Shadow Rifts

Shadow Rifts are any area of space with a generally low stellar density, though they are not as sparse as a true rift.

Description / Specifications

By their very nature, the Shadow Rifts have made outside incursions difficult, which has made the Distant Fringe a secure population center.

Shadow rifts present an impassable barrier to conventional J1 and J2 vessels, although long-range vessels, X-range ships, or vessels with appropriate support (such as tankers) may be able to cross them.

History & Background / Dossier

Shadow Rifts occur throughout the Empty Stars, becoming more frequent the closer one is to the Great Void. Perhaps the best known examples within the Distant Fringe are the Moat Rifts, which are seen as a natural defensive border against any approach by the Vilani.

Major Rifts

• Great Void – the largest of the known rifts, prosaically called Old Man Void
• The Rift – a major spur of the Great Void. It lies far to spinward of the Distant Fringe, tracking generally to coreward and trailing.
  • Maw of the Rift – the point where The Rift meets the Great Void. The legendary realm of Lon Beon is said to lie at the point "where the river without suns meets the ocean with no stars".

Named Shadow Rifts

The main named rifts include:

• Basilisk's Horns Divide
• Basilisk Rift
• Cauda Rift
• Coreward Drift
• Emerald Drift
  • Ion Gate – the region where the Emerald Drift meets the Great Void
• Empty Reach
• Entropic Void
• Fools Rift
  • Fools Gate – the region where Fools Rift meets the Great Void
• Grand Arc
• Laurentine Gulf
• Moat Rifts
• Ribbon Rift
• Rimward Deep

Other Rifts

Some smaller voids exist within individual sectors. Only a few of these have been named:

• Finger Rift – a long narrow void lying within the rimward half of Burden Sector
• Kidney Rift – a small void lying within the rimward-trailing quadrant of Tirell Sector

Other Shadow Rifts can be found further to coreward and trailing, though they are generally less defined and to date have not been accurately charted.

References & Contributors / Sources

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• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master Scout Emeritus Adie Alegoric Stewart of the IISS
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science