Portal Network

[Golem2176]

An idea I have for a homebrew campaign I have is to have a place in each major city having individual portals to evey other major city on the continent. The world is steeped in magic so I'm not looking for rants on how this a bad idea in a standard campaign, but just feedback on what others think of the concept for an above-average magic world.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Sounds a lot like Everquest's setting, or that CJ Cherryh novel series.

 

[tensen]

Well the questions for that would be..:
1) is there a charge for the transport?
2) Is it a single user transport, or can it support large number of trade goods?

What do you think this will do to the other regions of the world?
Large trade caravans probably would not exist, since you could quickly go to the large cities to trade, so only poorer caravans that did business with outside towns.. roughly gypsy caravans and simple peddlers.

With lesser value in the caravans the brigands might not grow as large in numbers.

With lesser value in caravans, it would be unlikely that kingdoms would send so many soldiers to protect the roads.. since the rich and noble travelers wouldn't be on them.

Kingdoms would have to begin creating seperate defenses around the teleport zones.. after all, a rival might take over some allied city and send troops through the portals.

What other possible effects will it have on the setting?

 

[Sir Whiskers]

Other considerations/ideas:

1. Have a Guild control the portals (ala Dune). Only the guildmasters can open portals and no one (absolutely no one) is willing to tick off the Guild for fear of having its portal shut down. This neatly avoids the problem of kingdoms using the portals for warfare. Versus terrorists, e.g., a mad lich, the cities of the world would probably have a policy of crushing anyone/anything that messes with portals or those who can operate them.

2. How far down into society do the portals go? To small cities, or only large ones? To major resource sites (mines, forests)? Do non-human realms allow portals? If so, which ones? What controls do they place on portal use, besides those the Guild impose?

3. How high the Guild sets fees will determine who uses the portals. If you still want a lot of regular travel, set the fees higher than the average commoner and merchant can afford. If you want the portals to be the normal means of travel between cities, set the fees very low, or have a sliding scale based on what is transported (people are cheap, goods more expensive). Remember, the portals won't go everywhere, so normal travel will still be required between points without portals - the portals could in effect be similar to railheads during the 19th century.

4. If you use a Guild or something similar, then politics (again ala Dune) could be very important. Perhaps growing cities vie over becoming the next site of a portal. Or a kingdom offers the Guild extra fees, if the Guild will build portals to particular sites within the kingdom (or deny such portals to rival kingdom). The Guild will have to appear impartial, but is that only appearance?

5. Or, alternately, have the portals be fixed. They were created in ancient times and cities with portals have prospered over those that don't have them. The Guild could still exist - it's the only group that possesses the lost art of using the portals. In this situation, you'll likely have other, newer, cities without portals and a strong rivalry could develop between some of them. The non-portal cities would likely band together to oppose those with portals (since they would have an "unfair trade advantage") or to put pressure on the Guild to keep the portal cities from having too big an advantage. Also, imagine how lucrative it would be if someone else discovered the secret of the portals, breaking the Guild monopoly...a lot of folks would be working hard to do so. As you can see, it all starts getting rather complicated, so it really depends on what kind of campaign you want.

 

[Ferret]

If there are no trade routes or intercity roads, expect lots of monsters

 

[fnork de sporg]

Posit that the portals are large, numerous, unlimited in possible daily use, and free to all.

In time the cultures of the various cities would cross pollinate and merge together. The amount of time this might take would vary depending on the individual cultures in question, but eventually all but the most xenophobic would become part of the same basic grouping, and those so xenophobic not to would probably seal off their portals before to long, or at least isolate them. What you would be left with is one huge continuous ubran metropolis with it's different neighborhoods or burroughs actually being located in different geographic areas. There would still be differences, think of the differences between manhattan, greenwich, harlem, and the bronx, but just as the people of all those regions are still inherently new yorkers the city wide culture would bind the various nations and societies in to one.

Anything in proximity to any one part of the city would be accesible to any other part of the city. Residents of the city would quickly bcome more experienced and worldy than their rural counterparts. New fad that sweep though the city might have dramatic economic effects world wide. The city would need a military, as itwould be quite a tempting prize, but with the logisitcal problems of attaking more than one section of the city at a time, the ability of the citizens to quickly evacuate to other sections of the city, The relitve ease with which one could defend the well-established portal sections, and the combined resources of so manyy different regions the city would be incredibly difficult to defeat and all but immune to seige tactics. If there was a citywide goverment of some kind its rulers would have great power.


This would make a great campaign setting, I think.

 

[Golem2176]

To answer some questions let me state that the government would control the portals. The government would be a type of magocracy. One empire spans the entire continent, eliminating any possibility of invasion force. In order to maintain the portals, they charge a nominal fee for one time and round-trip use. Passes can be bought that allow people who use them frequently to get a break on the cost.

The modern equivalent
As per national security, think of when you go to an airport. There's check-in, ticketation, security checkpoints, and the gate terminals.

The fantasy equivalent
There is no check-in, just ticketation. Ticketation is where you can buy your one-way or round-trip pass. Monthly passes would have to be bought at official government sanctioned buildings, and the price would depend. As for personal use monthly passes would be more expensive. As per commercial purposes the price would be greatly reduced.

Security checkpoints would scan any baggage for possible contraband. As per the safety of everyone in the building, think of normal security cams, that have the black domes covering the camera. Now imagine the fantasy equivalent of them. Basically you have mirrors for domes and a ‘scry stone’. There would be a room in each major section of the building that receives a signal from the scry stones, to monitor the activity.

The gate terminals would have two gates for every major city on the continent. One for incoming and one for outgoing. Just like at a normal airport there would be a person to collect your pass. For round trip uses, there would be two passes, one for outgoing collection and one for return.

Now something I just considered is that even on a national level, there a many large cities. There would have to be like a 5 minute interval for each major city. For example, say the empire has 8 large cities. That would mean the gate would only be available once every 40 minutes.

As per cross-pollination, it happened hundreds of years ago, almost immediately after the portals were built and all the kingdoms came together as one magocratic unit of government.

Another thought I have is the portal in a pocket and home portals. Basically anyone rich enough can build a portal in their home, erect a domicile somewhere else (another city, a small burg or even black-market merchant homes) with a matching portal.

The portal in a pocket. Basically it is designed to look like a door or other kind of opening. When it is created, the destination is set. It provides one use and is ‘consumed’ by magical energy after ejecting the user and his gear to the destination point.

As per the underdeveloped areas they have roads that go to any other settlement for those less fortunate. Trade caravans still exist; they just don’t have anything to offer the big cities, so they keep close to the small settlements.

As per what Ferret said, even though there are roads, as they existed before the merging of all the kingdoms into one empire, there are still tracts of undiscovered wilderness. So yes, there will me plenty of monsters.

Thanks for all your input guys; it got my creative juices flowing once more. I’ve been in GM burnout for far too long. Keep the the input and criticism coming!

 

[fba827]

unless your security guards have a regiment of truth detection spells/abilities... then there could very easily be an underground market for the tickets (possibly selling forgeries).

 

[Golem2176]

Forgeries would be very hard to make. Each pass would have epic arcane marks that is similar to todays watermarks.

 

[Sir Whiskers]

To answer some questions let me state that the government would control the portals. The government would be a type of magocracy. One empire spans the entire continent, eliminating any possibility of invasion force. In order to maintain the portals, they charge a nominal fee for one time and round-trip use. Passes can be bought that allow people who use them frequently to get a break on the cost...(snip)...

For the conspiracy-minded, who actually administers the portals? Some sort of security agency? An archmage appointed to the position? Just think of the possibilities if someone behind the scenes is working to gain control of the network to further a coup or other such plans.

Or, the magocracy is similar to the old Soviet Union, with various bureaus. The bureaus are assigned to the members of the ruling council. Up-and-coming bureaucrats spend time rotating between the bureaus, one the most prestigious being the portal network. Perhaps being the undersecretary of the portal network is a typical final step before joining the council.

The fantasy equivalent
There is no check-in, just ticketation. Ticketation is where you can buy your one-way or round-trip pass. Monthly passes would have to be bought at official government sanctioned buildings, and the price would depend. As for personal use monthly passes would be more expensive. As per commercial purposes the price would be greatly reduced.

Security checkpoints would scan any baggage for possible contraband. As per the safety of everyone in the building, think of normal security cams, that have the black domes covering the camera. Now imagine the fantasy equivalent of them. Basically you have mirrors for domes and a ‘scry stone’. There would be a room in each major section of the building that receives a signal from the scry stones, to monitor the activity...(snip)...

Again, who actually controls the tickets and runs these checkpoints? Whether as part of a continent-spanning plot, or simple corruption, I can see where many would try to subvert these controls for profit or power.

Another thought I have is the portal in a pocket and home portals. Basically anyone rich enough can build a portal in their home, erect a domicile somewhere else (another city, a small burg or even black-market merchant homes) with a matching portal.

The portal in a pocket. Basically it is designed to look like a door or other kind of opening. When it is created, the destination is set. It provides one use and is ‘consumed’ by magical energy after ejecting the user and his gear to the destination point....

How does the magocracy control this? Some sort of monitoring system built into each portal? Otherwise, the opportunities for illegal activity would be considerable. Then again, the government could essentially legitimize such "illegal" activity, by charging steep fees for the privilege of using such portals. The fees would offset any lost tariffs, and by controlling who is allowed to have (and keep) such portals allows the government to favor its supporters and punish its opponents. Of course, that again raises the question: who actually administers all this, and how does the government control the obvious opportunities for abuse and corruption?

Another idea: do portal "accidents" ever happen? Imagine using the portals to eliminate certain individuals. Then imagine what would happen to the society if incontrovertible proof of such assassinations came to light. The shattering of the society's trust in the portal network, and therefore the government, could easily lead to civil war.