Paradigm Concepts

Archangel · Joined: 15 Aug 2011 Posts: 386

I'd like to know more about them. Right now all I have to go on is their ability to teleport things from one to another, a Val'Inares with a certain bloodline is required to activate them, and the list Neirite has for locations in the spoiler forum.

I'm thinking about making them a center piece in my home game soon, the group will be supporting the crusade by running all over to address issues like supply problems or infernal cults. So I would like to know more about them. Are the all the same? What do they look like? Where exactly are some of those sites in Neirite's list at on the map, some I know or could figure out pretty easily but others I just know the country?

Nierite · Joined: 20 Jan 2010 Posts: 1721 Location: Edmonton, Canada

Could you be more specific as to which locations you need?
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Cody Bergman

aka = Haakon Marcus val'Virdan, Priest of Nier (Divine 1. Cool

aka = Dyabe val'Abebi, Templar of Althares (Divine 1.3)
aka = Jorma Ostoman, Battlemage of the Coryani Empire (Arcane 1.2)

Archangel · Joined: 15 Aug 2011 Posts: 386

Aside from those in cities on the old map I need a rough area of which part of their parent country, if not an exact location, they are in. For example Kofan Balantica is on the Sea of Coryan so that one I would just need an estimate of NW coast, East Central, etc... More or less a rough spot to place them as I don't have any resources other than the RPG book, old Codex, and old map. Another one would be is New Althre built on the site of Althre from the old map?

I don't need the lat and long to within a few seconds for the sites just a good enough estimate as to how they are spaced around them map so I can use them.

Nierite · Joined: 20 Jan 2010 Posts: 1721 Location: Edmonton, Canada

The Kofan gate is very little known and even littler used. It is at the site of one of the worst heresies in Coryani history and the earth around it was burned and salted.

Unsealed lands are the old Sealed Lands, and you can get basic info on that in Legacy of Damnation.

Codex Arcanis also has a few other cities for IDing.
_________________
Cody Bergman

aka = Haakon Marcus val'Virdan, Priest of Nier (Divine 1. Cool

aka = Dyabe val'Abebi, Templar of Althares (Divine 1.3)
aka = Jorma Ostoman, Battlemage of the Coryani Empire (Arcane 1.2)

Archangel · Joined: 15 Aug 2011 Posts: 386

I printed out a copy of the old map and sat down with my copy of the codex and hard cover as well as your list. I think I have a pretty good idea of where they are now. I see 2 in the sealed lands and a couple that I have an area for but not very specific. I think that should be good enough for my purposes, since if I need the others I can just nail them down without needing to worry if it is accurate.

StatMonkey · Moderator Joined: 31 May 2007 Posts: 1282

Archangel · Joined: 15 Aug 2011 Posts: 386

Dead.Zone · Joined: 12 Jun 2007 Posts: 323 Location: Pontiac, MI

One of your questions was to learn more about them. I can help a little. (I expected someone to jump in with a bunch of facts about them, so I've kept quiet until now.) There are some minor spoilers from the old campaign, below. I don't believe that's a problem, but I thought I'd warn people, just in case.

1. They do teleport things from portal A to Portal B, but they can only handle small groups at a time. So they cannot be used to transport armies effectively. (It pains me to cross-genre-reference liek this, but if you think of a stargate, you're not far off.)
2. When an Ansharan opens one it glows with a bluish light (I believe.) In one adventure from the previous campaign, a Ssethregoran was able to open one, and it glowed with a reddish light. Going through the portal was extremely painful for the humans in the group. That was a clue to the whole Yig is Anshar thing. (This is not common knowledge on Onara by any means.)
3. The portals appear to have been around longer than the human pantheon.
4. What looks like a giant-sized portal was found in one adventure, under water. The common assumption was that it was likely used by the celestial giants to travel the cosmos. (Whether or not that is true is unknown.)
5. Most cities that have a portal in them guard the portal closely. (For obvious reasons.) So most PCs really have no "easy" access to a portal, even if it's right there in the heart of the city. I forget what legion is commonly used to guard the portals. Anyone remember?

Well, that's what I have off the top of my head. I'm just going from memory. But I'm sure that if I've sparked anyone else's memory that they will chime in and fill in the gaps.

Enjoy!
Scott

EricGorman · Joined: 12 Jun 2007 Posts: 428 Location: Portland OR

There is a definate ansharan "base template" that applies to most portals. They glow blue and leave a faint sense of euphoria as you travel through them ... but PCs have also encountered portals that deviate from the norm. The giant underground portal, the "yaricite" portal in Children of Leviathan, various Ssethric gates. Recently I saw something the party called a Neorthian portal ... weird stuff is out there.

IC we know that the Gods each made a gift to humanity after the War with the Other/Founding of the First Imperium - and Anshar's Gift was the gates. It's important to know as a judge that rarely (very rarely) people go in but don't come out at the destination they were seeking. This is officially denied but telingly you won't find many Mucky-Mucks willing to use them frequently. Why they sometime glitch is not commonly known and what happens to those people is mostly a mystery.

OOC we now know that when Yig joined with the Pantheon of Man as Anshar she repurposed a number of old Ssethric gates with a fascade to make them "human friendly." In one old modue from the last campaign PCs were diverted to Ssethric ruins and one can assume that once in a great while the fascade/gate interface glitches and you come out a Ssethric gate.
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~Eisener val'Holryn. Holy Champion of Nier and haunted veteran of the crusade
~Formerly Sir Jaeger val'Holryn, gave his soul to help free King Noen from the LLT Banner

Auroris · Joined: 12 Aug 2010 Posts: 249

One other thing to note about portals is that blastpowder will explode if taken through a portal. It can go off on either the entrance side, exit side or even inside the gateway itself but it will go off. No blastpowder when using portals.
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Kailandos, Elorii Chanter of the Rebirth and the Bright People
Prince Arcahvir of the Tir Betoq
Harvester for Iowa
James Vacca

hustonj · Joined: 30 Jun 2010 Posts: 1079

Auroris · Joined: 12 Aug 2010 Posts: 249

Ahh you may be right on that front Jeff. Now that you mention it, I do remember something like only 10 shots being able to go through a gate unscathed. Maybe Pedro will weigh in with something definite.
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Kailandos, Elorii Chanter of the Rebirth and the Bright People
Prince Arcahvir of the Tir Betoq
Harvester for Iowa
James Vacca

EricGorman · Joined: 12 Jun 2007 Posts: 428 Location: Portland OR

IIRC it was more than 20 shots on a person that caused an explosion.
_________________
~Eisener val'Holryn. Holy Champion of Nier and haunted veteran of the crusade
~Formerly Sir Jaeger val'Holryn, gave his soul to help free King Noen from the LLT Banner

drafit · Joined: 02 Jul 2010 Posts: 57

Yes if you had more than 20 shots of powder it went off. Best memory of that last campaign there was a val abbi, who was being very rude, who was hording powder and when it came time to go through, no one would hold it for him, he lost 60 shots worth.