Melhed/History/Age of Betrayal/Undead/Gates
Gates
There are two worlds, the Shadowlands and the mortal plane. To travel between there are gates of unknown origin and design.
The gates are all "large" enough to fit 100 men wide across moving forward making them about 300 feet wide and at least 10 feet tall. An infinite amount of men can cross in this manner...
Gates are sort of on the two planes. Only those that can see them can use them. Mortal eyes cannot see the gates...nor use them for the matter, we think.
The Gods made them is all I know. Their purpose, probably for the duties entrusted to the undead, to make sure things remain in balance here--and back where we live. ~General Sarge, Ancestor Legion
Scholars of the Guardians of the Flame hold that the gates might not be restricted to a single size, but instead exist in a constant state of potential size. The Factorium holds that the gates were in fact originally located in our world, but were since shifted beyond our grasp by one of the other powers in the shadows. There are tests underway to see if the gates are indeed beyond the touch of mortals and the results are inconclusive. Many report being able to plot out the movement through the gate in their head, but when they look for the opening nothing is to be found. Present work is focusing on sleepwalking and dreams, believing that the unconscious mind has a better ability to see the otherworldly openings hence the inability of the waking mind to find the door. The Factorium has also suggested a rather, unorthodox solution. If mortal eyes cannot see the gate, why not use immortal ones? The details are sketchy, but focus on the creation of some form of device using the parts of the inhumans. Only time will tell.
Even the priest's of the Old Gods do not accept that the Gods built the gates, but unfortunately no further information is available. Despite the lack of information the three institutions generally hold that the gates were made for some other purpose, but now find use by the creatures of Shadow.
Well, mankind must defeat the Daemons with our limited aid, so that we can seal up the gates down below, and hack them to bits. Then you'll only need to worry about what is already here so to speak.
We have secured most of the gates. Not all...the bloody Daemons control 3 gates, and the monsters only have 2. But we are working on correcting this problem, but the Daemons are between us and the monsters, so we won't be able to finish off the monsters until we finish off the Daemons first. And the Daemons are very powerful near the gates, so we have them surrounded. Each time we try to retake a gate, we lose 200-300 undead for every one Daemon. We must figure out a way to turn off the gates, so they do not feed off them, I swear, the energy from the gates make them almost invincible. I have no idea why the gates strengthen the daimons, that is what is messing us up down there. Have any ideas?~General Sarge, Ancestor Legion
It has been speculated that the gates are the cause of the relentless nature of the Netherworld forces, and the dead hold a similar theory. Unfortunately for human scholars the dead have not studied the phenomena very closely. There is no information available to explain one way or the other if the daimons get a constant flow of strength or if it changes with time. Further the distance of gate effect on daimons is also unknown, as is the effect of the gates on both the landscape, or the shadowscape. All scholars agree that the total lack of information reflects a society that knows how to use the gates, but not how they work, which leads further weight to the theory that the undead are not the true masters of the gates.
Firstly, the gates have ancient text on them, but only a select few can read it. The text is only on our side, they do not exist in a physical sense here on your soils. ~Hierarch Summoner, Abyss Overlord
It is this limited hint from the Summoner, ruler of the Abyss, which lead the Factorium to suggest their theory about the gates being shifted beyond our view on purpose. Believing the words to be some form of arcane formula* that has shifted the gates beyond our view, the Factorium has attempted to find out more of the writing to little success. The Old Gods priesthood hold that the writing may in fact be instructions or even important history of the true gate builders and are likewise eager to learn more.
Only the Summoner knows for certain how many gates there are, and I doubt he'll tell. This is rather confidential--and embarrassing--information.
My friend, I know where all of the 'known' gates to this Island are in the Abyss, and I know where they lead, I simply do not know the areas by "Region name" as you would guess. I do know where they lead, but since these maps are pointless to me, I cannot aid you in that endeavour. I do however know that there are portals leading to this land in Melegra and Mio Dupaki, that much I am 100% certain. ~General Sarge, Ancestor Legion
This passage lead many scholars to considerable suspicion about the undead's motives. Since the dead have a considerable amount of expendable troops, most reasoned the logical way to locate the gates would be to walk through each one in the shadows and see where they come out. However the reluctance of the dead to reveal every gate location, even after revealing that they do in fact know where they are, has lead many to think that there might be something special about some of the gates. Besides the ones in Melegra and Mio Dupaki, Jacob's Mouth has also been confirmed, and another is suspected to be near the city of Enweilieos. Either Gorin, Yncaalo, or Lopa is suggested as prime candidates. The most troubling part of all this is the idea that with Summoner under their control the Daimons now have access to his knowledge on gates, giving them even more mobility against the human realms.
- See Magic: Existance Proven for more information
