Due to the vastness and wildness of the world of Aestilon, it was necessary for society to figure out safe travel methods. This page details the primary modes of travel in Aestilon.
By far the most common mode of travel, despite the inherent risks to it. You can instantly travel across the ley lines to another location. The ley lines are lines of magical energy that run throughout the world. You need to be in possession of a Destination Rune in order to reach your destination.
Teleportation exists in a couple major flavours.
Portal Cores are major constructions that allow for rather stable teleportation to other locations. A Portal Core is a magic circle constructed with a special stone in the floor of a Portal Hub. Despite their name, they are not really portals and thus also do not function as some sort of doorway.
Portal Hubs require a very specific location and a very specific layout in order to function. A Portal Hub exists in every major city.
The second most used mode of teleportation. These magic circles are essentially smaller versions of a Portal Core. They are usually positioned off the ley lines, increasing the chance of Portal Drift.
Each Faction Hall in the Great Cities has their own Teleportation Circle. These are usually still position close to the ley line, causing them to be rather stable. Noble Houses and other important and powerful persons in the various cities also often have a circle in their home.
The third mode is to use a Magic Scroll. Magic scrolls have the benefit and limitation of being both a teleportation circle and destination rune. This allows them to be used wherever you are in the world, but only to the destination etched in the scroll. They also have the added benefit of allowing up to 6 persons to travel with 1 scroll. The scroll, however, is destroyed in the process.
Teleportation Scrolls for the Great Cities are cheap and often used by adventurers for fast travels back home. They can also serve instead of a Destination Rune when travelling between great cities.
Due to them being usable far away from the ley lines, the risk for Portal Drift is very high.
A Destination rune is a small, flat and round stone that has the unique identification of the destination etched into it. Teleportation Scrolls also have a destination rune built in.
A teleportation requires sentience to be used. A limited space around the sentience will follow the sentience. This is limited to the mental power of the traveler. This limitation causes a teleportation to be a less than ideal solution to ship goods.
Portal Drift is a phenomenon that causes the traveler to not reach its intended target. Practically, as you usually don't depart or arrive on an exact ley line, there is a chance to go drift in the wrong direction. At this point, you could arrive ANYWHERE in the world. Depending on the expected traveled distance, the drift could also be bigger.
* Portal Cores have a 0.001% chance for drift. Due to the closeness of the ley lines, the drift also often is limited to somewhere in the city where you intended to arrive.. * Teleportation Circles can go up to 1% chance for drift. The faction circles are generally positioned on ley lines, making their chance for drift only 0.1%. * Teleportation Scrolls have up to 5% for drift. Generally, a mage can take a second to locate a ley line, lowering the drift chance to 1%.
Big roads have been constructed between all Great Cities. For obvious reasons, Toru's access is limited to Kalzendil Seaport and Rurua's access is limited to a Griffin's Roost at the edge of the Elemental Wastes.
Roads are considered unsafe. It is necessary to have protection when travelling them. Roads try to cross Safe Spots as much as possible, which allow little roadside villages to exist on these safe spots.
The main aerial mode of transport between the great cities. Big, but slow Zeppelins travel between the Airports of each city. They are generally considered the safest mode of travel and allow for more than just what people have on them to be carried. The need for air, however, still limits their use as pure goods transports.
Originally only used actively in Rurua, Air mounts have grown to be a more common mode of transport in all cities. The airports have support for landing your air mounts.
The risk is that most air mounts are still wild creatures and monsters, this requires some formal training to be needed in order to properly use them.
Boats are the most common mode of transport on water. They are boats, they float.
The Aerbalaen are a species of whale monster capable of generating a bubble of oxygen around themselves. The aerbalaen are the standard mode of transport to reach the great city under the ocean, Toru.