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The '''Midonian Breach Generator''', often known as the '''Midonian Drive''', is a type of superluminal propulsion that utilizes the '''[[Ascension Plane]]'''. Most, if not all, known Type-3 nations, including '''[[Singularia]]''' and the '''[[Anixides' Throne]]''', use the Midonian Drives as their primary mode of superluminal transport within the Palioxis Starfield. The Midonian Breach Generators are tens of times faster than '''[[Matter-Force Alternator Drives]]''', the most frequent method of superluminal transport in the Starfield. They can reach speeds of two light-years per second, though this can vary heavily per model and ship. |
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|image1=Unknown.png |
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|manufacturer=Most nations in [[Florathel]] and satellites |
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|design_year=First use believed to be ~6 million years ago by the [[Providence Union]] |
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|source_of_power=Anything that has enough, usually antimatter |
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|ftl_range=Effectively infinite, 7,500 ly per jump within a galaxy, 80,000 ly per jump in intergalactic space |
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}}Quantum Shift Drives are a high-speed Faster-than-light propulsion system primarily used in [[Florathel]] in which a spacecraft appears to "jump" instantly from one point to another. After the jump, the ship arrives at a precise destination up to 7,500 light-years away, beyond which accuracy rapidly decays. Utilizing very powerful computers fitted to a ship to calibrate the drive for each jump, the drive is among the fastest in the universe and can be fitted on individual civilian ships with recent improvements in energy storage. |
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Initially used by the [[Providence Union]] and other concurrent civilizations, the Shift Drive remains in use to this day. It is essential for interstellar trade, and many nations spend decent fractions of their budget on improving it further. |
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The Midonian Breach Generator propels a spaceship into the Ascension Plane while maintaining the mass and energy profile of the ship. The starship then follows a defined route, either manually or automatically, until it reaches its destination and returns to the Palioxis Starfield. Because the Ascension Plane is an integral part of the '''[[Palioxis Starfield]]''', the Midonian Breach Generator can only be used in the aforementioned realm. Since the Ascension Plane is identical to the Palioxis Starfield in terms of navigation, journeys that would take decades in the Starfield would only take minutes in the Ascension Plane. |
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== History == |
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The first known examples of use of the Quantum Shift Drive was by the [[Providence Union]], over 6 million years ago, although presumably other civilizations developed similar drives in the Elder Days. Over the intervening years, fairly rudimentary alternate forms were developed independently by other civilizations. |
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After [[Glanadi]] was discovered amongst the maze of stars in the Providence Cluster and the people of Florathel gained access to its archives, a very efficient prototype of the Quantum Shift Drive under development by the Union at its fall was uncovered. This form, which doubled the maximum effective jump range to 6,000 light-years, was quickly adopted by most nations across [[Florathel]] and its satellites. It was used to great effect in the [[War of Saiheran Succession]], with great fleets abruptly materializing near targets before anything could be done to stop them. |
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Ascension Plane travel, however, is hindered by the existence of mass shadows, semi-physical manifestations created by large celestial bodies. Upon contact with a mass shadow, the vessel spirals out of the Ascension Plane, destroying most of the ship and leaving its crew members in a comparable state. While mass shadows are rare, as are celestial bodies, their size is tenfold that of the bodies, further increasing their lethality. As a result, Midonian Drives have been fitted on drones, which have been set on a collision course with enemy fleets. |
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The formation of the [[United Nations of the Florathel]] made it very easy for scientists to communicate across borders. This sped up the development of many technologies, but particularly the Quantum Shift Drive, which was refined to its present state, halving its energy use and improving external energy storage enough to allow placement on small civilian craft. Today, the Quantum Shift Drive can jump up to 7,500 light-years with virtually no positional errors. In intergalactic space, where exact positioning matters little, this range increases to 80,000 light-years before the craft starts going in completely the wrong direction. |
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The Midonian Breach Generator is an ancient technology, with its origins traced as far back as the times of the [[Aergol Alliance|'''Aergol Alliance''']]. The Midonian Drives have been modified ever since they were discovered on '''Eralisen''' several hundred thousand years ago. Upon their discovery, they became mass-produced, eventually leading to their increased popularity. The performance and speed of the Midonian Breach Genrators have been heavily altered over time, being more than twice their original speed upon creation. |
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[[File:QSDCharge.mp3|thumb|The Quantum Shift Drive charging after calibration, heard from within the craft. The sound at the end is the actual jump.|left]]The Quantum Shift Drive relies on a key facet of quantum mechanics, the fact that every possible event has a nonzero probability of occurring. The drive essentially takes the event of the ship changing position to the target and magnifies its probability through exceedingly complicated mechanisms that require 20 textbooks to explain. |
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This concept has been applied to other events such as the creation of new substances, but that requires far more computing power and energy to cause atoms to teleport across large distances from disparate locations into a new arrangement than to cause a group of atoms to teleport to the same location and remain in the same configuration. |
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==Dangers== |
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One potential danger in a hasty jump is that of rematerializing within a solid object. This causes the atoms of the craft to be bonded with those of the object, rendering the parts of the craft thus merged to be rendered immobile. This primarily occurs during hasty jumps or jumps to unknown regions of space, as the computer's calculations account for known objects and ensure that a ship does not impact anything as it rematerializes. This is still very unlikely, even neglecting calculations to avoid it, as space is famously very empty. |
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[[Category:Superluminal Technology]] |
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[[Category:Technology]] |
[[Category:Technology]] |
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[[Category: |
[[Category:Superluminal Technology]] |
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[[Category: |
[[Category:Author:_The_Minmus_Derp]] |
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[[Category:Florathel]][[Category: Active Development]] |
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Latest revision as of 18:24, March 27, 2025
Quantum Shift Drive
Most nations in Florathel and satellites
Quantum Shift Drives are a high-speed Faster-than-light propulsion system primarily used in Florathel in which a spacecraft appears to "jump" instantly from one point to another. After the jump, the ship arrives at a precise destination up to 7,500 light-years away, beyond which accuracy rapidly decays. Utilizing very powerful computers fitted to a ship to calibrate the drive for each jump, the drive is among the fastest in the universe and can be fitted on individual civilian ships with recent improvements in energy storage.
Initially used by the Providence Union and other concurrent civilizations, the Shift Drive remains in use to this day. It is essential for interstellar trade, and many nations spend decent fractions of their budget on improving it further.
History
The first known examples of use of the Quantum Shift Drive was by the Providence Union, over 6 million years ago, although presumably other civilizations developed similar drives in the Elder Days. Over the intervening years, fairly rudimentary alternate forms were developed independently by other civilizations.
After Glanadi was discovered amongst the maze of stars in the Providence Cluster and the people of Florathel gained access to its archives, a very efficient prototype of the Quantum Shift Drive under development by the Union at its fall was uncovered. This form, which doubled the maximum effective jump range to 6,000 light-years, was quickly adopted by most nations across Florathel and its satellites. It was used to great effect in the War of Saiheran Succession, with great fleets abruptly materializing near targets before anything could be done to stop them.
The formation of the United Nations of the Florathel made it very easy for scientists to communicate across borders. This sped up the development of many technologies, but particularly the Quantum Shift Drive, which was refined to its present state, halving its energy use and improving external energy storage enough to allow placement on small civilian craft. Today, the Quantum Shift Drive can jump up to 7,500 light-years with virtually no positional errors. In intergalactic space, where exact positioning matters little, this range increases to 80,000 light-years before the craft starts going in completely the wrong direction.
Operation
The Quantum Shift Drive relies on a key facet of quantum mechanics, the fact that every possible event has a nonzero probability of occurring. The drive essentially takes the event of the ship changing position to the target and magnifies its probability through exceedingly complicated mechanisms that require 20 textbooks to explain.
This concept has been applied to other events such as the creation of new substances, but that requires far more computing power and energy to cause atoms to teleport across large distances from disparate locations into a new arrangement than to cause a group of atoms to teleport to the same location and remain in the same configuration.
Dangers
One potential danger in a hasty jump is that of rematerializing within a solid object. This causes the atoms of the craft to be bonded with those of the object, rendering the parts of the craft thus merged to be rendered immobile. This primarily occurs during hasty jumps or jumps to unknown regions of space, as the computer's calculations account for known objects and ensure that a ship does not impact anything as it rematerializes. This is still very unlikely, even neglecting calculations to avoid it, as space is famously very empty.