Salvic Portals!

[Inkfinger]

I had a few questions about the portals in Salvar! :)

-What do they look like? Because right now I am totally imagining the stargate and I need a quick smack back to pseudo-reality if that's not the case.

-Can only the Church of the Ethereal Sway use them, or both the church and the Monarchy? Are they still in use currently during the FQ? And are people required to be a certain rank/level to use them?

-What kind of magic are they activated by? How do you control which destination they go to?

-Would other destinations know that a particular destination had been selected?

-Should I stop asking nitpicky questions and just BS through?

My questions are for a FQ I am in, I just need to know which side and rank NPC I would need to have as an "inside man" to use the portals to sneak food to hungry villagers, and who would potentially know about the portals being used/abused that way, the rest is just filler.

Thanks in advance for any help. :D

[Caden Law]

Haidia: The Demon Underworld (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=41) should at least answer a few of those. For more depth...

Portals: Considering the description, probably a hybrid between a Stargate, the Dark Portal, and a Roman archway with some added GrimDark. Artistic license is in play. Transport through it basically sounds like a Stargate that happens to shunt the traveller through Hell (that whole mind numbing pain/mind shuts down during transit/etc thing). While the portals are generally supposed to connect to each other only, I suspect a determined squirrel with sufficient nuts could pick a different exit point :p

Currently: The Portals are a bit of a forgotten lore piece, I'd think. They may or may not play a role later when one of the Big Bads (or even Big Goods) figures out they can use the Portals to travel all over the world with ease and relative safety. I'd say the one in Salvar is currently under loosening guard considering the political situation there; same for the one in Corone. Status for the one in Raiaera is anyone's guess. There's also always the possibility that other gates lie undiscovered or newly created and unactivated.

Guidance/Activation: Judging by the Haidian descriptions, active portals are controlled via a convenient panel located right next to it. The only requirement to use it is probably a decent understanding of Haidian language or Old Diamonic or whatever. Hacking the thing probably requires additional understanding of Haidian numbering and/or decent grasp of coordinates.

Notice: Probably not until the Portal's been activated and something or other is coming out.

...course I could be mistaking the Haidian portals for something else you're asking about... D:

[Inkfinger]

Haidia: The Demon Underworld (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=41) should at least answer a few of those. For more depth...

Portals: Considering the description, probably a hybrid between a Stargate, the Dark Portal, and a Roman archway with some added GrimDark. Artistic license is in play. Transport through it basically sounds like a Stargate that happens to shunt the traveller through Hell (that whole mind numbing pain/mind shuts down during transit/etc thing). While the portals are generally supposed to connect to each other only, I suspect a determined squirrel with sufficient nuts could pick a different exit point :p

Currently: The Portals are a bit of a forgotten lore piece, I'd think. They may or may not play a role later when one of the Big Bads (or even Big Goods) figures out they can use the Portals to travel all over the world with ease and relative safety. I'd say the one in Salvar is currently under loosening guard considering the political situation there; same for the one in Corone. Status for the one in Raiaera is anyone's guess. There's also always the possibility that other gates lie undiscovered or newly created and unactivated.

Guidance/Activation: Judging by the Haidian descriptions, active portals are controlled via a convenient panel located right next to it. The only requirement to use it is probably a decent understanding of Haidian language or Old Diamonic or whatever. Hacking the thing probably requires additional understanding of Haidian numbering and/or decent grasp of coordinates.

Notice: Probably not until the Portal's been activated and something or other is coming out.

...course I could be mistaking the Haidian portals for something else you're asking about... D:

I was talking about the ones mentioned in this thread (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=8668), quoted here for convenience:



One of the mechanisms through which the church maintains such strict control is a network of portals. Every church in Salvar--and every town and every rural fief has at least one--is connected to every other church in the realm through a series of portals. These are closed to the public except under exceptional circumstances. The church also maintains a group of aeromancers, sometimes referred to as "weathermen," who help control and ameliorate Salvar's harsh climate.

I imagine they would probably work like the ones in Haida, only on a less...demony level? Though this section makes it sound like the two might have a connection:



In Knife's Edge, the capital city, there is a dangerous stalemate. The army has laid siege to St. Denebriel's Cathedral, the national center of the Church, but have been unable to take it due to its fortress-like construction. The priests within the Cathedral have deployed Aleraran cannons against the besieging army and it is rumored that they have called strange and terrible creatures through portals to fight at their sides.

So who knows...thanks for the answer though!

[Caden Law]

I was talking about the ones mentioned in this thread (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=8668), quoted here for convenience:



I imagine they would probably work like the ones in Haida, only on a less...demony level? Though this section makes it sound like the two might have a connection:



So who knows...thanks for the answer though!

Argh. D: But yeah. Probably like the Haidian ones except less demony and more holy. Though taking into account the Church's nature, there probably is a way of keeping track of who's going where and why...but everyone's too busy trying not to get skewered on pitchforks to bother with it.

[Ashiakin]

I originally designed the portals to be mechanisms for the clergy and Church adherents with clearance to travel easily between major towns and outposts in Salvar. I thought of the portals as being within the various churches themselves and able to send travelers to any other church with a portal. Normally, it'd be impossible for foreigners or lay people to use them, pretty much. With the war on, though, I imagine it'd be easier to sneak in/force you war in/bribe your way in.

I always thought of the magic they used being regulated by the clergy, though they will be spending much less of their time doing that, so the system is likely becoming a little erratic. And yes, I imagined the clergy in the church people teleport to would be previously notified by the clergy from their church of departure (although now, of course, there may be no one even watching in the church travelers arrive at.)

I'm no longer the Salvar writer/regions admin, so this is not staff advice. I'm just a civilian now. You'll have to ask Christoph, the new writer, for anything official. He may want to make some changes to all of this.

[Inkfinger]

I originally designed the portals to be mechanisms for the clergy and Church adherents with clearance to travel easily between major towns and outposts in Salvar. I thought of the portals as being within the various churches themselves and able to send travelers to any other church with a portal. Normally, it'd be impossible for foreigners or lay people to use them, pretty much. With the war on, though, I imagine it'd be easier to sneak in/force you war in/bribe your way in.

I always thought of the magic they used being regulated by the clergy, though they will be spending much less of their time doing that, so the system is likely becoming a little erratic. And yes, I imagined the clergy in the church people teleport to would be previously notified by the clergy from their church of departure (although now, of course, there may be no one even watching in the church travelers arrive at.)

I'm no longer the Salvar writer/regions admin, so this is not staff advice. I'm just a civilian now. You'll have to ask Christoph, the new writer, for anything official. He may want to make some changes to all of this.

Thanks for the clarification and whatnot there!

*scampers off to hunt down find Christoph*