Galaxy Map
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The Milky Way: A Galaxy Divided
The universe is an unfathomable expanse, but for the denizens of this Galaxy, called the Milky Way by humans on Earth, their "world" is defined and shaped by its spiraling arms. While the galaxy contains billions of stars, the realities of biology and physics have carved the cosmos into highs and lows of density, life, and chaos. There are 3 distinct areas within the Mikly Way, they are as follows:
The Galactic Core (The Furnace)
As one travels inward, the sky grows blindingly bright and lethally hot. The Galactic Core is a region of extreme stellar density where suns are packed so tightly that their gravitational tides tear planets apart.
- The Great Black Hole: At the very center lies a supermassive black hole, a gravitational titan that anchors the galaxy.
- Uninhabitable Chaos: The levels of cosmic radiation and X-ray emissions in the Core make carbon-based life impossible. While some AI probes have been sent toward the center, few return with usable data before their circuits are fried by the "Galactic Furnace."
The Galactic Habitable Zone (The Great Ring of Life)
The "Ring of Life" is a theoretical and practical "Goldilocks Zone" on a galactic scale. It is a vast, circular band of space situated between the volatile, radiation-soaked core and the resource-starved outer rim.
- Stellar Stability: Most life-bearing planets, including Earth, are found within this ring. Here, the concentration of heavy elements is high enough to form rocky planets, but the stellar density is low enough to prevent frequent, life-extinguishing supernovae.
- The Known Frontiers: All known spacefaring civilizations have evolved within this band. It is the primary theater for trade, war, and exploration. To travel from one side of the Ring to the other via conventional sub-warp or FTL engines takes generations—a journey usually avoided in favor of "hugging" the curve of the Ring.
The Jove and Circumnavigating the Ring
Space is vastly bigger than humans can comprehend. It spans over 100,000 light-years. Traveling at near-light speed would go well beyond most known species' lifespans. For most of the Galaxy's time, its denizens couldn't travel faster than light. They spread extremely slowly or simply not at all. And most stayed as quiet as possible to avoid the dark unknowns that may be lurking in every system. It wasn't until the last million years that Faster-Than-Light travel was discovered. While these gate builders were masters of their craft, they paled in comparison to what came next. Roughly 16,000 Earth years ago, the Jove appeared. They are a vast A.I, a network of different machines, each working together. Nobody knows where they came from or who built them. Most speculate they came from the Outer Arm, regardless, they started to navigate the Great Ring of Life and built massive Jump Gates that were capable of sending ships 10x further and faster than ever before. Thus, in the last Myriad/Decamillennium (10,000 Earth years) the galaxy has never felt closer, safer, and more interconnected than ever before. But this is such a revolutionary thing, and with any great chance, great upheaval can follow.
The Outer Rim (The Fade)
Past the outer edges of the Ring of Life, the galaxy begins to fade. The spiral arms grow thin, and the distance between stars stretches into light-years of empty, ark vacuum. This is also known as the Shallows or The Fringes. Beyond that is The Outer Dark, which is when all seems to abruptly stop, and the great, deep, endless expanse is all that exists for millions of light-years.
- Matter Scarcity: The Rim lacks the "metallicity" (heavy elements) required to form complex planetary systems. Most "worlds" here are frozen gas giants or lonely, wandering planetoids.
- The Great Silence: This is the realm of the unknown. It is a "flat plane" of infinite darkness where GMs and explorers can find remnants of ancient civilizations or strange, non-biological entities that thrive in the cold.
The Spirals and the Voids
Even within the Ring of Life, there are areas of low stellar mass where few stars are visible, a sort of desert between dense spaces full of stars and life. These spaces in between are what give the galaxies their 4 spiral arms their shape. Their names are: Perseus, Norma, Scutum-Centaurus, and Carina-Sagittarius. There is also a breakaway arm called the Outer Arm, part of the 'Far Reaches'. And an 'island' of sorts, a miniature arm in between Perseus and Carina-Sagittarius called Orion-Cygnus, which contains Earth and Humanity. In between these spirals is the 'Void'. Mostly empty expanse of space. To move between them is dangerous, as any mistake and there is no help. An analogy to a planet would be that these places are like the treacherous ocean waters, a blazing desert, or, lastly, a seemingly impassible mountain range.
| Region | Characteristics | Life Probability |
|---|---|---|
| The Core | High Gravity, Extreme Radiation | ~0% (Lethal) |
| The Ring | Balanced Metallicity, Stable Suns | ~95% (The Cradle) |
| The Rim | Low Matter, Absolute Zero | ~5% (Anomalies only) |