<div class="Block">I figured it might be a good idea to document some of the things that I have come up with here so y'all won't be so confused when I start talking about stuff specific to the universe I have come up with.
<div class="HeaderLeft">FTL Tech</div>
FTL (faster than light) in my universe is achieved via wormholes. FTL communications are achieved by opening a microscopic wormhole that terminates at the general location (ie within a light-second) of the intended receiver. FTL travel is achieved by opening a wormhole big enough for the ship to enter. and then closing the entrance as soon as the ship is safely through. The ship travels in a band (dictated by how much space is warped around the ship, the higher the distortion, the higher the band and the more dangerous it becomes.) A higher band allows ships to travel faster, but causes the ships using it to heat up at a faster rate. This means that unless the ship can dump the excess heat fast enough, it'll melt, blow up, or do something that leaves it and the crew very dead. Most ships have heat sinks specifically for absorbing heat during FTL travel. While heat sinks do allow ships to safely travel through wormholes, they are limited by how much heat they can take in. This means that most ships are limited to a few dozen light years of FTL travel at their top velocity (most ships it is 1 ly/hr military ships can reach 1.5 ly/hr). The power requirements and the space and mass for the heat sink and the wormhole generation equipment mean that the smallest ship that can achieve is a long range probe (dimensions: 50m long by 35m wide by 20m tall.)</div>