The Aegis, hull ARS-01, escorting a convoy toward a luminous ancient gate ring

The premise

A route to the edge of the universe, built by races long gone.

For generations, the gates of the Astral Crossing turned distant stars into neighbouring worlds. Nobody asked where their power came from.

Every gate draws from the last one, out at the end of the route. Now it is going dark, and the gates are failing one by one. Routes collapse mid-transit. Lost ships come back changed.

Only the Astral Key can restart the last gate, and it has been lost for a thousand years. The Inner Council wants it buried. You command the Aegis, and you have orders to find it.

A gate ring folding inward, tearing a freighter apart mid-transit
Frontier gate · collapse mid-evacuation
  1. I

    The Lost Key

    Follow the last lead to the Orison-9 observatory, and learn how long the Council has been lying.

  2. II

    The Ancient Route

    Take the Key down a road of gates older than humanity, through sectors no chart covers.

  3. III

    Treachery

    Someone on your bridge reports to the enemy. It is a different officer every run.

  4. IV

    The Last Gate

    Reach the end of the Crossing with the hunter fleet behind you, and decide what the gates are worth.

Who wants the Key

Five powers. None of them on your side for long.

Relay Authority

Built civilisation on the Crossing and has hidden its collapse for decades.

Will sacrifice the Aegis

Helion League

A trade bloc that already knows which routes will survive.

Sells to the highest bidder

Choir of Ember

Believes the failing gates are a calling. Their faith was shaped by something real.

Goals end badly for humans

The Driftborn

Scavengers who live in the wreckage and know more than any official body.

Won't die for you

The Null Fleet

Ships lost inside the Crossing, now returning. They remember what hasn't happened yet.

Unknown intent