Overview
The aether is a liquid substance akin to water, air, and gas, which permeates all space outside of atmosphere. Unlike other liquids, it is extremely thin. It is so thin, in fact, that aether could nearly be classified as an ideal, or perfect fluid. Still, aether does evince some resistance, presenting researchers with the challenge of overcoming its effects.
The aether is cold, capable of freezing things within sealed, un-climatized spaces submerged within it. And even within a sealed environment, the aether subjects objects to weightlessness, which is due to magnetic pull of the aether itself – as opposed to the pull of a planet, world, moon, asteroid, etc.. Seekers of the Ascendancy are still unsure of the secret inner workings and mysteries of liquid aether.
For a full report and analysis, see the report by Chief Seeker Eminence Aldrani Bin-Shathi: “Aether, Outer Space, and Quintessence“
Engineering
Like aerodynamics and hydrodynamics, aetherdynamics is the field which engineers study in order to construct ships, and other objects, with low drag coefficients for maximizing speed and efficiency while submerged in aether. This fact often causes, though does not require, ships to be engineered with intended bows (the projected frontal area). Up to max speeds of 23,000km/s, a ship is not required to be fitted with a designated bow given that most ships, regardless of engine type, are capable of such speeds without factoring aetherdynamics. Beyond this, a Drive Core, and/or aetherdynamics are crucial. Some vessels, especially military vessels, are always designed with specific orientation in mind, and are often fitted with super cavitating devices which allow them to move at speeds greatly exceeding 23,000km/s, very nearly reaching the speed of light (within 100,000km/s, give or take) when powered by a Drive Core. Though reaching such immense speeds requires, at minimum, an armored bow and a reinforced superstructure, but, ideally, both an Oscillating Field and super cavitation capabilities.
Navigation
Unlike the known and commonly understood physics of the properties of liquids, the aether defied nearly all known models during mankind’s first forays into the Great Liquidity. Thus, navigating the aether was, at first, extremely dangerous. That danger stemmed primarily from the lack of level and the associated struggle to orientate. Both aerodynamics and hydrodynamics, even Mankind and all creatures, are accustomed to and designed for a fixed level. It need not be described the difficulty of maintaining orientation while operating in a vectorless space (having infinite vectors).
The fact that movement is at all times from all angles, directions, and rotations causes the judgment capabilities of man to be pushed beyond their limits. This problem is only enhanced in that there is often no reference point for judging speed and distance, and the surrounding space is very dark. For these reasons, being equipped with a full suite of sensing technologies is an absolute necessity.
All manner of technologies, some common to the fields of navigating sea and air, are used in aiding pilots, whether they be common debtors or Ascendancy. But, the greatest navigational aid was an instituted system of fictional level designations, or illusory laws, on all aetherspace first implemented as a prototype by the United Earth Empire. These fictional, or illusionary, level designations first constituted a device that was something similar to a compass, but rather than being on a flat 2D plane, this compass was 3D, and shaped like a globe. This 3D compass used magnetism for orientation, and it worked quite well. However, due to the aether having many strange magnetic effects occurring throughout it, often, seemingly, at random, the 3D compass would often fail to maintain reliable orientation. That failure only being exacerbated by traveling swiftly, thus frequently intersecting different magnetic currents. As such, personnel had to cross reference and agree on standard points of orientation as they traveled.
After the Ascendancy achieved dominance over Earth and pushed out into aether, a 4D system and compass was developed. The OEA instituted a fixed point of reference for orientation in space throughout all the aether, called the Zero Point. That point of reference was designated to be Earth. This illusory law has proven very effective, with all stations being orientated so that the “uppermost” area is in line with this Zero Point, which standardized and made simple all docking, approach, and egress maneuvers. Thus, no matter where one was throughout the vast expanse of the Great Liquidity, their 4D Compass would always point “true north,” so to speak.