Gate Tech

There is a firm on the Asida's home world, Gate Builders, that launched a product unlike anything else. They call them Gates, a simple name for an extraordinary product. Information about the firm, include who the CEO may be, is hidden from public knowledge.

Gates are 2.5 kilometer diameter rings that are built in space and tethered to a space station. An active Gate is nothing short of a portal between two locations. Instantaneous travel from one location to another. The company does not say how it does this, what the requirements are, or any other information about the Gates.

It is general public knowledge that the Gates are connected to a single other Gate, the idea that a two or more Gates can be connected to a single other Gate was seemingly disproved when Gate Builders designated a system as a hub system, commissioned Gates would lead to this system where another Gate could be used to go to your final destination.

The Gates are built by Commissioning the Gate Builders, to do so they must reach out to you. There is no known way to contact them, no one has yet disclosed how much they paid for a Gate pair to be built. Commissioned Gates are not purchased, they are leased. Different Gates can have different contracts; Free for all to use, Free for specific Ship IDs, Pay per use. The people who commission a Gate can use any of these as they wish, allowing for Free time periods at will or switching to a subscription method, or making each ship pay a toll.

Due to its apparent size constraints some ships a new design philosophy was adopted by ship makers, adopting a longer design decreases it's 2D foot print when looking at it Aft on since many Gates make ships pay per this surface area. Gates updated policy to pay by square volume but give the 2D aft view high weight in an attempt to make large ships that barely fit inside unfavorable.