Asaeic Travel

There are few endeavors as prominent in large-scale Asaeic research than travel. While Skyships can be used to traverse great distances utilizing the Paths, it is nonetheless slow when compared to the vastness of the Sky. It is also highly cumbersome to travel to areas of the sky lacking any paths using them. As such, Asaeic solutions have been sought for centuries, and some have indeed been found.

Ancestral Gates

The Ancestral Gates are stone rings which surround Paths at certain points throughout the Sky. When activated, they connect to a sister gate, allowing for instant passage through it as though the two points in space had always been one. Their activation is cyclical, tied to a rhythm unique to each pair of gates. For instance there is a pair of gates connecting either side of the Tree of Anorah's canopy. Those function for one third of a Skylar Hour, before being inactive for roughly 4 days. Others have more complex patterns, though all eventually repeat. There does not seem to be a limit to the distance the gates can cross, nor the amount of matter that passes through them before they close. The technology behind them has long since been forgotten and cannot be understood by the even the most modern theory. The best guess is that they involve passage through the deepest parts of Asaeic Plane, though there are a multitude of holes even in that conjecture.

Asaeic Teleportation and Portals

Minor teleportation through the use of Asaeic manipulation, while not trivial, has been developed numerous times by differing groups throughout the sky. Most such manifestations are very limited however. While the exact drawbacks vary, most methods share most if not all of the following: the Manifestation only affects the caster, the target is only transported a short distance, there must be an unimpeded path between the caster and their destination, and its function is easily disrupted by basic devices. A more advanced form of the same principle does exist, requiring not only a highly skilled caster, but also an outside anchor of some sort at the destination to function.

Another approach more closely mimicking Ancestral Gates are Portals. Again, there are a variety of ways in which these are achieved, but the end effect is a direct link between two places in space. Usually suffering from similar range and disruption impediments as typical teleportation spells, these are a little more practical as it allows for an unlimited amount of mass to pass through while the portal is open. In addition, with the correct equipment one does not require a caster, and can even make them persist as long as there is sufficient fuel. However portals typically require a lot of set-up, and are pretty inefficient as far as asaeic consumption goes, with their requirement increasing exponentially with the distance between the two ends.

Quiet Projection

An entirely different method of travel is Asaeic Projection. This allows the caster's mind to enter an alternative reality, the Silent Domain, which is a part of the Asaeic Plane. Without a guide of some sort, it is a disorienting form of existence, where the laws that govern the natural are entirely irrelevant. One mistake, and the caster's mind is fractured into oblivion, far beyond repair. With a good thread to follow however, it is possible to move to a location within the Silent Domain corresponding to the physical. If there is a powerful Asaeic Anchor there, one can cross back over to the physical realm and in a sense "pull" one's body along with them. The path one takes through the silent domain must follow certain rules, else risk losing one's body in the psychadellic expanse. Beyond the dangers, there are a number of very real limitations to Quiet Projection. For example, only the caster is transported, not even their clothes are pulled along, and it cannot affect anyone byt the caster. In addition one still requires time to traverse and pull one's body through the silent domain, meaning travel is far from instantaneous.

A fairly reliable method for Quiet Projection was developed by scholars from Defixidora University's College of Chronicle. This Manifestation, known as Chronicler's Treading, utilises the memories of another person as one's guide through the Silent domain. The clearer the guide's memories of the destination and autobiographical details since last visiting it, the more likely a successful casting will be. The two researchers who uncovered it, Haowi Nuʻokebu and Patric Galfrey, were attempting to peer into the past of another person with greater clarity than a memory transferal spell would allow. Haowi was quite surprised when he suddenly found himself in Patric's dormitory, in the physical realm. It took several years to convince them that they were not in fact still trapped in the depths of the Asaeic Sea.