Great Spiral

The Great Spiral is the galaxy which contains the various nations and peoples of the Star Drive setting. It is a common name by which the galactic community refers to the entirety of the galaxy.

Structure
The Great Spiral is a barred spiral galaxy approximately 120,000 light years in diameter and containing nearly 400 billion stars. The various stars and gases at extensive ranges from the Galactic Center rotate at an average speed of 220 kilometers per second. A full revolution of the galactic mass is estimated to take approximately 240 million years. The entirety of the galaxy moves at an average speed of 600 kilometers per second with respect to extragalactic frames of reference. The Great Spiral is part of the Local Group, a subcomponent of the Virgo Supercluster.

Galactic Center
Refers to the rotational center of the Great Spiral. The sole most notable site here is the supermassive quantum singularity Sagittarius-A, most commonly called the Well of Infinity, which is the one most intense astronomical radio source in the entirety of the galaxy. Able to be detected by modern sensors from any point in the Great Spiral, it is used as the general point of reference by navigation computers.

There are only but a tiny handful of worlds in this region that are habitable, as the majority of space is too cluttered and heavily irradiated for habitation without considerable technological assistance.

Galactic Deep Core
An extremely dense region of stars surrounding the Galactic Center, the Deep Core is home to some of the oldest stars in the Great Spiral and is a near-constant hotbed of activity. There are very few inhabitable worlds in this part of the Great Spiral, which the proximity of so many stars maintaining a state of near-constant daytime conditions. Because of the closeness of many of the stars in this region, accurate navigational charts of the few known safe routes are highly prized and are largely kept by government and military agencies for emergencies.

Galactic Core
Surrounding the Center and Deep Core regions, the Galactic Core is a heavily populated region of the Great Spiral that is home to some of the most important and prominent star systems in the galactic community. It is the single wealthiest nad most affluent region of the galaxy. Herein one may find the capital worlds of several powers, including the Galactic Consilium, the Galarian Union and the Mostoli Federation.

Galactic Mid Region
The bulk of the galactic disc falls within what is called the Mid Region. Here one finds the majority of the populated worlds of the Great Spiral, and a large portion of the exploration efforts currently underway. Two particularly prominent areas of populated worlds in this area are the Tengel Cluster and the Ribom Expanse.

Galactic Rim
The peripheral edge of the galactic disc and the wilds of the galactic arms fall into the Rim region. Here one finds scattered colonies, distant worlds and some of the most lawless swaths of territory in the entire Great Spiral. The sole prominent world in this region is Old Earth, the dead origin world for the Human race.