This final section on Navigation in SFRPG will briefly go over time travel (
intertemporal travel for purposes of this discussion) as it can be used in an SFRPG adventure or campaign, and the methods that have been used in the Starflight canon to travel through time.
While many modern scholars debate whether or not intertemporal travel is physically possible, it has been mentioned at least three times in the history of Starflight. The first instance was that of Captain Max Zarfleen of the I.S.S.
Intrepid, who in an attempt to prevent his ship from being captured by the Uhlek ignited a pile of endurium with a Black Egg, sending the wreck of his ship into the past. The second was the visit the
Elthar-Esh made to the past, 400 years before the events of Starflight II. The final instance was the visit the I.S.S.
Butterfish made to the past in 4640, as part of the events of Starflight II. The final two instances were both made through the Delta Sector anomaly (δ244x149), and both were to the same time period roughly one million years in the past. Given that time travel has occurred in the Starflight Universe, intertemporal travel should be considered physically possible in SFRPG.
Intertemporal travel can be used as a feature of an SFRPG campaign, but GMs are advised that this particular plot device should be used sparingly (if it is used at all). Mucking around in time can cause all sorts of headaches as far as the events of a campaign are concerned, to say nothing of what might happen to the universe at large (
someone picks up a Poison Glider a million years in the past and suddenly Arth is populated with Gazurtoid; things like that). Time travel tends to be overused as a plot device in most science-fiction universes, and so its use may be not as effective in a campaign as a GM might've hoped. For those reasons, traveling through time in SFRPG has been designed to be as physically dangerous to life, limb and property as possible while leaving it within the realm of possibilities.
There are three general rules of time travel in SFRPG:
- Time travel requires the use of a starship.
- Time travel may only take place in interstellar space.
- Time travel requires a large amount of fuel and carries a risk of severe damage or death.
Other rules are specific to the situation (
for example, whether or not time travel is round-trip or not is very dependent upon the method used; blowing up one's own ship tends to be a one-way trip).
The Delta Sector Anomaly
The Delta Sector Anomaly, which first appeared in 4190, is a flux that goes through time. It was originally created by the Leghk one million years in the past and was supposed to be a temporary bridge which would allow the remnants of their kind to escape the influence of the Uhl. Unfortunately for all involved, the Uhl Leghk seized control over the anomaly, allowing the Uhl to shoot an offspring through to the future. This turn of events ultimately lead to the enslavement of the Umanu and the extinction of the Lowar (not to mention a smaller number of dead Tandelou, who believed the Anomaly to be the Great Eye of Thdok-Bryg-Ahhh, and were so overwhelmed by its beauty that they flung their ships into it, never to return).
GMs may decide to make a visit to the Delta Sector's past part of an adventure or campaign. If so, they should be aware of the following changes to the sector's configuration.
- The only race living in the Delta Sector's present that also lives in the past is the Dweenle. They have the same homeworlds and occupy the same corner of the sector. All other races, starfaring or not, are not present. The remainder of the sector is Uhlek territory; they have no homeworlds of their own. Some of the few remaining sane Leghk may or may not be found at the Halls of Memory (δ131x219, p2, 26Sx135E).
- The Great Cloud Nebula is not present in the past. Six G-type star systems are present instead, located at δ125x137, δ125x140, δ126x138, δ126x139, δ127x138, and δ127x140. The Uhl is located at &delta126x139, p2.
- Ships in the past use Endurium instead of Shyneum (Shyneum won't be created until the formation of the Cloud Nebula).
To use the anomaly, a ship first needs to fly to its coordinates, just like flying to any other point in hyperspace. Using a jump pod to travel directly to the anomaly is possible, though the odds of actually hitting the coordinates of the anomaly via a jump pod are very low (
for rules on travelling in hyperspace and using jump pods, see Chapter 8.4). As with flux destinations, landing on the anomaly via jump pod won't automatically trigger travel through it.
Travelling through the anomaly will consume fifty cubic meters of Shyneum (fifty fuel units). If a ship doesn't have enough fuel to complete the journey, the GM should assume that the ship is out of fuel upon reaching its destination, and that it travelled through the anomaly with its shields down. Since this is obviously a bad situation to be in, the GM should warn the players any time they attempt to use the anomaly with insufficient fuel.
Unlike flying through a flux, travelling through the anomaly carries no risk of getting lost (no
Astrogation Check is necessary once the ship has finished transit). Instead, any ship flying through the anomaly risks significant structural damage. To minimize this risk, the ship's Navigator must perform a
Starship Piloting Check with a DC of 150. Success means the ship will proceed through the anomaly unscathed. In the event of a failure, the ship suffers five points of damage for each point of the degree of failure. This Check has critical potential: in the event of critical success, only half the normal amount of fuel will be consumed in traversing the anomaly. In the event of critical failure, the damage is increased to ten points for every point of the degree of failure. Damage inflicted by the anomaly is the same as normal combat damage (
see Chapter 9.4), so raising shields before proceeding through the anomaly may substantially curtail the amount of permanent damage done to the ship. Provided the ship survives the trip, the crew will find either find themselves one million years in the Delta Sector's past or back in the present, depending upon what time period they were in when they entered the anomaly. The Anomaly cannot be used to travel to any other time period.
The Intrepid
Around 4620, there were some rumors of a highly classified project known as "Flying Dutchman". According to the rumors, the remains of a protoype Interstel starship, the I.S.S.
Intrepid, had travelled back into the past. Though the ship was adrift and contained no useable technology, the captain's logs were found intact. Among those logs were the reasons why an attempt was made to send the ship through time (to prevent the capture of valuable technology the ship was carrying, none of which evidently survived the journey) and how the attempt was made. Some discrepencies exist in the rumors (for example, apparently the ship's origin time was the
eleventh month of 4620), which substantially reduces their credibility.
The method of time travel employed by Captain Max Zarfleen of the I.S.S.
Intrepid does a bang-up job. Literally. It's not recommended for those adventurers who want to continue living, as this method causes a significant amount of systems damage to any ship upon which it's tried.
To employ the
Intrepid method of time travel, two things are required: a Black Egg, and a pile of Endurium. The minimum amount of Endurium required for this method is ten cubic meters, which will send the ship (or its remains) approximately one month into the past. For each additional ten cubic meters of Endurium used, the ship will travel another month into the past. The only limit on how much Endurium can be employed (and therefore how far back in time the ship can go) is the amount of Endurium the ship can hold at any given time. Shyneum cannot be used as an Endurium substitute for time travelling purposes. This method is strictly one-way, and may only be used to visit the past.
Ordinarily, a Black Egg's detonation sequence is activated when there is sufficient distance between the device's detonator and the explosive portion of the device. Activating the Black Egg's detonation sequence on ship requires the override of its normal safeties. This can be accomplished with a DC 150
Jury Rig Check. If the Check fails, the Black Egg merely fails to detonate. This Check has critical potential: in the event of a critical failure, the Black Egg detonates immediately, instantaneously vaporizing the ship and its current occupants in the process, without any time travel effects produced.
Should the check succeed, the ship is ready to travel through time. Whatever crew is still abord the ship may choose to detonate the Egg whenever they are ready, or bail out. Upon activation, the Black Egg causes an instantaneous 2000 points systems damage (
see Chapter 9.4) and blows off any armor (AHP is reduced to zero). Provided anything of the ship is left, any of its crew that survives the ordeal will find themselves in the past.
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