Riftspace

Overview

In this universe, there are at least three different spacefaring civilizations that have figured out how to manipulate Riftspace to travel at speeds faster than light. This is accomplished through humans born with varying breakdowns of affinity, generally aligned with Pilot affinity or Compatible/Integrate affinity.

In the primary civilization, Integrates are synced with their Pilots upon being integrated into their chosen ship. Aborted syncs will damage a pilot's and a compatible's ability to ever successfully sync. If either pilot or integrate dies, it's generally accepted that a re-sync is impossible.

Affinities

• Pilots - require a minimum composite affinity of 12, standard affinity pilots have a composite affinity of 15 with 13 and less considered low, with 16-17 considered high affinity
• Compatibles - require a minimum composite affinity of 18, considered low affinity, with 21 considered standard affinity and 22 and above considered high; before Bhazaf, there were no known humans with higher than 25 composite affinity

Pilot-aligned affinity breakdowns differ from compatible-aligned affinity breakdowns in more than composite or total strength but also in quality and type. Some affinities are not measured and are unrelated to the breakdown used to train and place pilots and compatibles.

1. Sensing is considered a pilot-aligned affinity and a minimum affinity of 5 is required to be a successful pilot. A minimum sensing affinity of 2 is required for a compatible to become a successful integrate.
2. Leveling is considered a compatible-aligned affinity and a minimum affinity of 2 is required to become a successful integrate. For standard pilots, a leveling affinity of 2 is preferred but may be compensated by a high-leveling affinity integrate, which allows a conditional minimum of 1. Bhazaf had a previously unheard of leveling affinity of 4, later topped by the first Blade-class ship's sync, who was able to sync before being fitted as a pilot. Leveling is the affinity that enables syncing.

Ship Classes

• Arrowhead Class: Bhazaf was the first stable warship of its class, designed to take advantage of an unusual high affinity breakdown they'd yet to find a candidate for. When Cor was discovered, it was known prior to his integration that it would be a history-changing ship, with additional modules retrofitted to take advantage of clear affinities Cor possessed that had not been anticipated.
• Scythe Class: An infiltration warship class with the Black Dragon being the first stable warship of its class and the new iteration being developed in time for the second-highest affinity compatible yet found, with a composite affinity of 27. The newest model has been outfitted with shimmer, an ability first pioneered and successfully tested in the Blade Class.
• Blade Class: The first infiltration warship of this class is considered a stable prototype, nevertheless proved stable enough for active duty usage. On integration, the integrate synced with an eight-year-old girl with previously unheard of native-syncing ability, due to her leveling affinity of 5, but who was untrained as a pilot and had not been tested nor fitted for syncing. Due to the inability to fully test the ship for battle conditions, etc., no further ships would be developed in the class until she was of age and skill to properly pilot. Nevertheless, several of the innovations featured in the class were able to be tested then implemented in other ship classes.