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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sir Whiskers" data-source="post: 398413" data-attributes="member: 6941">Consider the following situation:About 30 years ago, a group of wizards got really tired of traveling to all the those wizards conventions, engaging in spell research then finding that the ancient text they need is a thousand miles away, not being able to get just the right spell component, etc. One of them suggests creating a new magic spell - a permanent teleport circle!  Most of the wizards tell him he's nuts, but enough go along and, voila!, it succeeds. At this point, every few months or so, another group of wizards decide to build one of these new-fangled devices. Seeing how useful they are, it's not long before every two-bit wizard, sorcerer, and loremaster gets "connected". Soon, the churches get involved, then the government. Everyone's having fun, exploring the new opportunities made available by this new technology. Then the merchants arrive...Now everyone is figuring out how to make a buck with the network. The original designers are having more and more trouble connecting because the network is overloaded, leading to considerable downtime. More and more junk is traveling the network, because it's so cheap to do so, and people are getting tired of that. And then there are the con artists (you know - those guys in Nigeria)...  With everyone getting ticked off, people start thinking: maybe we need some security on this thing.Now we have groups of wizards working to set up passwords and protocols, researching new versions of the spell which can intelligently control who and what can travel through them. Of course others, trying to make a name for themselves (or just for the challenge) research counterspells which allow them to steal or fake passwords, taking control of the network. Meanwhile, many of the businesses formed to take advantage of the network are crashing, finding out that many people don't trust it, especially not with important stuff - like food, water, their lives ("Yeah, the wizard SAYS it's safe, but how can I be sure? I think I'll take the stage, thank you very much.")  And of course we can't forget all those iron-fisted kingdoms that don't want any "contamination" from others, enforcing their view by executing anyone caught using a circle.Now we have a very fluid situation where multiple interests are in conflict. Everyone with something to gain or lose is taking sides. Guilds, churches, wizards, and governments are all involved. Meanwhile most of the common people just want everyone to shut up and leave them alone. Whew - thank goodness this doesn't happen in the real world...</blockquote>

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