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Waygates

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BySuraia Silverbell

Waygates

Waygates

Silent Roads of a Lost Age

Waygates are ancient, mystic portals that once connected Eonil’s continents, sacred sites, and great cities. Created by the Ee’dornil in cooperation with dragons during the early Age of Light, they briefly ushered in the most open and prosperous period the world has ever known.

Today, the gates that remain are dormant relics. No one alive is widely known to understand how to use them, and most people believe the art of gate-travel to be completely lost.

Origins

In the Third Era – Age of Light, after the defeat of the night dwellers, the Ee’dornil returned from the west and presented themselves on the Xaverion Islands as representatives of Eonil and her faith. Quintra, seeking to avoid another war, granted them her blessing.

With Quintra’s permission, the Ee’dornil began constructing mystic Waygates across Eonil, working alongside the dragons, who were the first masters of magic and elemental power. These gates linked far-flung lands, allowing travel between them in moments rather than months.

One of the most renowned gates was raised at the foot of Eedrasil, the Lifetree of the world—a symbol of Eonil’s own health and vitality.

The Age of Waygates

For a brief time, the Waygates created a true golden age of travel:

  • All known continents could be reached through the network.

  • Traders, pilgrims, scholars, and diplomats crossed the world with ease.

  • The knowledge of using the gates was freely taught by dragons to those willing to learn.

Those who devoted themselves to understanding and operating the gates became known as Waykeepers. Under their care, the routes were considered safe and well maintained.

It is said that no other period in history has matched those decades of peace and free movement.

Decline and Destruction

The Waygates did not fall all at once.

The First Cult of Ghor

During the Fourth Era – Age of Darkness, the First Cult of Ghor turned its attention to the Waykeepers and their network:

  • Waykeepers began to disappear—some found slain, others simply gone.

  • Rumours spread that the cult hunted them for rituals or sought to bend them into Ghor’s service.

  • Confidence in gate travel eroded as reports of attacks and disappearances mounted.

The cult’s boldest act was the slaying of Misoura, the blue dragon who had been teaching mortals to become Waykeepers. With Misoura’s death, a living line of instruction was severed. Apprentices scattered, dragons withdrew from mortal affairs, and the sense of safety around the gates began to crumble.

In response, the Ee’dornil Amazons and druids placed surviving Waykeepers under their protection, and Ee’dornil warriors were stationed to guard major gates. From then on, travel persisted only under watch and restriction, no longer free for all.

The Fall of Eedrasil and the Night of the Flare

As Ghor’s corruption spread, the Waygates became battlegrounds. When the Lifetree Eedrasil came under attack, Ee’dornil emissaries used the gates to rally armies from the Xaverion Islands and other lands. But something twisted the gates themselves:

  • At several waygates, horrors poured out instead of safe passage.

  • Heroes like Arilya died holding back abominations just long enough for others to escape.

  • To halt the endless flood, many gates were deliberately destroyed.

With each gate shattered, the network broke further. When Eedrasil fell and the Night of the Flare tore apart the western sea, whatever remained of a stable, global Waygate system effectively ended.

By the close of the Age of Darkness:

  • Many Waygates lay in ruins.

  • Others stood silent, their controls forgotten.

  • The Ee’dornil and other mythic races withdrew to hidden lands or the lost continent, taking much of their knowledge with them.

Waygates in the Present Day

In the Fifth Era, especially by Year 22, Waygates are no longer part of ordinary life:

  • No known Waykeepers remain in public record.

  • The dragons who taught gatecraft are gone from mortal circles.

  • The Ee’dornil have retreated; sightings of them are rare and fleeting. Common belief holds that even they have abandoned the use of the gates.

Surviving structures still appear in ruins and forbidden places—crumbling stone arches half-swallowed by forests, broken rings buried in old temples, or drowned frameworks glimpsed beneath the waves. They are treated as:

  • Dangerous relics of the Age of Light and Age of Darkness.

  • Possible lures for cultists, treasure-hunters, or fools.

  • Sacred scars tied to ancient oaths or tragedies.

No reliable, modern account exists of anyone activating a Waygate or travelling through one. Scholars argue over whether the necessary knowledge is completely gone or simply buried in some hidden archive. Among everyday folk, however, the matter is settled: Waygates do not work anymore.

Myths, Fears & Misconceptions

Despite their silence, Waygates remain a powerful symbol in stories:

  • Legends of Hidden Routes:
    Sailors and smugglers whisper that a functioning gate might still lie on Eedrasil’s Rest, connected to the lost continent beyond the western fog. None of these tales have been verified, and expeditions to that island are forbidden or end in disappearance.

  • Cult Rumours:
    Some fear that if the secrets of the Waygates were rediscovered, Ghor’s followers would seize them long before any honest folk could. As a result, many priests and local rulers would rather see old gates left alone than risk anyone trying to “wake” them again.

  • Ghost Stories of the Roads:
    In taverns and at harbour inns, stories circulate of travellers stepping into silent gates on a dare, vanishing, and never returning—or occasionally being seen years later in dreams, calling from somewhere between worlds. These tales are usually told after too much drink, but they keep children (and some adults) at a respectful distance from old stone circles.

Legacy

Once, the Waygates were celebrated as bridges of peace, binding Eonil into a single, walkable world. Their rise marked the brightest moment of the Age of Light; their fall accompanied the deepest horrors of the Age of Darkness.

In the present day, they are:

  • Symbols of a lost, almost unbelievable age of freedom.

  • Warnings about how swiftly knowledge can vanish.

  • Quiet reminders that some roads, once closed, may be better left that way.

For most who live now, Waygates belong to history, not to travel plans. Ships, caravans, and the perilous open sea have long since replaced those silent doors between worlds.

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