Portal Technology
- Template
- Artifact
- Status
- Canon
- Kind
- Technology
1. Summary
Schwarzwald developed an experimental portal system, in part through the partial reverse engineering of the spacecraft. Its researchers concluded that the portals appear to be a functional, extraordinary technology related to the geometry of spacetime, perhaps used by ancient civilizations, but one that describes movement within the space-time continuum, not a supernatural means of escaping reality.
2. Origin
Partial reverse engineering of the spacecraft contributed to the development of an experimental portal system.
3. Nature and Properties
The concluding assessment of the portal transit research states that there is a substantial probability that the portal mechanism can function as intended, and that the available evidence suggests a relationship to the geometry of space-time. Comparable systems may have been used by ancient civilizations across the galaxy to traverse distant regions of space. The researchers' models describe transit between locations or states within the space-time continuum, and provide no basis for concluding that the system permits passage beyond the fundamental structure of physical existence.
See: In-World Documents › Portal Transit Research Assessment
4. History and Custody
Portal research was carried out by scientists of the installation. A particular body of portal-research documents is stored on D6.
4.1 The D4 Scientist
A surviving scientist in D4 worked on portal research. His notes trace how that research became obsessive. He came to want a portal that could carry him outside the underlying structure of existence itself, and needed the portal-research documents stored on D6, which he could not retrieve because lethal supersoldier robots in D5 obstructed the passage and killed other scientists.
See: In-World Documents › The Scientist's Research Notes
See: Campaign › 7. A Question Of Trust
See: Enemies › SQUAD Unit
5. Role in the Game
The portal research is the subject of the side quest The Last Shift. Edmund retrieves the documents from D6 for the scientist in D4 and must read the last page the scientist was studying. The document reveals that the machine on which the scientist placed his hopes could not be justified as the escape he sought; it does not prove that his wider metaphysical interpretation was false.
6. Open Questions
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