Geography

The Portal Nexus

There are many ways to travel within and around Elysia including teleportation and flight. Some areas are not accessible on foot, however, or are far enough away that travelling on foot or even by wing can take days. For these, Xanth created the portal nexus.

Some portals access only one area, such as the Chandric-Acanthan portal. Others open into multiple areas like the portal in the Elysian Underground. Sanctuary portals tend to be genetically coded so that only members of a particular race can enter them and other areas are locked against those too weak to survive the creatures that live there.

All portals work the same way regardless of their purpose. Guided by the user's thoughts, they will spit a person or creature out at the portal closest to their desired location. If the user intends to visit their grandmother in Espur, for instance, they will walk out of the Ao portal. It should be noted, however, that portals can be easily distracted. If the user thinks of something other than their intended destination while entering a portal, they could easily be diverted elsewhere. Happily, this means that some users can be taken to the portal closest to a loved one just by thinking of them, though this is a difficult trick to master.

Due to the translucent nature of portals, they're quite difficult to find though many Elysian-born characters usually gain a kind of sixth sense for finding them during adolescence. Most people mark the faint shimmer of a vertical disc some four feet in diameter and a mere three or four millimeters in depth. They are difficult to spot unless the user is actively seeking them so it's important to mark their location when exiting.

Maps of Elysia

Elysia
Zanarya
The Cloud Palace