Aiudara or Elf Gate
Some elves bristle at hearing the term “elf gates,” preferring the proper Elven name aiudara, though most accept the colloquial term with good-natured tolerance. These intricately sculpted stone arches—adorned with elven runes and sylvan imagery—are scattered throughout Kyonin and across Golarion, with others found as far away as Castrovel. Most lie dormant, rendered inert during the elves’ long absence from the world following their exodus.
When properly activated using ancient keys or rituals, an aiudara can instantly transport creatures and objects to a linked gate, crossing vast distances in a blink. This strategic power has not gone unnoticed—many monarchs across the Inner Sea view the reactivation of the aiudara network with unease, knowing it could allow a gateholder to move armies or supplies with terrifying speed.
Though humans and scholars have long studied the aiudara, much of their operation remains a mystery. Even among the long-lived elves, many keys and destinations have been forgotten. This has led to a quiet renaissance of exploration, as elven adventuring companies search the world for lost lore, functioning gates, and the means to repair or reactivate them.
Records on the rituals for activating and maintaining aiudara can still be found in select locations, such as the great libraries of Iadara, the vaults of the Mordant Spire, and among the oral traditions of the Ekujae and Ilverani elves.
Certain elite elven spellcasters, including members of the Lantern Bearers, have mastered techniques allowing them to teleport directly to a known aiudara from nearly any location. Similarly, enchanted items such as the ring of retreat can be attuned to a specific gate, enabling periodic return travel.
Religious Significance
The elves consider Alseta, goddess of doorways, to be the unofficial patron deity of elf gates. Part of the edicts of the champions of Yuelral include protecting elven magical knowledge such as that which powers the aiudara. Champions of Alseta also swear themselves to defend the gates. A highly radical group within the Harbingers of Fate believe that Aroden can be found alive on another planet far from Golarion, and clues within the Book of 1,000 Whispers can show them how to overload and manipulate the aiudara network in order to reach this mysterious world.Mechanics & Inner Workings
Elf gates are activated using a key, which can be a physical token but might also be a password, piece of music, spell, or stellar conjunction. Some gates have multiple keys, each linked to another specific elf gate. Most elf gate keys have been forgotten over the millennia; therefore, some elf gates have been abandoned.
Only the first traveler in a group needs a key; the rest can follow to the same destination. Travel through an elf gate is instantaneous, and because of this, elf gates represent a significant part of the elves' historic power, as they allow them to move people and goods with incredible speed across vast distances.
A gate can lead to another specific elf gate, or to a hub that connects several possible locations. The elf gate system is sometimes called the aiudara network.
Elf gates (other than the Sovyrian Stone) do not allow travel between planets or planes, unlike the incredibly ancient or naturally occurring portals that they resemble. These interplanetary portals predate the elves, and perhaps even all life in the solar system.
The elves have done their best to seal any gates leading to the Tanglebriar due to horrible danger.
Gate Keys
Different gates have different means of opening. While relatively little is known about these, it’s generally believed a short ritual is required to activate an elf gate, at which point the stone gate lights up from within, and the space between the arches distorts to show another vista. Possible keys include:- Passwords: Some gates are activated with a word or phrase. While in many cases, this password has been lost to time, some riddles and puzzles inscribed in Elven on the stone offer clues to the gate’s activation.
- Music: Specific notes or songs played on flutes, and harps have been known to open a few gates. It is said that only the surrounding landscape knows these songs and that the keys are present in the blowing of the wind and rustling of the trees for those with ears to hear them.
- Stones: Some gates require the presence of magically linked stones to operate. These “keystones” vary in weight and shape, many small enough to carry—unfortunately, by now, these stones could be just about anywhere.
- Spells: Certain spells may activate some elf gates, some as simple as knock, and others arcane inventions long since lost to history.
- Time: The most commonly used elf gates are of this variety and operate only under certain celestial conditions. Regardless of an individual’s behaviour, they only function at specific, pre-determined times and thus are easiest to stumble across.
- Combination: The most secure (and powerful) gates require a combination of keys to open. Finding the secret behind one of these gates’ operations can be a lifelong quest, even for an elf.
Known Elf Gates
The following aiudara are known to exist on Golarion, although not all of them continue to be active to this day:- Alseta's Ring, the first set of gates created by Candlaron, located beneath Citadel Altaerein in Isger
- Breachgate, leading to the Wayhouse in eastern Rahadoum
- Caulgate, leading from Celwynvian to the caulborn settlement known as the Grove of Memory under Nidal
- Eidolongate, connecting Iadara to the ancient Sarkorian city of Timal
- Galtgate, a hub in Galt's Boarwood forest connecting to seven other locations
- Icegate, approximately 800 miles south of the Nameless Spires in northern Irrisen near the Crown of the World, connecting to Galtgate and Lichgate
- Lichgate, in what was a small elven stronghold called Mirianath in the Shudderwood of Ustalav 40 miles east of Lepidstadt, connecting to both Icegate and Tanglegate
- Tanglegate, in Tanglebriar, which connects to Lichgate and is about three miles east of Thorn's End
- Thorngate, a disabled gate at Mount Armiya near Tanglebriar
- Velgate, a gate now buried beneath the city of Skywatch
- Wormgate, connecting the Ghol-Gani University of Kokori in the Kaava Lands
- Near the village of Avennara, in Kyonin, it is used frequently by the Lantern Bearers
- Near the drow city of Blackstrand, in the Darklands
- A gate links Mordant Spire with Kyonin, but it is not known whether it functions; the elves on both sides do not seem interested in using it
- A broken gate, the remnants of which the Pathfinder Society discovered and shipped to the Cairnlands north of Absalom
- Over a dozen functioning gates in or near Iadara, with likely twice as many non-functioning gates; like the rest of the elf gates dotted around Kyonin, the elves take great care to keep their locations secret
- Each of the eponymous arches in Sevenarches, though, until recently, no one could safely approach them
- The gate at the center of the forgotten City of Thorns
History
The aiudara network on Golarion is believed to have been created during the Age of Legend by the legendary elven hero Candlaron the Sculptor, who was inspired by the magical non-elven gate that linked Golarion to Castrovel, and began by creating the elf gates known as Alseta's Ring. The secret of their creation was lost when Candlaron vanished through a mysterious archway. He also created the Sovyrian Stone, and used the artifact to power all of the elf gates.
The creation of the aiudara network on Castrovel was also allegedly established by Candlaron. Some of the largest Sovyrian cities such as El and Telasia contain multiple aiudara that can help transport elves all across Castrovel with ease. However, due to the return of many elves to Golarion and to a subsect of Castrovelian elves moving to Ukulam, Sovyrian has seen a notable decline in population and some gates have become unused and fallen into disrepair.
Before Earthfall, the elf Varliss served as a member of the Winter Council as an advisor to the Spindle Solution. He gave them insights into elven magic and helped merge it with Azlanti innovations to create something similar to the aiudara, such as the lunar gate in hidden Azlanti compound known as the Compass which leads to the Moonscar on Golarion's moon.
It is suspected that a similar blending of ideas led to the Azlanti trying to create teleportation devices in Zanas-Tahn for opening portals between many planets, something which the elves at the time suspected was only possible due to stealing the methodology from the Sovyrian Stone itself. However, Earthfall occurred before the portals could be finished. As the meteors began falling, some priests tried to use the device anyway in order to escape, but succeeded only in summoning two hounds of Tindalos that killed all who were present.
To this day, back on Castrovel, many lashunta rely extensively on the aiudara network on that planet for travel, and have a good relationship with the elves not only for the use of the networks, but also for traveling to Golarion in order to explore and repair the networks on Golarion as well.
