“One does not simply walk into a fantasy world.”
— Boromir, son of Denethor II
Methods of transport to a fantasy world - Part 1
Given that you are reading this right now, it is unlikely that you are in a fantasy world. That is, unless you died and reincarnated into a fantasy world with your smartphone that continues to have internet access by the good grace of Kami-sama.
In either case, we’ll now be focusing on the general principles around transportation into a fantasy world of swords and magic. Before we can discuss all the cool strategies for how to survive in a world of swords and magic, we first have to know how to get there.
By far, the most ubiquitous method of transport into a fantasy world is the hero summoning ritual. This is a costly and time consuming magic ritual that is cast from the fantasy world with the purpose of summoning a champion – one with untold powers – to fight on behalf of the summoners. The hero which in many cases is just a normal person from the modern world, is summoned during a time of great conflict or strife. The kingdom that performed the ritual is usually on the brink of collapse after a long and costly war against a great foe. In many examples the foe is demon kind that has encroached on human territory.
The exact methods and magic systems used in a hero summoning ritual vary by kingdom, but the one thing that remains constant is the vast amount of magic power necessary to successfully invoke the spell. Due to the large magic power demands of the ritual, the cast time of the spell is long enough to last multiple days. While a single mage could perform the ritual alone, it would be physically and mentally exhausting and for this reason, a magic power array is typically used. Multiple mages channel their magic power into the magic power array which then accumulates and can be drawn upon by the spell caster as needed. Think of it like adding more batteries to a circuit with a large capacitor. This is a technique that falls under the category of distributed magics.
