Faster-Than-Light Travel
FTL travel is achieved as per the Starforged rulebook - an Eidolon drive (E-drive) 'jumps' a starship into 'the Drift' a neighbouring dimension where FTL travel is possible. The E-drive propels the starship through the Drift for a fixed amount of time which is dependent upon the size of the drive compared to the mass of the starship and is commonly referred to as a 'cycle'.
Therefore, the more mass of a starship taken up by the E-drive, the further/longer the starship can travel through the Drift. When this time expires, the starship 'jumps' back to 'normal' space. The E-drive must be recharged (or recycled) before it can be used to jump back into the Drift.
The time taken to recharge the E-drive varies depending upon local factors and an apparently random factor, but can usually be estimated as around half the time the E-drive ran in the Drift.
To engage the E-drive, the starship must reach a minimum safe distance from large objects - 'large' meaning an object the size of a space station or bigger, not other starships. If the E-drive is engaged within this distance, it is highly probable (but not entirely certain) that something disastrous will happen...
When jumping into normal space, the minimum safe distance is automatically observed - the jump will fail if the inteneded arrival point is within this distance of a large enough object.
Spaceship vs. Starship
A spaceship is a vessel capable of navigating the vacuum of space, but without an E-drive - they are therefore limited to one solar system.
A starship is a spaceship with an E-drive, so can therefore travel between star systems.
Power: 'Horizontal' vs 'Vertical'
The Noble Houses have what is called 'vertical' power. This means that their power is based upon control of locations. Any given location, be it a settlement on a planet, deep-space station, etc, will be controlled by a Noble House.
Guilds, on the other hand, have 'horizontal' power. Their power is based upon services available at many locations and the threat of withdrawal of those services. This makes the Guilds very powerful through the use of threatening to withdraw their services. Noble Houses do have their own healers, soldiers, messengers, etc. but nearly all are not of the same quality as those provided by the Guilds.
Noble Houses
Nearly all of settled space in the Forge is governed by an aristocratic clan utilising a feudal system. Called Noble Houses they vary in size from one solar system to a very few that span multiple sectors. I'm using the Elf Names tables from Ironsmith Expanded Oracles for the Houses' names.
Guilds
The Guilds are professional associations, or unions, formed to counter the Noble Houses' power and protect their members from the unjust application of that power. The threat of withdrawing their services is usually enough to force a Noble House to back down in a confrontation.
Occasionally though, conflicts can arise. To date, the Guilds have usually won these confrontations as they have banded together. The Healers, for instance, have been supported several times by the Warriors' Guild - a potent combination.
Some of the more powerful Guilds:
Iron Heralds - couriers (see below)
Healers - medical services
Warriors - mercenaries
Bounty Hunters - hunt criminals who travel out of a jurisdiction
Iron Heralds Guild
There are two branches to the Iron Heralds Guild (discovered so far):
* - Couriers: possessing a starship, Couriers convey anything required from one star system to another. They are given a shard of an ancestor-ship on which they swear vows to make their deliveries
* - Datacouriers: are augmented, highly trained people fitted with an internal memory chip. Data needing to be moved between systems for which a Courier is not secure enough, is put on the chip and the datacourier swears to deliver the data or die in the attempt. Their scalps are shaved and indentifying tattoos scribed on their heads and faces. Anyone interfering with a datacourier - e.g. harming them or preventing them discharging their mission - will be blackballed by the Guild and it will devote all its resources to punitive action against them.
'Illegal'
'Illegal', when used as a description for a settlement (planetside, orbital or deep space) means that the location was constructed without the sponsorship of a Noble House (see above). Without this sponsorship, the location will receive no help from a Noble House if something untoward happens...