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Why does it seem there is only one portal on Sharona?

"Hell's Gate" and "Hell Hath No Fury", by David, Linda Evans, and Joelle Presby, take the clash of science and magic to a whole new dimension...join us in a friendly discussion of this engrossing series!
Why does it seem there is only one portal on Sharona?
Post by Keith_w   » Sun Sep 27, 2015 7:35 am

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All the other worlds seem to have at least 2 portals. There has been a suggestion that there is a sub-ocean portal that the cetaceans can use, but I don't think there is any actual textev for it. So, why is there only 1 obvious portal on Sharona?
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Re: Why does it seem there is only one portal on Sharona?
Post by n7axw   » Sun Sep 27, 2015 11:55 am

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Keith_w wrote:All the other worlds seem to have at least 2 portals. There has been a suggestion that there is a sub-ocean portal that the cetaceans can use, but I don't think there is any actual textev for it. So, why is there only 1 obvious portal on Sharona?


Good question. But do we know that...or is it that only one portal has figured into the story?

Don
When any group seeks political power in God's name, both religion and politics are instantly corrupted.
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Re: Why does it seem there is only one portal on Sharona?
Post by Keith_w   » Sun Sep 27, 2015 1:14 pm

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n7axw wrote:
Keith_w wrote:All the other worlds seem to have at least 2 portals. There has been a suggestion that there is a sub-ocean portal that the cetaceans can use, but I don't think there is any actual textev for it. So, why is there only 1 obvious portal on Sharona?


Good question. But do we know that...or is it that only one portal has figured into the story?

Don

One would think that if there were a second portal there would be some mention of it, if only a discussion on how best to guard it against other incursions. My thought is that there is only one on Sharon, only one on Arcane, one on our Earth and whomever is creating them is intending us all to meet for some reason known only to them (but feel free to speculate)
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Re: Why does it seem there is only one portal on Sharona?
Post by SYED   » Sun Sep 27, 2015 4:50 pm

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There are mentions that some worlds only have one portal. While some could be buried or underwater, surely they could still be able to detect them. it is cool imagining the water creatures of the world able to travel the multiverse, it might lead to under water craft and under water monsters. Earth is over 70 per cent water, so portals are more likely to be there.
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Re: Why does it seem there is only one portal on Sharona?
Post by Keith_w   » Sun Sep 27, 2015 5:31 pm

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SYED wrote:There are mentions that some worlds only have one portal. While some could be buried or underwater, surely they could still be able to detect them. it is cool imagining the water creatures of the world able to travel the multiverse, it might lead to under water craft and under water monsters. Earth is over 70 per cent water, so portals are more likely to be there.


Hadn't remembered that - I was looking at the map at the beginning of HHNF and all the worlds shown have 2 portals. OTOH, looking again, it looks as though it only shows the ones that are mentioned in the story.
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Re: Why does it seem there is only one portal on Sharona?
Post by Astelon   » Sun Sep 27, 2015 9:27 pm

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SYED wrote:. While some could be buried or underwater, surely they could still be able to detect them.


Not necessarily. Water is effective at stopping electromagnetic radiation (used fuel rods from nuclear reactors are stored in pools of water before disposal) and particle radiation. It would be fairly easy to say that whatever energy a portal radiates is blocked by water.
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Re: Why does it seem there is only one portal on Sharona?
Post by Louis R   » Mon Sep 28, 2015 3:14 pm

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not correct, actually. water is quite transparent in many wavelength ranges, including >30keV [yes, i know that's energy, sue me], orange to somewhere in the VUV and longer than mid infrared, to give very rough limits.

like any relatively dense material, it's pretty good at stopping charged particles, and better than many with neutrons.

the pools spent fuel is placed in are for cooling, not radiation protection per se


Astelon wrote:
SYED wrote:. While some could be buried or underwater, surely they could still be able to detect them.


Not necessarily. Water is effective at stopping electromagnetic radiation (used fuel rods from nuclear reactors are stored in pools of water before disposal) and particle radiation. It would be fairly easy to say that whatever energy a portal radiates is blocked by water.
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Re: Why does it seem there is only one portal on Sharona?
Post by Howard T. Map-addict   » Mon Sep 28, 2015 3:31 pm

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And then there is the question:
"Would that matter to a Portal Hound?"

That leads to the Next Question:
"How long have there been Portal Hounds?"

Before the First Sharonan Portal opened, 80 years ago,
that Talent would have been useless - meaningless.
So, did the PH Talent appear later,
perhaps 25 to 65 years after the First Portal,
thus making finding all the Portals on a newfound
world easier to find?
Or did the First Portal appearance cause Talents all
over Sharona - or those within X-thousand miles of it
- to suddenly say "Hey! there is Something Interesting
over That way!"

HTM

[quote="Louis R"]not correct, actually.
water is quite transparent in many wavelength ranges,
including >30keV [yes, i know that's energy, sue me],
orange to somewhere in the VUV and longer
than mid infrared, to give very rough limits.

like any relatively dense material,
it's pretty good at stopping charged particles,
and better than many with neutrons.

the pools spent fuel is placed in are for cooling, not radiation protection per se


[quote="Astelon"]

Not necessarily {able to detect portals underwater.}
Water is effective at stopping electromagnetic
radiation (used fuel rods from nuclear reactors are
stored in pools of water before disposal) and particle
radiation. It would be fairly easy to say that
whatever energy a portal radiates is blocked by water.
[/quote="Astelon"]
[/quote="Louis R"]
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Re: Why does it seem there is only one portal on Sharona?
Post by Astelon   » Mon Sep 28, 2015 7:08 pm

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Yes water is transparent in many frequencies, like visible light, UV, ELF radio waves. However the portal doesn't glow (visible light), and people who spend time near a portal don't get "sun" burned (UV). So those are out. Extremely low frequency radio waves are an interesting possibility but they are also generated by natural causes; one would expect that the Portal Hounds would get "interference" at times.

As for fuel rods yes they are placed in pools for cooling, the water happens to stop the radiation too.
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Re: Why does it seem there is only one portal on Sharona?
Post by tonyz   » Mon Sep 28, 2015 7:58 pm

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It's possible that there are a number of worlds with only one portal -- it's just that none of them are particularly important (yet) in this particular story. All the characters would know is that nobody has yet found (another) portal in World X -- and what's the range of a Portal Hound, or of that magical portal detector? How much of the globe would someone have to travel to make sure they would have detected any other existing portals?

And does rock or water block the signal, whatever it is? (What if the other portal is buried in the mantle, so it would take 50 miles of penetrating magma to reach it? What if it's just underwater all the way? Or all the way in the air?)

And is there a minimum size for portals? What if, somewhere in the worlds, there's a portal only large enough for a child to go through...
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