| title | description | published | date | tags | author | editor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Portal Transportation System |
true |
2013-11-04 23:48:44 UTC |
iversia |
markdown |
The Portal Transportation System (PTS) is one of the many pride and joys of the Adamaint Empire. It allows for nearly instantaneous travel across the entirety of Ramath-lehi. There are various access nodes scattered all over the planet. The entire system is built using some very advanced forms of machina technology. The Adamaints have developed a way to directly tap into Fronima and use it to deconstruct, and reconstruct physical mass between a series of defined nodes.
Anyone who uses the Portal Transportation System must have a valid biometric Ramathian piece of identification. This is to ensure that the transportation system cannot be used for illegal activities, and so that travel records can be maintained for good measure. There have been many instances where detailed transportation logs have proven Ramathians to be innocent in the eyes of the law.
To use the Portal Transportation System, there is a small fee. It costs 10 khasi a month (approximately the cost of two caffeinated drinks) in order to use the transportation system without any restrictions. Many Ramathians choose this route because the subscription type model is ridiculously cheap considering the vast areas that the network can reach. One can easily go from Swaraj to the moon colony Xabu and back all within the span of a few hours if lines are short. The only nodes that consistently experience delays are the nodes that connect Xabu with the Therscatran Gate. This is due to the volatile nature of the asteroid field that the Gate is located in, and the fact that node transportation is primarily restricted to shuttling goods to and from the Gate instead of transporting civilians.
For those who opt out of the monthly subscription, it costs 3 khasi for a one-way trip to anywhere on Ramath-lehi from any activated node, 10 khasi to travel to Xabu or Cussla from any activated node on Ramath-lehi, and 20 khasi to travel to the Therscatran Gate from Xabu. The Portal Transportation system only accepts payments in khasi through Ramathian’s government-issue biometric Khorta cards.
The ethics of the Adamaint Empire have come into question many times over the years. While seemingly harmless, it is still unknown what their true motives are. Despite being a valuable means of transportation (and an outright monopoly), critics question as to whether or not scanning clients biometric data is really necessary and if it is a further invasion of privacy. The Adamaint Empire claims that it requires the latest biometric scans of all of its passengers in order to ensure safe transportation. An additional argument has been made stating that the Empire should not do its own scanning, and should instead rely entirely upon the government issued Khorta cards in order to verify biometric data. In response, the Adamaint Empire argued that the bio-signatures that are written on Khorta cards are “absolutely junk” and that they can be very misleading and problematic when it comes to clientele who display the Lukuo gene. The Adamaint Empire has proven that over time, some Lukuo’s bio-signature can actually mutate. They therefore enforce their own scanning upon anyone who is to use their Portal Transportation System for additional safety, but still insist that by using the system, you do so at your own risk. It is not possible to opt out of being scanned. Those who do will be denied access to the Portal Transportation System.
There is also the issue of random Ramathians disappearing while using the Portal Transportation System from time to time. While the Adamaint Empire claims that they know nothing about this, and reiterate that Ramathians use the Portal Transportation System at their own risk, one cannot pretend to ignore the similarities between the Ramathians that do go missing. They almost always seem to be from lower socioeconomic classes, and the majority that do seem to vanish into the void are often of Lukuo in origin. However the Adamaints claim that these individuals have likely just run away, been murdered, or “thrown out with the other trash like those ilk tend to be.” Despite these occurrences happening, there is not much media coverage. The conspiracy theorists say that it’s simply because “no one important enough has disappeared yet.”
During the Flux, the entire Portal Transportation System was completely shut down and manually disabled on Late Tessera 13, 81383. Due to the extreme fluctuations in Fronima, the Adamaint Empire felt that it was best to pause its operations for the safety of all of its customers. The Portal Transportation System resumed normal operations on Early Mia 3, 81387. It is unknown just how much profit the Empire lost during this long period of suspension.