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<blockquote data-quote="Pielorinho" data-source="post: 13915" data-attributes="member: 259">A few points:1) So there are several hundred of these portals in the world.&nbsp; And?&nbsp; They're certainly all going to be forgotten, or else they'll be tightly controlled by armies or Very Powerful Beings.2) If a merchant creates one in Paris, linking to England, and King Louis finds out, there's going to be a merchant's liver that sees the sun this afternoon.&nbsp; Most leaders won't be happy about merchants creating these huge vulnerabilities into kingdoms of their enemies (i.e., any foreign nation).3) The mage who helped the merchant will become persona non grata, if possible, and better have some defenses against assassins.4) When the king has tortured the merchant and driven off the mage, he'll take one of two actions:&nbsp; either he'll launch an invasion through the portal, or he'll have a court wizard dispel it. 5) Your very rare, capitalistic king will trust his neighbors enough to establish commerce through the portal.&nbsp; Anyone creating a competing portal will, of course, be tortured to death -- competition isn't a virtue when you're competing against the king.&nbsp; And you better believe the taxes on use of the portal will be hefty.6) A wizard who decides to guard one of these portals won't be doing much else with her time -- definitely won't be gallivanting about earning more experience.&nbsp; The portal is fantastically powerful, very vulnerable, and immobile.I think it's a great idea to have a few of these portals in the world.&nbsp; I think a world with a lot of them is pretty dang implausible, unless you make them a lot easier to create.Daniel</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Pielorinho, post: 13915, member: 259"] A few points: 1) So there are several hundred of these portals in the world. And? They're certainly all going to be forgotten, or else they'll be tightly controlled by armies or Very Powerful Beings. 2) If a merchant creates one in Paris, linking to England, and King Louis finds out, there's going to be a merchant's liver that sees the sun this afternoon. Most leaders won't be happy about merchants creating these huge vulnerabilities into kingdoms of their enemies (i.e., any foreign nation). 3) The mage who helped the merchant will become persona non grata, if possible, and better have some defenses against assassins. 4) When the king has tortured the merchant and driven off the mage, he'll take one of two actions: either he'll launch an invasion through the portal, or he'll have a court wizard dispel it. 5) Your very rare, capitalistic king will trust his neighbors enough to establish commerce through the portal. Anyone creating a competing portal will, of course, be tortured to death -- competition isn't a virtue when you're competing against the king. And you better believe the taxes on use of the portal will be hefty. 6) A wizard who decides to guard one of these portals won't be doing much else with her time -- definitely won't be gallivanting about earning more experience. The portal is fantastically powerful, very vulnerable, and immobile. I think it's a great idea to have a few of these portals in the world. I think a world with a lot of them is pretty dang implausible, unless you make them a lot easier to create. Daniel [/QUOTE]

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