Drift engine

Drift engine

(Technological Item)

Type

Starship system

Source: Core Rulebook, pg(s). 290

Drift engines allow spaceships to achieve faster-than-light travel by traveling through a plane known as the Drift; this is known as Drift travel. The technology behind Drift engines was gifted to mortals by the machine deity called the Triune three years after the end of the Gap. The introduction of Drift engines led to an explosion in interstellar exploration and colonization.

Prior to the adoption of the Drift engine, Thasteron-powered sublight engines were the dominant method of sublight interplanetary travel. The transition saw the once thriving Thasteron industry on the planet Akiton collapse as the once massive demand for long-distance realspace engines shrink down to a very small niche market of enthusiasts. The effects of this crash are still visible on Akiton to this day, from the rusting hulks of ancient ore freighters that litter its deserts to the swarms of wild Khefak which were once a key part of Thasteron recycling.

Drift engines come in five ratings, arranged by strength: Signal Basic, Signal Booster, Signal Major, Signal Superior, Signal Ultra. Stronger engines allow a ship to travel to distant destinations faster but can only be fit on a ship of a certain maximum size, which gets smaller for higher-end engines.

Not all spaceships have drift engines; short-range transports that travel between a planet and its moon or moons, or orbital shuttles are two examples of this.

Side effect

Use of a drift engine has one major side effect: every time it is used, a small part of a random plane is permanently pulled into the Drift and set afloat there. The longer the distance that is traveled, the larger the chunk of matter. This matter can be inorganic or organic, living or dead, and some believe that the effect is part of Triune's plan to increase the size of the Drift.

Planar aperture drive

The witchwyrds' starships make use of proprietary planar aperture drives that can travel into other planes as well as the Drift. They are never sold to non-witchwyrds under any circumstance.