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The Relativists |
Relativist culture emerged during the first interstellar era, when the first relativistic starships left the solar system to explore, colonise or trade with the new colonies. Before this, all trips had been one-way, and any effects of time dilation irrelevant for the crew. But now crews could experience it firsthand, by leaving for the stars and returning decades later, but only aged a few years. When wormholes were developed as much traffic as possible was sent through them - most beings do not want to leave their time and culture behind when travelling - but the need for relativistic travel remained. New wormholes had to be transported to other systems, exploration needed to be done and some outposts were simply too unimportant to merit a wormhole connection. The relativist crews continued working, first for the megacorps, then for the houses and later for the empires. To them the centuries just flowed past.
The Relativists developed their own culture out of necessity - their home cultures vanished while they were away, and the only true community could be found among themselves. The oldest Relativists are thousands of years old, and there are persistent rumors about old timers dating back to the 1000's. Status comes both from being crew of a successful or famous ship and from the Delta, the distance in time from one's birth era.
Relativists are the only beings who normally experience relativity firsthand. To them time and space really are interchangeable, and it makes equal sense to measure any of them in light years. During the oldest eras the ships were still so slow that the crew had to remain in cryonic suspension, but today the bias and pitch drive allow "shirtsleeve operation" most of the time. On a modern ship moving at 0.999c a 100 light year trip is experienced only as a month of time, despite that a century has passed for everyone else.
Relativist crews hang together, often having a hard time relating to anyone else. Other crews might be just as alien as the outsiders, but at least they share the same sense of disconnection from the "static frame" (their name for non-relativist society). To outsiders, they appear clannish and often atavistic (this is one of the few serious professions where baselines still can be found). Crews belong to their ship, although in many cases the ship only exists as a name, as the actual vessel has been upgraded or replaced several times through the millennia.
Being adrift in time the relativists care little for current politics, and interest themselves more in where to go next. Since relativistic travel is still dangerous and financial institutions can vanish, both parts of a deal have to settle for complex insurances and payments in order to guarantee the deal. Often relativists lavish their gains on their ships, although there are some who have gambled in long-range investments either becoming ultra-rich or losing it in some financial disaster or political reorganisation. Some trade in exotica and antiques in addition to their main business, making them great sources of unknown artefacts - or contraband.
There has been a bit of competition from automated ships, but relativists still dominate the market of moving wormholes to new systems, exploration and long-range deliveries. Some relativists have also acted in war, helping other fleets to circumvent the wormhole nexus or attack it. Some say the Version War was largely supported by the Relativists as it made demand for their services astronomical and led to a whole new generation of crews, but by all accounts the relativists prefer to keep out of politics - it changes faster than they travel.
