Farsight Lens

The Farsight Lens refers to one of the most powerful telescopes that exists in the known universe. It is a tool, a weapon, and an enigma all in the package of a small satellite. The Lens orbits Saturn, and was built by the Second Outer Solar Empire. The lens is contracted for use by scientific groups, mercenary armies, and empires alike. Even the Merchants of Aurelius occasionally contract the Lens in order to spy on a competitor's plans.

The value of the Lens comes from the level of magnification it is capable of. Unlike a simple telescope satellite, it has unique lenses, and is capable of an extreme amount of magnification. In fact, the Lens does not use glass lenses at all. In order to overcome the light barrier which limits the magnification abilities of so many other viewing devices, the lens relies on an esoteric method of viewing. The device projects an esoteric sensor to the viewing location through the use of micro-wormhole manipulation, and captures an image directly from the location. Through this, the Lens is capable of viewing through walls, and can view at practically any distance. The establishment of the micro-wormhole occurs at faster than the speed of light, and it takes about an hour for a live, current feed of both images and sound to appear for a distance of about 5 light-years.

The Len's technology was not created by the empire however. It was salvaged from a ruin discovered on Saturn, and simply adapted into a telescope by the scientists and engineers of the empire. The discovery of this ruin, Xyssl, was one of the most significant events in the history of modern civilization, and the Lens was likely the most minor discovery to come of it.

-Crassius Hadrana