A mail system in a fantasy world

So my fantasy setting features the fact that many of the characters (and other people as well) can magically teleport (often accidentally) at any time. Their society would have adapted to this by now, but I'm not sure how people who communicate with each other by letters and such (The main idea I have so far is that their magic can somehow lock on to someone else's soul energy and track them to deliver messages) But what I can't do with it is:

• Anything involving robots or very advanced technology, due to setting
• Telepathy. Because it would overcomplicate things

I've been thinking about using animals (doves or pigeons or such) but I don't want to use 'bonded soul animals' and having a postoffice-like system for the use of the public using them sounds a little too close to Harry Potter. Could anyone offer some advice with this?

Why not have people with the teleportation ability carry the messages? The effect might be much like hiring a courier, save that the courier takes a matter of seconds to carry the message.

My Games & Writing

No, but they don't have the ability to control the teleportation because it happens sporadically and without warning, that's the thing.

Ah, fair enough.

In that case, what about enchanted brass (or other material of your choice) "messenger birds": each would simply be a solid figure of a bird in flight, and each would have some holder to carry a message — perhaps a slot in the beak or formed by the angles of the legs and feet. The sender then takes the "bird", inserts the message, and holds it while "marking" the bird for the intended recipient. (The exactitudes of this stage I leave up to you: perhaps it requires collected "soul energy", limiting potential recipients and number of messages; perhaps the "connection" is better the better you know the intended recipient, allowing for connections over longer distances — and allowing for misdirected messages if the sender thinks of the wrong person, or is distracted by the thought of another person; perhaps all that you need is a name, and since "the name is the thing" this provides the connection.) Finally, the sender releases the bird, which immediately wings through the air, heading in graceful curves for the indicated recipient; if the recipient teleports while the bird is in mid-flight, it simply changes course for the new destination.

My Games & Writing

Just to clarify... do you want two-way communication and/or live communication? Or are those two properties undesirable?

Two-way (Billy can send a message to Phil, Phil can reply to it) the live communication isn't necessary. Considering that by the story's standards, this would be somewhat complex technology and not everyone would be able to afford their own, would having a post office-like system where people could rent them have a possibility of getting a little too close to the Harry Potter owl system? (because I've had a couple people mention that)

I see. I had been thinking of something along the lines of a magic mirror that allows users to talk to one another by calling out the other person's name to it. And if you want to restrict its use, you could require the caller to have something that is connected to the other person (e.g. a vial of blood, an old knife, a coin that had once been handled by him, etc).

Alternatively, had you not wanted live, instant communication, I would have suggested something along the lines of "teleportation paper" (you would need to come up with a better name for it though). Basically, it travels through the same teleportation network as everybody. You write a message and the name of its recipient, causing it to dissipate. It will then next reappear somewhere on the recipient's body the next time s/he emerges from a teleport. Incidentally, this does create room for comedic moments with the paper emerging in unwanted places like the recipient's mouth or stuck to his back where he can't quite reach it.

edited 16th Jul '13 1:02:42 PM by peasant

I was more condering something like the "Mechanical messenger bird" mentioned previously, as it is the least complicated. But as I said before, the whole 'magical post-office run by birds' could sound unoriginal.

In that case, need they specifically be birds? As most things are derived and inspired by other things, the trick is to dress it up so that the two things differ at the obvious points of comparison. Perhaps make them insects or even primitive helicopters. Or maybe even just paper aeroplanes.

The key point is not to use anything with a bird motif since Harry Potter already did that. And since you were thinking mechanical-based constructs, your options are practically limitless.