How do I read / grok the new Desna’s Path Galaxy map in the Galaxy Guide?

[theelcorspectre]

I’m reading through the new Galaxy Guide and I’m really fascinated by the new lore (for some reason, I was taken more off guard by Triaxis moving then the whole situation with Aucturn).

However, I legitimately cannot understand the new map to show the whole Desna’s Path Galaxy; there are so many lines and hexagons.

Any advice or tips would be appreciated.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

I'd like such advice as well: it's also hard to read the text on the map except maybe in PDF form where you have a zoom feature. That is one TINY font there!

[Xenocrat]

The lines are Drift Lanes, and will provide faster drift travel between those connected systems. They're named. So "Jatembe's Jaunt" runs from Triaxus to Xiba. "Ibzen's Calamity" runs from Daegox-4 to Conqueror's Forge in the Veskarium. There's an unnamed one (that was named in Ports of Call) that runs from Great Shadar through the Pact Worlds (Ports of Call said which Pact World it interacted with) and terminates in the Veskarium (again, Ports of Call has the details but this map doesn't).

Presumably the GM Core will have rules for Drift travel speeds and how much faster lanes are.

Individual hexes don't apear to be be meaningful, it's just the base they used to make the map. Larger boxes surrounding numerous hexes indicate related starsystems that are part of the same government. So the Szandite Collective has five star systems inside its borders (but which might be physically scattered around the galaxy - we just know that they're all in Near Space because they're red). Krethiskar is a planet adjacent to a Szandite member star, but subject to Swarm quarantine, so it's outside the actual political border drawn.

The Pact Worlds (orange) Nearspace (two separate red spaces) and Vast (big purple) areas are not to scale (the Vast should be maybe hundredes of billions of stars to the Pact Worlds one or a few) and just meant to show in 3D space how some of these areas link up via Drift Lanes (literally Drift Lane geometry and Near Space or Vast are the only thing that matter about stellar locations, not physical distance) and how certain political entities claim more than one star that share Vast/Near Space status without being in close physical proximity.

That said, we've heard that some entities like the Azlanti DO think in terms of stellar "neighborhoods" that they lay claim to, and apparently do their exploration/conquest in a linear star next door fashion. But they don't have to and it's not smart.

[Zoken44]

Hey, I know this is late, but I wanted to put in here: Thank you. This really helped me understand the map better. I really appreciate it.