Void Drive

The Void Drive, or void engine, is an intergral device developed by the Xai for faster-than-travel intersteller travel to traverse the space between the worlds of the Xyon Sector. The void drive has allowed for the expansion of the Xai civilization for the last 15,000 years, and the ability of the race to explore all worlds of the sector with ease and fluidity. Its development by the Xai has also been a vital component to the development of the species, and the waging of war and trade, and spread of culture throughout Xyon.

Principles
The void operates by creating a wormhole that allows for the vessel that has initiated a void jump to travel through the opening, and into a seperate dimension known as the Void, or void space. Within this realm, the ship travels "underneath" realspace until it reaches its target distination, at which point exits void space into real space. The mechanics behind the engine remains difficult for both navigators and engineers to comprehend, though both groups understand that realspace and void space effectively lay on top of one another, with real space on top, and void space at the bottom. This permits the ship to engage its void drive, and "drift" into the void, travelling faster than it would in realspace, and then "let go" of the void, popping up into realspace.

History
The first void drive was developed in 313 XE by Shala Alla Tok and his wife, Dalla Nya Tok, to help prepare their descendants for the swift and rapid colonization of the Xyon Sector during the time known as the Foundation Era. The original void drives were only designed to get colonization vessels from the Xai homeworld of Family Pride to the nearest planets, such as Xai'athus and Marza. However, when the scematics and technology of the void drive were opened to the scientific community on Family Pride, more powerful versions of the drive were developed by the Xai for explorative purposes. This resulted in the Explorer's Guild under Morgan Xania, who would later establish the Xanian Dominion, to gain a monopoly on the prohibitly expensive void drives.

As the years passed, and the powerful drives created for the explorers under Xania disappeared after their self-imposed exile, the need to develop cheaper cost-effective void drives for mass production came to head. This development saw the creation of new types of void drives, leaving the Xanians with inferior versions of the engines, though far more powerful to the present day. By the time of the Great Expansion, void drives had become relatively plentiful, though only the more powerful merchant captains and trading guilds could afford to travel greatly and over long distances. This saw the ability of worlds to communicate with each other handicapped until the development of FTL communications was accomplished.

As of 14,978 XE, the void drive is a staple part of civilization as the Xai know it, with most ships equipped with at last one kind of void drive. Most of the Xai subraces also possess their versions of the void drive given their rivalries with one another and numerous other factors, seeing them need to produce their own if their are unable or unwilling to purchase them from neighboring worlds. Void drive production is regulated by the Xai Ascendancy's Ministry of Trade, which has a number of guidelines all void drive producers must follow if they are to make the engines. Modifications that allow for such as things untracable void jumps, void drive detenation (outside of purpose-built military vessels), and near-planetary jumps for unregistered ships, are deemed illegal by the government, and punished accordingly. This does not, however, prevent modifications by handy engineers and pirates from taking place though.