Gates

Every key has a door.

— Walkers Manifesto

Gates are a catch-all term for portals that allow Walkers to cross between worlds - usually from the Prime into the Shadows. Gates come in many forms, and not all of them are so straight-forward as a locked door. Some appear only when conditions are right, others require leaps of faith. None are entirely predictable, as with anything magical.
Time travels strangely when going through a Gate. In most cases, the transportation is instantenous, or nearly so. Other times, a Walker finds that hours or days have passed - in a few cases, they arrive before they even set off through that firsty portal.

Types of Gates

Are you SURE this is going to work?

As with Keys , Gate have many natures. The only thing they have in common are that require a Key to unlock and an Awareness to pass through it.

One-Way Gate

Some Gates only lead one way. Walkers enter but can't exit. This is especially common when Keys are something fleeting, or the Gate itself is just difficult to really reach. Leaping into a volcano or entering through the hushed whisper of a dying god is hard to repeat.

Winding Gate

These Gates don't lead straight to another World, but instead wind across the skein of reality like a maggot burrowing through flesh, allowing a Walker to travel quickly to another part of whatever World the gate was in, saving them an airplane ticket and usually time.

Physical

A good old archway, a solid door, or just a hole in the ground. There is always something comforting about a Gate that looks just like what it is.

Magical

Other Gates are more esoteric. A drifting fog that envelops a Walker with the Key and wisks them away, the granted wish, a beam of moonlight.

Dreaming

Some Gates are within the mind of the Walker. Dreams, and more frequently nightmares, can become difficult to harness Gates. Certain rituals cast augeries when the night will be good and imbibe narcotics to make their world a waking dream, but it's all up to Fate with the Dreaming Gates.

A frequent cause for the Lost - especially the nightmares.

Walkers

Those who walk betwen worlds, explorers of secrets, meddling teenager of the supernatural world, Walkers is really a term for anyone who makes a regular habit of hopping between realities. Most spellcasters do - maintaining a life both in the real world and the magic-rich Shadows. Others pick one or the other and just keep their head down. Some just can't help themselves from poking around, though.

Skipping A Step

Most Gates take one world-walking step at a time - from the Prime to Shadows, to Shadows to the Beyond. But not all. Some pass straight through to the far end of the other side, going from Prime to the Beyond, and from there, who knows where?
Many of these tend to be one-way Gates, and so best used with care (or desperation).

by http://www.tribalartasia.com/