Transcontinental Portal
A Transcontinental Portal, also known as a Cross-Continental Portal or CC Portal, is a magical teleporting station with enough Literomantic Power to teleport large numbers of people to other such portals, over vast distances. The first Transcontinental Portals were created to connect The Great Houses in the event of another Word War in the spring of 2021. The first CC Portal went online at Aldergrove in the Lapin Protectorate on the 4th of May, 2021, with a second Transcontinental Portal going online in the Okefenokee Swamp in the Sauropoda Protectorate two days later.
Currently, Transcontinental Portals are located in a secure area beneath The Warren (Lapin Protectorate,) the Okefenokee Swamp (Sauropoda Protectorate,) deep in the bowels of The Cavern (Chiroptera Protectorate,) a secure bunker near Windy Willows "The Den" (Meles Protectorate,) and Penwall (Ailurus Protectorate.) House Mollusca has their own teleportation technology, known as "Whirlpools," and does not make use of these Portals.
There are at least two other experimental CC Portals in the literomantic test site in the Woodland Corridor, and likely several more than that, but their locations are classified as state secrets.
The original Transcontinental Portal was destroyed in The Battle of Aldergrove in The Third Word War (November 2022).
Economic and Social Factors
The existence of safe teleportation technology has led to overwhelming demand for publicly-available teleportation access, especially for possible evacuation purposes during a Word War or other disaster. As a result, several smaller teleportation stations, requiring less Literomantic Power to activate, and with a lesser range, were developed and tested in in the Lapin and Chiropteran Protectorates. With these successful tests, larger scale development started, resulting in the Transcontinental Portal Network that is online and expanding in the Lapin Protectorate. Currently, a dramatic social and economic shift is in process. With expanding access to instantaneous, sustainable transportation, world oil prices are falling. The movement towards broader use of public transport, already growing in light of climate change concerns, has gathered steam, with more and more people in the Woodlander Protectorates giving up their cars to make use of public transit methods (such as The Wolverine Line and The HYLEX Cottontail Line in Okanagan City) to access public teleporters instead. Since such teleportation access points are, by necessity, provided by the state, and cost relatively little in actual monetary value once they have come online (the greatest expense being the cost of defense,) a shift in social divisions based on access to transportation is underway; cost no longer limits access. Population shifts are also underway, as people who struggle to afford the cost of motor vehicles are moving into Okanagan City to more freely access this method of transport — which naturally has the counter-effect of driving up the price of housings. Stock values of shipping companies are also beginning to take a hit, as the public mail services in the Lapin Protectorate is beginning making use of public teleporters as well. This is driving down the overall cost of shipping, and this is happening faster than anticipated, as investors see the writing on the wall and have already begun selling their stock. Transcontinental Portals are already a vital component in the military logistics of the Great Houses, which is reducing access to available military contracts for transportation technology manufacturers.Power Generation
Power is generated by either Literomancers or an Inspiration Engine, which stores Literomantic Power in Literomantic Batteries located in close proximity to the portal. Each activation of the Portals requires a a Toam of Werds (roughly 50,000).
Initial design required a continuous power supply, with residual power lingering in the Portal structure once the Batteries were disconnected. This was intended to conserve the use of Literomantic Energy, which is always a limited commodity. Later designs, driven by the lessons of the Battle of Aldergrove, allow the CC Portals to activate in a single power burst, and remain activated until shut down. However, this completely expends 50k Werds of Literomantic Power upon each activation, regardless of the length of time the Portal remains open for.
Armor and defense
To preserve the stability and resistance of the Portals, they are usually built of stone, reinforced concrete, or sometimes hardwood, and the Literomantic Batteries that power them are sunk beneath the ground, also under reinforced concrete. The Aldergrove Portal did not bury their Batteries, and in The Battle of Aldergrove, this was determined to be a key vulnerability point that was corrected in later models.
Most CC Portals are built at a distance from major military bases, or in an otherwise secure area with little habitation. This is to protect military targets from the threat of a hostile Portal activation, but to have troops on hand within a reasonable distance to defend them if needed. However, recent developments in Literomantic defense engineering has allowed for CC Portals to be established in major urban and military locations, with built in failsafes that allow them to be shut down at a moment's notice from remote locations.
Further, in order to be teleported, a person must be standing completely within the three-dimensional frame of the portal, regardless of its shape and size. Therefore, simply touching the portal is insufficient to initiate transport. Most of the Great Houses have also incorporated some version of Queen Sable's "Heartbeat Ward" as an additional defense. Original designs did not permit dead bodies to be transported through the portals, but the current public versions seem to be able to compensate for this.
Where the hell did all these dead bees on the platform come from?
It's normal. Get the pushbroom.
Guess some idiot plugged up their airholes again...
House Meles uses a Transcontinental Portal to escape the Horde (Nov. 6, 2022) by Sable Aradia with HeroForge & Pixabay
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A Transcontinental Portal activating by Minecraft (SA)
Nickname
CC Portal (Cross-Continental Portal)
Compartments
Creation Date
May 2021
Owning Organization
Military Formation Usage
Related Professions
Price
Surprisingly inexpensive at roughly $25,000 equivalent value (₰16,000 Woodlander Talons,) including materials and labour; it's the magic needed that makes it rare
Rarity
Very rare
Related Technologies
Width
6 metres
Length
1 metre
Height
5 metres
Weight
The key components are the Literomantic Batteries (7k kg per Battery, 1 Battery required) and the literomantic symbols that invoke the magic, which technically could be written on paper, but are usually carved into stone or wood for better durability.
Speed
Instantaneous
Complement / Crew
Two; one on each end of transport to flip the switches to activate the Literomantic Batteries, connecting points in space
Cargo & Passenger Capacity
Once activated, the Portals will stay activated until shut down, so in theory, cargo capacity is whatever will fit through the archway, and passenger capacity is infinite. Eight people can fit through the arch at one time for maximum safety
by Tara Fae Belle, Canva & Pixabay
Active Transcontinental Portal at the Cavern by Minecraft (SA)
Woodland Family Alliance by Tempest Kwake
Several other Transcontinental Portals also exist in secure locations within the main strongholds of the Great Houses. Known among the Houses as the "Royal Portals," these are intended for the exclusive use of House Leaders, Bodyguards, and House Heirs for emergencies, speed of access, and the exchange of sensitive information. Additional wards prevent them from being used by anyone else. These are much smaller (only able to transport one person at a time) and require half the amount of Werds, 25k, to activate. Their Batteries are also considerably smaller (less than half the size of the better-known Transcontinental Portals.) Their existence is a carefully-guarded state secret in most of the Protectorates.
Nice to read more about how these work! Dead bodies of bees - oh dear... Nice writing!