The Seven Spheres

Whoever said that shit rolls downhill never knew how right he was.

Known space, while it was ruled by the Republic, was divided into seven sections, based on the average frequency of strand contact per populated world. The lines have blurred somewhat since they were set down, but a few things remain the same.

The core, or the first sphere, is and will be the easiest place in known space to get to. travel is cheap, and once you get to the core, it's easier to find a strand in your direction than anywhere else.

The vaults, also known as the seventh sphere, lay just below the edge. They are the most difficult to get to. Out that far, it could be months before a strand appears close enough to a planet to make it accessible. These are the luxury worlds of known space. The former republic was ruled by ansible from its ancient seat on the planet Regia, and most of the power and influence still resides in the vaults.

The second, fourth, fifth, and sixth spheres are a bubbling cauldron of political intrigue and interstellar war. Competing Stellar Empires battle one another for control of the space ways and regular strand paths.

The third sphere is something of a mystery. Within roughly nine-tenths of the third sphere, as well as large sections of the second and fourth spheres lies a totally empty abyss. Starless, planetless, and devoid of even space dust, the third sphere is a complete no man's land. Being thrown from a strand in the midst of this cold void can be very dangerous... particularly if the strand moves.

The Edge is the invisible line that lies at the border of the seventh sphere beyond which the strand become so thoroughly unreliable that it could easily be thousands of years before a strand appears in the same place twice. Explorers try... none have returned.