Aetherships

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Overview

Aetherships are a type of spacefaring vessel which run on Aether energies, allowing for relatively fast travel between Disparatus, Earth, and Polaris.

Travel speeds are dependant on both the quality of the tech on the Aethership, and the rate of use of Aether. Generally, most Aetherships are able to reach speeds of approximately 0.5% to 1% of the speed of light. However, with the right tech, speeds beyond this can be achieved, but at an exponentially higher rate of Aether consumption, to the point that a much greater amount of Aether would be used overall at 2% light speed travel between worlds than 1% light speed. Conversely, slower speeds lead to a lower rate of consumption, and would require much lower fuel stores for a trip.

Depending on speed, current distance between the planets, and Aetherstorm interference, travel between Disparatus and Earth via Aethership can take anywhere between 6 hours and 4 days at the standard 0.5% to 1% light speed. The current travel record between the two planets is 1 hour and 38 minutes at 6% light speed, set on 19 April 2317 by the civilian ship Beige Falcon.

Travel greater than 5% light speed is rarely attempted outside of emergencies and military exercises due to both the massive amount of aether consumed compared to 1% speed, and because current technology makes travel at speeds higher than 5% dangerous to attempt.


History

The original Aethership design was concieved by a joint Svaldic-Alibaas team in 1957 AE. In 1972 AE, the first prototype Aethership, Legacy was completed and sent on a mission to Earth. Due to a far lower grasp on Aether energies at the time by the technology, the trip took five months, but was an overall success, and marked the beginning of Disparatus-Earth relations.