A POCKET GUIDE TO THE AURBIS AND ITS FIRMAMENTS, THIRD EDITION: Here But There – Methods of Transliminal Travel [Part III]

Previous Chapter: Into The Beyond – The History of the New Void Navy

#Here But There – Methods of Transliminal Travel

Although each program developed by the races of the Empire for traveling beyond the Mundus were created for various reasons, all of them had one goal in mind: to explore the Aurbis in its entirety. But of course, such explorations have been going on for ages; it wasn’t until late in the First Era that the races decided to do them on a more massive scale for multiple travelers. What follows is a brief overview of the different methods of travel to the places beyond Nirn.

##A Special Note

Something that is common among all of these techniques is belief. If one travels through any plane one must remember that they do exist, even if they stop existing in a particular place. Forgetting that you are real causes one to become vulnerable to the beings of the outer realms during travel (especially those of Oblivion), which is not a good thing.

##Mages

Since times long forgotten, there have always been stories of the magically gifted passing into the lands beyond our own, Oblivion and Aetherius, although the first more often than the second. For the most powerful of these witches, warlocks, and magicians it is simply the act of stopping to exist here that allows one to start existing there, a mental condition that is said to take centuries in order to perfect unless one wishes to stop existing everywhere. However, this process is still flawed; you can appear anywhere in the outer realms if you don’t have a specific place in mind (and even then), and you can only go alone. The matter of getting back to the mortal plane is also rather tricky.

For others, rituals are a better alternative. Outside of the New Void Navy, the more popular procedure is that of the sigil stone. By attaining one of these pre-Mythic quasi-crystalline morpholiths and having a Daedra Lord inscribe their sigil on it, it can become an artifact of immense power that allows one to travel to that Daedra Lord’s plane of Oblivion. However, the morpholith required must first be purified and contact with the Lord must be established through other means. This process is long and lengthy, but it does allow for multiple travelers between planes, even though the portal time window is very short.

There are legends of natural and unnatural portals located on Nirn that have the power to transport mortals to the outer realms. Some of these have been proven to exist, others have not. Regardless, these portals are usually very hard to locate, are corrupting in nature, and once you enter them there is no way you can return.

The easiest – but also the most dangerous – method is that of directly contacting a Daedra Lord (contact with Aetherial beings have not been recorded at present) and having them take you to their realm. That is, if you don’t value your soul or mind of course.

##Khajiiti Unlike the other races who have lunar holdings or interest, the Khajiit do not have vessels worthy of exploring the cosmos. According to their own legends, the inhabitants of Elsweyr create a Tower from their own bodies to reach the colony of Lleswer on Masser. How this is possible is a matter of much debate in the Royal Imperial Mananauts, but judging from the Khajiit’s intimate and unique connection with the moons (their forms are based around their many phases), it is not hard to believe that something like this is possible.

##Cyrodiilic

The Imperials have more types of voidships than the other provinces and territories, mostly because their interests in the Aurbis are many. These ships are constructed with organic, rock and metal materials, and are much more bulky than the sleek vessels of the other races. Each of these creations are powered by a sigil stone, which uses its tremendous arcane power to power the functions of the vessel and is aided by mages skilled at the art of conjuration. The Reman and Septim Dynasties were and have more interested in the moons than the other races, but we also have minor interest in Aetherius as well.

The Megalomoth vessel-fortress is the biggest voidship in the New Void Navy, used for major operations by more important members of the NVN. It’s crew is massive and its armaments are extraordinary.

The Micromoth vessel is a more streamlined and smaller voidship, used by a minimum crew for missions declared to dangerous to risk loosing an invaluable Megalomoth voidship.

Battlespires are the unique elite training grounds for the Imperial Battlemages, although their order has become defunct since the traitor Jagar Tharn. All but one has been decommissioned by this period of time, although the surviving vessel is broken due to the failed invasion of the Battlespire by the Daedra Lord Mehrunes Dagon and his minions, a plan worked out between them by Tharn.

##Altmeri

The denizens of the Summerset Isles use a vessel commonly known as sunbirds, beautiful and ethereal. How the Altmer creates them is still closely guarded secret amongst them, however the Immaterial Harmonics Institute of Incongruitech and Extrinsic Travels believes that they are created from pure, channeled magicka. Because the High Elves were concentrated on traveling to Aetherius, planning to use the stars and even the sun itself as doorways to it, it makes sense that a hull of magicka would phase through magicka. If they were successful or not in these attempts has not been revealed, although the Great Orrery of Firsthold – made from aetherial fragments – suggests that they were.

##Echmeri

The bat elves of the Yneslean islands (known collectively as simply Yneslea) are considered esoteric by the races of Tamriel in many aspects, including their interest in cosmology. Echmeri spacial vessels, named nullbarques, were developed for the use of traveling into the nothingness of the Void. These devices are created from their mysterious ‘acoustineering’, a type of tonal architecture they developed from Dwemeri notes. According to their scholars, nullbarques constantly have physical songs ‘woven’ into them that emit on sound frequencies we cannot hear; a constant reminder for those that travel in these ships that they exist so the Void cannot unmake them. The greatest risk of these Void expeditions is sense unravelment, a process that the Echmer will not completely explain.

##Conclusion With the Empire harnessing the expertise of each of these techniques from its holdings, the New Void Navy has expanded its fleet into an admirable force for both war and exploration. So let us turn to the next chapter and learn about the first of the realms that we have the most information on: our very own.

Next Chapter: The Mortal Plane – Mundus and Nirn