Locations/ManseFive
The First and Final Gate. Manse •••• (Air Aspect)
An ancient gate, through which all souls enter and leave the world.
The First and Final Gate is an arch nearly twice as tall as a man, crafted of starmetal and blue jade. Along the edges are written in a language old when Creation was still new forged, dead when the Exalted brought war to the Primordials. It's translation, handed down through tradition rather certain knowledge, is as follows.
All who draw breath draw it from here. All who cease drawing breath return it here.
A powerful current of air constantly flicks about the gate, as wind is drawn in and pushed out in equal measure, tiny whirling streamers that never remain constant. Some savants believe the First and Final Gate is the capstone through which living Essence enters Creation, refreshing everyone it's blessed power. Others scoff at the idea, claiming that the winds stirred by the Gate are simply a result of focusing such powerful Air currents of Essence.
The Gate itself sits in an open air garden. This garden is enclosed on all sides by walls of diamond clear adamant, which permit wind and water through, but neither earth, fire nor wood. The Hearthstone forms within this perfect cage.
Surrounding the guardian is a set of low lying buildings, which act to seperate and funnel the wind, from incoming and outgoing breezes. They are made of white marble, with silver inlay. Surrounding each building, a pond extends exactly five feet away and five inches deep, crafted of black and blue jade, inlaid with silver. These buildings each possess three doors and five windows of saphire, each individually locked. Inside each house sits a table crafted of rich wood, and on each table a unique arrangement of the pieces to a game of Gateway sit.
Outside this delicate region, a fence wrought of cold iron and bronze, twenty feet tall and barbed, prevents any from entering the inner sanctum. A dozen primjerks were long ago bound to guard the Manse against all intrusion, and only one of their number has yet fallen to age and assault. A constant vigil of air elementals also voluntarily watch the First and Final Gate, believing it to be a sacred place.
The outer section of the Manse consists of a small but well planned community, with houses built of granite and basalt. Everything is worn smooth by the constant wind, and ponds, similiar to those surrounding the inner sanctum buildings but crafted with marble instead of jade. A persistant chill hangs over the Manse, the sharp cold of winter even in the heat of summer. No one in the community feels the need to eat or drink; they draw enough sustence purely from breathing.
This manse was, in the First Age, used as a focal point of many of the large scale Essence projecting devices. It would amplify and project outward Essence in the form of a virtually invisible sheen, tinting the air in virtually an entire Direction; these super-charged air could then more easily be drawn upon to power artifacts independent of any Exalt.
