This what fantasy is about.

Could be actually the mouthpiece of the city's spirit - that can be only healed along with the whole city. Go to Comment

Well, all depends on how well they'll research the history of the gate... after the first dozen of legends they should start to have their suspicions. :) Go to Comment

Maybe there's more than one of these gates, only others haven't been woken up. Maybe the cities they protected never faced a dangerous enough threat, the citizens don't know how to wake them up, they don't believe in the legends, or they simply have no idea what they have. Maybe after encountering the Gate of Calast, the PCs recognize similar structures in other cities. Go to Comment

Wow! This is truly a creature of high fantasy! I love it.

Perhaps the gate is merely the way the city communicates with mortals. The whole city could be a living entity and it's health dependant on the condition of the lands inside it's walls. With out city gaurds to prevent the goblins from scaling the walls, the goblins would soon see that trying to breech the wall would lead to their doom, but a grappling hook or makeshift ladder could provide access easily.

To restore the gate to a healthy life, they would need to clean the city of the filth, unclog the aquaducts, and maybe shore up some buildings. Convincing the goblins to do it would be an interesting solution, but it's more likely that the pc's will throw the squatters out. Go to Comment

Legends of "Living Cities" could date back to ancient times, and the Gate of Calast is but one of them. As living creatures, they can make mistakes, be misled, and if they have enough intelligence and free will, even decide to be evil.

Imagine a Gate being told to destroy all red carriages because a neighboring country that betrayed the city only has access to redwood for it's construction. Centuries pass, the neighboring country fall to ruin and it's works lost to revolution and destruction. The border moves back from the city with the Gate and again has peace and prosperity. The new prince comes to visit and his favorite color is red. Chomp, Chomp, Chrunchy, Shreek.

A Gate with free will may want to become more powerful and threaten and blackmail merchants and nobility for passage. "Bring more commerce to this city or you will not enter." Or worse yet, not let them out. If the Gate is aware of their political connections, it may tell them to send messengers to accomplish it's needs, and untill they are done, the person(s) are it's hostages. Could be quite awkward if an assembly of nobles was in town for a celebration. Go to Comment

Maybe the gate can be scaled up to be the locks and seawall of a coastal port. Yikes! Go to Comment

I like it. Perhaps the original Gate of Calast could be healed with the repairing of the old Paladin church? Go to Comment

Good posts never die, they just used to get lost in the data base. So now we can find them again, and begin to build upon them.

And now I get a chance to vote on it again. :moon: Paws up! :moon: Go to Comment

I had not seen this one before now! A great old post that should see light once more. Go to Comment

One of the first things I read on Strolen and still one of my favourites: this was posted up here a year or two before most of us (inc. me) currently posting arrived and deserves to be remembered! Go to Comment

Only voted Go to Comment

I love this idea-I wish I had thought of it myself.Maybe I'll use the idea of a living gate/door in a story of mine. Go to Comment

One of the best things on this site. Go to Comment

Oh, I never noticed this in the previous incarnation of Strolen's. Good one ephe! Needless to say the eye is a good idea. Very high fantasy and very good. Go to Comment

Only voted Go to Comment

I could imagine that there would be a bit of flavor by changing some elements as well.

Perhaps the city is once again inhabited by populous, but due to the years of neglect and the lack of prayers, the gate has lost its ability to talk, and lost its anthropomorphic features. Perhaps it has a feebler mind now. But it still functions, and thinks. The town does not know it is intelligent.

The gate kills someone or attempts to due to rules given to it from a earlier age, and the unaware city now is on a witch hunt for the 'culprit' who closed the gate on an important figure. After several of these events happening within a short time, it becomes more apparent there is no individual at the controls.

Kind of a mystery. Although I don't know how players would go about finding the correct conclusion, or even proving it to the town, since many prayers may be necessary to restore the gate to its previous appearance and intelligence. Go to Comment

Wow, I just love this idea. The humanizing of the gate is really cool. I'd love to use this someday.

5/5.

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Only voted Go to Comment

After reading through the sub and it's comments I can see why it has been rated so highly.

It's brilliant!

Have a HoH!

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I wish I could say something that hasn't been said already. A very good submission I think. I like the big golden eye - I can't help but think of big, bronze clockwork gears turning the inside the gate as numerous locks open and deadbolts slide away to swing wide the doors. Perhaps it's just me, but I feel almost attached to the poor thing, it's almost humanized by it's failure and depression. I can only imagine what a good source of information such a gate might be to the PCs, as it sees everyone who enters the city.

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