Portals

There are portals all around, but only the ones which are actively maintained are safe to use. The portal network is mostly maintained by the Order of Transport, who ensure that the journeys are safe and accurate. Each portal is maintained by at least 3 members of the Order of Transport; one to deliver messages and status reports back to the Core Portal (located in the Tirganol Empire), one to deliver messages in an emergency while the first messenger is gone and one to activate the portal.

How The Portals Work
In order to activate a portal, it requires precise and complex mathematical calculations to draw the ritual circle and perform the ritual. Often, the more Order of Transport members there are casting the ritual, the better and more accurate the spell, but depending on the portal you are being transported to/from, a certain number of casters must take part in the ritual as this is a part of the calculations.

It can take a few days to make the necessary calculations, as the weight of everything being transported is measured and the calculations are made by consulting old texts, then checked and double checked for errors, so the Order has living quarters where travellers can stay for a few nights while they are waiting.

The Order of Transport charges a significant sum for its services, though they have been known to trade for favours with trustworthy organisations such as the Pontern Universities; the average citizen could not afford to travel through them very often, only once a year maybe.

The Order of Transport
It takes a 10 year apprenticeship, usually started before the age of 10, to fully learn how to do the calculations necessary to work the portals, and even then no member of The Order of Transport fully understands how it works, they just know that it does. As such, The Order is heavily reliant on tradition and rules, as even the slightest miscalculation can result in horrible results; improvisation or attempts at progress to "improve" the calculations are discouraged for these reasons.

It is a common belief in the Order of Transport that there are spirits in the Portals, and they must be appeased for safe passage. To appease them, many use some form of animal sacrifice and/or prayer, though there is scepticism within the Order as to how well this actually works.