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Teleporting in Fantasy
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Author:  Reiyen [ December 1st, 2010, 11:18 pm ]
Post subject:  Teleporting in Fantasy

The basic question is this: is it a good idea to allow people to essentially transport themselves great distances in no time flat? Is that dangerous, leaving plot-holes rampantly?

I think mine might be one of few worlds where I allow people to teleport, although I call it translocal, themselves, others, and objects. While this would seem to be opening a huge can of worms I found ways to tune it down.
1. Anytime someone uses magic, it can be detected. Anytime it is detected, it can be interfered with. Translocalling is especially susceptible, because anyone near the point of origin and the destination, and anyone in between, can interfere with it. Interference can mean changing the destination, killing the individual, or other things.
2.The amount of power required to execute a translocal of one's self depends on A: the distance moved B: the knowledge of the surroundings. This means that it might be easier to translocal home than to translocal to the battlefield. After all, if one wants to translocal into a castle which one has never been inside of before, you have to be careful to not "land" in the middle of a wall, thus it takes a lot more power to hit a good location of which one is not knowledgeable.
3. To translocal another object or person can be difficult. One must know pretty well the exact location of the object/person in question, or transolcalling becomes very costly in power quite fast. Keep in mind, the more power used, the more easily detected and interfered with. In the attempt to translocal an intelligent being, especially one with magic of its own or under protection by a magic-using individual, the will of the being in question will also complicate things.

So how does that all sound? Do you think that those three should cover any possible loopholes and plot-holes effectively?

Author:  Airianna Valenshia [ December 1st, 2010, 11:33 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Teleporting in Fantasy

I think those were some very good, well thought out ways to handle a potential cheat Reiyen. Magic gets thrown around too easily without accountability. So do portals and teleportation (like your name change, by the way). They are often escape hatches for authors. “I’m tired and don’t want to think anymore, and it will be a pain to describe a journey, so poof, just make them appear there!” I think you have added some really good boundaries and limits to your system. Those laws can also add some really interesting plot twists too, instead of being something used when you run into a wall (no pun intended). If you write these ideas the way I think you will, I would be a very pleased reader with this system in place. So long as it isn’t over used, which, it sounds like, won’t happen.

I think people use this system (without the restraints you have) more than you think, however.

Author:  Kiev Shawn [ December 2nd, 2010, 6:31 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Teleporting in Fantasy

I second Airianna's thoughts. I really enjoyed reading this! :D Can you translocal something or someone else besides yourself?

Author:  Reiyen [ December 2nd, 2010, 12:22 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Teleporting in Fantasy

Quote:
I really enjoyed reading this! :D Can you translocal something or someone else besides yourself?

You sure can. Very often a wizard will translocal himself plus some buddies around him to another spot. Naturally, the more you move the harder it is and the more likely to be interfered. Translocalling objects is somewhat less common, because it is somewhat impractical. If something is in the room it is generally easier to call it and have it come sailing through the air than to translocal, because translocalling requires so much precision. Translocalling a distant object again invokes the precision difficulty, pretty much the only time you could pull that off without ridiculous amounts of difficulty is if you know exactly where the object in question is. So I guess wizards with memory problems could translocal their glasses from their nightstand if they remember they left them there, but not much else. ;)

Author:  Kiev Shawn [ December 2nd, 2010, 12:26 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Teleporting in Fantasy

I see. I like how the more work it is, the easier it is to stop it and that you have to know where something is to move it. It makes total sense, and cuts out a lot of deus ex machina. Nice illustration there at the end. :D

Author:  Willow Wenial Mimetes [ December 2nd, 2010, 12:28 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Teleporting in Fantasy

I am so happy that you gave this some RULES! I wrote a story once and there was no journeying. At all. :P Characters popped in and out of locale's constantly. It was terrible. LOL!

Mostly, I love the idea that you made it fairly difficult to hit where you're going, and I can just IMAGINE landing in the middle of a wall. :P NOT COOL! :D

Author:  Kiev Shawn [ December 2nd, 2010, 12:30 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Teleporting in Fantasy

It would be crowded, doing that. ;) Does anyone do that in your story, Reiyen?

Author:  Reiyen [ December 2nd, 2010, 1:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Teleporting in Fantasy

No one lands in a wall, per se, but the translocalling does go awry one very important time. Generally, wizards simply won't try to translocal if they don't have enough power to be careful to not do that.

In the one case where translocalling goes very wrong, my character, the wizard Reiyen, finds his endpoint to be very different than intended. His translocal was intercepted by a resident magic-user, who changed the endpoint such that Reiyen essentially translocalled himself into the other guy's prison. And even though this sort of catastrophe only happens once, my character are very wary to use the translocal method because Nastar, arch-villain, can always sense their using it, and even though he may not be able to interfere from a great distance, he will know where they are.

Author:  Kiev Shawn [ December 2nd, 2010, 1:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Teleporting in Fantasy

Wow, that's a fix.

Author:  Reiyen [ December 2nd, 2010, 2:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Teleporting in Fantasy

In fact, Nastar is so advanced in this detection deal, that if he were to try hard enough, and not be resisted well enough, he can tell what the translocalling person was thinking, seeing, hearing, where they were, and when they translocalled. He can even do this retroactively if it was recently used, that is, he can look back a few hours or maybe days and check about translocals executed then. His watchfulness acts as one of the main ways I prevent my good characters from using magic rampantly.

Author:  Willow Wenial Mimetes [ December 2nd, 2010, 4:22 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Teleporting in Fantasy

eeeeeek! Reiyen I want to read this story!

Author:  Andrew Amnon Mimetes [ December 10th, 2010, 4:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Teleporting in Fantasy

That's a very effective 'check' on magic, Reiyen (About the guy being able to see their use). And I agree with Willow--I'd like to read this story. Is it already written?

eruheran

Author:  Reiyen [ December 10th, 2010, 5:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Teleporting in Fantasy

The story is written and undergoing final-edit. I am already seeking publishing agents.

Author:  Kiev Shawn [ December 10th, 2010, 7:55 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Teleporting in Fantasy

Be sure to let us know when it is published! :)

Author:  Varon [ March 15th, 2011, 4:00 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Teleporting in Fantasy

Good rules.

Would you say there's much difference between teleporting magically and walking between space-time fabric and dimensions?

Author:  Suiauthon Mimetes [ May 18th, 2012, 1:11 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Teleporting in Fantasy

I have a group of badguys that have been 'granted' the use of teleporting between space and different dimensions.
One of the restraints I want to use is like a 'drain of energy', but I'm unsure as of how to go with this. I want teleporting to be such a drain that it causes extreme problems for the user. Would it be realistic/enough of a restraint for the users to be so drained that their bodies completely shut down for a time (at least during particularly draining experiences) and enter a coma-like-state?

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