Quote:
Originally Posted by CraigR
Interpath, sci-fi version
A group of star systems, each of which are deep in intergalactic space and unreachable by conventional FTL tech (taking centuries to reach at maximum speed), isolated even from each other except by the expressway. Travel along it multiplies FTL speeds by thousands to millions, making trips between them quite quick. It would be possible to leave mid-path into a galaxy the path cuts through, but getting back on the path or back to the remote systems would be almost impossible.
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That's similar to the relays in
Mass Effect - a ship enters at one end of the relay, and is conveyed via mass-effect corridor to a designated arrival point. Any given relay can connect to more than one destination - for instance, we know that the relay in Sol system connects at least to Arcturus and New Eden. Both launch and arrival relays must be active in order for this to work; fortunately (or unfortunately) for humanity, there was a relay out around Pluto way, so when we discovered Element Zero and the mass-effect drive, we could get to more than just the nearest four or five systems. (The ME drive is FTL, but can take anywhere from days to years to cross between systems, while the relays are nearly instantaneous.)
The difference is that since ME relay is near-instant, there's no way to leave the relay path once you've launched. If you hit the Pluto relay headed for Systems Alliance HQ at Arcturus, you're going to Arcturus, not another star along the path.
A fantasy version would, I suppose, involve a magical gateway at each end of the path, which causes the trip from one end to the other to be no longer than, say, a day or so. To get from King's Rest to Far Harbor takes three weeks by conventional caravan, but the King's Men can travel between the points in three hours and arrive as fresh as when they left.