Spatial warp

Spatial Warp, or Warp Drive, was a form of both subluminal and faster-than-light propulsion. The propulsion worked by expanding and contracting space around a vessel and riding the resultant 'waves' of spacetime in a closed protective bubble. The protective bubble carries the vessel through these waves of spacetime. As such, the vessel itself does not actually move at all.

Earth's United Nations and later the Union of Sol used Subluminal warp technology in its Earth Expansion Vessel Program, as well in most of its other interstellar vessels.

Spatial Warp was usually created by the exotic material Qwerrium, which would naturally form distortions in spacetime when sufficiently energised.

Due to Qwerrium's natural aversion to high-gravity environments, Spatial Warp could only be utilised in low-gravity environments, far away from planets and stars. In the Sol System, Warp Drives could be reliably activated at distances greater than 1.7 AU from Sol. Similarly, active Warp Drives would shut down as a vessel entered this sphere of 'gravity lock'.