Voidfire Nebula

The Voidfire Nebula was an ionized nebula in the Voidfire Nebula system of the Expansion Region^[1] that stretched across a vast region of space, covering as much space as a medium-sized star system. It was located at the junction of the Hydian Way and two other hyperlanes (one providing a pathway from one edge of the Outer Rim Territories to the other, and the other connecting the Corellia systems to the neutral worlds of the Inner Rim), as well as being near Crystal Web Station. The Lucents claimed that their homeworld was located somewhere in the nebula, which could account for their peculiar crystalline technology.

This cosmic storm crackled with charged particles and explosions of color. Even at a distance, the nebula threw off so much static and energy that ship computers and electronic systems could suffer ion damage just by being close to it. All hyperspace jump points within the sector fell within the area of the nebula. As soon as a ship actually entered the nebula, they took constant ion damage. Because Lucent technology was based on crystals and gems rather than traditional means, they could traverse the nebula without suffering from these effects.

Another effect of the nebula was that the charged energy emanating from it wreaked havoc on navigations systems and astrogation computers. Because of this, even though astrogators had long ago calculated the benefits of this region of space as far as hyperspace travel was concerned, few pilots if any were brave enough or good enough to chance making a jump through this natural interdiction field. When the Crystal Web Station appeared sometime between the Imperial survey of 8 BBY and Daran Tal's scout ship accident in 1 BBY, the benefits of the area's hyperspace jump points suddenly became accessible to all space travelers for whatever price the Lucents charged.