The Hylacon Gates
The Hylacon Gates are a series of mystical gateways and associated gateway markers which were contructed by the Hylacon Peoples between 37 APC and 68 APC, forming a perimeter ring around the Dark Domains along the top of the escarpment rim walls. They are linked by a powerful form of arcane binding magic which draws its energy from deep wells in the local Laws of Form.
Purpose / Function
The Hylacon Gates were built to constrain the dwellers in the Dark Domains, preventing them from leaving their sunken continent and allowing the human inhabitants of Magicians' End to live lives free from the destruction and terror that the Planar Conformation had brought to the realm. They are called Gates, because in a certain strict technical sense they are a kind of constructive portal, anchored in the low energy states of the inter realm transition standing wave form and drawing arcane energies from it. However, it is more accurate to think of the Hylacon Gates as dams rather than doorways. Their existence blocks magical and mundane travel when the local Laws of Form are under threat and selectively affects any foreign entities who seek to travel beyond their ring.
Architecture
The gates and gate markers (energy conduits) form two rings around the continent of Novanoir, the inner ring consisting of the original structures built by the Hylacon Peoples with an outer ring added over five thousand years later by the Loyalist Thaumatic Army Council.
Minor gates and gate markers can be found everywhere along the escarpment rim. Major named gates were built at all the vertexes of the hexagonal continent of which the largest is the famous Easter Gate on the South Eastern point. This is the location of the Transcendence of Hylacon, where the ceremonies that completed the locking of the gates were concluded in 74 APC with the sacrifice of the prophet.
History
The Hylacon Gates were built by the Hylacon Peoples between 37 and 68 APC and activated between 68 APC and 74 APC via a process known as the Locking of the Hylacon Gates. The Locking of the Gates was only successfully concluded after a final sacrifical act, the Transcencence of Hylacon, which took place at the Easter Gate on 15th Mald, 74 APC, a moment of such profound temporal and spiritual significance that it is still celebrated annually throughout Magicians' End and the 15th of Mald has come to be known as Easter Day.
For the following three and a half thousand years, the gates protected Magicians' End from the denizens in the Dark Domains, allowing the human continents to develop a new history after the end of the Old Pale Empire, without considering their hostile supernatural neighbours, until many people almost forgot that they were there.
After the Dark Domain Frenzy of 3596 APC, however, weaknesses were opened in the defences, although this was not generally apreciated until the age of the Second Incursions which began in 4136 APC and would ultimately lead to the end of the government of the Second Popular Ascendency. During the Age of Shadows which followed (from 4290 APC to 5148 APC) the gates were even more more badly damaged and many feared that they might fail completely, leading to a return to the terrible days of the Breach Wars. Fortunately this never quite happened, although the Age of Shadows was a stark reminder of the terrors the Dark Domains were capable of inflicting.
After the overthrow of the Limit Protectorate in 5184 APC, the Loyalist Thaumatic Army Council initiated a program of major repairs to the gates. It was widely recognised by now, how the weakening of the gates had not only allowed the depredations of the Age of Shadows but had indirectly allowed the Limit Princes to succeed in taking control of the realm. Unwilling to tamper with the arcane bindings of the original gates, for fear of damaging spells they did not precicely understand, the Army Council instead built a second ring of gates which acted as butresses to reinforce the entire magical structure. This was a successful venture and it has effectively bottled up the Dark Domains once again and for almost two thousand years.
Today, many of the gate and gate markers may appear to be corroded and deformed, but fortunately they still appear to be functioning with high effectiveness. The image below shows Pannelle at the Edge of the Trans-Oceanic Empire preparing to descend into the Dark Domains. Here at the knife edge limit of the escarpment we can see one of the original Hylacon gate markers which act as conduits to link the gates together.
Magicians' End - Hylacon Gates Repair Project by DMFW with Midjourney
Edge Of Empire by DMFW with Vue
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