Void Forces is the catch-all term used to describe the myriad of factional space forces that exist within chelti space, operating primarily from void based assets and utilizing starships in combat. Enlisted operators are called Voidsmen and are considered a courageous and strange breed, as chelti ships are often claustrophobic and hazardous places to work and live.
The various chelti void forces are almost always put together to protect the assets of their home faction, although more than a few are far more inclined towards raiding other factions instead. Because of the sheer distances involved within chelti space, fleets are often highly mobile, bringing mobile shipyards and harvesters out to the frontier with them to support their vessels when sending damaged vessels home for servicing is problematic at best.
Value is not placed on the amount of space itself, instead these fleets often focus around points within in, such as planets, belts, and other natural phenomena or satellites. Pre-calculated jump routes make chelti response force very reactive to enemy movements, while their approach to ship design means that even if a fleet sustains heavy losses, there will almost always be another one leaving the shipyard.
Due to technological and economic limitations, chelti ships are very rarely all-spectrum exploration warships; Instead, chelti fleets focus on composition with smaller, specialized starships working in tandem with other starships. This is especially apparent in their small combat ships, many of which are highly specialized designs fit for purpose.
Due to the unfortunate reality of the chelti frontier, hardly any ship can be spared to sit around in a drydock if it has a functional superluminal system, therefore a substantial portion of military produced ship-making capcity is taken up with dual-purpose starships. Sub-optimal for wartime usage, but capable enough to not be a burden on the fleet. Many of these ships fill niche roles within the chelti void fleets, and are able to be disguised between their War and Peacetime configurations, confusingly local SIGINT and often trapping unaware foes.
Examples such as the heavily armed Merchantman are a common sight throughout chelti shipyards, military or otherwise.
Chelti ships are often built in a hurry, with adaptability in mind. As soon as a ship is built it is expected that it will, sooner or later, be destroyed, and so the materials to replace it are already gathered as soon as it is launched. While expensive, this has left chelti fleets with vast stocks of raw materials to build whatever ships are needed, giving them excellent force retention even after heavy losses.
Ship designs themselves are often purpose built, even the Auxiliary ships often have their cargo spaces earmarked for some combat use or another.
The vast distances of chelti space and the hazards within make sending warships back to home space to repair and rearm often infeasible at the best of times. Foreign views of chelti designs are often depicted as making as much of the ship as possible able to be repaired by good use of a hammer, sometimes large ones. While an effort to make much of their ships repairable with basic tools, not even chelti can keep ships running solely on percussion maintenance and hammer swings.
While chelti warships have no large production facilities themselves, they often have small workshops, and in larger ships machine rooms, the make scale replacements or repairs on components.