Long Distance Communication in Traditional Fantasy Setting

[AliceBaine]

Hey everyone,

I'm roughing up the plot for my next few books, and the main characters are split into three separate parties. They travel different directions, do their own thing, then end up reconvening in the future.

I'm brainstorming right now on a good way for the characters to communicate/meet up once the plot needs them back together. The world is big enough that running into each other by chance would be completely unrealistic, which got me wondering how other writers work long distance communication into their medieval-esque stories.

My last resort is the (maybe) overused "magical stone you can speak through", and I'm considering a type of sophisticated mail system (or homing pigeons ). But I'm interested in knowing if anyone has written their own clever solution to this, or if they've read something that handles this well.


Any thoughts or comments are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[pmmg]

In my first book, the characters split up and do not communicate. There are two main story lines and they are both kind of aware of needing to do things to benefit the other. For me, I put my effort mostly into timing, such that one character was not five days ahead of the other, and the timelines would line up when needed. There was no communication between them.


Book 2, the same. But there were some magic creatures around who could have...

In Book 3, things get more complex and there are a lot of characters. Rarely do they know what others are doing, but there are some that have more of a birds eye view of things (mostly the villains), who may at some point say something they know that clues other ppl in.

In book 4, there are at least two prominent characters who can get a birds eye view of things, and have limited projection (like astral projection) to communicate if needed (but...so far that has not happened).

There are also several characters who can 'detect' big events. Such as, if a wizard was to drain all the magic out of an area in the north, another wizard in the south might know the draining had occurred. Some characters have visions during special events, such as at a blessed basin, or by being connected to the ley lines of the world.

Generally though, most characters have no idea what other characters are doing. A big part of books 2-4 is that some characters cannot be found.

Present throughout all books is characters who could use magic for some purposes, such as scrying, or trying to travel fast, but they are too far in the background to be known in book 1, and barely known in book 2.

I dont have anyone use a stone to talk into.

 

[Aldarion]

Best way I think would be if they agree on a scheduled time and place of meeting prior to separating.

 

[ThinkerX]

Solaria - the main nation of my primary world - is crisscrossed with lines of signal (semaphore) towers that make it possible to send messages thousands of miles in days instead of months - if you have the money.

 

[JBCrowson]

My series has interplay between gods and mortals. One of the gods, Mnemamn, started out keeping a journal that records everything that happens in the mortal plane (every thought and word of every sentient being, including the gods if they are on the mortal plane). The Books rapidly become an unmanageable library so he and Order co-create a bunch of immortal librarians to maintain the journal collection. Through the council of gods, any god can request access to The Books to answer specific questions if a majority of gods vote to agree. Since the gods are endlessly bickering about all sorts of things, getting a majority to support a request is hard enough to make it a rare event. The gods are free to share the revealed information with their worshippers / priesthood as they please.

The mortals have a council of magi which has a permanent link to each of the 8 schools of magic, which are located on the 8 continents. The magi occasionally discuss and share info via these links, but only stuff of interest to them. As there are rivalries and mistrust between some of the schools of magic what is shared is limited (and not always true).

The final communication method is a non human race that uses a shamanic magic system. The shamans can enter another realm where they can communicate with other shamans - essentially a form of astral projection. They are wary of using it though as they risk their spirit self and physical self being permanently split or killed (creating a ghost or zombie depending on which part is killed).

I've found these options make it possible for long distance communication to happen when I really need it, but are sufficiently rare / difficult / dangerous / of limited info, to avoid the "why not just phone them" type of situation coming up. Most of the time the POV characters have no idea what is happening elsewhere.

 

[Finchbearer]

I use messengers and hawks.

 

[Prince of Spires]

Agreeing to meet at location X is an easy one.

You could also have the plot force them together. Say group 1 goes to location A to investigate a murder, and group 2 goes to location B to stop a rebellion. If the murder is tied to the rebellion, then group 1 will probably end up in location B at some point.

I think that's the most common way of doing it (outside of long distance communication or fast-travel). If you have a central plot which dictates what happens, then people are bound to end up together again.

You could also have a big event happening that all the characters go to. If there's an earthquake somewhere maybe people rush in to help. Or maybe there's a big anual market everyone travels to. Or a pilgrimage.

As a side note, random stuff happens all the time. I've travelled Australia for a year (years ago), and there were numerous people I've met multiple times all across Australia, even though it's a pretty big place. It's simply a matter of being interested in the same kinds of things and meeting enough people.

 

[pmmg]

I use messengers and hawks.

I had wondered if a wizards familiar might not solve this problem.

 

[Finchbearer]

I had wondered if a wizards familiar might not solve this problem.

Any winged creature or familiar could solve the problem I think.

 

[Mad Swede]

This depends a bit on how much you've developed your setting. For me, this sort of question would make me ask how messages are sent? For the rulers, for the army (if there is one), for merchants? Is there a system (or several) and if so how does it (or they) work? Does it cost a lot? Is it reliable? And the answers to these questions depend in turn on how your setting is ruled and how settled civilisation is.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

I've used scrying quite often in my epic fantasies. (also pigeons and pony express!) But mostly if you have separate parties, I think not knowing what other groups are doing, would be a big part of your plot.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[pmmg]

One way to handle this might be to have one know something the other doesn't.

For example: if bob wanders off to the forest village to do some quest, and Mary finds out the big baddies are going to attack the forest village, she might become motivated to do something knowing that bob is unaware. She is involved in his story, even if he does not know it.