[quote=@Flagg] Since this has a fantasy element, may I suggest we have at least two forms of FTL: one perhaps inspired by SW with Imperial-regulated hyperlanes and ofc secret hyperlanes and 'back alley' ways of evading Imp control. The other could be something closer to Dune or 40K, using the Void to travel? I like the idea of 'hell-cutters' or the Sorcerer's Path going thru some eerie dimension. [/quote] I do like this idea as well. My original idea was that originally the Empire used their early form of star travel being loading up people in a massive colony ship and catapulting it into space and hoping for the best, the inhabitants surviving the years by going into cryo-sleep. Upon finding out about the void/veil humanity was able to reach FTL speeds thought impossible before by using said sorcerer navigators. [quote=@Isotope] Maybe superluminal travel is only possible along specific star lanes and if one happens to venture outside them in transit it results in a feedback loop that burns out the drive and leaves the ship stranded in interstellar space? In order to make sure you stay in the lanes you'd either need an extremely powerful computer or a somewhat precognitive individual sensitive to the void? Maybe before the machine wars AI navigators were common but during and after the war void sensitive pre-cog navigators became commonplace? So you can forego using biological navigators, but only by spending quite a bit more on a large and clunky unintelligent machine since AI is prohibited? Just a suggestion [@Polybius][@GreivousKhan]. [/quote] I also like the idea of there being a possible other option to human/sapient navigators, albeit, a much more expensive one for those factions that are anti-sorceror but have good tech. Could make for all kinds of interesting narratives for sorcerors if they were still so valuable being a cheaper though rare alternative. I can easily see the empire making such navigators as people literally owned and protected (see exploited) by the state. I also agree if sorcerers can bypass hyperlanes and entire systems (thus Imperial checkposts) entirely why would not everyone use them? I like the idea that only sorcerers can 'SEE' these lanes in the first place as weaker links into the void that allow FTL travel into an through them. Thus explaining how the lanes were discovered. Thoughts?