Editing Have Rocketship Will Travel (section)

== Known Locations ==

'''Blake's Orbiting Trading City'''

Found orbiting the Gas Giant Sloggy III in the Onduby System (sort of a galactic hub of this sector of space) Blake's Orbiting Trading City (or Blake's Trading for short) is a massive orbital platform first created by the Klaxon Trading Corporation about a century ago to fill its corporation trading needs for this sector of space. When the corporation hit difficult times do to a hostile trade war with its rivals, Thomas Howard Blake, a human multi-billionaire, acquire the sole rights to the Trade City though some private (although rumored to be shady) means. He renamed the station after himself and move most of his business (his main corporations are the Blake Investment Group and Goliath System Arms) and personal interests here. As the Onduby System was unclaimed space the Trading City has always enjoyed little or no interference from the FTC ... until recently. There are rumors abound throughout the station that the FTC has been pressuring Blake to join the FTC or at least accept FTC sponsorship and "protection". So far Blake has been able to hold them off. But for how long will the station remain independent and free?

'''Daystars''' 

A phenomenon known on the planet of Capricus (a gas giant): accretions of minerals formed from the shells of coral-like animals which drift gently on the breezes of the upper atmosphere. In effect, they are a vast swathe of floating islands floating in the sky of a planet with no solid surface. They vary in size from a few dozen feet in diameter to two or three miles; they grow constantly due to the actions of the coral-animals, sometimes breaking apart and forming multiple, smaller islets. Although devoid of sapient life, they are home to a bizarre ecosystem of lighter-than-air creatures that blur the line between plant and animal.

Although sturdy enough to support human(oid) explorers, the Daystars cannot support the infrastructure of a starship base, especially one capable of lifting off from Capricus's enormous gravity well. As a result, although the native lifeforms produce a variety of rare and exotic substances, they are dangerous to visit and hard to acquire.

'''Shroud''' 

An area of space that is just . . . wrong. Located in an interstellar gulf midway between three important solar systems, it is effectively a Bermuda triangle of vast size. Readings taken of the area in the Shroud, or light passing through it, are never the same (even if the differences are minimal); ships and objects passing through it may take far longer than anticipated, or have anomalous encounters ("living asteroids", a section of space that screams, and light-waves bending into hideously suggestive patterns have all been reported) . . . if they make it through at all.

No one is certain of the true cause of these effects, but the Shroud is avoided by most spacefarers unless they are truly desperate or supremely arrogant.

'''The Banyan Rift'''

A strange spatial phenomenon found at the rim of explored space has been dubbed 'The Banyan Rift' by scout ships. The Rift is entirely impassable via FTL, and any attempt either ends in lost or damaged ships are they are either shunted catastrophically back into normal space or they disappear entirely. It's unclear how far it extends since nobody has made it around the Rift so far, but there are no stars observable in the region affected and no unusual activity.

'''The Tartarus Expanse'''

The true Ancients are gone, but there are always rumors and sightings. Stories of huge aliens ships of immense power suddenly appearing and either annihilating or capturing lone ships. Possibly mis-reported sightings of known ships and races, or some type of natural phenomenon? These sightings seem to be more common in one particular region now termed 'The Tartarus Expanse'. Colonists of the worlds Eden and Nightfall continue to file reports of strange sensor readings, ships that appear and vanish without leaving the quantum signature associated with the familiar wormhole drive, as well as strange visitors to the planets themselves. So far, no official investigation has turned up anything other than rumors and inconclusive readings.