TR12BCS or "The Knot" (WRotP Contest)

[Fatty]

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• Intent: Prompt 1 "A mysterious megastructure is discovered around a star." and provide an unprecedented race location
• Image Credit: Linda Sannuti
• Canon: N/a
• Permissions: N/a
• Links: Gree

• Astronomical Location Name: Transparent-Rhombus 12 Black Crying Spheres (Approximate Gree Translation), "TR12BCS", or "The Knot" (Colloquial Racer terminology)
• Classification: Hyper-Dimensional Self-Propagating Rhombus-Lens
• Location: Upper Hex adjacent to Belkadan
• Rotational Period: Non-standard, irregular, N/a
• Orbital Period: Varies, N/a
• Size: Massive
• Affiliation: Often attributed to the original Gree civilization
• Population: Uninhabited
• Demographics: N/A
• Accessibility: Unusually accessible, but far enough away from any other signs of civilization or exploitable resources that it's considered obscure
• Description: An interdimensional fissure surrounds the star, suspending it permanently just moments before super-nova, separating it from the rest of causality. In the space around the fissure, hyperspace is funneled into a chaotic region of strange non-euclidian loops and parallels. Attempts to cross through the suspension field often appear to warp the intended destination to unexpected and often times unfathomably long (and sometimes hostile) distances. For instance, one may attempt to utilize force abilities to force their way through the suspension field and inexplicably find themselves in hyperspace on the other side of the galaxy moments before getting dragged outside of a black hole. Or perhaps someone may use a Helldrive to circumvent traditional reality bound by physics and end up stranded in Otherspace instead.
  
  Most scholars agree that the entire structure is intended to be an elaborate art installation, with some components that act as the equivalent between a fun-house mirror and an amusement park ride. Peer-reviewed research suggests hyperspace seems to behave like an intricate knot surrounding and inside the object, but never in such a way that any two objects traveling through it collide or impact any physical object. With unlimited fuel, any number of Hyperspace objects could travel indefinitely through the Knot, and exit safe and freely at any point along it. Though typically, exits out of the Knot are outside the main Rhombus-shaped fissure.

• The Rhombus: The central jewel of the installation. A pre-supernova star captured mere moments before its destruction, forever locked away and suspended outside of casualty with an interdimensional Knot. Many Hyperlanes intersect inside the shape cut very closely to large perpetual solar prominences, like frozen astronomical loops of fire. The heat can be felt, despite that such radiation is forever frozen in time. It is suspected to be a psychological effect, as a star going nova wouldn't produce survivable temperatures.
• The Black Crying Spheres: No one is quite sure what the spheres are meant to represent or if they have some kind of stabilizing function for the Rhombus, but they undoubtedly have some connection to one another. They often serve as hyperspace exits for the Rhombus despite no obvious pathways to them other than sub-light drives in real space. Trying to enter the spheres appears to be impossible, as most attempts simply result in an approaching vessel leaving in the direction they came in without changing course or noticing the transition. Though, on occasion, they will toss entering vessels to unexpected locations, such as on the other side of the galaxy near massive objects, in the void of Otherspace, or at the foot of a Netherworld Rift. No one is quite sure what the black streaks coming from the spheres are, or why they go in the direction they do, but most organics and even synthetics find themselves preferring not to think about them. Many people who have exited the spheres claim to have seen evidence of collapsed and knotted planets briefly before entering real space, leaving some racers to speculate that perhaps these are suspended planets that previously orbited this star system, though it remains nigh-impossible to say for certainty.
• Killick-Hitch Station: A deep space station and shadowport that "orbits" the Knot, keeping proximity to the anomaly despite an apparent lack of gravity. Many underworld elements gather here to organize dangerous races, where individuals enter the Rhombus, and the first racer found exiting a Black Crying Sphere intact is awarded ludicrous amounts of money. Trading data on the structure often goes for millions of Underworld Credits.

The approximate age of "The Knot" is undeterminable. It is undoubtedly ancient and often attributed to the Gree, who had a name for it and seems to appeal to their unique sense of beauty, along with their proclivity for dimensional engineering. It has not seen much use throughout galactic history given its out-of-the-way location and lack of proximity to useful resources. Station keeping around the anomaly also proves difficult as it seems to operate under its own rules, displaying no apparent mass and following no discernable orbit, seemingly fixed in space despite the knots in hyperspace it creates, thus giving rise to its "racer name".

It has found some recent interest by underworld elements as an exotic race location. Entrants go in, exit the spheres with tall tales of the interior, and trade data for massive profits. The visuals alone garner massive interest to eccentric buyers, though other business also takes place on Killik-Hitch Station as a result.