Warp Technology

Interstellar travel is a key part of life in the 38th century, although the process involved to achieve this differs in many ways, but the outcome is always the same: Warp Technology.

This phenomenon is prevalent in most stars that give off high energy electromagnetic waves. The first Empires to discover this technology have since been absorbed by the Western Universe's Gorbal Syndicate - the single largest Empire in the Universe. Roughly 400 years later, the Expoletian Empire figured out the basics for Warp Technology, after a manned expedition past Tyrgon. On board they had a lump of Iridium inside a mass field, and after a few days the scientists noticed that the piece of metal had formed an antigravity well inside the mass field - effectively making the Iridium massless. More tests were conducted with lighter metals, and this yielded the opposite results: the metals gained more mass, and had an increased gravity field. Elements that weighed more were then tested, and the antigravity field increased in strength, with Bismuth producing the strongest field.

Knowing this data, the Expoletians began tests using Bismuth, and after 4 decades of arduous research and testing, a prototype teleporter was made, and managed to transport 100g of LiFe7 a distance of 260km using 130GV. This energy was provided by a prototype fission-fusion reactor, powering a small gamma ray emitter surrounding the Bismuth donut. Not sure what would happen, the test compound was launched through the donut at mach 1, and what happened astounded the scientists.

The scientists discovered that the Bismuth core of the Warp Field didn't increase the velocity of the compound that went through it; the matter had been translated to a plane of space smaller than the Universe as it entered the field, and had materialised at a spot correspondent with the initial speed and mass of the object. The 100g alloy was discovered intact, and without damage. Further tests were conducted with more mass, and the distance increased linearly; a 1kg ingot managed to travel 2,600km. During one of the last tests, a 10kg ingot was accelerated too much, and hit the Warp Field at Mach 1.5. Rather than traveling the proposed 39,000km, the ingot traveled 40 times further, coming out of the warp field 1.5 million kilometres away from the launch point. It was at this point the military gained interest in this new technology, and procured all rights and resources, commissioning the science team to run further tests for speed.

A decade after the military seized the Warp Field technology, another breakthrough was made by the team working on it. After countless calculations and theories, the Warp Field was generated in a zero gravity environment, and the initial experiment - 100g of LiFe at Mach 1 was repeated. This time, the Warp Field was much more potent, and the ingot traveled nearly 12 Astronomical Units before exiting the Warp Field. After presenting their findings to the Military Council, the low budget project was commissioned to make the first Warp Core. After years of exhausting production, the 120m wide Bismuth-208 Warp Core was finished. Scientists had discovered that Bismuth-208 produced a field 10 times more potent than any other isotope of Bismuth, so the Warp Core was produced using 98% Bismuth, mixed with Tungsten to resist the 3000C temperatures. The Warp Core was powered by a 130TV reactor - 1000 times more powerful than the first reactor used to power the initial Warp Field. Once the Warp Core was powered up for the first time, a noticeable gravity shift was observed by everyone in the command room, who started the superaccelerator responsible for firing the 100kg ingot to 10% lightspeed. The Emperor was given the honour of firing the ingot into the Warp Core, and upon passing through the Warp Field, the entire Warp Field core - Bismuth donut, gamma field generator, shieding, everything inside - and the generator were seemingly lost as no data was sent back within the next few hours after everything instantly disappeared. The Project was shut down afterwards, but in a stroke of luck, as the facility was about to be powered down a week later, the probe they had placed started sending data back.  S'tr'ry, the head scientist was the first to notice, and reports indicate that he fainted when he saw the data.

After S'tr'ry regained consciousness, he marched into the Emperor's chambers, holding a thick folder, throwing it into the Emperor's lap. Opening it, the Emperor's jaw dropped, and he looked back up at S'tr'ry, mouth agape and uttered the now famous words "N'char'is O'gh'p." Three hours later, Kodekai Enterprises was founded and began mass production of the Warp Core, in varying sizes, while reducing the power load that the contraption required. The first Warp Core had finished it's journey 130,000 light years away, fully intact and fully functional in a matter of days. The Warp Field wasn't limited to passing through the Bismuth; it could transport anything in a radius based on the size of the Bismuth Donut. S'tr'ry was tasked with improving the Warp Core's design, and eventually produced a Core that could be calibrated and consumed less than 130MV/kg of energy at maximum. This Core was tested on the Plux Probe, and transported the probe, fully intact with all systems functioning, a full 200,000 light years in less than 48 hours.

Almost simultaneously, the Earth Empire conducted similar experiments, but used the element Platinum instead, and produced a similar Warp Core, although the Earth Empire variant is often regarded to be inferior to the more streamlined Expoletian Warp Core. The Earth Empire variant is cheaper to produce, but lacks the Expoletian Warp Core's ability to be installed on one man fighters. The Expoletians have used this to their advantage, using their fighters to intercept the Earth Empire supply lines.

The latest version of the Expoletian Warp Core has the added feature of delaying exit from Warp Space when the entire fleet is in motion. If the vessel's sensors detect any obstruction, the Warp Core is recalibrated midflight to change exit location if any asteroid sized rock or larger is detected, or delay exit by a few seconds if an allied vessel is in front of them. The modern Expoletian Warp Core, which is a Generation 7, is a 36m diameter sphere of Tungsten encasing the 12m diameter Bismuth Donut, which rotates in all directions when active, making Warp Space seem like a leisurely flight on board the vessel. The Warp Core is protected by a 12m thick carbondium cube - made by compressing a layer of diamond between two layers of graphene, forming an ultra strong, flexible material which is commonly used to layer the underneath of interstellar vessel plating due to its ability to hold together under an extreme load. The fighter variant is completely different in design, using two 30cm diameter spheres of 1.2cm thick carbondium to house the two 16cm diameter Bismuth Donuts. These spheres are functionally the same as the larger version, but are located directly behind the cockpit, and providing a Warp Field that prevents air sickness from occurring in battle. Due to the nature of the Warp Core, the Expoletians have no need for Gyroscopes; the Warp Field generated by the Bismuth Core is enough to stabilise any vessel in combat. To prevent accidental warp jumps, the Core has a power regulator; going to Warp Space is not possible if the Core doesn't have sufficient power.

The modern Expoletian Warp Core is able to transport 1000tonne vessels 500,000 light years in approximately 72 hours, making the Warp Core significantly more powerful than any other Warp Core in the Universe, but also the most expensive.

Warp Technology has advanced civilisations more rapidly than any other discovery in their recorded history, and it is one of the most important features of daily life for all citizens of the Universe.