Encounter-a-Day

Teleportation magic is a convenient, but also costly and dangerous. Any meaningful teleportation requires powerful magic, and even then it’s not perfectly reliable– especially if one doesn’t know the destination already.

Teleportation circles, then, are a wonderful innovation for a magical society. The size of teleportation circles ranges from a few feet to several yards in diameter, and they are solid stone disks engraved with sigils of precious metals and inlaid gemstones. A circle acts as a lodestone, naturally attracting teleportation magic to itself. With knowledge of the particular sigils, it’s all but impossible for a teleportation spell to fail or misdirect.

Like teleportation magic itself, though, the circles are a double-edged sword. The precious metals and gems used in their construction are natural targets for thieves, and their very nature makes the circles potential invasion points for enemies. Thus, most teleportation circles are guarded around the clock. For public circles, such as those just outside the walls of most major cities, the guards also collect taxes from inbound travelers. Those unable or unwilling to pay the levies find themselves arrested and/or their goods confiscated.

Even though the magic requires to go from one teleportation circle to another is relatively simple, not everyone has access to their own caster to take care of it. Thus, most public circles also have a mage on hand whose services can be hired. Unlike guards, very few circles have a mage available at all hours of day and in fact most likely only have one around during the busiest part of the day. Though not very glamorous, “Portal Magister” is a common vocation for young mages working their way through school or recent graduates without better prospects.

Also common around teleportation circles are vendors who sell “sigil directories,” scrolls or books with lists of sigils for many common destinations. One should be careful, however, to ensure that they only purchase such directories from reputable dealers. It is all too easy to fake a directory for some easy gold or even sabotage one to lure unsuspecting travelers into traps.

Private teleportation circles also exist. Most castles have them, as do some of the wealthiest individuals. Needless to say, the sigils for such private circles are guarded carefully. For individuals, frequently only the owner knows them and for castles the information is limited to a small handful of loyal– and well-paid– portal magisters. Those expected to have legitimate use of the castle’s circle– such as a military commander or a diplomat– might be entrusted with a portal magister as an attendant.

One common safeguard for private circles is to create two circles with nearly-identical sigils. One is safe and the other booby-trapped. The sigils are created such that the safe one is much more exact and finer in detail than the false one, such that if a mistake is made it will most likely end up with the travelers being sent to the booby-trapped circle.