Portal Jumps

[Cronanbor]

Evie,
Wonderful!  It's crystal clear now.  Thank you.

[tmcd]

@Evie wrote,

I think KK said in chat once that, despite her often signing off from chat with Portal "sparklies," the transfer portals Deryni use don't have any such visual special effects.

High Deryni, end of ch. 24, the kidnapping of Brendan Coris:

Abruptly, she [Richenda] knew his [Derry's?] intent, sensed the Transfer Portal beginning to glow around her son.... Helpless to stop it, she saw the circle flare with light and then dim.

But an author is allowed to Have A Better Idea.

[Laurna]

Perhaps in the instance of Derry stealing Brandon through the Portal: the flare up of visual energy is due NOT to the portal transfer itself,--Derry is not Deryni and could not have done the Portal jump on his own-- the energy would have come from Wencit standing at the other portal and sending his energy through to bring Derry and Brandon to his side. Thus the portal glow is from Wencit and not from the portal jump.

Of course this depends on whether you believe Derry learned Deryni Magic from Wencit.  I personally believe that he did not.

[Evie]

Perhaps in the instance of Derry stealing Brandon through the Portal: the flare up of visual energy is due NOT to the portal transfer itself,--Derry is not Deryni and could not have done the Portal jump on his own-- the energy would have come from Wencit standing at the other portal and sending his energy through to bring Derry and Brandon to his side. Thus the portal glow is from Wencit and not from the portal jump.

Of course this depends on whether you believe Derry learned Deryni Magic from Wencit.  I personally believe that he did not.

It seems doubtful that Wencit would have given him the ability to do that on his own, since if he could do it once to return to Wencit, he could use that power again to escape from him. But Wencit didn't simply enable Derry to do the portal jump unassisted. A few paragraphs later, we see the arrival of two shadowy figures, one of them being Bran and the other one unnamed, who partially materialized on the portal long enough to scoop up Brendan and take him while Richenda was trying to fight back.

I am wondering if the glow that is mentioned in that passage but not in future uses of the portal might be due to the additional effort of having the two men coming from Wencit's side only partially materialize, just briefly and solidly enough to be able to take the sleeping child back with them. I can see why Wencit might want to carry out the mission that way to reduce the chances of those men being captured by Kelson's men, but it would take more energy expenditure to control such a partial transfer, which might cause that unusual glow, I would think.

Certainly whenever Duncan and Alaric are using the portals in the Basilica study or in the Cathedral sacristy, neither seems to be particularly worried that a suspicious glow might give them away if someone chances to peek into the room. In those transfers, it appears they are just there one moment and gone the next, or vice versa. Also, when Arilan uses the brand new portal at the camp to go to summon the Camberian Council, there is no glow mentioned there either. The text says "Arilan nodded, then crossed his arms across his chest and bowed his head--and abruptly was gone," which is how transfers seem to normally work.  As far as I can recall, that specific instance with Wencit's loyalists attempting to abduct Richenda and Brendan (and bring Derry back also, presumably) is the only time we see some unusual glowing circle effect.

My question is, how did Wencit obtain that portal signature in the first place?!

[tmcd]

Yeah, Derry was dragging Richenda away from the portal, and yeah, the only way I'd be suicidal enough to try grabbing Richenda would be if someone were magically controlling me.

A bit earlier, Derry had knocked out a guard, dragged him over to the portal, and used him to mentally (and audibly) contact Wencit.

In Deryni Checkmate, Alaric gave Derry the Camber medallion to use for mental contact while Derry was spying. At the end of chapter 7, Alaric muses to Duncan that Derry "shows remarkable potential". Morgan says that Derry isn't Deryni, though, and doesn't have ancestry from a human line that carries the potential for power, "like Brion did, or like the Orsal's line". Now THERE'S a clause I didn't notice until just now! The von Horthys were believed to have human assumable powers!?!

Anyway, Alaric says he could probably have taught Derry a "number of simple spells".

[Evie]

Morgan says that Derry isn't Deryni, though, and doesn't have ancestry from a human line that carries the potential for power, "like Brion did, or like the Orsal's line". Now THERE'S a clause I didn't notice until just now! The von Horthys were believed to have human assumable powers!?!

I noticed that too fairly recently. When looking through the Codex researching bits and pieces about different royal families for Pawns and Queens, I got the impression that having some sort of power enhancement ritual for royal families was fairly usual, or at least that it was something that happened in some other royal houses besides just the Haldanes.

So I incorporated that into my 15th Century Eleven Kingdoms world-building by speculating that when Joux tried to rebel against the Hort's suzerainty a century earlier and its Duke was defeated in a Duel Arcane, the knowledge of how the Jouvian ritual worked was lost because he hadn't passed that knowledge on yet, and given that Joux had just tried to assimilate their neighbors and was therefore pretty unpopular, no one attempted to rectify that by giving his heir that knowledge. (Because trust me, no one wants a fully Empowered Renier or Remy of Joux!)

[Bynw]

... I got the impression that having some sort of power enhancement ritual for royal families was fairly usual, or at least that it was something that happened in some other royal houses besides just the Haldanes.

I know it's stated somewhere that it happens in Torenth a lot more that we realize. Humans are empowered for services rendered to the Crown (possibly even other nobles.) I just don't remember where I read that tidbit. But we see it all the time with the empowered humans working with Torenthi lords and Kings.