[Prootwaddle]

So... I've been ruminating on the Gates of Cidri, and I've had some ideas on how they work. Feel free to use any of these in your campaigns, I have several explanations as to how they might work.

Anyhow, as I see it Jen Mnoren's original gate is a short time lasting, one way gate. It's a natural spell only available to Mnoren's or Mnoren crossbreeds (very old dragons, specifically, in my campaign, Wyrmfire). It acts like any other like a spell, so only Mnoren or their descendents can use it as only the have the ST to maintain the spell, even for a short time.

The standard gate is a variant on the original spell, it can only be cast by a Mnoren but is a two way gate, and is sustained over a long period via a sustainer mechanism. This can take several forms. For the less ethical, one could imprison a Mnoren wizard and drain their ST into the gate to keep it going. The way my evil Emprorer is using is to power the sustainer with ST battery banks... by having his personal wizards drain ST out of wounded soldiers en mass and into the batteries, hence his starting a disastrous Civil War. Sort of a Fullmetal Alchemst gambit, really. The final way, which I think would be the standard for gates on Cidri, is to cast Gate over a leyline, a natural source of magical power.

Just some musings... I mainly differentiated the different ways of making gates because I needed to find a way to make their introduction to my party integral to the big bass evil plot, and i wanted the Dragons to be able to gate too because I am a fan of Dragonriders of Pern. Let me know what you all think of my theories!