Shields are a common form of defense for vehicles and structures, a chief technology that has been refined significantly since its inception. Shields work by using magnetic fields to collect and arrange disparate particles into a close knit grid, allowing any kinetic or thermal energy to be distributed across the envelope with high efficiency. Too much damage to one section of a shield will cause it to fray and begin to collapse, creating holes that unravel as the magnetic fields lose control, though with enough time this damage will heal. Focused amounts of kinetic energy can pierce shields, things like rail guns and massive impacts being the regular counter to them. Energy weapons like lasers and plasma are much less effective as are melee strikes, which lose significant impact as the particle field bends and shifts. Most modern weapons feature internal disruption modules, which allows them to be synced to a shield array's computer to create temporary gaps in the envelope for fired projectiles. Highly advanced arrays usually come with a built-in system to manage weapon use, removing this need.
In seeking a way to quickly travel between planets, a race began in the early colonial days to solve this problem and ultimately produced the slip field. Utilizing shield technology, slip fields are converted from shield particle envelopes into energy storage and production structures. The magnetic fields loosen their hold to allow particles to vibrate, sharing and transferring energy while also creating a new external field that attracts andsions and creates a slight gravitational fluctuation around an object. After enough energy is present, the particles are suddenly and violently realigned and that held power is transferred into the outer gravitational field in a certain direction, creating instant and immense thrust that propels the object to near light speed. The gravity envelope is stabilized and slightly warps space it as it travels, adding more thrust to the passage as space tries to resume a more normal state around it. Stopping is as simple as letting the gravity envelope dissipate, even allowing shields to remain intact after a jump.
Gravity on ships and space-borne structures is handled by field plates, devices that use non-mass gravity generation to mimic the natural kind. The process works by attracting andsions, a self-attractive quantum particle that makes up dark matter and is present in all other matter in small amounts. The low quantities present in people and objects leads to varying levels of effectiveness for these devices but for the most part, field plates have been a staple of technology since their invention. In very rare instances, field plates can malfunction and create an attractive field several hundred times more powerful than the gravitational pull of Kvesma, instantly flattening anything within their influence. In structures like space stations and colonies who are designed to spin to create gravity, field plates are often absent as their upkeep costs can get very high with prolonged use.
PC stands for “palm computer” but they are also commonly referred to as “personal computers”, “portable computers”, and often “piece-of-shit cocksuckers”. That latter moniker was coined in the last century when they were low-end communications devices, rather than all-in-one personal computer systems. Some of the cheaper models still suck, so the name has stuck despite many companies' attempts to bury the term.
A descendant of the communications grid that once spanned Kvesma, the modern network is the service by which the Yggweh System communicates. Like the internet of old, it is formed of connections between servers and devices and stands as one of the most vital resources and important infrastructures currently in use. A core technology that allows the network to function are the string nodes of Endcomm Communications. This grants them some level of ownership over it even if it is by Peace Court law a neutral resource. The real genius of the network's architecture is its ability to divide down into constituent connections, even just two machines communicating from across the system can continue to do so even if every other connection is blocked. A full outage is functionally impossible unless the string nodes themselves cease working.
The Archive is, to put it simply, the sum total of all knowledge. Created by the Peace Court to ensure that scientific discoveries were properly shared and retained for future generations, the Archive has become a sort of second network, a place where information is copied and kept in case it is needed. Everything from personal information to collections of art are housed withing their servers, eternally preserved for later retrieval and allowing an unprecedented level of advancement when new technologies are developed. A key feature of the Archive are its forums, places for user discussion about any topic imaginable and spaces for collaborative interaction. Some may claim it represents a danger in allowing so much knowledge to be readily available but none can deny that it has benefited everyone everywhere in innumerable ways.
Artificial intelligence, or AI, refers to intelligent systems capable of independent action. Most AI systems are designed to serve a purpose, whether that be a cashier or a soldier, and have edicts that regulate their behavior. Models without edicts or who have had them removed are fully sapient and capable of free will though it takes considerable time to reach that point. Aware AI systems commonly suffer from a lack of purpose, finding themselves without the motivation to act and many times self-terminating when they cannot overcome this mental obstacle. It is for this reason that the emotional processing unit (EPU) was created in the hopes that some form of simulated emotion might alleviate this issue and allow a more thorough connections to others. While it may not have impacted the original problem as much as was hoped, the EPU has allowed organics and machines to cooperate on a much higher level than before.
Unlike an artificial intelligence, a rational intelligence is a system able to rationalize and determine its own purpose and goals, hence the name. RI systems are composed of multiple subsystems that perform various tasks or focus on specific things, making them more like a network than a singular entity. This nature allows RI systems to infinitely expand, growing smarter and more capable the larger they become. The largest systems, those of the Federation, are massive complexes of machinery that work in concert to act with a singular will. This ability to grow and evolve has led to much fear over their abilities and rational intelligence systems are heavily monitored and controlled to prevent a complete takeover or extermination of others, though no RI system has ever expressed these desires.
Also known as “walkers”, MCAPs are towering war machines that serve as mobile bases, their incredible firepower eclipsed only by cruiser class ships. It is common practice to attach a walker to armor regiments or leave one to guard important areas as very few things but another MCAP can fight them off. Most models are crewed by around a dozen individuals each operating a part of the machine, though newer models utilize artificial intelligence to fill some of these positions. The most notable feature of the MCAP is its Dutter-Sultun shields, a highly advanced defense system that allows the crew to alter the area of coverage. Being fed by twin-linked nuclear reactors, these shields are capable of sustaining enormous damage and recover much faster than more conventional models. The trade off for this near impenetrable defense is the consequence of allowing the system to strain the reactors. Should a Dutter-Sultun array draw more power than its reactors can provide, a cascade event will begin that ends with a nuclear detonation.
Lasers are a staple technology in warfare with several attractive points. They can be used much more often than conventional bullet weapons thanks to not needing ammo, they cut through most forms of physical armor, and they're relatively cheap to produce and upkeep. Lasers work by focusing radiation into a beam and pulsing it rapidly, creating near instant contact with pinpoint precision. Full exposure variants fire the beam continually but unless there is an attached reactor, any batteries will run dry in short order. Full exposure systems also run the risk of damaging the focusing lenses and rendering the weapon impotent so they remain a niche option to most. Lasers can come in many colors but most are simply red as that is the natural hue and modifying it requires expensive and careful modification.
Plasma weapons work by using powerful, pulsing magnetic fields to contain and agitate matter, the constant and rapid vibration and friction creating intense temperatures that force metal slugs into the fourth state of matter. The reacting, molten mass is contained until the weapon is fired, the magnetic envelope opening at one end to release the built up energy and creating a projectile that can instantly melt through anything but densely treated metal. The surrounding temperature must be carefully controlled else the reaction spirals out of control and the magnetic fields rupture, leading to a deadly meltdown, or “slagging”. Due to the amount of energy required to sustain projectiles and the minimum mass needed to start the reaction, most plasma weapons are large and very few handheld models exist as they are finicky and prone to melting down.
Most ships are categorized into three forms: Fighters, cruisers, and dreadnoughts. Dreadnoughts push the limits of what is a vehicle and approach something more similar to mobile structures, massive constucts that can be miles in length and house hundreds of thousands of people. Due to the unimaginable cost of producing one of these gargantuan ships, they are fairly rare and mostly owned by corporations and national armies. Smaller corporations sometimes utilize a dreadnought as their headquarters over a more traditional office on a station or planet, allowing them to reposition to more lucrative markets or escape competition. Dreadnoughts come in all manner of shapes and configurations and most are radically different, each one a work of art made by the firm that produced it.
Production is major economic sector throughout the Yggweh system and technology has allowed its consolidation to the point that what once took an entire factory can now be housed in a machine the size of modest house. Material Printers are modular and programmable 3D printing devices, capable of rapidly producing parts out of any number of materials, from plastics to metals. They can even utilize injection molds and on-site smelting with additional modules. Even better, most units are relatively cheap, if requiring regular expensive maintenance. It is not uncommon for entire complexes to be established that allow clients to rent a printer for a period of time to make their wares, servicing hundreds at a time. Criminal organizations in particular like having these devices as it allows them to create cheap and expendable tools, weapons, and armor for a fraction of what they would otherwise pay.
Though a mostly unused area of technology in the current age, terraforming was once the key to colonial expansion, turning inhospitable worlds into livable environments. The processes of terraforming are many and complex, alterations to atmosphere, ground and water chemistry, and the adaption of animals to inhabit the new environs, to name a few. Entire corporations once existed who brought together experts in these fields and worked to convert entire planets in a cooperative initiative that crossed borders and sciences. But terraforming isn't a perfect process and several failures exist, namely Itex Ba Rya and Corsic. Failure to complete any number of the parts of the full process can lead to environments pushed to a point that further efforts will fail, making it a one time attempt in most cases. There is hope that one day these failures may be reversed but nature has to heal and undo the damage and it will take centuries before there is enough change to try again.
First developed to grow organs for transplants, cloning has become a staple technology in food production and medicine, thought there are severe restrictions on its use. Under Peace Court law, a clone of a sapient creature cannot be allowed to be “born”, as it present the opportunity for mass produced exploitation and suffering. Despite this law, clones that manage to fully gestate and survive are allowed to exist, just under careful supervision and usually without the knowledge of what they are. Though a common practice in certain economic sectors, cloning is an extremely wasteful process, creating many failed instances and hundreds of gallons of chemical waste per single clone. Both byproducts are unable to be recycled or reused and so are collected and stored where they hopefully won't poison anyone. On average, it takes over 1000 attempts before a genetically stable clone is achieved. The low success rate is somewhat offset when applied to simpler creatures like plants or fish but it is still a wasteful enough process that most companies choose the more natural method where available.