The Corridor
On the day of the vernal equinox, the citizens let loose young pigs into the place they call “The Corridor.” These pigs reappear, exactly one year later, on the other side of Hellas in the center of Dodona.The Corridor is an ancient structure of unknown origin that can transport living beings across space and time. It operates mainly in the outbound direction, from a set location within the Town of Pontiai, although the locals have a few fanciful stories of the rare human and non-human visitors who have wandered out of the Corridor over the centuries. Because of Pontiai's proximity to the larger City of Thebai, the Corridor is a suspected source of that city's Ismenian Dragon and Sphinx, and of the nearby Teumessian Fox. Given the reputation of Pontiai as a drunkard's paradise, stories of the Corridor are often dismissed as tall tales. Serious study of the Corridor is further hampered by the environment of wine and debauchery in the town, which quickly leads most would-be investigators to distraction. Nevertheless, a theory has emerged that the Corridor connects to a different distant location each day, with a time of arrival that fluctuates among the past, present, and future until the location resets.
Purpose / Function
Whatever its original purpose may have been, locals use this to portal primarily to play practical jokes on random recipients. For example, it's become known that, at a certain time on the vernal equinox, the portal leads to the distant city of Dodona exactly one year into the future. An annual tradition has arisen in Pontiai to send through a bunch of pigs at that moment, along with an observer to record the ensuing chaos and walk the story back to the town.
Tablets bearing messages from the future, purportedly from researchers throwing the items through the Corridor, have been discovered around Hellas and beyond. There has, as yet, been no systematic effort to compile these locations with the stated dates and times of their departures.
Architecture
The Corridor appears as a circular field of shimmering color in the air outside the Temple of Dionysos the Goat-Killer. Half-hearted barriers have been erected to keep people from stumbling in when they are intoxicated, which most Pontiaians are for much of the time.
History
Tales of the Corridor go back at least to the days of Kadmos. Attempted explanations of the Corridor's creation have been incomplete and unsatisfactory, with local legends being so numerous that it's rare to hear the same story twice from two independent sources.
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