After the Great Collapse (GC) Ragnesis has been drastically changed. Most erlanies say that such changes mainly lie in the fact that the world was no longer integral; instead it consisted of many islands which seemed to be “suspended” in the space (some erlanies said: islands were floating in the space, or scattering away from the center of explosion). But such a description is defective, even when evaluating changes from the viewpoint of the material world (which is only one of the three aspects of being). While actually after the GC the entire essence of Ragnesis has been changed, and the pattern of energy flows has been modified.

This resulted in appearance of portals between islands. We must emphasize that before the GC, the most talented wizards were able to open portals; there were also a small number of stationary standing portals between certain lands. However, spontaneous portals occurred practically never ever prior to GC, while now after the Great Collapse they have become a phenomenon which is as common as rain or rainbow.

So, portals are divided into two categories: standing/stationary and accidental/spontaneous portals.

Stationary portals may appear on their own, but they also may be (and mostly are) created by efforts of one or several wizards. Stationary portals may be of various sizes and shapes; they can be both one-way and both-ways.

Spontaneous portals only appear on their own. Sometimes their appearance can be predicted by experienced wizards beforehand. Some of spontaneous portals appear with predictable frequency, others appear only once, some would appear in the same place but at different intervals, … and so on. Spontaneous portals may be of various sizes and shapes; they can be both one-way and both-ways.

It is possible to destroy stationary portals. Their destruction may be irrevocable, but it may also provide for possibility of their further restoration.

Anything that was located in the portal at the moment of its collapse will be destroyed: it will be either split-up into halves (each part will remain where “entrance” and “exit” of the portal were located), or will just disappear. A soul of an erlany who died this way may get into the spectral world, but it is not always so. No one really knows what happens to souls of erlanies who didn’t get into the spectral world at the moment of portals collapse.

An adequately competent wizard can locate the presence of an active portal nearby. They can even find out what kind of portal it is; if it is chaotic – how long ago it appeared, and other relevant properties.

Since portals have changed the former system of communications, governors had to alter radically the approach towards protection of their domains. It’s absolutely apparent that control over stationary portals is required to protect a country from both unwanted “visitors” and smuggled goods. For this reason, stationary portals that are large enough for an erlany to go through are always guarded. Depending on terms of each particular island, travelers may be imposed a duty for a mere fact of passing through the portal, an interest of the amount of the carried money, a tax for bearing weapons, etc. Portal guards must also stop any attempts to get onto the controlled territory of any representatives of cults prohibited in the guarded land, or of any members of clans that are hostile to the one currently ruling over the island, etc.

Several times within the period of the latest history of Ragnesis “partial isolation” between islands has been established: for instance, certain goods were not allowed to be imported to a particular island or were imposed higher tax, or representatives of a particular country (or vassals of a particular master) were not let into the island. Or, it was prohibited to enter a certain island for erlanies who were not wealthy enough (the latter was especially often used in the first years after the Great Collapse, when crowds of dismayed paupers were rushing aimlessly between islands looking for a place where it would be “better than there”, certainly without finding such a place).

Spontaneous portals also pose a significant problem. For their timely detection each owner of a castle of power maintains special wizards who can detect appearance of spontaneous portals