Propulsion Systems

Solar Sails

Originally invented by early Orc astronauts, Solar Sails used large mirrored canvases to reflect radiation. This allowed spacecraft to be accelerated without the need to expend fuel. Solar Sails had several distinct problems. The first issue was that there was no reliable way to decelerate the craft except when approaching a source of strong radiation at their destination. The second was that the mirror sails required complex and extensive rigging which had to be lightweight and adjustable, this proved prone to malfunction and damage from space debris. Finally, the impulse provided was negligible next to engines, making Solar Sail voyages very long in comparison with with craft that utilized engines. Solar sails are rarely seen on craft except for deep space probes, short-range luxury craft, or the occasional stealth ship wishing to accelerate without an engine signature. Many ships of The Family are equipped with solar sails, since members of The Family claim that the noise made by engines drown out the cosmic murmuring.

Multiplier Engine

Due to atmospheric pressure and gravity, spacecraft engines and thrusters are costly to fuel in surface environments. Additionally, their thermal exhaust damages anything caught in the engine's plume. For these reasons, surface craft use a toroidal multiplier engine. These devices devices hoglium generators to create a magnetic field that can accelerate liquid or gas in either direction. While the impulse of a multiplier is low in relation to other forms of propulsion, it is far more fuel-efficient, and with minimal moving parts, is also safe, reliable, and aesthetic, used almost universally for aircraft and marine vehicles.

Zipp Drive

The first spaceships took hundreds of years to reach the nearest stars. However, that changed after the Gnomish scientist Zipp Klickheel discovered a way to transport things and people into an alternate dimension he called Zipp Space. This alternate dimension, while hazardous, translates distance as magnitudes farther than in Real Space. This technology, when installed on a spacecraft, can project a gateway large enough for the craft to pass through and into the alternate dimension, and from that dimension, open a gateway back into Real Space, reducing travel to adjacent stars to no more than a day of real time.

The Zipp Drive is expensive, large, and requires huge amounts of power that can only be provided by condensed crystal fuel cells called Glimmer Rods. Even then, Zipp Drives require several minutes, depending on the size of the craft, and any changes to its velocity or orientation, before a Zippway can be opened. Conveniently, it takes no time to open a Zippway back to normal space.

Artificial Gravity

Before the discovery of hoglium, spacecraft had to use centripetal force or acceleration to simulate gravity. Now, hoglium is used in the construction of artificial gravity generators which are positioned beneath floor plating to create a gravity field. This allows spacecraft decks to be laid out along the length of a craft's structure, or in other orientations. The fields also prevent the interiors of spacecraft from experiencing the negative effects of strong acceleration. Because they must be powered, and are extensively implemented, artificial gravity generators are prone to malfunction. Some problems are as simple as the loss of gravity and inertial dampening, but in other scenarios may generate a stronger or weaker gravity field. In some cases, they may reverse the field entirely. Salvage crews use the term hanged for getting caught between a functioning gravity generator, and an inverted generator in the deck above.

Hoglium Gravity Generators can also be used to propel or attract objects. Examples of this include hoglium bikes, emergency descent packs, or yeet and yoink grenades.

Engine Fuel

Ancient orcs first discovered the materials now used to create modern engine fuel by studying the Danja Swamp whose stagnant waters seemed to burn perpetually without any sign of going out. Once the orc "achemists" were able to analyze the composition of the swamp water, they were able to identify a complex interaction between three substances.

The first was a mineral we call strantinite, the second a liquid we call flosium, and third a gas called creorhil. Strantinite and flosium both have a high capacity to store energy in their molecular structure, and when exposed to the properties of creorhil become volatile enough to combust. The products of this reaction bind and become strantinite and flosium, making it a nearly lossless process. The chemical product, while most commonly called "engine fuel" is named danjabreum.

The reaction, while efficient, is still extremely volatile. Engine fuel must be stored in approved containers, and most spacecraft make sure their tanks are either well-armored or easily-ejected. Most corporations also regulate the amount of fuel any particular craft is allowed to carry to prevent fuel-related accidents. Instead, there are plentiful refueling stations and patrolling tankers for public use.

Glimmer Rod

Glimmer rods are meter-long prisms of crystallized glodium. They contain enormous potential energy that, while not volatile, are highly radioactive and must be stored in special containers before and after use.

These rods are used primarily to power Zipp Drives, however they are also useful in powering large space stations, surface facilities, or even in Glimmer warheads.

Glodium warheads are highly destructive torpedoes whose production is highly restricted in Schema space. Due to Schema's headstart on infrastructure for refining glodium, other governments agree to enact similar restrictions.