8

The Eight Charts, the Eight Galaxies, the Eight Systems, the Eight Sectors.

The problem

• What are they?

• Why do we need a special contraption (Galactic Hyperdrive - one way only, one use only) to bounce between them?

• How do they relate to Sol/Earth which nowhere appears in them?

Solutions

Selezen 2007 (Syncretist)

The 8 galaxies are all small clusters of planets spaced pretty far apart around the galaxy.

The IGH is a device that creates a hypertunnel branch to existing 'wormholes' in the hyperspace realm that lead directly to these sectors, which is why you have to go through them in order. These wormholes have a sort of 'current', meaning that a ship can only travel through them one way. A lot of time and effort was put into making sure that there was a way to get back to Galaxy 1 before making it a common occurrence.

The reason they are colloquially known as Galaxies is that when the first wormhole was discovered, the chappie that went through reported back that all the constellations and worlds were different. His first hypothesis was that the wormhole led to another galaxy, and so they were labelled Galaxies. It would be another hundred or so years until anyone worked out that these areas were actually star clusters in the same galaxy, but by then the name had kind of stuck.

Cim (Purist)

to come

The Problem of our missing planet Earth

Some proposed solutions:

• Earth (Sol) is the seat of the (FFE/FE2) Federation. As such, GalCop would have 'blanked' it from the GalCp-controlled Witchspace Beacon network. If there isn't a beacon, there isn't anything for your navigation computer to 'lock-on' to, as happened with Achenar (seat of the Duvalian Empire) and it's aligned systems.
• Earth is subject to a 'preservation order', since it was being trampled so badly by extraterrestrial tourists wanting to see the 'Birthplace of Humanity' that some part of GalCop shut down the Beacon and declared Earth off-limits to non-official business.
• Earth is a dead world. After effectively wiping each other out in an almighty 'War to End All, Well, Everything' there wasn't anything left. No cities, no forests, no oceans, no life. Since there was nothing of economic value, it was left and the Witchspace Beacon was removed and a footnote left in the annals of history, this is what happens when people stop talking to one another. Captain Hesperus (2007)

Fiction

• Nine by Drew Wagar: - About an attempt to reach the ninth chart

Links

• Lore for discussion of Purism & Syncretism.
• History for Purist & Syncretist histories of The Eight
• (2007) thread with Captain Hesperus & Selezen above. See Daddyhoggy's teenage solution!