The idea that players can go home is relatively new in the scheme of things in Blazing Umbra. It also implies that not all characters need to be introduced via a Splice. The idea was floated by one of our staff members to have the station and surrounding area act as a kind of inter-dimensional trading hub, similar to how Deep Space 9 in Star Trek became a trading hub after the wormhole was discovered. There are also a number of other possibilities that can go along with this.
Coming and Going
We have nothing against characters using the Supergate to come and go as they please, within reason. It is said within the storyline that it is an incredibly resource intensive procedure to actually open the Supergate. Those in other realities wishing to do so, must use a specialized beacon to signal for the gate to be opened. This means that characters wishing to arrive through the Supergate would need some kind of escort or method for getting their hands on one of these beacons.
Certainly it can be considered that Solas Tempus / the Serenity Concord are doing active exploratory missions in conjunction with other powers. Again, this is analogous to the way things happened on Deep Space 9. This opens up the possibility of a new character meeting personnel from the Blazing Umbra reality and coming willingly through the gate.
Reason to Stay
As far as returning home is concerned, the main resistance to a method of doing this has been that characters splicing into this reality unwillingly would then instantly want to just return home and never come back. This is why we have put an arbitrary time restraint on a player being able to return home. This is currently set at about 9 months. Being arbitrary players can request that things be shortened, it is certainly possible that the science teams through the magic of storytelling find the proper settings to put into the gate to allow travel back home for a given character. The 9 month time limit is there to allow characters to play, become integrated into the story, and have a reason to in-character stay that isn't forced.
General Use
If it becomes advantageous to do so, we are open to the possibility of having settings that take place in other realities, at this time that seems like it could be premature. Should a player want to engage in a storyline that requires the gate to be used as some kind of exploration device - as we've said that this is happening anyway - players should feel free to use it for such.
Since the gate is so resource intensive to open, it is generally understood that unless it gets specifically called to activate, it would have routine times (once, or even twice a day generally) where it would be opened if an outgoing ship or incoming ship is scheduled to use it. This allows for us to just push off into the background the idea that the gate activates periodically, ships come and go to various realities, probes are sent, and life goes on.
Bringing Back Stuff
Players wanting to have exotic items from other realities brought back, should consider contacting other players to see if they can do a short trade role play where someone is sent through the gate to a particular reality and then has to return with said goods. There is a lot of opportunities there for things to happen, a simple story of "Jo Jo paid us to go get this special ore from insert somewhere here, but we were lucky to get out with our lives!" can happen rather easily. Also introduces the opportunity for the bottom-feeder style of characters to go and do shady shit on the other side. Perhaps get caught, barely escape, or give good people a bad name. In addition, the other side of the gate could be interested in the same thing. Again, serious opportunity for plot.
Rescued from an Outgoing Splice
The use of the beacons provides a way for vessels to be rescued from other realities if they become stuck. As a way to make sure storylines are not made too short, it is understood that obtaining a lock for the first time on a particular reality can take time. The amount of time can vary, whatever the story needs it to be. Players and storytellers should keep this in mind when writing and have an idea about how long it might take if someone tries.