Travel circle

A travel circle is a common means of transport between different levels of buildings in the developed nations of Dadauar. Travel circles come in pairs, the origin circle and the destination circle, such that anything placed on the former is transported to the latter. The reverse is not true; objects placed on the destination circle are not transported to the origin circle; however, usually, near each destination circle is placed an origin circle with its destination circle near the origin circle of the other, to enable easy return. Sometimes, however, travel circles can be used as a trap, the destination circle placed in a room with no other travel circles and no exits.

Generally the travel circles are color coded, with one color for the source circle and another for the destination, but the convention varies from nation to nation; in the Free Republic of Avelax, for example, source circles are usually red and destination circles yellow, while in Drithidiach, source circles are generally green and destination circles blue. Travel circles can vary widely in size, from small circles a few decimeters in diameter serving the purpose of a dumbwaiter to circles many meters across for the transport of large cargo and vehicles. The typical travel circle, however, is about a meter in diameter, and is intended to transport people, one at a time. Despite the name, travel circles can be any shape, and while they are usually round, they aren't always; square travel circles aren't all that uncommon, and for some reason in Alfenane pentagonal circles have become the norm.

In principle, nothing prevents a travel circle from being used to transport people and objects between two rooms at the same level. In practice, however, they're almost always used to transport between different stories of buildings. In fact, many buildings in cities of the onirarchies entirely lack stairways and other more conventional means of traveling between stories, the travel circles providing the only such route.

Transport via travel circle, while very rapid, does not actually constitute instantaneous teleportation. The source and destination circles are actually connected along another dimension by a construct similar to a streampath, with the circles themselves functioning more or less as one-way stream terminals. An object placed on the source circle flattens down and melds with the path, travels along the otherdimensional path, and then reaches the destination circle and is restored to its usual form. The process is usually too quick, however, for a human to experience it as anything more than a brief moment of lurching disorientation. An object with a larger diameter than the circle will not be transported, but if the base of the object is smaller but it's larger higher up, it may become "stuck", partially within the circle but partially blocked from entry. It's generally possible to pull such stuck objects back out of the circle, though it may take significant force.

The restoration of the object or person transported by the circle can be interfered with if the destination circle is blocked by some other object remaining on top of it; if the obstacle isn't too heavy, it will simply be thrown off the circle by the formation of the transported object, but if its weight is too great to permit this, it will actually prevent the formation, the transported object or person being stuck within the circle until the obstacle is removed. For this reason, people conventionally step off of destination circles immediately after their arrival there to make room for other travelers, and in some onirarchies there are actual laws prohibiting the blocking of travel circles.