Pirian Domain Fuel Factories
The Pirian Domain Fuel Factories are jump bridges built and maintained by the Pirian Domain.
- They are numbered in the order they were constructed in. Number 0 was constructed from drones built in the usual manner at shipyards; the others started from drones created at PD FuelFac 0.
Description (Specifications)[edit]
The Fuel Factories are calibration points not in the vicinity of any stellar body. It is almost impossible to jump to them without knowing their precise coordinates.
A central mass (large enough to assist, if barely, with targeting jumps) is located and either towed to designated coordinates or its location designated as the Calibration Point. Docking berths, fuel tanks, and ore and material warehouses are attached to this mass. Technically, this is just a convenient storage facility adjacent to the Fuel Factory itself.
The physical infrastructure of the actual Fuel Factory is a series of 10 ton drones of varying types. Some mine for ore or ice, some refine these into raw materials or fuel, some repair other drones and construct new ones, some survey for new planetoids, some haul (very slowly, taking months or years) good finds to near the calibration point, and so on. The swarm as a whole is self-manufacturing (starting from several drones constructed elsewhere and shipped in), and theoretically capable of exponential self-replication (far slower than the common perception: they take about a year to double in size, while most of the popular depictions would require doubling times of minutes or seconds) though in practice their numbers are capped, typically in the hundreds of millions. (Though the Pirian Domain engineers are loath to admit it even many generations later, this was copied wholesale from the VoidBridges with no effort made to understand why, and there has been little effort made to find out -- at least by anyone in a position to alter the Fuel Factories' programming).
Although functionally identical to the VoidBridges (aside from the slower doubling time), the Pirian Domain officially insists the following differences are significant:
- Jump-2 support instead of 1, allowing for more economical support of a much greater area of space.
- PD FuelFac 0 maintains a large supply of extra drones, to allow "cuttings" to be planted elsewhere.
- A much greater set of data is stored -- more fine details about current trends and history, mainly -- so approximately half the swarm is "memory drones" (redundant processors and computer memory) to store and analyze all this data. This comes at the cost of manufacturing capacity (even while a swarm is building up capacity, out of a desire to make sure the resulting swarm has enough memory drones), and is the main reason for the slower doubling time.
- An enclosed central structure exists, essentially a Class C Starport, rather than having most ships directly communicate with the drones.
A close analysis suggests the Domain is technically correct to note the distinction. If nothing else, Fuel Factories rate as Class C Starports, while VoidBridges rate as Class D Starports.
History & Background (Dossier)[edit]
Among the many inspirations the Pirian Domain took from contact with the Solomani Preserve was the concept of VoidBridges. The Pirians took their own spin on it, noting the cost and long startup time, and that many of their ships were capable of at least jump-2 at the time due to the low density of Gakghang and Datsatl sectors...and then, in the judgment of the Solomani Preserve, essentially just copied the VoidBridges with a knockoff design. PD FuelFac 0 opened for service in 33.
Two things have happened roughly every 130 years since:
- All existing Fuel Factories are updated with new designs, reflecting advances and changes in requirements since the last time.
- A new Fuel Factory is set up, using drones from PD FuelFac 0.
The first instance was in 159, then in 292, then in 421 (see below), and then it was tradition. The instance around 1070 was skipped due to the Domain recovering from the Empress Wave. If tradition holds, the next instance will be around 1200, and speculation is that the new Fuel Factory will be in Skyfarm Subsector - most likely 2126 or 2030 - if Skyfarm has joined the Pirian Domain by then or seems likely to. If that happens, the Fuel Factory to be constructed around 1330 might be in Ottoto Subsector, most likely 2628, as part of outreach efforts there.
The instance at 421 resulted in the creation of Mainserai, using the same techniques and drones but a much larger central planetoid and more extensive survey. To this day, there is debate whether Mainserai counts as a Fuel Factory. While it is not included in the official numbering, it comes between 2 and 3.
World Starport[edit]
While a Fuel Factory is largely uncrewed, the central docking facility (which can be and sometimes is used for commercial and residential purposes, and has significant sensor capability) rates it as a Class C Starport. The total spaceship construction capacity of PD FuelFac 0 is unknown, but likely pushes it up to Class B Starport territory.
Insofar as it counts as a Fuel Factory, Mainserai is a Class A Starport.
World Technology Level[edit]
The drones that constitute the Fuel Factories were originally TL-13 in their construction, though upgrades have been introduced over time. When the Empress Wave came along, they were able to continue to manufacture some high tech parts even as industrial capacity for the rest of the Pirian Domain fell. As of 1105 they are the only place in the Domain where TL-15 parts remain available. Shipyard services are only available at PD FuelFac 0 (with authorization keys generally only available on nearby Piriga); the others can supply spare parts, but crews must perform their own service and installation.
World Government[edit]
With no one to govern, the Fuel Factories are effectively anarchies.
World Law Level[edit]
With no government, the Law Level is effectively 0: anything and everything is permitted.
That said, the Fuel Factories are technically property of the Pirian Domain. If necessary, Domain enforcers will be on hand to make sure no one steals far more fuel or parts than they need (except as allowed by the Domain, typically to sell on behalf of the Domain), to prevent anyone from staying around longer than needed (again, except as allowed by the Domain), and to prevent piracy.
World Military[edit]
None, unless enforcers are present (see above). If so, these are typically one or a few 1,000 ton naval vessels.
World Economy[edit]
None by conventional terms. The drones gather rogue bodies from across the parsec and process them, maintaining themselves and growing as necessary to serve visitors. Even as of the Galaxiad, more than two millennia after starting, each Fuel Factory's parsec is less than 1% depleted.
Trade Data[edit]
None in the traditional sense. Fuel is provided gratis to anyone coming by, and standard parts as needed for maintenance, though those passing through must provide their own food. There are no imports, save for occasional revisions to designs provided by the Pirian Domain. Ores, crystals (gem and otherwise), and radioactives are generally kept in reserve to manufacture new spare parts -- even small systems (up to a replacement turret) -- as needed.
World Demographics[edit]
No permanent sophont population.
World Culture[edit]
Centuries of art, music, fashion, and history are recorded in the swarms, with holographic displays in the central enclosures. This has made the Fuel Factories among the most impressive museums in Datsatl and Gakghang sectors, rivaled mainly by the ones on Yaskoyloyt. New material is entrusted to the Fuel Factories all the time -- most of it drivel that none but the drones remember even just 20 years later while the creators are still alive, but providing a wealth of information for later analysis. It is comparable to Reference, though with data from a much smaller area than the Third Imperium.
World Languages[edit]
Anglic, though they can also accept commands in Oynprith and Gvegh, and can even translate between the three languages if requested.
UWP Listing[edit]
As the Fuel Factories are deep-space facilities, the UWP is ill-suited to describing them. Standard practice is to give structures like this the Anomaly trade code, even though it is known exactly what they are and who made them.
Worlds & Sectors (Astrography)[edit]
This astrographic feature is located in the following areas:
Charted Space:
World Listing: 1105[edit]
While this astrographic feature does not contain any true systems or worlds, individual Fuel Factories can be thought of as something akin to a world-system. The Fuel Factories are:
- PD FuelFac 0 (world)
- PD FuelFac 1 (world)
- PD FuelFac 2 (world)
- Mainserai (world)
- PD FuelFac 3 (world)
- PD FuelFac 4 (world)
- PD FuelFac 5 (world)
- PD FuelFac 6 (world)
References & Contributors (Sources)[edit]
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- Traveller Wiki Editorial Team
- Author & Contributor: Adrian Tymes