The text in the CRB says that Triune didn't give the Vesk the secret of drift travel, while the entry on the Azlanti says that they already had an interstellar empire by the time of first contact. Does the tens that Triune gave someone as bad if not worse than the Vesk drift tech or does it mean tha the Azlanti havs their own separate FTL tech?
The Azlanti have had tens of thousands of years to build up their empire so it's possible they have their own version of FTL travel.
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The Drift isn't the only form of FTL tech in the setting, just the most accessible. While rare, powerful spellcasters can travel between planes. Stationary gates, such as the aiudara are also possible. Given time, an Empire might expand via slow travel, and remain in contact through such powerful magic.
Besides the Divinity Drive, which was a one time prototype, the only other forms of FTL tech show are the Idari's really slow FTL technology, which is too slow to maintain and expand an interstellar empire, and shadowdrives, which are implied to be slower than drift tech, and there is no indication that the Azlanti are using those because they are not shown to have any connection to Zon-kuthon and were able to quickly mobilized and attack a Vesk colony after first contact.
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Besides the Divinity Drive, which was a one time prototype, the only other form of FTL tech show is the Idari's really slow generational technology, which is too slow to maintain and expand an interstellar empire, and shadowdrives, which there is no indication that the Azlanti are using, as their attack on the Vesk colony was swift and they are not shown to have any connection to Zon-kuthon.
I think the book says drift technology was gifted to every civilization, but some missed or "lost" the message, like a system where a scientist suffers an accident and dies before publishing the revelation.
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One permanent timeless demiplane, two castings of gate, and voila, unlimited travel between two different planets. As the Azlanti were always a highly magically advanced race, they could have been doing this long before the gap started. Add to that the fact that they have had millennia to build on the magic and tech already available to them, I doubt they would have much trouble figuring something out.
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I think the book says drift technology was gifted to every civilization, but some missed or "lost" the message, like a system where a scientist suffers an accident and dies before publishing the revelation.
They "lost" the technology when the scientist suffered an "accident."
Now I want to run an adventure where the PCs have to eliminate the scientist who was granted the knowledge before s/he can share it, to prevent an extremely dangerous race form discovering FTL.
And the politics behind it can make for quite a grand campaign. What if the race wasn't actually dangerous? What if their only threat was to eliminate the current power structure, leading to the freedom of other subjugated races? Man that would be cool.
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Also, the Azlanti's initial space colony was, in and of itself, already many star systems away from Golarion to begin with, and it wasn't even the first (or only) Azlanti colony off-world. Given that they already had access to a minimum of experimental magic that allowed them to cross vast interstellar distances instantaneously, and they've had 5,000+ years (implied to be, at the minimum, 7,000, since the Gap is supposed to have taken up "millenia," plural) to develop these findings into much more consistent use might mean that they developed their own version of FTL. Such experimental methods are listed, they were just never implemented by any of the Pact Worlds or any of the species they've come in contact with thus far. The ASE might have managed sustained wormhole travel, or basically figured out a way to create Mass Effect-esque spatial manipulation to exceed the speed of light. Heck, at this point they might even have quantum entanglement technology that gives them a massive strategic advantage in terms of communication.
Heck, they might utilize some sort of thaumaturgic engine to magically "fold" space-time, allowing them to travel much faster than the speed of light. Knowing the Azlanti, they might even have literal, actual Aeons bound to their starships and have their essence contorted to facilitate this travel. I like the idea of the ASE having this superior level of tech, because it means if I ever do a war-campaign with them, the Pact Worlds will actually have a tough time beating them.
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Besides the Divinity Drive, which was a one time prototype, the only other forms of FTL tech show are the Idari's really slow FTL technology, which is too slow to maintain and expand an interstellar empire, and shadowdrives, which are implied to be slower than drift tech, and there is no indication that the Azlanti are using those because they are not shown to have any connection to Zon-kuthon and were able to quickly mobilized and attack a Vesk colony after first contact.Androffan Divinity Drive is one, sure, the Dominion of the Black has an intragalactic polity that appears to use magic for travel. there are at least two species of space dwelling animal that have FTL abilities.
Star Monarchs have this:Starflight (Su)
A star monarch can survive in the void of outer space. It flies through space at an incredible speed. Although exact travel times vary, a trip within a single solar system should take 3d20 hours, while a trip beyond should take 3d20 days (or more, at the GM’s discretion).
While Oma have this:Starflight (Ex)
An oma can survive in the void of outer space, and soars through vacuum at incredible speed. Although exact travel times vary, a trip between two planets within a solar system should take 3d20 days, while one to another system should take 3d20 weeks (or more, at the GM’s discretion), provided the oma knows the way to its destination.
So apparently the only supernatural thing about FTL is a Star Monarch doesnt need to know how to get where it wants to go while an Oma can astro-navigate using a naturally evovled warp drive...
This ignores the use of teleportation spells and all of the elf gates lying around.
Don't forget Outer Dragons!
Btw, we reeeeeeeeeeeally need an expansion to starship rules to fight Omas, Dragons, and Space Worms
Star-spawn of Cthulhu, a few of the lesser elder/Cthulhu mythos minions, anyone with a starfaring robe...