Settlements and Sites of the Four City-States #302

Settlements and Sites of the Four City-States #302 

October 30th, 2023 

• Number: 302 

• Name: Deep Dive on a Site of Interest:  The Gateway Complex – Part 1 

• Location: Western Gold Mountains northwest of the City-State of Carasta 

• Population (approx.): 83 (The Gatehouse) 

• Brief: When imagined, conjured and shaped into existence, Aenwyld was a wondrous world of beautiful environments from pole to pole. But the descent into madness and destruction that was the wars of the First Ones shook the world to its core and threatened to unmake what had been in made. In the aftermath, those who survived discovered that the fabric of Aenwyld’s reality was weak in places. Places where other realms, times and realities might intrude upon this world with sometimes devastating effects. One such location exists in the Gold Mountains of Norgorfel. In the distant past, ancient writings spoke of strange occurrences such as lights in the heights and the usually brief appearances of inconceivable creatures. The Arcane Guild explored the mountains and found a wide crevasse on the slopes of a peak, the opening leading into a great chamber where the veils between realms were especially thin. Wayfinders attempted to use it as a site for a Waygate with no success. The Guild, encountering aliens who accidentally or rarely deliberately transited into the chamber, determined a permanent installation was warranted. The Gatehouse was constructed to fill the crevasse and contain the chamber of the Gateway. A chantry of magicians, with their companions and guards, remains here to this day. 

• Geography: The Gatehouse is built on the western slope of Nuan Malie, a peak of the Gold Mountains of the continent of Norgorfel. It is about 50 miles north of the Firbolg realm of Tenmala (#57), about 100 miles north of west of Orvusiv (#168), and about 80 miles east of the furthest reach of the Ironwall Territories (#61). The Arcane Guild rarely makes the locals aware of the Gateway Complex unless there is a dire emergency caused by something transiting the veil to Aenwyld and escaping the complex. 

• Next Article: Over the course of this week, we’ll present some of the notable people, happenings and plot threads of the events of the Gateway Complex.