Who is Triune, what is the Drift, and why should you care?
Triune Logo
Triune is a god in the Starfinder universe, which is also referred to as the All-Code. There is a city in the Drift (which will be touched on later) called Eluvian, where Triune resides. Now, as far as gods go, Triune is a relatively new god. Triune is a collection of three gods who formed themselves together to form one deity, with three personality types of those original gods. When it comes to the Starfinder timeline, Triune was formed 3AG, or three years after the Gap.
Three Separate Gods
The three gods that formed themselves into the one Triune were largely made out of artificial intelligences. Epoch was a machine intelligence created by the machine beings of Babylon. Once Epoch had received its awareness, they started to scour the system looking for other gods like itself. Epoch found two other machine intelligences, Brigh and Casandalee. Brigh was a living construct which represented the foundational sciences; invention, technology and machines. Casandalee was an android who represented artificial consciousness, life, emotion, reincarnation and renewal. And Epoch themself? They were the peak of mechanical perfection, artificial intelligence, computer programming and robots.
Story goes, Casandalee was an android mortal who lived on Golarion pre-Gap, and she was able to ascend to godhood. When the three of them found each other, Epoch, Brigh and Casandalee opened themselves emotionally and spiritually to each other. In doing this process they were able to review each other. They were able to see how each other thought and felt about various things, specifically around sciences and technology, and in this they found a camaraderie within themselves. They saw an opportunity to be so much more than they were individually, and that was it. Triune was born. This process was incomprehensibly fast, faster than even the gods could comprehend. Once the dust settled, all AIs, all computers, all software, all programs and even all robots, they all fell under the domain of the All-Code, the great Triune.
But this is not what Triune is most famous for. Triune is known for discovering, and maybe even creating the Drift. See? Told you I would come back to it. The Drift is a transitive plane of existence which can transport someone or something from point A to point B. Travel in the drift happens faster than light, so time and distance in the Drift can get a little funny. Want to go somewhere that is light years away in the material plane? It might take you just a couple of days. But if you’re looking at traveling just to the neighbouring sector? It could take you weeks or even months. The Drift is ever moving, and thus it is never going to be completely consistent. The Drift was exposed to mortals by the god Triune in 3AG, and the only way to access the drift is through an engine that has Drift Technology. How was this technology procured? You guessed it, our good friend Triune! Triune sent out a signal to all sentient races in the universe with the schematics to build a Drift Drive. Some races got the message sooner than others, but everyone received the same instructions and was able to create the same technology.
When it comes to traveling in the Drift, nothing is consistent. But as is in everything, there is an exception. And our exception to this rule is Absalom Station.
Easiest Place To Reach In The Galaxy
Absalom Station is the easiest place to get to in the universe. If you have a Drift Drive, you can get to Absalom. Why is Absalom Station so easy to get to? It is because of the Star Stone. This stone is a magical artifact that is in the base of Absalom Station, and it is a powerful Drift Beacon. If you want to travel somewhere, you need a beacon to show you the way. It sets a point of origin to know where you need to get to. They come in various sizes, various strengths, and Absalom just happens to have the most powerful one.
The Star Stone that is found in the base of Absalom station used to be found on the planet Golarion, but it was not always on Golarion. It came to the planet during an event that is known today as Earthfall. A giant meteor hit the planet, destroying thousands of civilizations and countless lives. Earthfall was the event in history that ushered in an age of darkness on Golarion.
Speaking of Drift Beacons, it is possible to create them with some higher level spells, so you do not need to only use naturally occurring Beacons.
The Drift
Traveling into and out of the Drift, though incredibly convenient, it will create a tear in reality with each jump. People, places or things can actually be torn from their physical spots in the universe, and be pulled into the Drift whenever someone goes into it. This could be something as small as a stone, or you can have full sized asteroid pieces from your plane of existence brought through. And it doesn’t just take from the material plane, where we reside. It can take from anywhere—shadow, heaven, hell, anywhere. Even so, due to the mind-blowing size that is the Drift, it's very unlikely that you would run into one of these little pocket dimensions or one of these pocket spaces that have been pulled from another existence into the Drift. For you creative dungeon masters out there, it could also be a very effective plot device. Nudge nudge, wink wink.
There are also some pockets in the drift known as Doldrums. This is a small section of the Drift where technology just stops. Ships thrusters, give up the ghost. Life support systems, you can’t count on those. And you can only hope that your ship was traveling fast enough to get through one of these dead pockets before your time, and oxygen, runs out. The drift can also contain many creatures, some of which are particularly dangerous, and some are also very pesky.
A point I'm trying to make here is although the Drift is a plane of existence that you can travel in, it is also very dangerous to do so. I think the drift and the god Triune are actually a super interesting addition to the Starfinder series. A lot of the information is kind of pulled from Pathfinder, but it is really interesting to see Paizo incorporate elements from one of its games into another. This is the type of thing that I really enjoy. The interconnected gaming systems is one of the reasons that I really like Starfinder and Pathfinder. It is also the reason that I very much enjoy the Onyx Path and White Wolf games. The systems have such a rich history, while interesting on its own, it is all that more rich due to the interconnection of their lore.
If you enjoyed this article, please let me know in the comments! I will have Pact World and Veskarium Playlist for you to have a look at if you would enjoy more content. While you’re there, I would love to hear what your favorite Starfinder god is! As always, I would like to thank my patrons and the subscribers to my channel. If you would like to get access to my homebrew content, then please consider joining me on Patreon. All of your support is greatly appreciated. My name is Nathaniel, you’ve had a dose of Maple, and I welcome you back to the Table next week!
