Though the speed of light is a basic physical law, many forms of circumventing the universal speed limit have been discovered throughout The Multiverse.
Quantum Entangled Communication
Quantum Entangled Communication (QEC) is a method by which digital information can be transmitted instantly across any distance.
Utilizing specially manufactured entangled particles at the ends of two separate wires, a signal can be transmitted from one to the other as if they were physically connected. Sending information is the obvious use case but power can also be transmitted since the entanglement effectively works as a physical connection. This is known as QEC Induction.
Induced Quantum Tunneling
Induced Quantum Tunneling (IQT), is a method of transporting physical matter that utilizes the inherent instability of a particle’s location in space to instantaneously move it from one location to another without needing to traverse the distance in between.
IQT was developed by Toby Tsur in the year 2168 as part of an effort to streamline logistical processes for the Flow corporation. Unfortunately, the energy required to effectively manage the IQT effect makes it highly inefficient for large amounts of mass or long distances.
Tear Gates
A tear gate is a highly unstable form of travel. In order to procure one, spacetime must be manipulated on both a macro and micro scale to coalesce two points into one. The only known user of tear gates is The Swarm
Entangloportation
In The Secondary Timeline, traditional FTL is uncommon due to its relatively recent development and extremely high cost. A much more common form of transportation is entangloportation, a technology somewhat comparable to QEC mentioned above. Rather than physically connecting two places in space, it instead exchanges two “bubbles” of space for one another, also termed “bubbling”.
The largest drawback of this technology is that it cannot be taken advantage of if the target destination does not have a beacon for which travel to. This means that visiting unexplored or undeveloped areas without the necessary infrastructure still require the longer route. Another difficulty with entangloportation is that it makes high-volume logistics difficult, as larger entangloporters take more time to recharge than a smaller, human-sized one. The third flaw is that an entangloporter can only have one destination at a time, requiring the swapping of components if a different destination is desired.
These conditions together result in FTL ships now being used to handle the needs of heavy industry and interplanetary settlers, while the needs of the average Joe are met with the entangloporter.