Hello! Ric here with a quick lore video on Gravitational anomalies that crop up throughout
the Trek universe. Rather than do a video break down on the Discovery teaser trailer,
I thought I could speculate on the nature of this strange field that seems to be messing
with gravity in the galaxy. I could do a breakdown of the teaser, but
I would rather wait for the release of a full length trailer. I did spot a Starfleet Lurian,
and that the ship had been inverted by the gravitational effect in the trailer. The gravitational
field is 5 lightyears in scale, so whatever it is, its larger than most anomalies encountered
and for a galaxy that is still learning to trust Dilithium and warp travel again, outrunning
it may be a problem for most cultures that gave up on such technology after the Burn.
But to get back on topic, let’s look at what effects exist in the lore already that
cause similar disruptions in space-time. First up, we have the Delphic Expanse. This
was an incursion made into our reality by a species that lay beyond the bounds of the
Trek universe and an area centuries in the making. This region of space was created through
the use of spheres of immense power that reconfigured regular space into a realm closely resembling
the native planes of the Sphere Builders. The pockets of this vast spatial disruption
had numerous effects, most commonly the visible warping of reality, and the breakdown of matter
that was incompatible within its area of effect, such as organic tissue. However, other strange
effects were observed, such as strong gravitational forces acting in unpredicted directions.
These anomalies however did not persist beyond the edges of the expanse, which itself was
lightyears across, and as mentioned, were artificially created. Speaking of…
Artificial gravity. I may do a video exploring this topic in full as another Sunday one,
but the basic lore is that artificial gravity is produced by Graviton emitting plating under
the deck. If you have a massive enough field of gravitons (theoretical gravity particles)
sweeping through the stars, then you would have areas of intense high gravity, but no
discernible mass. The inverse is true for a field of anti-gravitons, which are used
to create columns of weightlessness when artificially regulated, such as “grav-sleds”, but would
counter a Starship’s graviton grid if it was more powerful. Either a massive graviton
or anti-graviton field would seriously mess with anything caught within it, but such fields
generally have not been seen to spontaneously form without a cause, at least not on the
scale of lightyears. Both these are strong effects with a technological
cause, but what about some natural ones. The Graviton Ellipse, despite its name is a subspace
anomaly that does create strong gravimetric distortion. It is effectively a shell of energy
that roams around subspace realms, following magnetic currents until it is drawn to the
“surface” plane (if you like) of our normal space-time. It’s arrival is preceded by
strong gravity ripples then it emerges from subspace and makes a bee-line towards the
nearest electro-magnetic field, as the Ellipse is attracted to it. It then engulfs the field,
unless it that field is dampened or lost. Whatever is inside is then bombarded with
the shell’s internalised subspace radiation, which organic matter also really doesn’t
like. This makes the interior of a graviton ellipse a reliquary of ships and tech from
all over the galaxy, probably beyond as everything inside is effectively trapped inside this
bubble of normal space, even when the ellipse re-enters subspace.
A Cosmic String is another incredibly powerful anomaly that has long been a hazard to space
vessels. Of everything on this list, it probably emits the most powerful gravitational pull.
The strings themselves are no wider than an atom, with a pull greater than that of a Black
hole. Like a Black hole, the only real way to detect one is to observe the effects it
has on space and matter around it. Most Cosmic Strings are surrounded by matter such as gas
clouds that they have passed by and dragged along as they gradually devour them. These
strings are rather small however, compared to many phenomena, at around 100 kilometres
in length. These are fairly well understood by Starfleet and are quite simply often avoided,
considering they do create detectable subspace interference too, and Federation sensors frequently
scan well into subspace. The Badlands are a region of space which is
home to severe gravitational disruptions which have in turn given rise to numerous other
special effects that remain trapped together by the eddies and intense electromagnetic
radiation. However, few of these anomalies are strong enough to pose a serious navigational
hazard by themselves, and it is the combination of sensor interference and unpredictable plasma
storms that really make navigation difficult. Nevertheless, I thought I’d give them a
mention here as the Badlands do cover hundreds of lightyears and technically it does possess
gravitational effects. Obviously, gravitational forces are caused
by numerous spatial rifts, vortices and tears, natural or not. Wormholes, black holes, subspace
tears and the like all produce strong gravitational fields, usually by the emittance of graviton
particles in unregulated amounts, or by the natural distortion of space-time from a concentrated
mass in the case of a Black hole. These however, all are accompanied by other signs and generally,
the gravitational effects are a symptom of a different anomaly, not the primary effect,
like the grav shear of a neutronic storm. Of course there are many other forms specific
gravitational anomaly, but these were the likeliest contenders for a large scale issue
that leapt to mind. It is worth pointing out that most of these
intense gravitational anomalies also mess with warp drive and frequently go hand in
hand with power-draining effects, making escape trickier than it first appears. As warp drive
bends space-time around a warp field, that reaches deep into subspace, so to do strong
gravitational forces. Something that generates gravity from deep within subspace, or another
realm close to standard space will have permeable effects on regular space, meaning in theory,
if a large enough subspace mass was passing close enough to normal space, It might cause
gravitational ripples. Which now I have a terrifying image of some ancient subspace
leviathan swimming around like some Lovecraftian cosmic horror. Point I was originally trying
to make was that gravity messes with stable warp drives and sometimes, that cause might
not even be on this plane of existence. And with that thought I’m going to cower
in my closet which doesn’t really help as extra-dimensional beings could see beyond
3 dimensional reality and I’m actually an insignificant dot in a cold, uncaring and
ultimately malevolent universe. Thanks’ brain. Goodbye.