Shadow Gate of Toran

The Shadow Gate of Toran is a Shadow Gate located in a cave under the Guildhall of the Magicians' Guild in Toran. Discovered in MS 3455, it was used to banish the most heinous of criminals of Sommerlund, into a prison where it was believed there was no return. A chamber, called the Externment Chamber, was built around it.

Appearance

The Externment Chamber is a chamber lined with thrones and lit by large candles. The Shadow Gate is a marble-framed portal, with pure nothingness within.

Characteristics

The Shadow Gate is linked to the fortress of Haagadar in the Daziarn. In the Daziarn, a war was waged between the Chaos-master and the denizens of multiple realms, and the Shadow Gate of Haagadar fell under the control of the Chaos-master. As such, the corruption of the power of Chaos can leak through the Shadow Gate of Toran, although it is short-lived on Magnamund, unless a living host can be infected upon arrival.

History

The City of Toran was founded in MS 3448. The Magicians' Guild sensed an extraordinary energy source within Toran, and designed the layout of the city and their future Guildhall to take advantage of it. In MS 3455, as the Guildhall neared completion, the energy source was found: A Shadow Gate, located in a natural cave, under the Guildhall. With the help of Lord Eolom of the Elder Magi of Dessi, they deciphered its purpose as an astral corridor to another plane of existence, likely the Daziarn, and a one-way journey.

Criminal Balnor Marghan was a gifted magician who studied the Right-Handed path of magic, in contrast to the rest of the Brotherhood, who devoted themselves to Left-Handed Magic. Marghan established a cult, and they began attempting to master all forms of magic: Left-Handed, Right-Handed, Old Kingdom, and beyond. He collected Shianti Pariah artifacts, and conducted necromantic rituals to enhance his powers. However, his mind became corrupted with the evil of the artifacts and the rituals he performed, to the extent that he no longer had control over his powers. On the orders of King Braern I, he was captured and imprisoned. However, the day after the Shadow Gate was discovered, Marghan attempted to escape, killing multiple Brotherhood magicians, soldiers and innocent civilians, before he was recaptured. With no prison secure enough to hold him, King Braern ordered Marghan to be cast into the Shadow Gate. Since then, the Shadow Gate of Toran has served as the ultimate punishment for Sommerlund's most heinous criminals.

In MS 4644, a secret cabal consisting of members of the Brotherhood of the Crystal Star and the Sages of Varetta, calling themselves The Academicians, willingly entered the Shadow Gate without most knowing, and were able to survive the journey and the Daziarn due to their magical power and knowledge. In the Daziarn, they constructed their own stronghold, the Crystal Tower, but were unable to find a way back to Magnamund. In the Daziarn, the Academicians discovered that the Neverness could be shaped and woven into anything with enough magical power, which is close to being discovered on Magnamund centuries later (with the passage of time being slower in the Daziarn).

In MS 5070, Lone Wolf became the first known person to return from the Daziarn. He was originally cast into the Daziarn via the Shadow Gate of Torgar by Archlord Gnaag, and stumbled across the Villains of Sommerlund, a group of prisoners previously cast into the Shadow Gate of Toran. After defeating them, Lone Wolf returned through the Shadow Gate of Haagadar, and arrived back in Externment Chamber of Toran.

Known criminals banished

Name	Year	Crime(s)
Balnor Marghan	MS 3455	Necromancy, escaping from prison, multiple killings
Luvias Kort	MS 4292	Mass poisoner
Falco	Some time between MS 4292 and MS 5062	Highwayman and cut-throat
Porgron	Before MS 4895	Serial murderer
Aieta Nematah	MS 4895	Mass piracy
Gardor Vezh	MS 5000	Necromancy and cannibalism
Vonotar the Traitor	MS 5051	High treason

The last six are known as the Villains of Sommerlund, who survived their exile into the Daziarn, and banded together under Aieta Nematah's, and later Vonotar's, leadership.

In the gamebooks

In The Caverns of Kalte, Lone Wolf tracked down Vonotar, who had betrayed Sommerlund and led to the Massacre of the Kai, hiding in Kalte. Lone Wolf was successful, and arrested him. His sentence was to be cast into the Shadow Gate of Toran, where it was believed he could never return.

In The Masters of Darkness, Lone Wolf landed back on Magnamund in the Externment Chamber (although it was not revealed to be where the Shadow Gate was located until the epilogue of The Dusk of Eternal Night). Lone Wolf's visit here is brief, as he quickly travels to the Darklands to defeat Archlord Gnaag and destroy the Transfusor, with the Freelands on the brink of defeat.

In the epilogue of The Dusk of Eternal Night, a young Brotherhood magician Fayliel, frustrated by the careless antics of Acraban and the restrictions on Right-Handed magic, was visited by a mysterious voice who encouraged his development. This voice told Fayliel he could not stay for long, and needed to return to the Daziarn. Fayliel begged for the voice to stay, and the voice relented, and told him to go to the Shadow Gate of Toran. However, as Fayliel stepped onto the dais, a whip of black flame reduced him to ashes, and the papers he was carrying were sucked into the Shadow Gate, which emitted a thin laugh.