Some elves shudder to hear their aiudara referred to as “elf gates,” but most accept the vulgar name good-naturedly. These sculpted stone arches, carved with elven runes and sylvan imagery, are scattered in clearings across Kyonin and worldwide, most lying dormant and inoperative since the elves’ exodus thousands of thousands of years ago. With the proper keys, these gates can instantly move people and materials across vast distances by passing through the space under the arch.
Monarchs around the Inner Sea are rightly concerned about these powerful arches. An active elf gate network would allow the controller to move armies across the globe in an eye-blink. Humans have puzzled over the gates’ operation since the elves’ departure, but few have ever plumbed their mysteries. In fact, most of the keys to the gates’ operation and their destinations have been forgotten by even the long-lived elves themselves, prompting several elven adventuring companies to roam the world looking for clues and lore.
Gate Keys
Different gates have different means of opening. While relatively little is known about these, it’s generally believed a short ritual is required to activate an elf gate, at which point the stone gate lights up from within, and the space between the arches distorts to show another vista. Possible keys include:
Passwords: Some gates are activated with a word or phrase. While in many cases, this password has been lost to time, some riddles and puzzles inscribed in Elven on the stone offer clues to the gate’s activation.
Music: Specific notes or songs played on flutes, and harps have been known to open a few gates. It is said that only the surrounding landscape knows these songs and that the keys are present in the blowing of the wind and rustling of the trees for those with ears to hear them.
Stones: Some gates require the presence of magically linked stones to operate. These “keystones” vary in weight and shape, many small enough to carry—unfortunately, by now, these stones could be just about anywhere.
Spells: Certain spells may activate some elf gates, some as simple as knock, and others arcane inventions long since lost to history.
Time: The most commonly used elf gates are of this variety and operate only under certain celestial conditions. Regardless of an individual’s behaviour, they only function at specific, pre-determined times and thus are easiest to stumble across.
Combination: The most secure (and powerful) gates require a combination of keys to open. Finding the secret behind one of these gates’ operations can be a life-long quest, even for an elf.
