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exceptionally challenging.
Many come to view the whales, which were introduced into the ocean in
2420. Several luxury cruise ships sail a random course between the
floating islands, and many keen sailors hire yachts to circumnavigate
the globe.
    However, the original reason
for establishing the islands is the fishing industry; Atlantis fish
and seaweed are delicacies recognized throughout the Confederation,
and the planet has eight orbiting stations to cope with visiting
trader starships. Each island has several family fishing fleets, and
runs surface-to-orbit cargo flyers. After 250 years, it is estimated
that only 25 percent of the indigenous aquatic species has been
categorized.
    Three

Starships and Weapons
    The starships fall into
three distinct categories: voidhawks, blackhawks and Adamist
starships.

Voidhawks
    Used exclusively by Edenists, voidhawks are living bitek starships
grown around a vast array of energy-patterning cells that can focus
energy density until it approaches infinity, distorting local space
to such a degree that a wormhole will open through which it can
transit. Because the wormhole opens ahead of the voidhawk’s
track (rather than around it, as with Adamist starships) this
maneuver is called the swallow. Transit down a wormhole takes several
seconds, and the maximum external range is fifteen light-years. A
voidhawk is instinctively aware of its spatial location in relation
to star positions, and knows how to “angleâ€

Propulsion
    Acceleration through normal
space is achieved by generating a distortion zone below the threshold
necessary to open a wormhole, so allowing the ship to ride a
distortion wave. Gravity in the crew quarters is generated by a
secondary manipulation of this distortion, and it can be produced
even when the ship is not under acceleration. There is no theoretical
limit to the acceleration a voidhawk can achieve in normal space.
But, in practical terms, generating a simultaneous
counter-acceleration force for the crew is extremely difficult above
3 gees. As voidhawk crew have been geneered to withstand high-gee
acceleration for a considerable time, 6 gees is the standard
acceleration for emergency or combat flying, although brief periods
of very high gees (10–15) are endurable.

Operating Parameters
    No voidhawk can operate from a planetary surface; gravitational force
exerts too strong an influence on space for the distortion field to
retain its integrity. Although able to orbit planets, a voidhawk’s
ability to generate a distortion field is severely limited in
proportion to altitude, with a typical lower limit of 100km
above a terracompatible planet; nor can it create a wormhole within
2,000km of a standard-sized terracompatible planet (Adamist starships
cannot translate within 5,000km), or 100,000km of a Jovian-size gas
giant (Adamist starships 175,000km).
    The distortion effect can be
used to prevent an Adamist starship from translating, by setting up
interference patterns in the distortion field which the Adamist
starship’s jump nodes generate. A voidhawk can project a
distortion zone powerful enough to prevent an Adamist starship’s
translation, from a distance of 100,000km in clear space. The jump
distortion signature of any Adamist ship within a voidhawk’s
detection range can be read, allowing the voidhawk to follow and
intercept. It is these two functions which make voidhawks an
essential component of the Confederation Navy.

Structure
    Voidhawks are typically
lenticular in shape, 120m in diameter and 30m wide at the center.
Upper and lower surfaces have an indented groove 10m wide, 5m deep,
with a circumference of 60m in diameter, into which its mechanical
systems are fitted. The crew quarters form a toroid equipped with
cabins, lounges, a gym, a medical center, and the hangar deck for an
atmospheric flyer and small atmospheric craft and an MSV; it has its
own fusion power supply (triplicated) with fuel-storage tanks,