Gatekeepers

North of the Thunderpeaks, past the forest and tundra claimed by the Kjalga Urgu there is rumored to be the last ruins of an ancient people, older than Evangil and claimed by some to even be older than the God Wars themselves.
Few south of the Thunderpeaks can claim to have seen a Gatekeeper ruin and so they remain in the realm of myth for most of the world. But to the nomadic Orc clans that roam the northernmost reaches the monolithic ruins are very real, and considered by many to be sacred sites that need to be guarded, for the protection the mystical wards that the bastions project protect not only the tribes that roam the tundra, but all living creatures south of "the Gate" from the bands of roaming fiends that populate the frozen north pole.

Assets

Perhaps the strangest and most rare form of technology in the world, is the obsidian weaponry of the ancient Gatekeeper civilization. Their mastery over arcane artifice unchallenged even thousands of years after their disappearance, few working examples of their technology has been found and even fewer understood. Gatekeeper weaponry utilizes energies similar to those harnessed by spellcasters in their design, whether that is sparking lightning of the edge of a blade or launching scorching rays of sunlight at foes from afar. The means by which these effects are produced are a mystery, but they almost always come with a cost: power. In simple terms these weapons re-produce magic without the use of a spellcaster, but without a flesh and blood creature to supply their own mana for the psuedo-magic they create, they need power from somewhere else. Enter the Ze´Pem, the Gatekeepers crowning achievement. A device that if understood would change the world forever, but which scarcity, complexity and utter strangeness will continue to baffle scholars across the world. So far only small examples have been found or recorded, knowledge of the Gatekeepers is still very limited, but they all consist of a few common elements: An obsidian shell, laced with runes and constellations, several silver latices that intertwine and connect the inside of the Ze´Pem with the outside and, in rare working examples of the artifact, a warm orange glowing orb suspended within the obsidian and silver, radiating power and humming gently.
Many technologies utilized by the Gatekeepers where powered by Ze´Pems, often recharged near one when not in use or carried within as in the case of a large construct or craft as a constant source of power. Ze´Pems are by their nature large heavy devices, and so far none smaller than a barrel have been found, with some myths speaking of Ze´Pems the size of castles during their golden age.

Disbandment

Nothing is known about the disappearance of the Gatekeepers, what little evidence that is left is their ruins and a few scattered artifacts that have survived the ages. The few surviving records have been hard to translate, and seemingly don´t hint towards any impending doom or planned exodus, at the same time no remnants other than their ruins (with a few exceptions) have been found. All points towards the almost simultaneous disappearance of their civilization, and while dating their disappearance has been next to impossible, discoveries in the last hundred years have given new hope. Two crashed airships of the Gatekeepers have been discovered in Kingdom of Evangil in the last century and rumors speak of similar discoveries in other places around the world. In Evangil, this has not only lead to massive leaps in the development of Aether Crystals and more advanced materials, but also allowed researchers in one case to date the crash of the ship based on the age of the earth and fossils around it as it was discovered buried in the ground west of the Calico Mountains

DISBANDED/DISSOLVED

Unknown - Ca 3500 years ago

Type

Geopolitical, Empire

Alternative Names

Zogak Odakar (Orkish), Nrothgar (Proto-Dwarven)