Although the principles of celestial navigation have of course been commonplace since time immemorial, widespread interstellar commerce (other than carefully-planned colonization missions) became feasible only after the general solution of the Cat and Mouse Problem led to the reliable prediction of superluminal trajectories. There had been prior experiments in the superluminal transportation of minerals and other raw materials, but the high rate of error made these primitive methods unsuitable for precious goods, let alone live crews and passengers. Ironically, these pioneers could have saved themselves much trouble had they been able to decipher the Starlight Documents, but this was impossible due to the primitive state of contemporary xenomathematics. By the time the Documents could be understood, Viridian astrogation technique already far surpassed anything described therein.

With the dissemination of reliable superluminal astrogation methods, interstellar trade became possible and interstellar government inevitable. Indeed in the ensuing decade were many such experiments in combining the two, most notoriously the Port Authority of Sector 17. The influx of wealth from interstellar trade, meanwhile, led to the rapid growth of the twin cities of Naulochos and Antikyra.

—Thucydides Plutonium