it has spurred a series of "mouldable" fashion and consumerist items such as hats, belts, earphones, coats goggles and glasses. Its ubiquitous nature has made it one of several technologies that the Imperium has been known to more openly export throughout the First Gigaquadrant.

Quantumscale[]

The Imperium has had a long history and have managed to develop impressive technology. Going as far as being able to manipulate the quantum-level mainly indirectly.

Monopoles[]

The Draconis' primary use of monopoles is for improved reactions in fusion reactors and in the metamaterial monopolium. The resulting catalysation between most forms of monopole and baryonic matter creates more monopoles.

DraconisWormholeCoach2

Biogenesis "wormhole coaches" are reinforced with monopolium.

A material prototyped 50 years before the Imperium's first-ever Senvinus Reactor, the key property of monopolium is that it is capable of holding a far stronger intermolecular bonds than baryonic covelant bonds. While revolutionary for megastructures the practical use of it is restricted due the the undesireable effect that when in contact with baryonic matter the monopoles react like they would within a fusion reactor; creating a mix of more monopoles and positrons which would cause a cascade matter-antimatter annihilation reaction that could spread throghout the structure. Monopolium reinforcement involves keeping the framework in a true vaccum (with minimal chance of baryonic reaction) and sheathed in an energy shield.

Monopolium and the means to maintain it has been refined and space efficiency improved to such a degree that a monopolium tube can be made to a few millimetres thick with a tensile strength that is several orders of magnitude higher than titanium beams of comparable thickness.

Currently, monopolium use is largely confined to structures in relatively safe, space-bound locations or for purposes where the construct would not intentionally end up at reasonable risk of damage or destruction such as in combat situations; constructs such as the refitted Biogenesis-class "wormhole coaches" whose external structure is reinforced to withstand the tidal forces nearing event horizons. Withstanding these pressures also makes it useful for reinforcing artificial gravity generators, singularity cores and Senvinus reactors.

Q-balls[]

The primary use of non-topological solitons within the Imperium is for cost-effective, large-scale production of antimatter for weapons and matter-antimatter reactors throughout the colonies. Comapnies such as Nilhus have made a large profit creating antimatter this way, becoming market leaders and allowing for matter-antimatter reactors to become commonplace technology found on every starship. Whle theories exist they may have other uses, the Imperium is yet to put these technologies to use.

Quantum Replication[]

Due to their age, the Draconis are believed to have developed quanatum replicators long before the emergence of the Seven Starr Alliance. Because of the radical implications of such technology they are unlikely to share it with other powers. The replicators (and potentially other high-energy technologies) are in fact partially-based from designs originating from digsites connected to the Tertamian Alliance. Adapting it to their own technologies, quantum replicators exist on many worlds and in larger starships, which allowed the Imeprium to make the final push to provide a post-scarcity lifestyle to the majority of the population. Out of all technologies, the Imperium guards the secrets of this one the most vigilantly.

Spacetime Manipulation[]

The warp drive uses an antimatter reactor to warp spacetime around a craft, riding the wave for distortion without actualyl moving to reachit's destination. The benefit of using warp drives is that even with enormous amounts of acceleration/deceleration the crew feels almost nothing since the ship itself is not moving at hyperluminal speeds.

Senvinusreactor1

an 8-section Senvinus reactor built just outside of an accretion disk

Black Hole reactors (named Senvinus Reactors after the inventor of wormhole travel) are megastructures built as large rings around black holes; their purpose is to harvest energy within the singularity. Although the Imperium currently lacks the technology required to create large-scale black holes they can still manipulate spacetime to a suitable degree. Since black holes function as a way for the Draconis to travel thousands of light-years in an instant, the Reactors create 'stability corridors' at the event horizon. This corridor allows a craft (which generates it's own antigrav field) to pass through unharmed. When a new black hole is discovered the empire will dispatch a reactor to orbit it, generating a stability field within the event horizon for any expeditions looking to pass through. Reactors are capable of changing thier radius to account for different sizes of black holes. The combined gravitational distortion and nanofibre construction make them almost indestructible and completely autonamous.

Singularity stabilisation drives (also known as singularity drives are rare. This is because their main purpose is to provide protection for any vessel passing into a black hole that does not possess a Senvinus reactor. They generate a far greater antigrav field than most vessels, strong enough to encompass the fleet, and are normally built on board the vessel with the most powerful reactor. Due to their rarity they are designed to be easily installed and removed before being transferred to another fleet. Any vessel that has not been chartered to explore or enter a new connection is deprived of a drive for other vessels to use.

Artificial Gravity[]

A by-product of Senvinus Reactor research is the Imperium's knowledge of creating micro-singularities for artificial gravity. Gravity-disks, as they are known, are produced on a large scale for commercial use in starships and space stations to allow for comfortable operating conditions. Larger and more spherical variations are used by the ITN and Domestic Security forces as FTL-inhibitors but due to the power constriant and the use of matter-energy converters, ships fitted with these often require another power core to keep the vessel operational. An alternatives is for the use of sattellites fitted with large power cores and inhibitors, allowing for the shost vessel to deploy a remote probe, withdraw, and activate without putting itself at risk.

Use of micro-black holes allows the Imperium to cost-effectively extract neutron-degernate matter from inside neutron stars by providing a counter to the stars' intense gravitatioal fields. Carefulyl arranged they create a well of sorts that allows extraction machines to safely travel in and out of the star.

Cascade Singularity Generator[]

In the prototype phase is the cascade singularity generator (nicknamed planet crusher). There are two versions which do the same thing in the end: A drill and a sattelite network. The basic principle is using intense gravitational distortion to warp the planet's mass to breaking point.

  • The drill impacts a planet and the generator (built into a diamond-weave casing) drills down to the core, once there it generates intense gravitational fields that tear the planet apart, crushing it and has a chance of pulling down any sattellites and moons orbiting the body.
  • The sattelite network emits strong gravitational fields that tear buildings apart and fracture the planet before stronger pulses crush the pieces together.

Although the planet itself could theoretically survive; any life, atmosphere and original geography would be completely destroyed. The warping also fractures the core, making it vunerable to solar flares. While the planet would survive, the effects would make the planet completely unihabitable. The original purpose was to use it as a shock-and-awe tactic along with destroying planets otherwise too well-fortified to conquer.

Hyperlanes[]

Pioneered in a joint effort with The Divinarium the Imperium had spent decades on a way to manipulate the fabric of fourth-dimensional hyperspace into stable channels where speeds can exceed the limits of natural hyperspace. It is only though recent breakthroughs in the nature of mass, M-theory and the quantum foam as well as a boost in the supply of energy granted from the Andromedan Galactic Commonwealth's Deep Core facility that the widespread manipulation of the quantum foam at scales of thousands of light years was at all possible.

In principle, hyperlanes attempt to mimic the properties of naturally-occurring hyperspace channels (only their properties more precisely mapped) and are constructed by the careful manipulation of the space-time metric over a given route using artificial masses (the most common form being large clusters of monopole matter) to create uniform channels of highly-condensed spacetime where warping of the spacetime metric can theoretically exceed the maximum FTL speed achievable in realspace. The spacetime metric within these hyperlanes is more controlled and uniform; allowing warp drives to distort space more efficiently than in the natural hyperspace medium. In order to prevent sabotage, each of the high-mass "buoys" that maintain the integrity of the channel are enveloped in a metric shield to render each one invisible and imperceptible to all but gravitational metric measurement systems. Each buoy relies on a colony of fabrication nanites to keep all systems working, occasionally weakening the metric shields for short periods to allow native hypermatter to bleed though and be converted by on-board quantum replicators into either energy to keep systems running or material for repairs and maintenance.

Singularity Core[]

Draconid Singularity Core

Singularity cores find popular use on starships and space-based installations for generating large amounts of energy.

Singularity cores are advanced devices that harvest energy from the kinetic and electromagnetic potential of a rotating black hole with an electric charge. A cluster of programmable semisolid matter is discharged into the ergopshere of a rotating black hole where they appear to accelerate. Because these masses pass just shy of the event horizon, objects that fall in can also escape the pull of the black hole and in doing so can be recovered. The matter clusters sent into the pull of a rotating black hole are split, with half of the mass gaining negative energy and descending past the event horizon while the rest captures extra mass/energy from the black hole's momentum and escapes, releasing high-energy radiation in the process. THe interior walls of Singularity cores are surrounded by converter modules that absorb the high-energy radiation and convert it into useable electricity. Because the outgoing matter gains its extra mass/energy from the angular momentum of the black hole, singularity cores require periodic "acceleration periods" where matter programmed to simply circulate within the ergosphere is injected inside to pick up the rotation lost from ejected matter.

It is estimated that a typical singularity core with a three-solar-mass black hole inside can generate a wattage comparable to a large main-sequence star when running at peak performance, and are popular on space stations and large warships due to the amount of energy they can deliver. There is intense debate amongst engineers as to how singularity cores compare to current-gen hypermatter-annihilation reactors. The former is however growing in popularity in order to minimise the hyperspace signature of spacebound vessels. Some engineers have been cited as considering singularity cores as "more precise" due to operators having full control over the volume, speed and direction of ingoing matter.

Transportation[]

Most vehicles within imperial space remain using wheels and tracks while in many urban envionments, hover vehicles are used as a means to access the upper tiers of the cities. Most flying vehicles (or skycars as they are known) use magnetic drives to stay off the ground. These drives work by using a planet's magnetic field to suspend the vehicle. Lacking in an exhaust or external propulsion system, vehicles fitted with magnetic drives can travel in all directions and make on-the-spot turns and strafes. Most spacefaring vessels use ion thrusters, which emit a thin stream of high-energy particles. Ion engines are far more fuel-efficient than chemical rockets and require a lot less fuel to propel the attached mass.

It is standard imperial law that all vehicles are fitted with an intelligent autopiloting system system that allows the vehicle to pilot itself. This law is particularly strict with skycars due to the risks involved with a flying vehicle. Should they need to however, drivers can engage a manual control system that allows them to pilot the vehicle manually.

Quotes[]

Conservative as as those dragons may be, I'm always absolutely staggered at just how sophisticated they all are.

- Elrom'Tussar of Arvaad Company

If being religious holds you back then I must have migrated to a reverse universe for something. Then again two hundred thousand years is a loooooong time to invent stuff.

- Kraw provincial citizen

It may seem like magic to some but that is because they have yet to acquire the knowledge to understand it all.

- Tarsus Senvinus

Navigation[]

Monet47's associated fiction
DI Emblam V4d
An ancient empire
Old as seasons beyond count
What secrets lie within its boundries?
Shall we find out?
Other Fictions
Advertisement