Great Rift

Library Data Milieu 1116 

The Great Rift is a broad expanse of space with a very low density of stars (void) lying spinward of the main region of the Third Imperium. Citizens in the Imperial Core sometimes refer to the rift as the Great Reft. This is seen as a somewhat outmoded and quaint term.

Description (Specifications)

The Great Rift is a pronounced impediment to interstellar travel, and it constrains jumps through Corridor Sector to the Spinward Marches.

Along with the Lesser Rift, the Delphi Rift and the Windhorn Rift it is one of the four great Rift regions bordering the Third Imperium.

J-5 Trans-rift Hierate Route

The J-5 Trans-rift Hierate Route, a jump bridge, exists across the Great Rift, requiring jump-5 drives to cross without the use of Deep Space Fuel Caches.

• This links the main territory of the Aslan Hierate (the Cis-rift Hierate) with their colonies on the other side (the Trans-rift Hierate).

History & Background (Dossier)

The Great Rift is one of many astrographic terrain features which have provided long-term security for the Third Imperium. By its very nature, the Great Rift has made outside incursions difficult, which has made the interior of the Imperium a secure population center.

The typical Great Rift crossing from the main body of Imperial territory to those regions 'behind the claw' is via the Islands Cluster:

• Authorities at Filentred make a stringent drive check; upon passing, a vessel is allowed to Jump into the Rift, to Riftspan Station.
• From Riftspan Station a jump is made to Amondiage, another Jump-4 (or 2-Jump-2) away.
• Most vessels then proceed via New Home, Elysee and then Serendip Belt. Gloire is an alternate destination but this is discouraged by the government of Serendip Belt.
• Another four-parsec transit takes the vessel to Zuflucht, on the very outer edge of the Islands. Zuflucht is the exit (or entry) point for virtually all trans-Rift traffic.
• Transit on from Zuflucht requires another deep-space refuelling operation, this time at a purpose-built deep-space installation named Chandler Station.

Worlds & Sectors (Astrography)

The Great Rift, "the Claw". (Chart sourced from Traveller Map.)

The spinward-rimward arm of the Orion Spur is known within Charted Space as the Great Rift.

The Great Rift splits at its coreward-trailing end into two spurs, thought by some to resemble a lobster's claw. To the people of the Third Imperium, regions on the far side of the Great Rift from Capital (Core 2118) are considered to lie 'behind the Claw' and those lying closer to Capital are 'beneath the Claw'. The sectors between the two spurs (Gushemege, Verge and Ilelish) are sometimes referred to as being 'within the Claw'.

The Great Rift is a natural barrier to the expansion of the Imperium directly to spinward, requiring a transit around the coreward arm through Corridor. This has had major strategic implications over the centuries, not least in creating an element of cultural and political isolation for Deneb and the Spinward Marches.

By Sector

The Rift’s presence impacts the following sectors:

Corridor

Corridor is an Imperial sector dramatically split by the Great Rift. 69 systems lie rimward of the Rift and 149 systems form the coreward third of the sector.

Daibei

Daibei’s core-spinward corner is touched by the Great Rift in Edge (Daib A) and Alun (Daib B).

Deneb

Deneb borders on the Great Rift in its rim-trailing corner. Usani (Dene K) barely falls into the rift, while Geniishir (Dene L), Kamlar (Dene O), and Vast Heavens (Dene P) are mostly void of systems.

Gushemege

Gushemege’s Alpha quadrant is mostly rift space. Taapvaia (Gush C) and Balech (Gush I) are also partially in the Great Rift.

Ilelish

Ilelish is noted for the presence of the Great Rift as a significant defensive barrier. The entire rimward edge of Ilelish is covered by the Rift. Empty (Ilel P) is appropriately named due to the lack of any systems. Hoyt (Ilel 1436) is located deep in the rift, separated from the nearest system by six parsecs.

Reaver's Deep

Reaver's Deep is of low overall stellar density and borders coreward on the Great Rift.

Reft

Reft exists as two different stellar groupings each attached to a different domain and subdivided by the Great Rift.

Trojan Reach

Most of Delta quadrant in Trojan Reach falls into the Great Rift; although the stellar density of Alpha quadrant just spinward of the Spinward Marches is similar.

Verge

Beta quadrant in Verge is the densest within the sector, with the rest falling into the Great Rift -- with stellar density picking up a little in the Aslan Hierate in Khuug (Verg M).

Vland

The Great Rift in Dusa (Vlan I) and Akumid (Vlan J) form the core-trailing arm, while Lalaki Kharir (Vlan E) forms the trailing-rimward arm.

Zarushagar

In Zarushagar, the Great Rift includes all of Void (Zaru M) and Allegro (Zaru N). It isolates eight Imperial Client State systems from the rest of the sector.

Astrographic Features (internal)

• The Anundarluu
• Anellet Cloud
• Big Wreck
• Boulderfield
• Central Riftspan Cluster
• Dark Cloud
• Emadi Deep
• Fisher Trench
• Great Reef
• Gutterbal
• The Havoc
• Ishlagu
• Islands Cluster
• Rinean Shoal

Astrographic Features (bordering)

The rift is bordered by multiple mains and clusters, including the following:

The Agdarmi Cluster, also known as the Denebian Cluster, 23 systems near the spinward side of the Great Rift in Deneb.

The Dlan Main, 55 systems entirely in the rimward half of Ilelish.

The Great Ilelish Main, 103 systems sitting at the edge of Khulikhu (Verg L) at the coreward edge of the rift.

The Liasdi Main, 64 systems in Ilelish and Zarushagar, at the rimward edge of the Great Rift in Liasdi (Zaru J).

The Rhamsteppe-Mongrebi Main, 48 systems at the coreward edge of the Great Rift with three systems that touch on the rift in Rhamsteppe (Zaru O).

The Sirim Loop, forty systems located entirely in Verge, at the trailing edge of the Great Rift.

The Usani Cluster, 24 systems near the spinward side of the Great Rift.

Listed last, the largest of the mains touching the Great Rift, is the Vilani Main. It extends rimward and spinward from Vland through Gushemege, along the Rift, and touching the coreward borders of Reft, Ilelish and Verge.

References

This article has metadata.

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Mongoose Publishing or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• J. Andrew Keith, Marc Miller, John Harshman. Aslan (Game Designers Workshop, 1984), 38.
• Marc Miller. Imperial Encyclopedia (Game Designers Workshop, 1987), 25.
• Loren Wiseman. GURPS Traveller Core Rules (Steve Jackson Games, 1998), 34.
• Colin Dunn. Library Data (Mongoose Publishing, 2011), 24.
• Martin Dougherty. The Great Rift (Mongoose Publishing, 2018), .