Originally Posted by
Grond
I disagree. Teleportation (or ethereal bridge) presumably requires temporarily moving through some other dimension (maybe the ethereal plane) to reach a distant destination. If the level is separated from the rest of the world, it's plausible that it would also be cut off from whatever dimension is used for teleportation. I'm sure you can construe it to mean something else, but it meaning no teleportation makes more sense than a lot of things (e.g. no natural regeneration).
Going more speculative - I kinda like the idea that all adventurers in Ancardia have a chance to stumble into the cat lord's domain, as opposed to him just hanging out on some random CoC level. Maybe the level should have lots of cats too. >:D
Anyway, if no-teleport is tied to the cat lord's current location, then there would need to be a message for whatever level he is on, not just on the level he was generated on.
You're making an assumption based on non-existent or very scant evidence.
I, for one, think that teleportation happens in the same dimension as everything else.
Additionally, the mechanism must be quite simple too, considering that traps can teleport you without the need to be supplied by whatever magical power they use for that,
indefinitely.
Some monsters can use teleportation that otherwise have no magic affinity whatsoever.
Of course magic can explain everything but if everything is magical, then nothing is magical, don't we agree?
There need to be aspects of this fictional world that are definitively non-magical, to give meaning to those that are.
That said, I believe teleportation could well be the least magic-related spell in the game.
Ethereal bridge (related to ethereal plane you mentioned, I guess) is a clerical name which possibly reflects the clerical outlook on spells, while for the arcane classes it's simply teleportation.
Furthermore, the level's adherence to all other rules governing the world of Ancardia or even more specifically Drakalor Chain, is ample evidence that it is indeed part of that world.
The same monsters can be generated, the dungeon has the same layout generation principles, standard items drop there, it is connected at two points with other, similar dungeon levels, rune trident can be delivered by the water elemental here, etc.
The precise message involves
seems, which doesn't indicate certainty, just subjective feeling.
I might even argue that it's the result of Kitty marking his territory and the PC inhaling whatever vapors spread through the air as a result.
I sure felt that way once, when I got back from work only to discover my own cat took a major leak in the hall. Out of this world, I tell you.
Anyway, that's just me, so let's not head in that direction.
I believe that the no-teleportation rule is not within the nature of the level; rather it is due to the presence of Cat Lord and that is the intuitive feeling the player character experiences.