Sunnydale

by on October 14, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: The Essential Galactic Atlas

Sunnydale’s not as important as it used to be. We’ve got faster hyperdrives and faster hyperspace runs to work with now. And Sunnydale is closer to the heart of our space than the frontiers now as well. But it is still the heart of trade for everything within forty or fifty lightyears. It’s only real competition is Unity, and that’s pretty good competition if we’re being honest. But Sunnydale has the advantage of infrastructure. We built them up into the premier Western Alliance fleet and ground base short of Alpha Centauri. We needed it to support the fleet and the army we used to hit the Hyades Cluster, and we left all of it behind after War’s End. Factories. Shipyards. Warehouses. A wealth of infrastructure no single system could ever afford to build on its own. Sunnydale’s got it all. That’s why people like me keep showing up. Well…I may have a few other reasons. I am a bit of hero there, you know. I saved the planet. The pretty ladies are real appreciative of that. Rather demonstrative too, if we’re bringing out the five-dollar words.

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Weylan

by on October 13, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: The Races of Humanity

The Albion did not create the first cybernetic intelligence. They were never more than interesting toys to the Albion. The Peloran were the kind of advancement the Albion believed in. Making life stronger, faster, and better. The Arnam were designed to bring humanity to deep aquatic environments. The Weylan were designed to do the same in aerial environments. To expand the range of planets and environments humanity could live on without technological support. But something happened when they finally cracked the biological code in the human brain that allowed the Weylan to use six full limbs at the same time. In parallel, as computer scientists put it. The Albion over-engineered them far beyond that needed for running a mere three sets of limbs. The Weylan brain can consciously think in dozens or hundreds of different directions at once, without losing concentration. They can perform dozens of tasks at once as easily as anyone else can maintain a conversation. They are living, walking, biological computers. And when two or more are gathered together, they can do some impressive tricks.

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The Hyades Cluster

by on October 12, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: The Essential Galactic Atlas

Chinese hyperdrives were never as fast as ours after the Peloran came, but the Chinese held Capella. That star system was one of the strongest beacons systems we settled in the early years, and it was strong enough to form a direct connection with Elnath. Despite their slower hyperdrives, the Capella-Elnath Bridge was one of the most powerful routes humanity controlled in the years after Contact. It allowed the Chinese to travel out to the Hyades Cluster far faster than any of our ships could make the Sunnydale Run. Capella and Elnath was their highway to the Hyades, and they used it to turn the cluster into the strongest fortress in the stars humanity had ever created. The Earthborn part of humanity at least. And considering how important Capella and Elnath were to keeping the cluster in contact with Earth, they were heavily defended as well. Easily an equal to everything we built at Sunnydale.

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Sunnydale

by on October 11, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: The Essential Galactic Atlas

Sunnydale was out on the end of a nice little trade route back before The War started. Ships took the Alpha Centauri-Tranquility Run, took the next run to Unity, and then completed the final hop to Sunnydale. One hundred and nine lightyears of hyperspace compared to ninety-four lightyears of normalspace. That’s a real direct route let me tell you. And once in Sunnydale, traders could branch off to all the little systems in the neighborhood. The Chinese and the Shang took most of them out during The War, but Sunnydale was still on the end of that nice little direct route back home. And our best ships could maintain an effective one thousand lights all the way into Sunnydale. It was the fastest route to the Hyades Cluster that we controlled. That’s why Sunnydale was worth everything we sunk into it.

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Weylan

by on October 10, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: The Races of Humanity

Most historians recognize that the Albion were one of the most advanced races that have ever lived. The Peloran still use Albion technology two thousand years after their death with only minor improvements, and we’ve all seen how dangerous they are. The irony is that for all their technological advancement, the Albion did not believe in technology. They must have been fanatical engineers at one time to build up such a massive advantage over the rest of the galaxy, but the Albion who created the Peloran were a different matter. Technology’s true purpose for them was as a tool to improve the genetics of life. To make all life stronger, faster, and better. The Peloran were one example of this. But it was the Weylan who truly demonstrate just how close the Albion were to bringing about a new era of biological technology that would have revolutionized…everything.

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