The Way of the Doors

[The Librae]

(As with all introduction posts, this may be edited later for clarity. Date of edit will be added to the title.)

To add a Door, either to an intermundia or a trade-world, is a long, involved process.

First, a quick walk-through of the jobs the Viatoris and Vigiliae are trusted with:

Through a series of techniques built through the many years that Skopos has been in existance, coordinates are decided on for certain times and places throughout the known and unknown universes. With these, the Viatoris council chooses the appropriate member to send on a 'scouting' mission. Because a Door is not yet built, there are a few ways that the Viator can go to this world: several of the members are able to jump dimensions and/or times under their own power, though each has their own limitations. Those that cannot will go through a machine known as the Vitruvian, which will precisely place the Viator wherever desired. This, however, comes with limitations as well, namely that returning can be a tricky process, involving the Viator returning to the exact spot in which he/she/it arrived at set times.

Upon their arrival, the Viator is then charged to examine the situation and decide the next course of action. If the world is peaceful, a trade agreement may be possible, depending on the world's current demand for supplies. If the world is in the midst of war or disaster, will any wish to come to Skopos, and if so, where are they to be found? Other considerations include atmosphere and environment - will the incoming Vigilia be able to survive for a period of time on this planet? - and safety - will the Vigilia be in need of guards, and if so, how many? Once enough information is gathered, the Viator returns to Skopos to report to both the Viatoris and Vigiliae councils, who make the next decisions. (If the need is immediate, the Viator themselves can bring back several with them - a difficult, but possible process.)

In the case of numerous refugees or escapees, a temporary Door will be built, as the Vitruvian can only bring back a maximum of three at high strain to the machinery, and the specialized abilities of others are not always powerful enough to bring others along. Typically a Vigilia will try to use an existing door for a frame, but when one is not available, it can be built most anywhere through a series of phrases coded specifically to that person, which connects them to Skopos and opens the portal. (To be at their most effective, temporary Doors should be built along lines of energy, or ley lines, but this is not necessary except in worlds of very little natural power.) This temporary Door is mostly invisible, but appears as a shimmer of light in the air, often compared to moonlight or sunlight reflecting off water. It can only remain open for a maximum time period of 24 hours, therefore it is up to the Vigilia to determine the correct time to cast it.

In the case of possible treaties, the ambassadorial Vigiliae will be sent, generally with a single Viator for each as bodyguard. Once an agreement has been reached, a Door can be created wherever it is required. The leaders of the trade world decide where to have the Door located on their planet (generally only one), and with the use of specialized devices and codes, the two worlds are connected through a Biviua. This Door is permanent, until both sides agree to close it.

When refugees are given an intermundia, the Door is built first, in whichever populus is deemed most suitable, and it is to this that the pocket dimension is connected. For example: the Spathi have recently arrived on Skopos, and require an intermundia large enough for two towns. The Door is built in the Plains Populus, as that is the most similar and comfortable to where they had all lived beforehand. Once the Door is built, a pocket dimension of appropriate size is attached to it, and therefore to Skopos. From there, the technicians proceed to create the small world with the help of those that will live there, to make it as close to correct as possible.

The process of closing the Doors is slightly different. As stated before, in the case of the trade worlds, if a Biviua is closed it happens only through an agreement on both sides, so that it will be closed simultaneously without trapping individuals on either side. In the case of intermundia, however, it can only be closed from Skopos-side, because of an effect commonly known as Closed Space.

A pocket dimension, by its very existance, must be connected to a larger, full-sized dimension to exist, otherwise it rapidly begins to implode and fall in upon itself, thereby ceasing to exist. From time to time, an intermundia is emptied, generally when its inhabitents either outgrow the maximum space (and at which point are generally brought to a world in its own dimension, connected through a Bivius) or when the inhabitents fully disperse and move to other intermundia or worlds. When this happens, Ziusudra and/or the senatus give the approval for disposal, and several individuals (minimum of three) from either Viatoris or Vigiliae council is sent to explore the intermundia, to be sure that it is completely empty and no longer needed. (Depending on size, this can take quite some time.) Once done, they return, locking the Door behind them, and, with two people both at the Door and in the technical wing, the four erase the Door from the system, leaaving only a blank wall where it once existed. Once the Door is permanently shut, the area remaining in the intermundia is now Closed Space, and will remain that way until a Door is reopened, or the intermundia is gone. It is estimated that time of intermundia collapse ranges from either an hour for the smallest systems to several days for the largest; these times are for complete non-existance - destruction within the intermundia begins immediately.
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::If you ask of the Great, 'Why me?' They will say, 'Why Not?' And you will list why not, every reason, until time stands still. And They will listen to every reason, and at the end, will simply answer, 'So?'::