(Author’s note: I know I promised more on pollution next time, but was wanting to give the topic a break. There will be another article on the topic at some later point, maybe even next week. In the interim, this is another piece in my world-building articles that I wanted to write for you on the Cold Gate Clan. Enjoy!) The Cold Gate clan resides on the tundra of the far northern frontier, in an area known as The Great White Expanse, which consists of tens of thousands of square miles of tundra, icebergs, and ice floes. To the south, it is bound by the Northern Cap Mountains which helps to contain the cold. But this was not always so. Brief History Many years ago, an immense cold front emanating from The Great White Expanse swept over the mountains in the middle of summer, killing everything in its path. It killed crops and trees. It killed both domesticated and wild animals. It killed quite a few monstrous races. It also killed civilized races. Its killing was indiscriminate. After a magical investigation occurred, and it was determined that a gate to the plane of ice was left open, and all the cold energies were leaking out of the plane into this dimension, causing it to get deathly cold. It also was determined that if left open, the cold would not only continue, but would become worse and worse, until their world was just another part of the plane of ice. An expedition was formed to shut the gate formed. The trek to get to The Great White Expanse was not only difficult, but dangerous as well, and quite a few of the expedition was killed off en-route to the gate. When they got there, the gate had been open so long that it started to warp reality itself, freezing the moisture in air around the gate as a solid plane around it. As they approached the gate, an ice elemental dragon emerged through the gate. As a result of the battle with the ice dragon, the gate itself was damaged. When they went through the ceremony, the gate initially did seem to close, winking out of existence. Unfortunately, as the gate was closing, the gate itself shattered into innumerable shards, which now appears throughout the area at random intervals, which opens releasing not only bitterly dangerous cold, but also ice elementals as well. The Cold Gate Clan In seeing the danger to the rest of the world, the expedition’s survivors made up the initial Cold Gate Clan. Determined not to let the cold leech into the rest of the world, they became an eternally vigilant watch force that confronts the dangers of the cold and shuts down the gates as they form. How they do this is they have created artifacts that detect the gates forming, which tell not only where a gate is, but how large a gate is, and how likely something dangerous is to come through it as well, that way if there are multiple gates open at the same time, they can take care of the larger, more dangerous ones first, and leave the smaller ones. If it’s truly small (a pinhole gate), it may take them quite some time to get around to closing it. However, because of the dangers associated with them, even a gate as small as a pinhole will need to be dealt with eventually because, if they don’t, it could become a larger problem over time, as eventually they grow in size. The clan accepts any who hear of the tale and are truly willing to stand as a barrier between the cold and the rest of life. Therefore many abused, neglected, and abandoned people have joined their ranks. This ragtag group made of castoffs and misfits are a hearty people, shaped by, and, who in turn shape, the very landscape of the tundra where they reside, as each bring unique skills to the group, which helps it to survive and even thrive. Those who join are geased to fight the encroaching cold, beating it back from whence it came, in whatever form it appears, lest they fail in their duty, it will take over the entire world. Dangers of The Great White Expanse Nowhere in The Great White Expanse is truly “safe.” Even normal levels of cold in The Great White Expanse is truly terrifying. Frostbite and hypothermia are constant dangers. Those unprepared to face such temperatures, even without such factors as wind chill, can die in as little as two hours. With a bit of minimal preparation, survivability can increase to double or more. When one takes the wind chill factor into account, those who are unprepared can die in an hour. During a gate formed an ice gale* it can kill a person not properly protected against it in mere moments. Even those who are protected from the cold have sometimes died because they weren’t prepared enough. It is said that the spirits of those who died due to the ice gale are captured by it, and every time it kills its victims, it gets stronger, but as to the truth of these matters, only those who survive them know, and they refuse to speak openly of it. * An ice gale is a whiteout of such ferocity that it prevents movement due to the amount of stinging, blinding, snow whipping about due to gale force winds. It saps warmth, makes breathing difficult, and makes ranged attacks virtually impossible. Think of a sandstorm, but the environment is the snow. They can appear suddenly and without warning, and have led to many deaths over the years due to the victims being unprepared for the assault. Some who have lived to tell the tale have even claimed in hushed voices that there are spirits flying around gales of past victims. Unfortunately, the unnaturally chilly climate isn’t the only danger in The Great White Expanse. The ice and snow itself can […]
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