Anchor sites are ancient structures scattered around the world that enable reliable long-distance teleportation. Known as anchor sites to scholars and under a variety of names in common parlance, these structures mark and maintain fixed points in which controlled teleportation is still possible. The caveat, however, is that each site can only access certain others - it is not a fully networked system. These structures are not particularly commonplace, but not rare either - many cities have built up around them, which also facilitates their convenient use. If a city is located in a highly unusual geographic position, chances are high an anchor site was already present in that location.
Name
Anchor sites are so named as they seem to "anchor" the Material Plane in place in one small location, even as the plane metaphysically contorts and stretches around it.
Other names for the anchor sites include teleportation circles, tempest halls, and many others, depending on their location in the world. The name "tempest hall" refers to the well-established phenomenon in which these sites seem to generate clouds and storms above them at a rate much higher than their surrounding region.
Prizogants
While many have fallen into disrepair or ruin, the remaining anchor sites are maintained by a unique type of construct called Prizogants that silently repair the structures and ensure the anchors remain usable. These constructs are rough appearance of a bronze humanoid, except for their six insect-like legs. It is generally understood that interfering with their work is inadvisable - they are quite capable in combat, for one, but more concerningly without their maintenance the anchors become unstable and inoperable.
Prizogants never venture more than a mile away from their associated anchor site. Within this range, the Prizogants seem to have a level of omnipotence as to who is present and the resources available.
Appearance
From the outside, anchor sites appear as perfectly shaped stone domes, with an even radius of forty feet and arched ten foot wide and ten foot tall openings in all four cardinal directions. While they look to be constructed of a single, solid piece of polished blue-gray stone, they are actually many pieces fitted so closely that the seams are almost imperceptible. The interiors of the sites open up into a single large hemispherical chamber, with insets in the walls where the Prizogants remain until there is work to be done. A thin ring of platinum in the middle of the chamber, twenty feet across, marks the location where teleportation is possible.
The four entrances to the anchor sites are always located in the cardinal directions.
In some parts of the world, anchor sites have been built upon and modified. Lightning rods are fairly common additions, to direct lighting from the storms they seem to cause, and a great many have walls and other defensive measures erected around them. As an example, in Elos, the capital of Ephardia, the palace now used by Phileia was built around a site.
Era clocks
Rather than a mere mark of where teleportation is possible, the platinum-ringed plate in the middle of each anchor site is in reality a functioning clock, often referred to as an era clock.
From the surface, these clocks appear simple. Twenty feet across, these clocks consist of two independently-rotating blue-gray stone discs, one inside of the other. The discs are faced with a thin layer of noqual, perfectly polished and inset with concentric circles of thin lines of platinum that seem to hypnotize those that stare at them for too long. Many clocks at known anchor sites have received some amount of damage and wear since they were created, and may be missing part of the face or have scratches and other blemishes present.
Each disc also has a single, small silver dot near their edges. The dot on the inner disc always returns to the northernmost position at the end of every twelfth lunar cycle. The dot on the outer disc has yet to be observed at the northern position, and is located near the north on the west side on all currently operational clocks.
Beneath the faces of the clocks are intricate and impossibly complex mechanisms, both mechanical and magical in nature. As with the anchor sites more broadly, attempts to understand their exact methods of operation have thus far been met with failure, even as many scholars devote their entire lives to understanding even a small piece of the whole. Any hands-on involvement invariably breaks the contraptions, so research tends to involve observation and the attempted creation of replicas. These systems of tiny gears, springs, crystals, and other parts induce motion in the two discs, causing them to rotate counterclockwise in regular intervals. This movement is seemingly synchronized across all era clocks worldwide.
Though their purpose remains a mystery, researchers long ago determined the pattern to the movement of the faces. The inner face ticks in increments of twelve, once every lunar cycle, completing a full rotation every year. The outer face ticks in increments of ten thousand though no one has yet observed a full rotation - when the first mention of an era clock was recorded, they had already been operational for many millennia.
The method of tracking years commonly used around the Three Great Years is based on the movement of the era clocks, though this fact is only typically known by scholars.
Use
Use of the sites still requires the ability to cast Teleport - the sites do not automatically teleport those that enter them, and the Prizogants are not capable of this either. In some parts of the world, known sites are freely available to all, while in others they are restricted in their use. Khapesh, for example, has a long standing and well codified tradition of allowing access to all who are capable of using the sites, while conversely Koritan requires explicit approval from the Order of the Black Swan before they can be accessed. At some anchor sites, mages who know Teleport charge a fee to those who wish to travel in this method. Compared to other methods of travel, the anchor sites see relatively little use, out of reach of all but wealthy and powerful individuals.
All links between anchor sites are two-way - if teleportation from site A to site B is possible, then so is the reverse. Each site links to a handful of others, usually but not always sites in relatively close proximity. Once a site is nonfunctional, it cannot be used as a reliable source or destination.
Defense
It is possible to damage anchor sites enough to render them unusable. Within the thick stone faces of the structures lie intricate mechano-magical contraptions that seemingly keep the sites running. Any attempts to alter or even touch these mechanisms invariably causes them to break - once the movements of the contraptions have stopped, the site can no longer be used for reliable teleportation. sites can also be taken offline if enough of their Prizogants are destroyed or damaged enough they can't perform their tasks. Each site only has a limited number of Prizogants, and they are never replaced nor are they replaceable.
As a result of this fragility, anchor sites are heavily guarded by local authorities to ensure they remain functional. Perhaps more than any border, palace, or government building, sites are usually staffed by the best soldiers with the finest equipment available. Magical warding and countermeasures are likewise common.
The vulnerability of the anchor sites is a significant factor in why warfare between major states in the world is so uncommon in the modern day. While it would be a one-way trip to do so, two rival nations could teleport soldiers into each other's sites in order to destroy them and cut off their enemies from use of the teleportation network. The fear of this happening has forced most into an uneasy detente, with all-out wars de-emphasized in favor of covert means and proxies.
History
The builders of these sites are unknown, but they are believed to be at least ten thousand years old. Their geographical distribution would seemingly point to a powerful and influential society, yet no other remains of this culture are known to exist.
Locations
Anchor sites can be found throughout the Three Great Seas, and presumably elsewhere around Kishar as well. While the locations of some are known to the broader world, some are only known to particular individuals or groups who keep their existence secret, and most scholars of the matter believe many more are yet to be discovered. Some have been discovered and broken, either unintentionally in attempts to understand them or for religious or superstitious motives.
It would be difficult to catalogue a full list of functional anchor sites, as they are many in number and more are regularly uncovered. The following is an incomplete list of known broken or destroyed anchor sites:
- Outside the city of Amberikon in modern-day Ertan, Viridia
- Under Lake Restone in Erenon