Travel: Physics and Metaphysics
Interstellar trade, travel and warfare are usually carried out by means of starships using the Vendro Effect star drive system. These are capable of traveling faster than light speed, but nevertheless, travel is still quite slow. It can take weeks or months to travel between systems, which is better that the years and decades it would take at sublight speeds, but still makes true interstellar society impossible. Trade is usually carried out by convoys following a fixed route where cargo is pre-arranged and established by treaty. Interstellar wars are long, drawn out affairs, with years of muster, weeks of travel and short devastating encounters. The expense is crippling and the strategy and logistics involved are difficult and daunting.
The Knights of Orion possess the only widely known means of travel that is faster than the Vendro Effect. Knights who are psychically attuned can use the Marvel Crystals to open gateways that allow for instant travel from planet to planet. Gateway travel is not an exact science and is a closely guarded privilege of the knights who are sworn to use it only for the good of the kingdom and its subjects. It is surmised that there may be other means of travel which operate similarly to the Marvel Crystals, but no direct evidence of such has ever been proven.