[Starhawk]

I've decided to add a bit more backstory to the Icaran Empire as I write part 2 of "Crisis on Valhalla".

Space Travel Within the Icaran Empire

Civilian Space Travel:
Space Travel within the Icaran Empire for civilians is limited to "sub-stellar" ranges, which means though the vast majorty of starships are equipped with GFGs it is illegal for a civilian starship to exit it's own star system without explicit government edict to the contrary, such as what happened during the early portion of Operation Exodus when all civilian ships with GFGs were permited to attempt a retreat from the systems that were being sealed off from the warp.

Even sub-stellar cruises are rare for the average civilian as the operating liscense the government places on all spacecraft is extremely expensive for the average citizen, which means that most Icarans never see another world, much less another system.

There are ways for civilians to see other worlds and other stars, however, these options are listed in detail below:

Colony Bureau: The Colony Bureau is the first hope for most civilians to see another world. A citizen that signs on to the CB is bound for a period of 20 years to a contract that forbids them from, joining the military or mining corps, in this time the CB attempts to find a colony project that best suits the citizen's skills.
Unfortunately for most civilians in the CB they do not find themselves on a beautiful Icara type world but instead are sent to mining worlds or armory worlds which are only safe because of massive blasteel domes, these worlds are often barren and toxic to human life and so the colonist may spend their entire life inside the dome, never again seeing the blue skies of an I-Type world. And any colonist must remain on world for 5-10 years prior to being allowed to sign on to another colony project.

For some citizens however the CB is their only hope for leaving such a barren wasteland of a world and they are willing to chance anything for the opportunity to leave.

Mining Corps: For some the Mining Corps is a worse choice then the CB, but to others it's a life of excitement and adventure that they would turn down for nothing.

The Space Based arm of the Mining Corps was established in the year 2412 when the remote mining devices requried to mine asteroid belts was invented and has for the past decade provided valuable raw materials to the Icaran economy.

The life of a "world" miner is a dangerous one, and a hard one, they spend hours a day, five days a week, every week of the year below ground digging for precious raw materials that are required to keep Icara's economy alive.

A "space" miner's life is just as dangerous but far more exciting to many. A "space miner" serves on a mining ship and spends years on end in space with his/her crew mining the valuable asteroid belts of Icaran space.

The benefit to being a member of the mining corps aside from high pay, is the chance of reasignment, the chance to be asigned to a "core world" that has already been terraformed or is at least undergoing the terraformation process.

Of course the opposite is also true, a miner may go from being based out of a beautiful gem of a world to a barren rock where ferocious creatures are trying to kill you in horrible ways.

The Royal Navy: The Royal navy is another option for a civilian who wishes to see the stars and other worlds, however service to the navy has it's price as well. Miminum service is for no less than 50 years, meaning that a person who signs up at the minimum recruitment age of 16 will get out when they are nearing middle age, It is also a dangerous occupation if you are assigned to a warship or frontline base, or a tedius one if the navy assigns you to a freighter or interstellar transport. Even with the chance of a boring assignment millions of people every year flock to the service of the Royal Navy.

Royal Marines: Like the Navy the Royal Marines attract millions of volunteers every year, civilians who want to see the stars and live a life of adventure and danger. Millions every year washout however and are forced to wait yet another year before they can try again.

Royal Army: Unlike the Romance of the Royal Navy or Royal Marines the Royal army is a machine of no finesse but instead is a hammer of destruction, a blunt objecct used to crush enemy worlds into submission. Those who join the army know they will likely spend the rest of their lives moving from world to world on a troopship in the middle of a warfleet, only seeing a world when they are deployed into battle or deployed for Garrison duty.

State Security: The SS is the only option for those who seek to serve Icara but are unable or unwilling to join the military, a citizen with a clean record and a loyal background may join the SS and hope to be assigned to one of the dozens of brigades guarding Icaran worlds, the main fear of joining the SS is being assigned to one of the "frontier" brigades on an occupied world where the population may be hostile or may not even be human at all.

The Warp:
The reason FTL travel is forbidden to all but government liscensed ships is because the only form of FTL travel is a "warp point" and travel through such points must be strictly enforced and scheduled to prevent tragic accidents.
Another reason for banning FTL travel to all but liscened ships is because millions of citizens would flock away from in-hospitable worlds and leave the vast majority of worlds within Icaran space empty, leaving massive ammounts of resources unreachable.