A new twist on "teleportation"

[Saigonnus]

I am new here, as you can see, but I am enjoying the forums thus far and thought I'd share an idea I had awhile back; while still involved with role-playing games among friends. My world "Lorn" has three moons and whenever the three of them are aligned in the sky (once a month) a character the natural energies create a "doorway" plainly visible and usable by anyone who finds one (they appear in random spots). They form a passageway to the green moon of "Lant" which is habitable also and has it's own assortment of flora/fauna and includes sentient creatures.

It served two purposes. First is that it broadens the world the characters live in, letting them perhaps travel to the moon and meet new creatures. Secondly it can also allow the introduction of strange new creatures/races or technologies where they aren't ordinarily available.

 

[Ivan]

Some interesting possibilities there. Would this also be used to get to a planetary but far-away place without all the mucking about, or strictly for travel to an otherwise inaccessible (I would presume) moon? And how long would the gateways last?

 

[shangrila]

Not a bad idea. You could also have it going the other way, i.e. creatures from this moon can come through and create havoc in the main world.

 

[ThinkerX]

'Legendary Sidekick' has a somewhat similiar concept for some of his tales.

 

[Melissa G. McPhail]

I love this concept. It creates an opportunity for more advanced races to use the portal regularly and less advanced ones to have developed a lot of mythology and legends around it (people getting lost, falling through the portal, vanishing or appearing...). It also gives you the opportunity to make Lant of particular importance to certain cultures and potentially the origination point of a culture or race. TONS of opportunity here to create mythology, history, religion and conflict around your moon.

 

[Caged Maiden]

I love the idea as an introduction for chaos. I would imagine if something valuable were discovered on this moon that the powers of the world might fight to try to control it.... just an idea.

 

[Saigonnus]

I used it often as a source of chaos in my days of gaming... I remember one particular campaign that I had the characters travel by such a device to Lant and went on their own adventures there. I suppose it could be used by a mage who understands the dynamics of such travel to travel elsewhere; but it would probably be limited to those objects that are close enough (the other two moons) but since neither of the others are "habitable" it wouldn't really do much good. I suppose given some thought a wizard "could" create a magical stronghold on one of the moons to protect him from the lack of atmosphere; but it would need ALOT of work by the wizard in question to make it viable. He could "divert" the portal to that stronghold everytime one appears for a bit of a chance for resupplying his castle, but generally he'd have to be self-sufficient.

The portal lasts only a few hours; when the moons are perfectly aligned in the sky and has three sentient races already, one is a derivative of elves, a type of humanoid lizards and they vary from being similar to geckos to being more like iguanas. The third race aren't humanoid at all, looking more like a large carniverous dog than anything else and live in loose clans in natural caves and tunnels.

 

[Caged Maiden]

I guess I was thinking more like mages trying to locate where it would spring up with complicated mathematics, and a greedy emperor threatening bodily harm to those who do not help him..... armed patrols marching through the countryside anticipating the arrival of the gate... the possibilities are endless.

 

[Ivan]

There is also the possibility of loved ones being separated, and the person on the main planet is on a search to talk to experts in mythology, science, etc. who might be able to tell him where and when the next portal will be (I'm thinking something like Samurai Jack). Meanwhile the powerful ruler(s) are also searching for this same knowledge; setting up a contrast between the machinery of power and nations, and the humanity of one person's devotion.

 

[Penpilot]

I really like the idea. Since the portal only stays open for a few hours, it begs the question what happens when someone gets stranded up there? There's lots of potential for mythology dealing with the moons and the portals. What do the people think of the portals? Are they considered good luck or evil? Have people gone through and come back. What stories do they tell?

 

[Saigonnus]

I haven't worked with it much truth be told; in a couple gaming campaigns. The characters went through and came back a month later. The "diviners" among the race of lizardmen can sense when the portals are close to one and since the moon is fairly small, is easier to find then on the "main world". I did write up a bunch of background on the concept, just lost my notes a long while ago, but it wouldn't be hard to ressurect the idea.

The dog creatures are scared of the portals, never getting close to them. the elves on the moon revere as something sent from the Gods, but don't use them unless one of their number commits a crime worthy of banishment; when they are banished to the main world they are branded in such a way that they cannot safely pass through the portal a second time. The lizard men are ambivalent to them, in tune with them because it was the energy of the moon's alignment that mutated them from ordinary creatures from the "main" world. They occasionally send volunteers into them to explore the main world, but none have ever come back. There is actually a small community of them already there from the volunteers and they can detect the presence of others no matter how far they are apart, so visitors have a sense of "something" pushing them in the direction of the community.

 

[SeverinR]

I like the moon alignment power, but I would probably space it differently then a month. I guess the moons would have to travel at different speeds for this to happen. But it would also make it more powerful, less frequent, and be a thing for scholars to study to predict. For example, each moon cycles monthly, but they only align perfectly every third pass? Quarterly/seasonal(?) power rather then monthly.

I would also limit the power to a few people with arcane ability. The three month interval would allow them to study for most of the time, then make a large sum of money during the power day. There would be a frenzy of town money around the alignment days, people renting rooms, entertaining themselves until the alignment day, and then the few days after to filter away the new arrivals.

Just my thoughts on the idea. I do like the idea of the bolus power day. but like everything, Evil would find a way to sap the power to destroy or maybe abduct people of importance to another realm for three months by having them walk through the portal they didn't realize was there.

 

[Saigonnus]

I wasn't very much for specifics in the initial post, though truthfully when I conceived the idea, I never really gave it as much thought as I would now. A month seemed decent considering "Lorn" has a solar orbit of 480 days divided into ten months (roughly two and a half months per "season") making a month 48 days long. It would be relatively easy for any diviner to foretell when since it's on a steady cycle, but WHERE would be the big question since they appear in a random spot every time. It would be unlikely the same town/place would host a portal twice unless seperated by years, making a party or gathering a BIG deal indeed; like seeing haley's comet.

I made it similar in fashion to a "Dimensional Door" spell, so anyone at all can pass through once it opens; that way it isn't limited to wizards or priests. Even a rough famer in a field or drunk guy pissing on a hedge in a grove of trees would have the chance to pass through and come back with some strange plant or rock before it closes, just adding to the tales of these mysterious portals. Many that pass through to the moon never return if the portal closes; or if they do it is usually months or years later since it appears in a random spot there also and if they are not a wizard they just have to hope they can find one.

As for bad guys, they'd have to take their chances too in finding one. It could be possible to "wrangle" one of the natives into helping, but they can only detect one if they are within a few miles of an open portal, not giving the bad guys much of a leg up. I had originally contemplated the idea when I kind of wondered what would happen to elves or humans if they spend a few generations acclimating to the moon; how would they be different from those on the main world?