Gatekeepers
Structure
Being few in number and widely scattered, the Gatekeepers have little formal organization. The most senior druids are usually occupied with studying the heavens, but when a threat arises, they quickly call the others. Individual bands of hunters are widely scattered in the world, many in far-flung reaches such as the Mournland and even across the seas, which makes contact difficult. Still, the Siberys observatories enhance scrying spells, greatly aiding communication.
The elder Gatekeeper of the Shadow Marches, Saala Torrn is as close to a leader as the sect has. She does not command others or set policy, but those in search of wisdom seek her out. It is said she carries the last words of Vvaraak to his pupils, recorded in a mystic crystal passed down through generations of Gatekeepers in her clan.
Other gatekeepers and initiates serve their regions as authorities on the sect’s history, preside over initiation ceremonies and major rituals, and help to pool aid against common dangers. Only a handful of gatekeepers proper exist, and perhaps three dozen initiates. No more than two hundred members of the sect are aspirants, generally not exceeding 3rd level. Most aspirants are druids, but some are adepts.
A typical hunting group comprises three or four combatants led by an aspirant. It’s unusual for a member to exceed 5th level. In more dangerous areas, or where the hunters are called together against a specific threat, a group might number up to a dozen, with two aspirants and an initiate or even a gatekeeper in command. Such groups might contain moderately high-level rangers or barbarians. A hunting group operating out of the Green Spire (a Gatekeeper bastion located in the Shadow Marches) might even include a symbiont-wearing impure prince.
Culture
Well over half the Gatekeepers are orcs or half-orcs. The orcs of Khorvaire’s western shores had always been close to nature, which is why Vvaraak chose them to learn druid magic. Many were lost in the Daelkyr War, and many more turned away from nature in its aftermath. New members are rare, so the sect takes in members of any race who share its intense dedication. The sect enjoys widespread support both in the Reaches and the Shadow Marches, even if most inhabitants are not actually members.
Very few Gatekeepers are druids. Most carry the title of “hunter,” and these consist mainly of barbarians, rangers, scouts, and the like. They are ever vigilant against unnatural horrors. Low-level druids, or aspirants, lead small groups of hunters. Unlike many other sects, among the Gatekeepers the title “initiate” does not denote a new recruit but is reserved for aspirants who have proved themselves in service. Only the most senior initiates earn the formal title “gatekeepers.”
Orcs join the Gatekeepers largely out of racial pride. They also fear that the young nations are leading the world perilously near to a final catastrophe. The destruction of Cyre was the warning bell that has sent the Gatekeepers into the world. They can no longer afford the luxury of isolation; the next assault might happen anywhere.
Vvaraak and other members of the Chamber established several Siberys observatories within the Eldeen Reaches and the Shadow Marches, and instructed the first Gatekeepers in their operation. To this day, Gatekeepers monitor the movements of the heavens, always on guard for perilous alignments. They maintain communication with each other through the observatories’ enhanced divination magic.
The Gatekeepers proudly display their heritage by wearing garments of the ancient style. These consist of deep red tunics, the color of dried blood, trimmed with deerskin and rabbit fur. They favor the axe, a traditional orc weapon, and light leather armor if they wear any at all. Many wear ornate bracelets and torcs, a taste of luxury inherited from their dragon tutor. Gatekeepers are friendly toward the draconic Chamber, since one of its members taught their order. From time to time, a Chamber scholar comes to the Reaches to use the observatories and to converse with the druid elders.
Becoming a Gatekeeper
Many admire the Gatekeepers’ work, but very few are willing to undertake such a lonely and dangerous existence. Most new Gatekeepers are inhabitants of the Shadow Marches or the western Eldeen Reaches, and often they follow in the footsteps of their ancestors. A few goblinoids are attracted to the sect, out of a cultish fascination with ancient Dhakaan (though the orcs consider these members poseurs several groups of hunters patrol the Khraal in Darguun.
The Gatekeepers go about their work quietly and do not actively seek out new members. They do travel through or near the orc settlements, hoping to set a compelling example for the youth. Sadly, most youths are not interested in thankless patrols in the wilderness, favoring instead the excitement of adventure and conquest. Thus, some hunter groups have taken to emphasizing the thrill of tracking down and destroying monstrous threats rather than focusing on a solemn obligation to defend the world.
A new hunter need do no more than be accepted into a group. No formal initiation is required. Would-be aspirants, though, must receive formal recognition from a druid of at least initiate level. Usually an aspirant brings the candidate forward. Initiation consists of swearing solemn oaths, followed by tattooing. A new aspirant is assigned to guide a hunting group at first; once she has proven her worth, she begins instruction in the use of observatories and maintaining the seals on the portals to Xoriat.
Tenets of Faith
Religious Duties
The Gatekeepers were charged long ago with the defense of the world, and they have never shirked this responsibility. Primary among their duties is tending the planar seals. If left unattended, the interplanar stresses would slowly drain the magical weaves that hold the bindings in place (not to mention whatever efforts the daelkyr might be making to undo them). Regular ceremonies are necessary to reinfuse the seals with power. Only the gatekeepers are advanced enough in power to conduct the necessary ritual, but all participants can contribute magical energy toward it.
Most Gatekeepers are concerned with more mundane matters, mainly destroying aberrations and extraplanar horrors wherever they might lurk. The boldest join the Maruk Ghaash’kala guardians in the Demon Wastes to combat the fiends of Khyber. A few dare the Mournland; some even explore Xen’drik for clues to the ancient wars against the fiends and signs of further calamities to come. Aspirants and initiates keep their senses open to supernatural disturbances resulting from planar instability. When such a weak point is detected, they send messages to nearby hunter groups to patrol the dangerous area. They sometimes communicate with the Greensingers, whose expertise on planar phenomena is invaluable to the Gatekeepers’ work.
Defenders or Chauvinists?
In the view of some individuals, Gatekeepers have a pretty inflated sense of their own importance. True, they helped fight the daelkyr invasion, and they ultimately sealed the planar portals. But, as their critics argue, they learned that magic from dragons—it was never part of their culture. The Gatekeepers are far from numerous nowadays, but still these orcs see themselves as the protectors of the world, and they don’t especially welcome nonorcs into their ranks. It’s easy for skeptics to read more than a little racial pride into this tradition. Those critics also claim that the Gatekeepers don’t have much to do now with the planar seals keeping Xoriat out of alignment. Maybe they just don’t want to acknowledge that fact, and their elaborate “strengthening” rituals are little more than psychological props.
Fallen Gatekeepers
Maintaining the sealed gates to Xoriat imposes severe strain on the gatekeepers charged with that task. The magical energies are tremendous, and the taint of that mad plane still leaks through into the vicinity. A Gatekeeper too long in contact with a Xoriat gate becomes twisted by its influence. The strengthening rituals take place annually, but in between someone must stand sentry against unexpected breaches. To minimize the risk of corruption, the Gatekeepers rotate duty among their senior druids. Theoretically, no one should be exposed to the seal for more than a month at a time. In practice, too few druids of sufficient power exist to allow such frequent rotation, and sentry stretches of several months occur all too often. After years of even intermittent exposure, the strain begins to take its toll. Should a Gatekeeper succumb, he is lost irretrievably; he falls into the madness of Xoriat and becomes an engine of destruction. Now enemies of the natural order, such renegades are destroyed as soon as possible.
Fallen Gatekeepers lose their druid powers. Many turn to the Cults of the Dragon Below. They bring a dangerous experience to such enemies of the world, and they might be able to strengthen the Xoriat manifest zones that already exist within the Shadow Marches and elsewhere.
This ancient sect takes no action without appropriate observances. Everything the Gatekeepers do is crucial to the world’s survival, even if it appears inconsequential to an observer.
Initiation
Joining the sect requires swearing oaths in the name of Vvaraak to protect and serve the natural order. Those seeking to become aspirants must vow never to use their magic to inflict disease, madness, or poison—not even against evil beings. The Gatekeepers must show themselves to be of a higher calling.
Minor Rites
At the beginning and the end of each day, a Gatekeeper takes a moment to reflect on the teachings of Vvaraak and to give thanks for the bounty of the world. Gatekeepers commemorate noteworthy life events in the same way, praising Vvaraak and blessing the earth at times of birth, death, union, and the completion of important tasks.
Major Rites
Annual ceremonies are necessary to reinfuse the seals with power. Only the gatekeepers are advanced enough in power to conduct these rituals, but all participants can contribute magical energy toward it. This is a daylong ceremony, led by the gatekeeper. All participants give up their entire allotment of spells for the day, channeling the divine power through the gatekeeper directly into the planar seal. A total of 200 spell levels’ worth of magical energy renews the seal, barring any deliberate efforts to weaken it.
There are many seals within the Shadow Marches, and not enough Gatekeepers to maintain them all simultaneously, so groups of portals are assigned to given gatekeepers. They form traveling circles that move continually between assigned portals to renew the seals.
Worship
Temples and Shrines
Although the Gatekeepers do not establish fixed areas of worship, each of the sealed planar portals within the Eldeen Reaches and the Shadow Marches is perforce a sacred place. Groups of druids visit the seals, ensuring that each is replenished annually. In areas where portals are more numerous, these groups meet and cooperate in the replenishment rituals, and discuss what they have learned in their travels.
Emblems
The Gatekeepers revere their favored status as the first students of druid magic, and they honor Vvaraak as a prophet. Senior members of the sect, and those favored due to some heroic action, tattoo a stylized dragon head on their skin.
The constellation Bahamut sometimes appears on Gatekeepers’ garb, representing the powers of protection.
Political Influence & Intrigue
The Gatekeepers go about their duties quietly and do not often interact with anyone outside the sect. An inhabitant of the Reaches and the Shadow Marches might never encounter a Gatekeeper in a lifetime. Communities that exist near a planar seal are very much aware of the debt they owe the druids, and these are most often the source of new recruits into the sect.
The Gatekeepers and Government
Within the Shadow Marches, individual orc tribes form local governments; there is no national leadership. The orcs who adhere to the ancient traditions are strongly supportive of the Gatekeepers, and senior druids often are leaders of their clans. But many orcs, as well as the goblins who inhabit the land, have turned to the travesty of religion that is the Dragon Below. The worshipers of fiends and madness are generally hostile to the Gatekeepers, who seek to destroy such abominations.
Eldeen’s nominal government is strongly tied to the druidic cultures of the region, especially the Wardens of the Wood, who acknowledge the Gatekeepers as their ancient teachers. Relations with the various druid sects are generally tolerant.
Other governments have no interest in a few hundred orcs wandering in the wilderness of savage lands. Not many who hold power know the truth of their work.
The Gatekeepers and Other Faiths
The Gatekeepers work well with any other sect devoted to protecting the natural world, including followers of Balinor.
Specific Attitudes
The Wardens of the Wood: They are our heirs. Their gentleness and tolerance, however, blinds them to the real threat that Xoriat still poses.
The Ashbound: Grim though they are, they are as faithful to nature as the ancestral champions who turned away the daelkyr. They can be counted on in a crisis.
The Children of Winter: Has Xoriat tainted these druids somehow? They are mad to think that encouraging the end of the world will somehow heal it.
The Greensingers: We honor the faerie and their kin. But we fear they do not recognize the threat of unrestricted planar contact.
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