The simple fact is that the Empyraeum uses a great deal of technology of which it has little to no understanding. Theories abound regarding how VoidGates work, how Reflex fields function, and even how some of their weapons do what they do.

 

The Empyraeum has suffered what some the Mabharri Paradox or the Viriconium Effect.  Six hundred years ago, we unlocked the Pansabian Database on Sèlene and, close to an aeon later, gained access to the VoidGate network, allowing faster than light travel from one edge of the Galaxy to the other.

 

Now, if rumours of what the Pilot’s College says about the medium through which Voidgates travel – variously called the Void or the Anchera-Ungul – is both a somewhat physical and malleable/immaterial one. In effect, every ship of significant displacement – be it civilian or military – in the Empyraeum, passes through a hazardous place on a regular basis without knowing what those dangers are. It is said the Pilots do know and do protect us from those dangers, that they exist to do precisely that. When you really examine that phrase, though, it should not reassure you.

 

We are talking about forces of the universe which are being wielded without understanding neither their dangers nor their origins. We discovered the Ancient ruins on Sèlene and proceeded to decode each and every one of their secrets for our own improvement. Yet we know nothing of who or what these Ancients were; we do not know where they came from, where they went, and why?  We do not even know if they abandoned the technology we found or whether they left it, intentionally, for us to find.

 

Of course, if the latter is the case, the most obvious question should be why?