Guardian of the Gate It is a nameless thing, long forgotten by the descendants of those who crafted it, but it still knows its purpose. It was made to guard the gate and that is what it does. The lanterns its companion on the other side makes are filled with the moss that grows on its body, and there is a connection between it and each one. It listens to the hearts of those that carry them and wonders at the sheer range of personalities who seek to explore the land. At first they were scholars seeking knowledge of the arcane glyphs carved into the stone, some who hoarded information, some who gleefully shared with anyone who might listen, some becoming deeply obsessed. It watched and listened and listened as they grew closer to the truth. The stone archway was a Gate, a Portal to a place Beyond. After the scholars came the adventurers. It wears a gift from someone who came from the Gate, a dragon who sang of the windswept plains, the gentle breeze and the howling gale. They said the banner that streams from the wind-chime always points towards something on the other side, a place they called 'Home'. That dragon had been one of the few to make it back.

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"...t's a fine thing you've made, it gives off the impression of stately strength and grace! I know it'll make a great guardian for this Gate." "Indeed, I think this could be my masterwork." "What are you going to name it?" "I... haven't quite thought of one..." "Are you sure? Such a guard deserves a stately name I believe." "—————— will be fine, right? It's a protector after all." "Hah! And you said you hadn't thought about it. ——————'s a fine name, I'll be sure to remember it!"

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The Gate is a form of old magic, similar and yet not to that which some adventurers called the "Forbidden Portal". The denizens of the Beyond are myriad and some are incomprehensible and/or vastly powerful - and as such most hold little interest in the other side of the Gate. There are some whose influence seeps through, those who feed on feelings and concepts find it... easier perhaps to splinter some of their Essence off into the other world.

The nameless guardian is conditionally mobile, it can shift around the clearing but is tethered by its duty to the Gate, and its movements don't come easily what with originally being carved from a solid block of stone. It is imbued with magic (intended for protection and preservation), which it has co-opted into the greenery that grows on it, vines used like additional arms, other plants to extend its senses for light and movement and such.

It can partially pass through the Gate and move things though it, though it generally prefers not to, unless for its companion, the lantern-maker who introduced himself as Kunzite. The nameless guardian of the gate cannot easily speak, but simple gestures are fine, and its friend has taken it upon himself to teach it a tapping code of sorts. Kunzite mostly resides on the other side of the Gate, in that other place he calls 'his world' (something like soar-nee-eth in his native tongue), but he visits once every moon cycle or so to gather some of its bioluminescent moss for his lanterns.

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haha, i made its original lore just before the forbidden portal venue release.