Talk:Delphic Expanse

How far away was the Expanse
Not to throw a spanner in the works, but in the episode "The Expanse", Archer said that Enterprise had travelled for seven weeks at Warp 5 (I hope I'm not mistaken) to reach the Expanse. If we go along with the cubed warp scale then they had only travelled (5^3)*(7/52) light-years, which is about 17 light-years. But I thought the Expanse was 50 light-years from Earth? They would have to have travelled at warp 7.2 for seven weeks. What then, an elusive 'warp highway'? A wormhole? A miscalculation? Wrong warp scale?


 * Your information is accurate, although the two facts are not contradictory. In a log entry, Archer says that Enterprise has travelled for seven weeks at Warp 5. However, the starship could have been traveling at much slower speeds before going to Warp 5, seven hours before the log entry is made. --Defiant | Talk 20:21, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)


 * I know this is a very old discussion, but I would like give my input if anyone else wonders about this. Future guy gave the co-ordinates of an area inside the Delphic Expanse to Archer. This area was 3 months away at warp 5. The Enterprise arrived to the border of the Expanse in about 2 months. In the next episode the Xindi locate the Enterprise in the area inside the Delphic Expanse 50 ly away from Earth. This to me suggests that the border of the Expanse is about 2/3 of the journey to this area away from Earth (approx 33 light years). The 50 ly location is then further in. Speed estimates indicate warp 5 to the Enterprise was 200 times the speed of light (50ly/3 months), which is close to the tng-scale where warp 5 is 213.75 times the speed of light. --Pseudohuman 02:23, August 29, 2011 (UTC)
 * Also, it's important to note that Vulcan is 16 LY from Earth, and that the 7 weeks traveled was from the Vulcan region to the border, or about 34 LY. That's doable in 7 weeks.

The fate of the inhabitants of the Delphic Expanse in the 24th century.
Many have theorized that the former Delphic Expanse is where the Cardassian Union, Ferengi Alliance, Tzenkethi Coalition, and Breen Confederacy are located. Is it possible that the Xindi have left the expanse in search of a new homeworld by the 24th century? (Their transwarp technology could take them far away from the Alpha Quadrant and that most of the races we've seen in the Expanse with the exception of the Xindi were enslaved by the Cardassians, Tzenkethi, or Breen?)

Location of Delphic Expanse and who lived there
As to where the Delphic Expanse is located, the name itself could be a clue of sorts, suggesting that it may be related to the constellation of Delphinus in some way.

On the other hand, the Expanse might have been named after the "womb fish" (dolphin) in the sense that Archer, in saving Earth from the Xindi, put events back on track for the Federation to be born.

As well, placing the Ferengi, Breen, Cardassians, and Tzenkethi -- all nuisances at best -- in the Delphic Expanse can provide some explanation for their civilizations' tradition of uncivilized behavior. Surviving in the Expanse didn't seem to be very easy, not unlike the Delta Quadrant.

Future size?
There had been talk in some episodes about how, if it isn't/wasn't destroyed, the expanse would have grown to encompass a larger area of space (including worlds like Vulcan). What is ever said what time scale this would be? Such as in the 23rd century, or the 24th century? --Terran Officer 07:23, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

removed bg info
I've removed a large part of the background section, due to being elaborate speculation (as well as being rife with dubious, weak or irrelevant arguments) -- Capricorn 19:48, October 26, 2010 (UTC)
 * presumably, the Federation would have kept some distance away from the area of the former Delphic Expanse following the Xindi Crisis, expanding instead towards Romulan and Klingon space until the late 23rd or early 24th century. This is supported by the non-canonical Star Trek: Star Charts, which, while written prior to the third season of Star Trek: Enterprise, depicts the Cardassian Union, Ferengi Alliance, Tzenkethi Coalition, and Breen Confederacy as being roughly fifty light years from Earth. However, because various episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine established that the Cardassians share a common border with the Klingon and Romulan Empires as well as the Federation, the accuracy of the maps in Star Charts has also been called into question. However, this discrepancy may be attributed to two centuries of the three governments expanding their borders, eventually expanding to the border of each others territory.


 * I've removed the following speculation about its location; "some have theorized" should not be there unless we know who "some" is.


 * Some have theorized that the Delphic Expanse may have been located in the area of space that included Ferenginar and Cardassia Prime, to explain why it is that these two races, already space-faring by the time of the 22nd century, were able to go undetected by the Federation until the 24th century. This explanation seems unlikely, however, since depicted Vulcan as being "not too far out the way" from Enterprise's direct course to the region from Earth. This would likely place the Expanse somewhere in the Beta Quadrant. --31dot 11:40, December 21, 2011 (UTC)


 * The "unlikely" bit of this last speculation is even wrong: with Iloja of Prim living on Vulcan in the early 23rd century or earlier, it is at least a good possibility that Cardassia is located somewhere "near" the Vulcan region. -- Cid Highwind 11:54, December 21, 2011 (UTC)
 * DS9 seemed to imply that Vulcan was fairly far from Bajor (and therefore the nearby Cardassia). Also, ships were faster in the 23rd century than in the 22nd. --68.0.173.120 23:27, December 21, 2011 (UTC)