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Once upon a time was a Standard Fantasy World, with knights and wizards and dragons and all that stuff. Then one day, a wizard figured out how to make a permanent magical transportation "gate" (portal, whatever you want to call it). Later some wizard, possibly the same one or maybe not, figured out they could become phenomenally wealthy by building magical gates for nobles and nations.
So started the Gate corporation, the wizard was ennobled, and pretty soon (<10 years) every major city in the empire/kingdom/nation was networked together, and several of the wealthier minor ones. Many of the gates are toll gates, generating revenue for both the Gate corporation and Nation. The ruling family has it's own smaller private gate network, linking all the palaces into one virtual palace. The military also gets free gate use of course, so troops can be shifted where needed.
For merchants, the gates are first a convenience then a necessity. Goods move faster and cheaper without threat of bandit attack, expense of caravan guards or other losses.
Pretty soon, a number of major surface trade routes have become mostly abandoned. A bridge over a major river collapses, and the funding to fix it is found wanting, as "everyone uses the gates now anyhow".
Places in proximity to a gate experience population boom, and the remote areas thin out. All the cities in the nation become, more or less one city, in a number of ways. Second-tier smaller cities take out loans to have gates built linking them to a larger gated city, or suffer from isolation and reduced trade.
So started the Gate corporation, the wizard was ennobled, and pretty soon (<10 years) every major city in the empire/kingdom/nation was networked together, and several of the wealthier minor ones. Many of the gates are toll gates, generating revenue for both the Gate corporation and Nation. The ruling family has it's own smaller private gate network, linking all the palaces into one virtual palace. The military also gets free gate use of course, so troops can be shifted where needed.
For merchants, the gates are first a convenience then a necessity. Goods move faster and cheaper without threat of bandit attack, expense of caravan guards or other losses.
Pretty soon, a number of major surface trade routes have become mostly abandoned. A bridge over a major river collapses, and the funding to fix it is found wanting, as "everyone uses the gates now anyhow".
Places in proximity to a gate experience population boom, and the remote areas thin out. All the cities in the nation become, more or less one city, in a number of ways. Second-tier smaller cities take out loans to have gates built linking them to a larger gated city, or suffer from isolation and reduced trade.
