The elaborately gilded title on the leather cover states: A Book on Portals and Interplanar Travel by Ystoff Planewalker [the book contains a table of contents for easy reference] Table of Contents: General Overview of Portals. . . . . . . . . . . . . chapter 1 Color Portals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . chapter 2 Mirror Portals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . chapter 3 Temporal Portals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . chapter 4 Spatial Portals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . chapter 5 Summon/Banish Portals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . chapter 6 Pentagram Portals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . chapter 7 Septagram Portals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . chapter 8 Runic Portals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . chapter 9 Rainbow Portals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . chapter 10 Element Portals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . chapter 11 Ch 2: Color Portals The most basic type of portal is one of a single color. These are also the most simple to create and maintain. However there is no major specificity involved in the different types of colors, excluding two major exceptions: black and white portals. Only living creatures may pass through white portals, and only dead creatures may pass through black portals. If a living creature tries to pass through a black portal, he will surely perish, or suffer eternal banishment in the plane which interconnects parts of this world. If living, one should NEVER enter a black portal, no matter how tempting. Black and white portals are subject to the 'double' rule, and usually they will crop up in echoes. I have heard of a sorceror conjuring a yellow portal to transport fuzzy yellow caterpillars to devour the ancient forests of Yel and overthrow the reign of a rival magician there. But I have yet to confirm this rumor. Ch 3: Mirror Portals The surface of mirrors may be transformed into useful portals! Through the proper rituals (see Mirror Transformations by Rhiwat) one may soften the surface of the mirror to allow things to pass through. These portals allow access to the "mirror world", a world which lies in direct opposition to our own. Extreme caution is advised if entering one of these portals, as the 'opposite' variable is just that, variable! Ch 4: Temporal Portals These rare portals allow access to different times, either past or present! Their creation usually involves the presence of some time element, such as an hourglass or sundial, and the times accessable usually depend on both regeants and planet alignment. For reference in accessing these portals, see Time Travel by Draxus. BE WARNED: time travel can be dangerous. Be careful when using these portals! Ch 5: Spatial Portals These portals are more popular among the shipping companies and other traders in the land. They allow two distant points to be connected by a single gateway, thus both people and items may pass through, cutting off many days of travel and trouble! These portals are usually 'clear' in nature, meaning the view of the place it goes to appear in the portal, creating a disjoined look. Ch 6: Summon/Banish Portals Sometimes referred to as 'summoning circles', these portals allow beings to be summoned through them. The 'beings' may be daemonic in nature (although other portals are better suited for that, see pentagrams) or they may be any creature whatsoever. Constrasting this are banishing portals, which allow one to randomly cast somebody away, rather like dropping a hole beneath the person. Most effective in getting rid of annoying pests! Ch 7: Pentagram Portals Pentagrams are perhaps the best known type of portals, usually cropping up in bad horror stories. These star-shaped diagrams are used similar to summoning portals, but allow calling of specific beings, always of an evil nature. By setting certain reagents strategically at the 5 points, different strengths, locations, etc can be specified. The Pentagram is a tight, closed system, containing all presences summoned inside, unless the being summoned is too powerful for the strength of the summoner. Many summoners have fallen to this simple fact of common sense, so be careful! Ch 8: Septagram Portals Pentagrams may be used for summoning evil creatures, whereas septagrams are used for summoning good creatures. The same rules apply as pentagrams, however the wizard (unless evil) has little to fear from annihilation from a creature of light. However be warned, sometimes the creatures of light seek only to eradicate evil, no matter how slight, and this author has yet to meet a person who is without some fault! Ch 9: Runic Portals Sometimes portals are sealed, either by natural means, or by spells to prevent further traffic. There are two major ways to seal a portal, with a life seal, and with a death seal. These are covered here. Vivo Runes The seal bears some semblance of a nature scene, either trees, rivers, or the like; these seals are made by those of the good, and can even happen naturally, sometimes! To access a portal with a vivorune is to make a key from two things: the first seed from a tree, and attach it to a magically enchanted branch. This will allow access to the portal. Necro Runes Same idea as vivorunes, but for those of the evil persuasion. These seals usually bear a skull, or some sign of death. To access a portal with a necrorune, one needs to make a key from two things: the skull of a firstborn (prefer humanoid) fused into a simple magically enchanted metal bar. This key will allow access to the portal. Ch 10: Rainbow Portals Rainbows combine both natural and magical phenomena to create something wonderful. However in its natural state, rainbows are just a visual creation. But with the proper tools and rituals, they can be used to create portals to different places. The destination depends on the location and size of the rainbow, thus since rainbows rarely appear twice in one spot, the final location can always be different! For information on how to create a rainbow portal, see Natural Phenomena by Nordraff. Ch 11: Element Portals When a large amount of an element is gathered in one area, a portal may be made from it. In these cases, the absence of all the other elements is needed for success. A body of water rarely works as a water portal, since the air exists above it still, and the earth below. However if raining, or perhaps even near a waterfall where a water mist fills the air, this creates the background for a successful water portal. The same goes for all the elements. These types of portals tend to connect themselves to like locations. Meaning a portal of fire will connect two points that contain great amounts of fire. For information on how to create these types of portals, see Natural Phenomena by Nordraff.