The Collective

Overview

The Collective is the Keth navigators' league. It is based on Slipwind, the Keth homeworld. It charts the Jump Lanes, keeps the beacons running, and sells lane charts called the Archive of Routes. A Jump Lane is a mapped faster-than-light route between star systems, and Keth beacons mark each one. Nearly every ship in the Drift flies on Collective charts. When a beacon fails, the lane near it becomes dangerous, and the Collective sends a crew to fix it.

The Collective can also declare a lane unsafe. Ships stop using it, and a whole region can be cut off for months.

Slipwind

• Slipwind is a canyon world. Its cities hang on the cliffs, joined by cables and trams.

• The Archive of Routes is kept here. Chart makers update it every day from reports sent back by beacon crews.

• Most factions treat Slipwind as neutral ground, because everyone needs the charts.

Who runs it

• Cantons are the local Keth communities. Each canton sends delegates to the league. Delegates are picked for good work, not popularity.

• Surveyors fly the lanes, test the beacons and decide whether a lane is safe. Their word carries the most weight.

• Chart keepers update the Archive of Routes and sell copies to ports, crews and Data Guilds.

• Route councils decide when to close a lane and settle fights between cantons.

How it holds power

• Safe or unsafe. Only the Collective can officially close a lane. One ruling can empty a port.

• The charts. Crews pay for updates. Members get them first. Everyone else pays more and waits.

• Beacon repair. Nobody else knows how to fix a beacon properly.

• Holding back. The Collective can delay a region's chart updates to put pressure on its leaders.

Across the Drift

• Core. Core ports will not let a ship dock without current Collective charts.

• Mid. Most ports use the charts, but syndicate maps and bribes compete with them.

• Rim. Beacons fail more often here, and repairs come late. Even syndicates buy stolen Collective charts, because a bad chart means a lost ship.

Weak spots

• Stolen and fake charts. Syndicates copy and sell charts. Some sell shortcut routes that are not safe. Ships have been vanishing on those shortcuts since the year 12.

• Failing beacons. Since the Rim beacons started failing in the year 85, the Collective has had more broken beacons than crews to fix them.

• No fleet. It has survey ships but no warships. It cannot force anyone to do anything.

• Arguments. Cantons fight over which lanes to fix first, since every choice leaves some region waiting.

What it means for a crew

• Keep your charts current. An old chart is how ships end up lost off a lane.

• Guarding a beacon crew or getting back a stolen beacon part pays well.

• Out past a dead beacon there are wrecks, some of them very old, and a few of them still sending signals.

Reputation

Most people trust the Collective, even when a lane closure ruins their week, because its charts keep them alive. Rim crews call it slow and stiff. Syndicates hate it because it exposes their fake charts.