Hey everyone!
The release of the previously announced server portals is just around the corner. Therefor we'd like to give you an overview of the details, so you can prepare yourself accordingly. (We will reveal the release date of this and other already shown off projects in the upcoming days)
In short: you will be able to play with any character on any server, as the portals will allow you to travel between Northern Freedom Isles (NFI) and Southern Freedom Isles (SFI), making them no longer separated.

How will it work?

• A blue portal crystal will appear in every starter town on PvE servers and on Chaos
• Using it allows you to teleport to any starter town that has a portal in place
• This also includes Guidance, the new starter/tutorial server
• The portals allow you to teleport between SFI and NFI servers/starter towns, no more separation
• You can use any Epic portal on SFI to play on Epic
• You can use any PvP portal on NFI to play on Defiance
• Skills, affinities and tome effects will transfer between NFI/SFI
• Your bank money and premium time will transfer between all servers
• Item transfer restrictions may apply

Item transfer restrictions

• Items won't transfer through the portals, unless it's on the same cluster and already transferable by boat (NFI/SFI)
• On Guidance (the new tutorial server) items will transfer, but only into one direction: off the server when leaving it
• No-drop items or other special items on the same cluster will transfer the same way they would when crossing the server border with a boat
• The master cape will always transfer between all servers

Epic

• Epic transfer mechanics stay unchanged
• You can use any epic portal on SFI servers to get there as usual
• If you are on NFI, teleport to SFI first using the new portal system, then use any Epic portal
• The current Home Server<->Elevation portal mechanic for starter towns stays in place

Defiance

• Defiance transfer mechanics stay unchanged
• You can use any PvP portal on NFI servers to get there as usual
• If you are on SFI, teleport to NFI first using the new portal system, then use any PvP portal

Chaos

• Freedom starter towns are connected to the portal network
• Player made kingdoms will receive a special mechanic which won't make it into initial release

Selection UI Preview
To make everything clear and easy to understand for (new) players, the server transfer portals will receive their own user interface. Below is a work-in-progress preview from the test server.

It lets you cycle through all available destination servers and shows some basic information about them, with an option to hide PvP servers.

After selecting a server, more details will appear. It shows all available portals on the destination server and lets you select one.

The UI clearly states what's tranferred and what's left behind, so there should be no surprises.

The portals will launch together with the new tutorial server (Guidance), which is explained in detail in a separate announcement:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1179680/view/5998312279131303318