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Transport

For some years there has been a movement within the magical community to formally separate Communications and Transport magics, and this has finally been enacted by the SMOC. Transport magics mainly deal with long-distance contacts, although Telekinesis magic is now becoming part of the Transport syllabus, as well as the Mech-Tech Industrial one.

Basic Level

All mages leave college with the ability to teleport, at least to some degree. For weaker mages this is limited to line of sight, however for stronger mages it can cover longer distances - up to fifty miles or so - as long as the arrival site is well known to the mage. Of course, there is always the danger of arriving in someone or something, if they are in the place you are trying to arrive, so care does need to be taken: routine precautions include, for example, designating a specific area as a "landing zone" and making sure it is kept clear, or teleporting while shielded, which would at least let you bounce off another person or smaller item, although if you're going to land in a wall, a shield isn't going to help you.

Partial Specialisation

Much of what comes with partial specialisation is refinement of the basic abilities. For example, the range of teleports is much increased, say from London to York or London to Paris becomes possible, up to a range of about 500 miles. However, if the mage is particularly strong of will and ability, it may be possible to double that, although the mage still needs to know where he is landing.

A further step up on teleporting comes with the ability to teleport small items to you, like swords or handkerchiefs (say a maximum weight of about 50lbs, or about 4ft square in size). However, to do this you need to know exactly where an item is and, if relevant, its orientation (you want to teleport the hilt of your sword into your hand, not the blade).

For mages aware of different planes of reality (this is usually restricted to those who are, or know, Amber and Chaos blooded people, and have therefore travelled Shadow), gating between Shadows becomes possible, as long as they are taught the "checkspell" which allows them to feel for magic of Shadow. However, the range of Shadows is limited.

Higher levels of Telekinesis are now being taught as part of the Transport Syllabus. The weight that can be lifted improves with the power of the mage, or the strength of the specialisation. At this level the ability to lift up to about 200lbs weight is common, but not often exceeded. The main restriction is that the weight being lifted must remain in the line of sight of the mage doing the lifting.

Full Specialisation

For transport, very long-distance teleports and gates become possible. For teleports, you're looking at a range of about 5000 miles, and for the particularly gifted, London to Tokyo becomes viable. For gate spells, the range of Shadows that can be traversed becomes longer.

Bringing smaller items to you becomes possible cross-planar. Also, teleporting in larger objects from elsewhere on the Shadow you are on becomes possible (larger here is, say, up to twice man sized and man weight). However, the restriction that you have to know exactly where the item is remains: you cannot cast spells along the lines of "teleport Jim Smith to me, wherever he is".

Also, full specialisation allows for the setting up of transfer portals, which allow even the non-Talented to move from one set location to another, either on the same Shadow, or to a different one, although it would take about an hour to prepare these - half at either end of the transport.

Telekinesis mages can lift weights of up to a tonne, although still only within line of sight, and those who specialise still further can achieve far more than that.

Specific Specialisation: Higher-Level Telekinesis

Those who choose to take this as a specific speciality can move and manipulate far heavier weights than is usual, even on full specialisation, often carrying multiple tonnes and for further than is usual at the other levels. The control of the telekinetic is sufficiently good, that items can be lifted remotely, as long as some kind of viewing aid (scanning spell, etc) is available to the mage. This can take the range beyond line of sight if a suitable viewer can be placed at that range.

Specific Specialisation: Large-Scale Transport

Large-Scale Transport is a further development from a full speciality, in terms of distance which can be travelled or number of Shadows across which the mage can gate, and the amount of personnel or materiel carried. A teleporter of this ability can literally get anywhere else on the world on which they begin, and can take with them up to 500 people and their equipment. They can also bring items to them from elsewhere on the world, as long as they have a rough idea of where they are originating (within a mile or so), although this is limited to about three people or weight equivalent. Transfer portals can be built rather more quickly than for the full specialisation (a quarter of an hour at each end of the portal).