Portal

Portals are holes in reality, and are a foundational element to the multiverse.

Notable Examples

• Professor Haywire's Portal<ref name="3.4" />
• Unspecified portal in Europe<ref name="16.1II"> The folder to the right was Professor Haywire. Multiple personalities, with each personality living in one Earth. He’d gone full mad scientist and opened the first portal we’d known about. We’d later found out there was one in Europe and, apparently, the one in Cauldron. - Excerpt from From Within 16.1</ref>
• Cauldron's portal network<ref name="16.1II"/>
• Smugglers Portal in White Rock<ref>Interlude 12.z II</ref>
• Brockton Bay Portal
• Post-Gold Morning portal network
  • Gimel-Earth N portal train station<ref name="7.8">Torch 7.8</ref> near the Norwalk-Fairfield span<ref>Daybreak 1.2</ref>
  • Gimel-Earth Bet portal train station where Crystalclear worked<ref name="6.9II">Pitch 6.9</ref><ref name="I2II">Flare Interlude 2</ref>
  • Fenway station, a + shaped train station made of red stone<ref name="6.9II">Pitch 6.9</ref>
  • Norwalk station (in Kenzie's neighbourhood)<ref name="6.9II">Pitch 6.9</ref>
  • Eastern Gimel-Bet portal<ref name="0.1e1">►
    Point_Me_@_The_Sky
    

Replied on August 17th, Y1:

I have access through the portal at the east of the city.  When I go through I’ve been doing loops through the old neighborhoods to see what I can scrounge up. - Excerpt from Glow-worm P.1</ref>

• • Northeastern Bet-Gimel portal<ref name="P.1">Glow-worm P.1</ref>
  • Prison portal<ref name="15.aII">Dying 15.a</ref>
• The second Wardens HQ, the Bunker. was accessed via portal & used them to allow rapid deployment to different parts of the City.<ref> We’ve got two portals right now. City center and city east. By next week we’ll have four. A week after that we’ll have seven, they think. Six of those will be places in the city we can instantly mobilize to. Wham, bam, fuck you ma’am. Seventh portal will be our proper prison world we should only be able to get to through the Bunker. Which means if you want to get in or break someone out, you have to go through the Bunker, which we’re loading to the brim with security. - Excerpt from Black 13.3</ref>
  

Description

Portals are "holes" in reality. They allow travel across the multiverse lattice, allowing people travel to other worlds.

Portal appearances are dictated by their creation:<ref name="fw3">“Here,” Golem said. He indicated the portal. It was the same rip-in-reality style that Kenzie’s cube made, rather than the electricity-framed doorway that Teacher’s tech tended to produce, or the three-dimensional-hole style that Faultline’s group and Khepri had made. - Excerpt from From Within 16.3</ref> Palanquin ones are three dimensional regions of translucent overlaid space;<ref name="scrublab">“It’s all part of a whole,” she replied, absently.  Her focus was on the others.  “Scrub!  Get closer to the tower!  Everyone else, get back!  Labyrinth, don’t use your power any more!  Hold off!”

Heads turned.  People had no doubt noticed the tower, but now something was happening.

Scrub stepped closer, and one of his explosions ripped through the air.  Another followed shortly after, intersecting one area of altered road.

Like a gas in the air that had been ignited, the entire thing went up in a heartbeat.  In an instant, it was a white void, as undefinable as Grue’s darkness, perceivable by the edges, but with zero depth or dimension.  He’d shunted out the entire structure, as well as everything that had altered on the ground, but nothing had come back.

The door had been kicked out of the frame. - Excerpt from Scourge 19.7</ref><ref name="fw3"/> Warden tech creates temporary tears in reality,<ref name="fw3"/> Teacher's students construct similar tears, but opaque, cruder and more dangerous to the traveler,<ref>Leaving the medical room, they entered a hallway. At one end, a portal was open, the edges ragged and crackling.

“I’m still refining transportation, but this works. We’ll need to take three trips to get where we want to be.”
[...]
Through the portal, a smell of burnt ozone in the air, they were on a rocky clifftop. Rain pattered down around them.

Another device was rigged. Ten people with white shirts or white clothes were working on it. An archway with power from a chain of six generators feeding into it.
[...]
The gate that was hooked up to generators was being powered. Electricity crackled, arcing inside the gateway until it looked like the ‘door’ of the arch was a solid pane of crackling energy.
[...]
Then he strode forward, into the electricity. William could see him flinch at the touch of electricity, the burning of clothes.

Not perfect. Worse, if that broke his concentration, augmented as it was…

Better that it happen now than later.

He marched forward, his strides long. His hands pushed his sweat-damp hair out of his eyes and against his scalp.

Lightning kissed him, and then licked across his arm, up to his sleeve. The arm burned, and the sleeve was set on fire. Another shock made his body go stiff, and he felt one of the things slip out of his hold. His back.

He staggered through what felt like a very long tunnel, collapsing to his knees. - Excerpt from Interlude 8.y II</ref> with later versions improved somewhat.^{[citation needed]} Cauldron's method creates near seamless portals, however they are not necessarily permanent by themselves either.<ref>A woman stood there, dark-skinned, with her hair cut into a short style that was more utilitarian than stylish. She wore a doctor’s lab coat and held a white plastic clipboard with both hands.

That wasn’t the startling thing.

At a point halfway inside the barn, there ceased to be any barn at all. White tiled floor and white-painted walls stretched a distance behind the woman, and the ceiling was all glass, hiding a smooth distribution of flourescent lights that made it all glow evenly. - Excerpt from Interlude 12.5</ref>

They can function as a useful power source with interactions in several parahuman effects,<ref name=smug/> useful is not the same as safe however.<ref>“A broken second trigger multiplied by a portal and time effect, or something.”

“Kind of.  Um.  But when I work on the right people I see the landscape that’s laid out, the old roads where connections used to be.  I think we’re going to see more.”

“More broken triggers?” I asked.

“More Dauntlesses.  A lot more, and soon.  The city’s the worst spot… it’s like all those portals?  Them being there make it easier for the big, messy results to happen.  Like tearing paper with a row of holes in it.  The holes guide the tear. [...] the city’s like a lake covered in ice, with countless cracks spread across it.  Powerful capes are staying away from it because they make it worse.  They’re too heavy for the ice.” - Excerpt from Breaking 14.9</ref>^{[citation needed]}

Creation

• Doormaker
• Tinkers
  • Professor Haywire<ref name="3.4" /><ref name="16.1II" />
  • Tinker group (including Lookout) working in conjunction
  • Teacher through his students and appropriated tech
• Combos
  • Dimension manipulators
    • Labyrinth
    • Myrddin
  • All-or-nothings
    • Scrub
    • Foil
    • Ashley Stillons
• Trigger events by design create an interdimensional connection inside each parahuman brain to their shard. This is known as the Corona Pollentia.<ref name="nano">Torrieltar: How do you nullify a power in Wormverse? Would any old power nullifier from another universe work, or does it need to be done in a specific way? Similarly, what would it take to duplicate a Wormverse power?
  Wildbow: Depends, really. Mantellum was a power nullifier who basically blinded shards. He arguably wouldn't have any effect on a sensory power that wasn't a Worm power. Scion had an adaptive nullifying defense that was just borg shield, basically, auto-tuning against whatever was used against him, and would work against anything to one hundred percent efficacy, after the initial hit.
  
  To nullify a power you'd need to counteract the work of a fine tuned, vast alien processing engine in an inaccessible alternate Earth (they flake off of entities that exist in multiple realities simultaneously, set up shop in an empty world, then block off all access), or break the connection to the host of the powers (interdimensional portal within the host's brain). - Featured Character - Contessa (Wildbow, Reddit.com, 2016-12-21)</ref>
• Endbringer cores are specialized portals that allow for their manifestation.<ref>If one threw an Endbringer into the sun, though, given what the core is, both in immensity and that it's essentially a doorway into multiple realities, a lens to make the Endbringer projections manifest as reality, they might risk putting out the sun, or at least disturbing it to the point that Earth was gravely affected. - Endbringers vs. Justice League (Wildbow, Reddit.com, 2015-01-15)</ref><ref>“Powers come from somewhere,” Faultline said, “They originate from within our bodies through, essentially, portals.  To get to that origination point… you gotta dig.  Or cut.” - Excerpt from Interlude 19.a II</ref>

History

Background

With the fall of Eden at Cote D'Ivorie, several portals were opened throughout the multiversal worlds.<ref>Interlude 29</ref> Later, Cauldron gained access to a parahuman that was able to close most of these doors.<ref>Assuming that Cauldron's operatives maybe killed Eden but then just sat on their hands/died, the Endbringers don't exist, the cauldron vials aren't spread out, and there's less of the really powerful parahumans here and there who're capable of acting decisively. Gates to other worlds are left open, feeding into Cote D'Ivorie, spitting out more than a fair share of Case-53 like monsters, only in a very tightly occupied space. If West Africa survives, it's either as a world power or as a mutant-occupied area. If they find Eden's corpse, well, you've got a whole other mess, because they're going to be less careful and organized about it. Assuming they don't accidentally revive Eden, there's going to be a lot of failed doses. - Wildbow on Spacebattles</ref><ref>Interlude 29</ref>

The hole between realities that Professor Haywire created led Earth Bet to discover Earth Aleph. This almost sparked a war.<ref name="17.3c2">Explanation isn’t in story, but I’ve given it before. Bet’s and Aleph’s residents almost came to war, over fear of what would happen if one earth tried to prey on the other for resources. Bet had more firepower. Major players in Bet (some who’ve been named already) offered concessions, and taking the name ‘bet’ was one of several symbolic measures. - Comment by Wildbow on Migration 17.3</ref> Thankfully, several agreements between the governmental entities of the earth's prevented this.<ref name="19.7">“There’s sanctions, treaties, truces. If you open this hole to Earth Aleph, it could mean a war between universes.” - Excerpt from Scourge 19.7</ref>

The Aleph-Bet portal was restricted to relaying the transmission of data through radio waves.<ref name="17.3c1">Mostly radio waves, but there’s also an exchange of media and regular transmissions of news and data (mainly but not wholly) for research which is how Alec was able to get his hands on DvDs from the other world. Comment by Wildbow on Migration 17.3</ref> The portal itself was filled in with concrete and surrounded by guarded facilities that stopped anyone from going in or out. The only concession was communication devices fed through the concrete, which allowed for digital exchanges.<ref name="R71">Only information can get through because they set it up that way - massive facilities and a lot of concrete on either side, only cables feeding through, and no apparent way for people to get from one side to the other. - Post by Wildbow on Reddit</ref> Besides research, media was one of the few things that could be traded back and forth through the portal, leading to the trade of books, movies and DVDs of TV shows.<ref name="3.4">Having tired ourselves out, we’d all collapsed on the couches and watched some of Alec’s movies from Earth-Aleph, the alternate Earth that our Earth had been communicating with since Professor Haywire tore a hole between realities. Media was one of the few things that could be traded back and forth through the hole. Long story short, you could get books, movies and DVDs of TV shows from the other world, if you were willing to accept the price tag. The benefit? I got to spend the afternoon seeing how the other universe had handled episodes one and two of the Star Wars films.

Fact: they were still pretty disappointing. - Excerpt from Agitation 3.4</ref>

A portal created by smugglers in what was probably Canada caused a heap of trouble, including making the cluster possible in the first place.<ref name=smug>“What was the inciting event? You all triggered at once?”

“No,” Tori said.

“That’s the way it works. Multiple triggers within a minute of each other.”

“Days,” Megan said. “Days.”

“The portal,” March murmured. As heads turned her way, she said, “The portal? If there’s a lot of energy or interference, or connections or… whatever. We talk about powers passing stuff between people, but maybe they need to draw energy from somewhere to do that.”

“An open door between worlds as a big signal booster?” Jan asked.

March shrugged.

Jan nodded. “That would make it easier for six to happen, absolutely.” - Excerpt from Interlude 12.z II</ref>

In December 2009,<ref name="17.1e1">"We have family over. Your Uncle Felix came all the way from California. I think they might want to spend some time with you this Christmas.”. - Excerpt from Migration 17.1</ref> the Simurgh accessed a vault containing Professor Haywire's technology to create a functional, large-scale version of his interdimensional door. The Simurgh used this technology to create two gateways - one leading to Earth Aleph, and one leading to a part of Cauldron's research facility. The portal dumped the buildings, soil, plant life and the residents from both locations into Madison, Wisconsin.<ref name="17.6e1">Migration 17.6</ref>

Story Start

At this point, the cultural exchange that the Aleph-Bet portal allows has become a fact of life for both Earth Aleph and Earth Bet.<ref name="3.4" />

Post-Echidna

A new kind of portal conceptualized by Tattletale was created during a collaboration between Labyrinth and Scrub. Labyrinth temporarily shifted the portal to lead to Earth Aleph to let the Travelers return home, before shifting it to an uninhabited earth later known as Earth Gimel. This portal would eventually become the Brockton Bay Portal.

With this knowledge in hand, Palanquin created five more portals publicly and three more in secret. Later events incentivized them to make many more escape routes leading to Earth Gimel, similar to the Brockton Bay Portal.<ref>“Stop us, then,” the Doctor replied. “Or try, as it may be. That’s one Endbringer we should be able to drive away. As Weaver said, we may have to evacuate the planet if this doesn’t work. Faultline, your assistance would be invaluable on that front. You’ve already created nine, I believe?”

“Three of which were supposed to be secret,” Faultline replied.

“It doesn’t matter. We’ll pay for several more, at major locations, and we’ll arrange your transportation.”

Faultline stared at the woman. “No, Doctor.”

[...]

She turned to Chevalier, “We’ll give you a discount. Escape routes in major cities across America. Leading to the world that the Brockton Bay portal goes to.” - Excerpt from Scarab 25.5</ref>

Timeskip

The Simurgh likely accessed Earth Shin and brought several of the local capes into Paris during her attack on the city.<ref name="25.6">Paris, December 19th, 2012 // Simurgh
Notes: Victory by Scion.
Target/Consequence: see file The Woman in Blue. See file United Capes. - Excerpt from Scarab 25.6</ref> This could have been through Professor Haywire's technology, or a usurpation of an existing portal, such as one created by Palanquin.<ref name="16.1II" />

Post-Timeskip

Two years after the fight with Khonsu, portals existed throughout the world.

Gold Morning

Cauldron began mass-evacuating what was left of the Earth Bet population to multiple other Earths, closing portals as they went.<ref>the Doctor said. “[...] At this very moment, we are managing a large-scale evacuation. We consider it a priority to keep Scion unaware, so we are evacuating the landmasses on the opposite end of the globe in hopes he won’t be able to respond or act.”

“Evacuating people like you did in New Delhi?” Tecton asked.

“Mm. No. Different earths, closing portals behind us as we go.”

One of the Thanda spoke, “Then you were capable of this evacuation before? Moving hundreds of millions to safety?”

“Yes,” the Doctor responded.

“Why?” he asked.

“Because of Scion.” - Excerpt from Extinction 27.2</ref>

Khepri used Doormaker to make thousands upon thousands of portals to move and extend her range during the fight with Scion.

Post-Gold Morning

The City used their portals to uninhabited worlds in order to extract resources from them.

Earth N was settled by people from Gimel, 90% of them within 25 miles of the portal leading from Gimel. A train station was constructed to transport resources and people between the worlds.<ref name="7.8" /> A train station was also constructed at a portal between Earth Bet and Gimel, patrolled by Thinkers.<ref name="I2II" /> Other train stations with portals included Fenway Station.<ref name="6.9II">Pitch 6.9</ref>

Victoria Dallon often visited Bet via a portal at the east end of The City.<ref name="0.1e1" /> Refugees from Bet waited at the Northeastern Bet-Gimel portal.<ref name="P.1">Glow-worm P.1</ref>

The City government established a prison for parahumans on an isolated Earth, accessible only via a single portal from an empty Earth, itself connected to Gimel by a single portal.<ref>Out of the portal and into another world. An interim world. Here, people were camping or laying out tables and other things they’d taken from the prison. There were a few improvised medical areas, and my heartbeat quickened on seeing them. I had to double and triple check to confirm.
No Amy, for one thing. That was ninety percent of it.
No friends, either. No Ratcatcher with grievous injuries. No Natalie. Not in the medical area, at least.
It was a short hike to get to the other portal. We were offered a ride by someone that had taken a guard’s car, but we refused. The group needed to stay together. It was what Lookout wanted and needed right now.
The prison had been burned to the ground. The interim territory was a camp, a place to fall back to. - Excerpt from Gleaming 9.14 </ref><ref name="15.aII">Dying 15.a</ref>

Post-Fallen fall

The Portals in the megalopolis were attacked by various groups. They used tinker devices to expand them outwards, trapping many people in alternate worlds and cutting parts of the city off from each other.<ref name="6.9II">Pitch 6.9</ref>

Post-Goddess' Takeover

The parahuman prison had its portals cut off.

Post-Time Bubble Pop

Teacher was able to open the portal to previously quarantined sub-dimension containing shards.

Post-Attack on Teacher

The Portal to the Earth Cheit became a catalyst for The Breaking of Ice.

References

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