44
edits
Changes
From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
m
no edit summary
The Civil Fleets are one of the three components of the [[Imperial Fleet]].*<sup>1</sup>
The civil fleets contain privately-owned interstellar craft operating along routes liscensed by the fleet authorities.*<sup>1</sup> Although the vast majority of interstellar spacecraft are part of the [[Merchant Fleet]]s, there are several thousand ships registered to individuals, families or trading cartels. All privately-owned interstellar craft operate along routes licensed to them by the fleet authorities responsible for shipping within that [[Segmentum]]. The route licences must be bought and must be renewed after a fixed time, usually a hundred years. This means a few privately owned ships like to risk the effects of time dilation on long journeys. A license may run out before the ship has completed its journey.<sup>1</sup>
Civil fleets usually bid for route licences as they come up, the route going to the fleet prepared to pay the most for it. This system enables the [[Imperium]] to maintain routes which, for whatever reason, it finds inconvenient to service from its own craft. As well as route voyages, the fleet administation also issues one-off licences for single trips. Many of the smaller fleets manage to survive entirely in a hand-to-mouth fashion reliant on one-off licences.<sup>2</sup>
