Teleportation

Teleportation is a psionic talent which allows instantaneous movement from one point to another point without regard to intervening matter.

• Psionic teleportation is limited to the movement of the teleported character’s body and (for highly skilled teleports) his clothing and weapons.

Description / Specifications

Teleportation always involves the movement of one’s body to another location. Independent items or other individuals may not be moved. A small animal could conceivably be carried as part of a personal load under the task to teleport one’s self with equipment. (Limited to under 15Kg mass).

Teleportation involves certain requirements in order to be completely accurate, as well as to ensure obedience of the laws of physics.

Foreknowledge of Destination

A person must always have a mental image of his destination before teleporting. This image is acquired by personally visiting the location first (including just viewing it from a distance), having the mental image implanted in one’s mind (by telepathy) by another person who has visited the destination, or by viewing the location through clairvoyance (a viewing task, not simply the easier task of sense plus a successful direction task).

History & Background / Dossier

Teleportation involves serious restrictions on movement in order to assure the conservation of energy and momentum.

Energy and Momentum

On planetary surfaces teleportation is restricted to jumps of less than regional distance.

Jumps at very distant range involve disorientation for a period lasting from 20 to 120 seconds. Jumps at distant range are hazardous; the teleporter often stumbles or falls upon arrival.

This restriction results from the law of conservation of momentum: on a rotating planet two locations will have different rotational speeds and directions. A jump from a point on Terra's equator to its antipode would result in a total velocity difference between the character and his surroundings of over 3300 kph.

Changes in altitude (actually all movement to locations of differing gravitational potential) will result in potential energy changes manifesting themselves as changes in body temperature.

A jump of 1 km straight down will result in a temperature increase of 2.5 degrees Celsius; this is sufficient to cause extreme fever, brain damage, and even death. A jump up will cool the body by the same amount with equally serious results.

To be safe, a jump may not involve an elevation change of more than 400 meters, and multiple jumps should not involve a cumulative elevation change of more than 600 meters in one hour. These problems may be avoided through the use of technological devices: energy compensators, heat suits, and other means.

References & Contributors / Sources

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Mongoose Publishing or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Player's Manual
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science