One of the superpowers in my world is the ability to mentally manipulate portals. These portals are incorporeal, massless, 2-dimensional circles that connect points in space (akin to portals from the game Portal, except they are free-standing and can be telekinetically moved).
Portals effectively create infinite energy, which I'm not at all worried about. If that particularly bothers you, imagine they draw all the energy they need from 'the realm of magicness'.
Trainable/Alterable Aspects of Portals
These are the aspects of my portals that I can mentally alter. Most of these are trainable, allowing me to alter them further or more quickly as I gain experience.
- Portal size
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- Determined by the area of the portal cross section. Requires effort to make it larger or smaller than its 'base' size of a 30cm radius circle.
- Portal shape
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- Circular when unstrained.
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- Shapes can only be two dimensional.
- Portal movement speed
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- The greater the portal size deviates from its base size, the slower the portal moves.
- Portal rotation
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- Can be rotated in the x, y, and z axes.
- Max distance between portals
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- Around 50m without training
Portal Rules
Important
- Matter, light, and electromagnetic fields can pass through portals, but not gravitational fields.
- Portals come in pairs, with a back end and a front end that connect to one another. Most users only ever control one pair of two portals.
- Both portals will always have the same size and shape as one another.
- Portals will cut things at the atomic level, but not the subatomic level, meaning no boom boom and radiation.
- Movement through portals is relative, meaning if I enter Portal A at 10km/h relative to it, I will exit at 10km/h relative to Portal B. This means that even if I am stationary relative to the world, by quickly moving Portal A over myself, I will exit Portal B at high speed. See my crude drawings for a further explanation (Also feel free to ignore my misuse of scientific technology as I never took physics). You do no not feel acceleration or deceleration from this, as from your own perspective it is the world that is changing velocity and not yourself.
- Portals move relative to their user. If I start running, without controlling my portals at all, they will move with me. In cases where their relative movement would change after I exit a portal, they only begin to move with my new direction after I have fully exited the second portal.
- Portals can be rotated, causing the world through the portal to appear to rotate. This allows you to impart rotational or centripetal energy to objects moving through portals. See my crude drawing for a further explanation.
- Portal edges are effectively infinitely sharp cutting instruments, making them highly dangerous.
- Moving and altering portals does not strain the user or consume energy from their body.
- Other than when the portals first appear after gaining the superpower (the portals will appear snapped together), the portals cannot be created or destroyed. They will remain until the user dies, hence why snapping is important.
Less Important
- Portal pairs can be 'snapped' together, causing them to perfectly overlap, completely removing their functionality, as anything that passes through them will be teleported 0 distance. They must be actively 'unsnapped' to separate and be useful again. Snapped portals are completely invisible, only being detectable via the users proprioceptive sense.
- Portals are only visible due to the fact that they appear to be a circle leading to a different point in space. They don't have glowing edges or anything like that.
- Users have a proprioceptive sense of where their portals are, and the portals will instinctively stop moving before cutting their user, meaning a user can only cut themselves on purpose.
- Portals can be moved through one another, as seen in this video.
- Portals accelerate and decelerate instantly as they are massless (yes I know massless objects in reality always travel at c).
Combat Applications
Velocity Alteration
Instant Acceleration
By moving a portal over myself, I can almost instantly boost my velocity, without actually feeling any acceleration. By doing this over a body part, such as my fist, I can increase the power of my attacks.
Instant Deceleration
By slowly moving a portal over myself while I am moving at high speed, I can cause myself to exit the corresponding portal at a low velocity, effectively eliminating my kinetic energy. This is highly useful for preventing deadly falls or any situation in which I would slam into a surface at high speed. By doing this over an enemy's attack, such as their fist when punching me, I can reduce its impact.
Shielding
Portals can be used as impenetrable shields. Depending on how I position them, I can cause an attack to reflect back onto my enemy, or shoot harmlessly into the sky.
Flight
By carefully positioning myself through my portals, I can cause gravity to tug on me in opposite directions, allowing myself to fly.
Slicing
People and objects can be easily cut by moving a portal through them. Depending on the orientation of the portal, this might either cut holes out of them, or slice right through them.
Swinging Objects
By placing a snapped portal pair over an object held firmly in place, such as a tree or streetlight, and then moving one of the portals away, I can use that object as a powerful blunt weapon, as the part of it sticking through the portal will move with the second portal.
Range Extension
By placing one portal near myself and one near my enemy, I can significantly increase the range of attacks such as punches, by punching through the portal. Of course, I will have to be careful as my enemy can do the same.
Industry Applications
Free Energy
Hydro-electric
By placing one portal at the bottom of a dam or lake and another higher up, I allow water to flow continuously downward, providing energy that can be captured via a turbine. The output is limited by how large I can make my portals, and how far apart I can place them. This could theoretically be done with any fluid, or even something like sand.
Magneto-electric
By placing by portals in such a way that I allow a magnet to continuously freefall, I can induce a current in metal coils surrounding that magnet.
Direct Turbine
Placing the shaft of a turbine through a portal and then rotating it lets you directly power the turbine. This can produce enormous amounts of energy as the turbine can be made as large and heavy as possible, and spun incredibly quickly.
Digging
Portals allow you to move massive amounts of material very quickly. For example, you could dig a massive hole in the ground by moving one of your portals through the ground, with all the material that enters it falling out of the second portal.
Construction
Careful control of portal shape and size could let you cut precise objects out of stone, metal, or wood.
Transportation
Portals allow you to freely move material from one area to another, but this is significantly limited due to the portals' range and size.
Non-combat Applications
Air-con
By placing one portal near myself and another notably below myself, air will blow out of the one near me due to differences in air pressure, creating a refreshing air current.
Watergun
By placing one portal in a body of water, water will begin to pour out of the second portal. This is effectively the same as the hydroelectric energy generation concept, but on a smaller scale and just for fun.
Looking around corners
I can peek a portal around a corner instead of my head, allowing me to look through its pair.