Cyphergate

The enigmatic Cyphergate looms large over Riddleport’s harbor, a constant reminder of the transience of life and even civilization, since few can even imagine what society might have raised this architectural wonder. The arch rises 350 feet above the water below at high tide, rising from the rocky crags on either side of the harbor mouth—its diameter is exactly 700 feet. Rectangular in cross section and 35 feet wide, the sides bear massive runes and glyphs. 
It is of an unidentifiable stone of almost supernatural hardness that resists most efforts at defacing or marking, and has weathered countless years amazingly well. There is speculation that the arch is actually the upper portion of a great stone ring, the bottom of which lies buried beneath the harbor, and long-abandoned excavations have shown that it descends deeply into the bedrock, but how far down it goes and how it could have been implanted in the natural stone remains a mystery, as do the meanings of the runes on its sides. 
 Some researchers note that these runes are similar to those that comprise the Thassilonian language, yet each bears subtle differences that make translation difficult, if not impossible. Most scholars believe that the runes have no meaning, and are simply decorative. Magical attempts to decipher the runes have supported this theory, yet the Order of Cyphers believes that this simply points to the runes’ mystic nature, that even magic cannot decipher their meaning or the Cyphergate’s true purpose. Cracking this code has become the primary goal of the Order, yet they are no closer to solving it today than they were when their order was founded.