On 10:22 AM Maximilian Wilson wrote: > >> Keep in mind that "our heroes" are all pretty exceptional people. > > > True. But we also see it being used by low-level Jhereg enforcers > (Vlad's first hit in /Taltos/ has a buddy who teleports home) and it > seems to be assumed that most Dragons know how to do it (teleport > blocks in /Dragon/, Vlad's thoughts in /Orca/ while being trailed by > Loftis and Domm). Vlad refers to it as part of "the simple stuff" in > /Issola/, and it certainly seems useful enough to be one of the first > things you'd try to learn. So it's not completely uncommon either, at > least among the urban population. How common is it? Common enough that people live in one city and work in another? Doesn't appear so. The elite do it. Assassins do it (if they get paid sufficiently). City folk don't need it the way rural peasants do - but it doesn't appear that rural peasants have the means to do so. People learning sorcery learn this soon because it is very useful, not only for themselves, but because a living can be made in teleporting others. Even with professional teleporters available, there aren't masses of people using them. There must not be sufficient teleportation ability to move lots of people cheaply.