Doorway to the Red Star

This article covers the location. For the Strength of Thousands Pathfinder Adventure Path issue, see Doorway to the Red Star (adventure).

The strange Doorway to the Red Star lies north of Lake Ocota in the Mwangi Expanse. It consists of a ring of mysterious, humming red stones that hangs in an empty courtyard surrounded by overgrown cathedrals.

Its earliest recorded use was as the headquarters of a nihilistic cult called the Throat-of-Nothingness. Later, it was the stronghold of the King of Biting Ants: a sorcerer who was defeated long ago by the legendary Ten Magic Warriors, but the Doorway and the cathedrals were left untouched, by command of Old-Mage Jatembe himself. Indeed, some legends state that Jatembe himself slew the King of Biting Ants and then sealed up the ruins of the Doorway to the Red Star.

Those Mwangi spellcasters who possess the ability to tap into the latent spiritual energies of the ruins of their ancestors say that the Doorway to the Red Star is second only to the Ruins of Kho in potency.

Several Zenj tribes shelter in the triad of the half-collapsed cathedrals surrounding the doorway as even their ruined, crumbling structures are shelter against the harsh jungle. They never go too far inside the complex out of fear of the artifact within. A core group of powerful magi guardians known as the Iobane, led by Warder-Chief Mpondo, keep outsiders from reaching the Doorway to the Red Star, believing they dishonor their ancestors. They see themselves as the spiritual successors of the Ten Magic Warriors.

History

Millennia ago, the highly intelligent mystics of the planet Akiton, known as the Contemplative of Ashok set a powerful artifact within the jungle of Mwangi Expanse. The artifact, a ring made of transmuted raw stone from their planet, would maintain a link to Akiton across the cosmic distances. The Doorway to the Red Star is both a transmitter and a beacon, allowing the Contemplates to share the thoughts of those they encounter through it and hopefully lead the people of Golarion into the path of enlightenment. Almost nobody knows that the ring is also an interplanetary gateway, long sealed but ready to open again at any time, either because of its own erratic fluctuations or by potent magic and knowledge gained by the study of it.

References

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