You may be over-analyzing things there, or possibly attributing some behaviours to the Gatebuilders that they didn't have. Or you might not.
It should be possible to go FTL without handvavium. We have two references for this. First, there are dozens of examples of hardtech FTL drives described in the Whole Fenspace Catalog - while they might not work in our universe, we won't know that until we build the tools to build the tools to build one. Second, the crew of the Miranda didn't detect any handwavium in the Squidleighs's automated beacon - this hints that they managed FTL without the 'wave.
The stone map might simply be a backup in case something happens to the 'waved map. The 'waved map might only display in the presence of other handwavium if the system components don't last forever and need to be used sparingly in order to last millennia. Why waste their useful life by displaying the map to an empty room?
(A digression: Since we have the 'waved map that updates in real time and the stone map that doesn't, we should be able to determine the age of the stone map by comparing the system positions shown on it to the same system positions shown on the 'waved map. This might or might not produce some useful or interesting data.)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
It should be possible to go FTL without handvavium. We have two references for this. First, there are dozens of examples of hardtech FTL drives described in the Whole Fenspace Catalog - while they might not work in our universe, we won't know that until we build the tools to build the tools to build one. Second, the crew of the Miranda didn't detect any handwavium in the Squidleighs's automated beacon - this hints that they managed FTL without the 'wave.
The stone map might simply be a backup in case something happens to the 'waved map. The 'waved map might only display in the presence of other handwavium if the system components don't last forever and need to be used sparingly in order to last millennia. Why waste their useful life by displaying the map to an empty room?
(A digression: Since we have the 'waved map that updates in real time and the stone map that doesn't, we should be able to determine the age of the stone map by comparing the system positions shown on it to the same system positions shown on the 'waved map. This might or might not produce some useful or interesting data.)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012