A Relay Gate, most commonly referred to as either R-Gate or merely Relay refers to the most commonly available interstellar and intergalactic form of transportation within the Perseus Cluster. Technologically, the R-Gate is the successor to Step Gates and is a lateral technology predecessor to the current Harmony Drive system.
Origin and History[]
Relay Gates represent the direct technological evolution of Step Gates in many ways. As Step Gate research progressed at an exponential rate of growth, the ability to generate a stable wormhole and pair it harmonically across galactic distances became more and more feasible. It was by such a pairing attempt, specifically the pairing of a gate at the heliopause of the Diauptinn System (Diauptinn System/Tiaintins Subsector/Bilaam Sector/Almnatuk Galaxy/Perseus Cluster) and a matched pair gate at the heliopause of the Wieengerm System (Wieengerm System/Tiaintins Subsector/Bilaam Sector/Almnatuk Galaxy/Perseus Cluster). Initially, success was attributed to the brevity of distance between the two gates (only .75 LY). Upon reproduction of results, however, a new age in transportation technology dawned.
Once the ability to selectively 'tune' the gates was mastered, the technology was dubbed Relay Gates to reflect their ability to relay a traveling ship from not only one Galaxy to another, but from one System to a Subsector and from there to a Sector and then to a Galaxy. This breakthrough spawned the current system of gate infrastructure and the cultural impact inherent therein.
Cultural Impact[]
While Step Gates may be considered pivotal in the introduction of a true Cluster-wide society, Relay Gates became the glue that held that society together. With the rapid expansion of the technology, and its rampant impact on materials sciences (heretofore limited by the relatively small number of Step Gates) the Yazri Empire found itself in the unenviable position of being unable to sustain production levels to meet demand.
Such was created the corporation which would, in time, become Advanced Movement And Transportation (AMaT). Initially called the Imperial Transportation Delegate (ITD), changes in internal hierarchy rapidly led to not only a perfection of the technology the company now oversaw, but a cultural backlash against Systems which were not connected by Relay. While many hypothesize that this was a memetic device created by ITD's marketing executives, the truth is that it was by decree of the Imperatrix to ensure a proper motivation on the part of other races to become subordinate to the Empire.