@Mount Brise (Port Aurelian) → @Auric Hub
The route between Port Aurelian and the Auric Hub exists to solve a single problem:
How do you move thousands of magically capable individuals, cargo, and vessels from the surface world to a city located at abyssal depth without exposing either civilization or killing everyone involved?
The solution is redundancy.
Ossirian transit doctrine mandates two independent descent systems, each capable of functioning without the other. Students will encounter both during their time at the Academy.
This is the oldest and most physically intuitive route. It relies on controlled submergence through open water, following a mapped descent path to the deepest trench of the Ossirian Sea.
This route is used primarily by:
First-year intake convoys
Heavy cargo vessels
Diplomatic and supply traffic
Emergency fallback operations
Vessels depart Port Aurelian under conventional propulsion, remaining on the surface until they reach a designated maritime exclusion zone hundreds of kilometers offshore.
Once clear of mortalkin shipping lanes and satellite surveillance corridors, vessels engage Phase Seal Protocols:
Hull sigils activate pressure-compensating mana lattices
External illusion arrays dissolve (no longer needed)
Descent ballast engages, combining physical mass-shift with arcane gravity modulation
The ships then descend vertically into the ocean.
This is not a smooth glide. The first kilometers are turbulent. Light drops fast. Sound becomes distorted. Students often report a sensation of “falling sideways” as pressure vectors shift.
At approximately mid-depth, the vessel enters the Abyssal Quiet — a layer where ambient mana density suppresses turbulence. From there, descent becomes stable.
The lowest point of the Ossirian Sea contains a colossal trench system, geologically reinforced and artificially stabilized over centuries.
At the trench floor, vessels align with Auric Beacon Chains — massive mana pylons embedded in the seabed that guide traffic toward the Auric Hub.
From this point onward, all movement is regulated by Ossirian port authority. Manual navigation is locked out.
(Commonly called “Currents” by students)
This method is faster, more elegant, and significantly more dangerous if misused.
Ambient Mana Pathways are semi-stable tunnels formed from condensed ambient energy, shaped and maintained by the Pressure Authority and the Arcane Regulation Council.
They function as low-resistance corridors through both water and pressure, allowing vessels and individuals to move laterally and vertically with minimal physical strain.
Yachts and trained students can enter these pathways directly from Port Aurelian’s submerged gates.
These tunnels are not empty space.
They are:
Densified mana flow channels
Bounded by harmonic containment fields
Self-healing within tolerance limits
To the eye, they resemble vast, translucent tubes of shifting light, refracting the ocean beyond them into slow-moving patterns. The interior feels buoyant, even when traveling downward.
The comparison to migratory megafauna tunnels is accurate. The original discovery of naturally occurring mana currents inspired their artificial replication.
Pathways are keyed to:
Vessel resonance signatures
Personal Mana Core harmonics
Authorized transit glyphs
Unauthorized entry is possible. Survival afterward is not guaranteed.
School yachts are mid-scale arcane vessels maintained by the Academy and assigned to houses, upperclass cohorts, or special programs.
They serve three roles:
Upperclass transit
Recreational travel during sanctioned periods
Training platforms for navigation, conduit management, and pressure discipline
They are not toys. They are not private property. They are licensed assets.
Yachts are:
Narrow-hulled for current compatibility
Reinforced with adaptive pressure skins
Equipped with observation galleries and external riding rails
Propulsion is hybrid:
Arcane vector thrust for pathways
Conventional screw and ballast for open water
Each yacht carries emergency resonance anchors capable of locking the vessel in place if containment destabilizes.
Unofficial Term: Subsurface Riding
Mana surfing is the practice of individual transit through ambient mana pathways using personal equipment rather than full vessels.
It is sanctioned only within regulated corridors and under supervision for lower years.
Upperclassmen may ride independently with clearance.
1. Sub-Conduit Boards
Personalized arcane boards that act as both stabilizer and conduit amplifier.
Core lattice tuned to rider’s MPI range
Edge filaments shape mana flow for steering
Tail stabilizers prevent harmonic spinout
Boards are heavily customized. Color-shifting filaments, glyph etching, kinetic fins, and visual wake effects are common. Excessive flair is tolerated as long as function remains intact.
2. Arcane Dive Suits
For non-water-aspected students, these suits provide:
Pressure equalization
Oxygen-mana hybrid respiration
Thermal stabilization
Emergency phase-snap return (single use)
Water-aspected students often modify suits for minimal coverage. This is permitted but not encouraged.
The rider does not “swim.”
They align their Mana Core resonance with the pathway’s flow frequency. The board amplifies this alignment, allowing the current to carry them.
Speed is controlled by:
Resonance angle
Board fin articulation
Core stability
Loss of focus does not immediately eject the rider — the pathway dampens abrupt divergence — but sustained instability results in forced expulsion into open water.
This is why safety riders exist.
Mana surfing is exhilarating, social, and deeply identity-forming for many students.
It is also responsible for:
Most minor transit injuries
Nearly all unsanctioned detentions
At least one memorial plaque near the Auric Hub
Respect the current. It does not care how talented you are.
Regardless of method, all traffic converges at the Auric Hub.
Pathways dissolve gradually, bleeding riders and yachts into controlled approach lanes. Open-water vessels rise from the trench floor into shielded bays.
Pressure equalization completes here.
Gravity normalizes.
Sound returns.
The city does not announce itself with spectacle. It simply appears — vast, ordered, luminous — suspended against the dark.
Students are required to disembark calmly and follow guidance beacons to processing platforms.
This is not a celebration point.
It is an interface.
The journey from Port Aurelian to the Auric Hub is intentionally transitional.
The surface route teaches scale and insignificance.
The pathways teach control and trust.
Mana surfing teaches restraint disguised as freedom.
By the time you step onto Ossirian stone, the world above already feels distant — not because it is gone, but because you now understand how much lies beneath it.
That understanding is not optional.
It is the cost of entry.