Lumiways

"We once considered building a second Lumiway outside of Earth, but our governments concluded it would be a massive waste of taxpayers' money. What a shame."

— Suzanna Rizzari of the DSI

Lumiways are giant space highways built around planets. They were first made to allow safe passage for spaceships that wanted to enter a planet without destroying a settlement should they choose to land. This was in the days where space travel was quite rare. As space travel is quite common now, the Lumiways also function as planetary border control. There are now many types of Lumiways built across the Galaxy, being a convenient way to travel between planets or to transport goods.
At the ends of each Lumiway, there are smaller buildings that go by many names. But they are commonly known as Lumen Control Centres, or Lumen Orbitals. They act as border control and are there to regulate migration into and out of a planet. Most planets with sentient life have at least one Lumen Orbital, but some of the larger planets with more resources have at least three around them.

Appearance

Lumiways function a lot like normal highways on Earth. They have lanes, but these are separated by pillars, rather than dotted lines. This is to ensure everyone stays in their own lane. Unlike a highway, spaceships are not allowed to overtake others, since they are all going to the same destinations anyway. Operators say it makes it easier to deal with each spaceship at a time. Lumiways have a curved roof along their lengths to stop other spaceships from jumping in and disrupting the flow of traffic.
Lumiways can have two or three lanes; directions depend on the operator. Terra Lumiways are designed to mimic Earth’s motorways, with two carriageways flowing in opposite directions. The busier Lumiways often have three lanes, with the middle lane for spaceships leaving Lumen Orbitals and the outer two for ships entering them.

Popular Lumiway Routes

The Alcor Intraway

The Alcor System is one of the most populous around, so a massive Lumiway network was built to support this solar system. The Alcor Intraway contains some of the longest Lumiway routes. Most of the Lumiways lead to Alchia, the largest planet in the Alcor System.
The Alcor Intraway connects Alchia to all the other major planets in the solar system, and has two extra routes for spaceships coming from beyond the solar system. Dotted around the Alcor System, there are extra Lumen Orbitals because the system is so busy and thousands of spaceships enter each day.

The Terra Lumiway

In the Solaris System, only two Lumiway routes have been built so far, but one is used a lot. The Terra Lumiway connects Earth to the rest of the Galaxy. Earth also has one Lumen Orbital at the end of the Lumiway.
This Lumen Orbital was built to be huge. When the first Humanoids were discovered on Earth, the Terran Government did not want the planet to have open borders to people from other planets - they could hardly cope with the migration within the planet. So the Lumen Orbital was built to process all the people wanting to go into planet Earth. Today, the Terran Orbital is one of the planet’s biggest employers.

Trade Routes

There are special Lumiway routes reserved solely for the transport of goods and technology. These are to facilitate interplanetary trade. Most solar systems have at least one of these routes for trade. The routes usually lead to the bigger planets, but as more planets become prosperous or join the Space Trade, more routes are being built.
Space locomotives are used to shuttle these goods to their respective destinations. Some types of spacecraft also serve the same purpose, but are used to deliver goods quickly or to carry confidential items without causing alarm or panic.

Alternative Names

Astroways, Spaceways

Type

Highway