Core Expedition

Since approximately - 4,000, the Zhodani Consulate has mounted seven Core Expeditions - to reach and investigate the galactic core. The latest expedition was launched in 750 and took fifty years for the round trip, including approximately ten years of exploration and research at its closest approach to the core, 5,000 parsecs from Zhdant.

The expeditions, which remain relatively unknown outside of the Zhodani Consulate, have been a source of basic research information, xenological data (as new races and cultures were discovered along the route), and even rare or previously unknown minerals and pharmaceuticals.

Settlements, to maintain the established route toward the core, have been established all along the route. Such worlds exploit valuable mineral deposits, research the strange or novel life forms that are encountered, and provide maintenance and repairs for ships passing in each direction.

Individual Ship Expeditions

Small expeditions (too many to count) have ventured far beyond what the major and massive core expeditions have covered. They have traveled laterally, to explore areas that are beyond the areas of the Core Expeditions; they have ventured farther coreward, some as far as another 1,000 parsecs. Their reconnaissance helps clear the way for each additional core expedition.

Source: Alien Module 4; Zhodani