a World Beyond Worlds
Once space-faring became profitable due to asteroid mining and vacuum manufacturing, it did not take long for humans to settle all the planets and moons of the Sol system. Naturally, this development increased the economic growth of Earth, making humans more capable then ever of reaching further into deep space. The distance between solar systems was a difficult barrier to surmount, but the discovery of Warp technology changed all that. Jump gates, using gravity coupled with negative energy to create stable wormholes between them, allowed instant travel between two points in space. The downside, of course, was that one of eve gold the Jump gates had to be physically carried to its destination point, but their advent nevertheless started off the gradual expansion of the human race to other solar systems.
The next big step was the advancement of Warp technology into Jump drives. The first version only allowed very short jumps within the same solar system, but later versions allowed ships to jump between systems without the aid of a Jump gate. This sped up expansion considerably, and in short time humans had established settlements in hundreds of systems, including dozens of fledged colonies. By then, however, the expansion process was becoming increasingly difficult due to stifling bureaucracy. Almost every solar system within jump range had already been bought or leased long before actual colonization began, and many of those wishing to settle in a new world had to wait years to fulfill their dreams.