The Sea of Clouds is a sector of space discovered by the Abwehran Star Empire. This sector of space is named after a strong phenomenon that hampers FTL travel within the region.

In YE 38 a spatial anomaly in the ASE-006 system was discovered. Upon further inspection it was discovered that this anomaly was was a self forming fold in space that lead to a yet charted section of space. In order to stabilize the anomaly, and investigate if it is the cause for the lack of celestial bodies in ASE-006, a specialized station call the Cloud Harbor was constructed.

The Sea of Clouds is a mostly unknown sector of space that requires further exploration. The prominent feature are the 'clouds' of ionized material that cause interference.

Due to the high concentration of ionized particles, there is a high level of interference with communications and sensors. However the biggest problem is that along with this, the majority of the sector seems to be an FTL dead zone. Only in areas where the clouds are thin can FTL be used to varying capacities.

The Sea of Clouds is not devoid of life, there are non-sentient inorganic lifeforms colloquially named 'Cloud Bugs'. These lifeforms have a body made up of an inorganic metaloid compound and are full of nanomachine like structures that regulate their actions. They do not have a complex structure and simple form in simple polyhedrons.

Because of the high concentration of ionized particles, navigation in the Sea of Clouds can be difficult, as navigation systems will usually be effected. In order to combat this the Abwehran Star Empire lays down navigation beacons as they explore the sector. These beacons give off a signal that can easily be detected through the noise and offer points of reference for traveling ships.

Though the majority of the Sea of Clouds is an FTL dead zone, due to the movement of the gasses pathways open up where the concentration is thin enough to use FTL systems and travel at faster speeds. Because these lanes move slowly over time, they have been compared to ocean currents and given the name “Open Currents”

Monitoring and estimating these currents becomes very important to any captain trying to navigate the Sea of clouds. Several beacons are used throughout the sector to create charts of these currents to upload to passing ships. However there are still areas where no beacon is present, and beacons only provide the data of their area, so recent data from a less traveled region can become a commodity.

Syaoran created this article on 2017/02/28 12:54.