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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Joshua Randall" data-source="post: 397377" data-attributes="member: 7737">One way portals.I like the idea of one way portals better than two way portals. Let's say most cities only have a portal that goes in one direction: towards the "center" of the empire. (Even though that "center" may really be somewhere else.) Thus the outlying cities can always ship goods and tribute to the capitol, but if they want to send something to another normal city they have to either (1) use normal means of transportation or (2) ship it via the capitol.Conversely the capitol has two way portals so that the king can send his representatives to all his far-flung cities. Remember, they can return to the capitol through the one way portals.Brainstorming some more... in the capitol, only the designated few can use the outbound portals. Either the portals themselves are heavily guarded, or to use them for outbound traffic you need a magical amulet.So: the outlying cities send tribute "inwards". But if they don't or they act up, a small army of magically enhanced soldiers comes through the outlying cities' portal and busts a few heads until order is restored.What about invasions from outside? This could be problematic if a sufficiently large enemy force seizes an inbound portal. Maybe the inbound portals link to a ring of cities near, but not in, the capitol which are little more than military garrisons. Then if you're a legitimate merchant or traveller you go along a heavily guarded normal road to the capitol (how about a huge tunnel through the mountain / planet's crust ?). If you're an ememy you can get attacked in the ring cities at the same time that the king sends a huge force to the originating outer city invasion site to flank and cut off the invasion.But war isn't the only danger. Suppose a key outer city (supplies a key commodity or is part of a key ally) suddenly goes dark? The king could send people to investigate, but they can't get back because the inbound portal is dead. So it's potentially a suicide mission. Furthermore, maybe no one knows or remembers where the outer city is in geographical relation to the capitol - so it could be just over the mountain range or it could be on another planet. The PCs could be agents of the king who volunteered (or were conscripted into) a dangerous mission: go on this one way trip, find out what happened, and somehow find a way to get back. Oh and by the way, the king's wizard is destroying the portal behind you just in case enemies figure out how to reverse its flow. Have fun!Even worse - suppose the capitol goes dark. Suddenly each individual outer city is cut off, not only from the king, but from each other - because the only way to get from City A to City Z was via Capitol C. (A -> C -> Z) There is no direct link from A -> Z. To compound the problem: City A knows that C is out but has no way of warning B...Z, so thousands of people are teleporting into... death? a trap? The PCs could be members of City A, desperately racing across the heretofor unexplored world to (1) warn other cities (2) re-establish links before City A starves to death (3) find out what the hell happened in the capitol.Wow! My head is buzzing with ideas. Great stuff!</blockquote>

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