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I am not sure how to set limits in a fantasy world where there are numerous layers and dimensions where the idea is that people live in worlds within worlds within worlds.
The base layer is simply just that. Wilderness and everything else and everything untamed, no laws. No one stays there except the guardians/gods. It's nothing but portals. [IRL analogy: Space and portals go to Earth/Mars etc...]
I should mention that there are 2 types of portals btw. One is wjere a portal only connects to one spot and portals that connect to mutiple spots on the next layer.
These portals take you to a second layer. A continental world. There are dozens of continents (no actual planet to restrict anything) and anything on this layer is global plus more portals.
[IRL analogy: Earth and portals go to Asia, Europe, etc.]
And those portals goes to the 3rd layer of individual continents. Anything on this layer os continental. More portals give you individual countries. [IRL analogy: Asia and portals go to Russia, China, etc]
The 4th layer is countries. Anything here is nationwide. And more portals to country subdivisions. [IRL analogy: USA and portals go to California, Florida, etc...]
So you can see, it goes down so many layers. All the way down. Your home is even a portal on the street layer. Tiny independant shops are portals on the street layer.
It goes on.. depending how big your home is... that might be a portals layer itself connnecting 10+ rooms.
So basically it's such a massive undertaking that requires it to constantly be run and held at all times. Where is there room for magical failure? Is this too overboard or am I overthinking it? It seems like I definitely don't have limits here.. just utilising layer after layer after layer with no restriction.
Also this is mostly physical.. how about how this actually works and shapes as a society? With all these physical locations.. literal space is no issue? How about resources? Population? Since so many layers give no(?) limits that could be a number with 100 zeros.
Tex: Functionally your limits are whatever is the end of your patience/comfort level/skill level, or perhaps slightly before that point to give yourself some wiggle room.
Are you building this world for the sake of a story, or to have a nice bauble to interact with? If for a story, which parts of this are most relevant to the plot, leaving the rest as auxiliary details? If for a source of amusement, what about this interests you the most?
As it stands, this is a difficult bit of worldbuilding to follow - do you mean to have these worlds act gyroscopically to each other, in a nested sort of function? Is this meant to model some TTRPGs that have a similar set-up? Something else? If this is for an audience rather than solely your own amusement, then pertinent details need to be picked and stuck with to avoid overwhelming readers with so much context to take in.
Wootzel: We arenât having an easy time understanding how this works. Here are some avenues to think about, and I hope they can help you come to your own conclusions. If you find yourself needing help with a specific aspect after brainstorming on your own some more, youâre welcome to ask again.
What does this look/feel like to actually interact with? Is going through a portal painless and pretty normal (sensory wise) or is it weird and feels like your brains are on sideways? Are the portals easily visible? If one is traveling from layer to layer, do you go from Home Layer to Street Layer and then walk down the street, or is it more metaphysical and harder to explain by real-world understanding?
You only mentioned magic towards the end and with no elaboration. WHO set these up? Do they require energy to keep open? Whatâs your magic system like? There are a million directions you could go with this (from the gods did it and must consciously maintain them, to humans spontaneously generate portals when they yawn), and this is basically a non-question. If you want to ask questions about minutiae of your magic system to sense-check it, first flesh out the magic system to us (but please be cognizant of how big your question is if you re-ask about this; we want to help, but we can only nudge you in the direction of some inspiration when it comes to something as made-up as a magic system).
You want limits, and you mention that these portals need to be maintained. Figure out what it takes to maintain a portal, then extrapolate to figure out where the limits of this system are. OR, go backwards: decide where youâd like a limit, and then pare that down so that individual portalsâ cost adds up to that limit.
It sounds like most of these portals are pretty static, by your description. Like the portals in a house--Iâd assume those are just hanging out, otherwise itâd be impossible to live in such a house. Do more dynamic portals exist? Why are most portals just kinda hanging out instead of being opened when needed, if maintaining them costs something? Alternatively, what if going through a portal is the costly thing, not it existing?
Iâd suggest looking for other media that might have vibes in common with what youâre suggesting, if you donât already have some in your pocket (or in addition to ones you already know about). I canât think of any that deal specifically with portals in any way similar to yours, but since it seems like existing in your world would be pretty weird compared to what weâre used to, it might help to check out some examples of what other authors have done with words where there are some strange ways of perceiving going on. The only ones I can think of off the top of my head are Awful Hospital and certain chapters of Gunnerkrigg Court (chapter 72, Perspective, especially--though it will only make so much sense if youâre not familiar with Gunnerkrigg).Â
annaxmalina
pixelskylines
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jacobvanloon
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