Slides

Alien tech: artificial wormholes large enough for ships, and interstellar distances.

History

Older

• Eldritch start and end travel dates from Terra to their world imply slide travel.

• The Faulfenza used a slide to go from Quzen to Qufiil; later, that slide is used again by Zafiil, not long after the establishment of the Alliance. They call these "void bridges." Of them, Faullaizaf said, "These roads are everywhere, but they are not made. They are the result of an unmaking. They’re not meant for creatures like us to use... it drives us insane."

Modern

• The existence of slides was posited originally by Troy based on anomalous survey data; he's responsible for coining the term 'slide' on the Alliance side.

• The events during the Birdsong Incident led to the creation of a team to research the slides, consisting of Gertrude, Troy, Silia, Delilah, and Alastar (among others). This team focused on two initiatives immediately: one on locating more slides, and the other on designing tech that could protect a world from being razed by slides. This was in 465 BA. Later, the Chatcaavan Empire starts its own team, with Uuvek and Maia as the bridge between these two task forces.

Zafiil says to Daqan, of the void bridges: "...to cleanse it will need a fire unlike any fire that has ever been lit in the worlds. A fire to scour the galaxy clean of unmaking evil. And it will have to last long enough to make all those bridges safe to use, forever."

Mechanics

Construction and Maintenance

As the Stardancer crew began to uncover in the Sargasso, planets are used to construct slides.

Use

Slides can be actively powered or dormant.

Active - Active slides have either recently been used, or they're being powered on one or both ends to stay in the 'recently used' state. When active, they are visible to physical sensors as well as psychic powers. A slide without power (for whatever reason) uses up its "battery" of power when used, and can slowly wind into a dormant state.

Dormant - Dormant slides are very hard to detect by physical sensor, but can be tracked by espers.

Slides can only deliver you to a single destination, from point A to point B. If you want point C, you must open a new bridge. Slides can also be destroyed by non-planetkillers; it's intimated that Faullaizaf collapsed the Quzen bridge by scouring it with the Mindfire, and that this work cost him most of his remaining lifespan.

Effects

Sapients entering a slide are subject to psychological effects; some perceive it as a pressure, or a hatred; others hear voices, or go mad. It can also have physiological effects.

• "...the void was aware, and it hated. It was empty, and she was full: full of the God, of the Promise, of the sacred fire. More than anything else, it hated that fire, hated every sun that warmed a world and every star that pierced the dark and every heart that beat because of the spark that drove them on.."