A cheap passenger booklet covering tickets, customs, delays, cramped bunks, shared food, unfamiliar bodies, and the strangers encountered between worlds.
Interworld travel begins with a contract. Read the ticket before joining the queue. Confirm the departure point, destination, boarding time, assigned berth, baggage limit, meal allowance, transfer conditions, and what happens if the carrier cancels.
A ticket to a port is not always passage to the ground below it. A bell-ferry may end at High Anchorage, leaving the Starfall Lift fare separate. A pilgrim run may include shrine lodging but not the return journey. A cargo berth may provide air and a wall strap without providing a bunk.
Keep identity papers, permits, medicine, one meal, and one change of necessary clothing where you can reach them. Do not place everything important in checked cargo. A delayed crate can arrive tomorrow. A delayed breathing filter cannot.
Customs officers need the person named on the document to answer clearly. Open the requested bag and leave the others closed. Declare weapons, relics, live plants, animals, restricted medicine, and cargo carried for somebody else. "I did not know it was in my case" is rarely improved by discovering three more undeclared items beneath it.
Delays are normal. Storms close ferries. Tugs wait for cargo. Pilgrim routes require shrine permission. Mechanical faults must be repaired before departure, regardless of how loudly the passengers discuss their schedules. Watch the official board and keep enough money for food and a bunk if the next departure moves to another shift.
In a shared compartment, every person receives the space named on their ticket and no more. Keep bags inside your berth. Ask before changing the heat, moisture, light, gravity setting, or ventilation. A comfortable Vaelari passenger, Korr passenger, and Ashari passenger may each require a different compromise.
Use headphones or keep music low during the posted sleep period. Warn the compartment before opening strong food, medicine, polish, or incense. Secure cups, tools, and boots before a change in thrust. If the vessel provides straps, learn how to use them before the warning bell.
Do not touch another passenger's feathers, gills, stone skin, repair seams, mobility equipment, religious ribbons, or luggage without permission. Curiosity is not an emergency. If assistance is needed, ask what kind before grabbing the person.
Shared food is welcome when it is clearly offered. State whether it contains meat, fermented ingredients, strong medicine, or anything unsafe for another people. Do not take the final portion unless the owner says everyone has eaten.
Conversation can make a long crossing better. Names, destinations, work, weather, and food are usually safe beginnings. Debt, exile, war records, family origin, and the reason for somebody's papers are not owed to a stranger because the door is closed for six hours.
When a delay becomes a cancellation, passengers often help one another find a bunk, watch luggage, translate an announcement, or locate the correct service window. Accept the help you need and return what you can. Many lasting friendships begin in a compartment nobody wanted to share.
