Microsoft Zone Archive/Asheron's Lore/The Mysterious Portals Archive/Arrival from Portal Space

Original Link (now dead) - http://www.zone.com/asheronscall/ASHEportalspace.asp

Arrival from Portal Space

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Here we see a large migration from portal space. The glowing forms are, of course, the ethereal "shadows" cast by those transitioning between worlds. No one has been harmed in this state; however, many travelers are keenly aware of their vulnerability as they teleport blind while potentially advertising their arrival to foes. Some have left adventuring to become shopkeepers rather than suffer this insecurity.

Sages have been occupied for a long time trying to reason why travelers project a glowing image into normal space. Could the apparition be some sort of anchor cast ahead, pulling the traveler to the correct place even as the spheres of the cosmos shift the intervening paths? Or, as some maintain, perhaps the soul travels faster than the body, and waits hovering for the physical form to arrive. So far, unfortunately, no experiment has been devised to test these absorbing speculations.