A is for Azor’s Gateway

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23262802-fantasy-style-english-alphabet-letter-a-coloredAzor is a sphinx of unknown origin and a former planeswalker. He is not only a lawmage but also a hieromancer. On Ravnica, he is remembered as Supreme Judge Azor I and the parun of the Azorius Senate. On Ixalan, he is known as the legendary Last Guardian of the Immortal Sun.

As soon as Jace laid eyes on the great sphinx’s chamber, the shards of memory began sliding into place.

Azor visited many planes in the multiverse. Numerous ancient civilizations have legends of a semi-divine winged «lawbringer» figure, which can be traced back to Azor. Although his plane of origin is forgotten, sphinxes on many planes, from Alara to Zendikar, show signs of his possible influence on their demeanor and culture. One of his client worlds was conquered by Nicol Bolas, which caused him and his fellow planeswalker and ally Ugin to search for a way to defeat the elder dragon. They met on an unknown plane at a place referred to as the Palace of Justice. Together, they devised a plan to get rid of Bolas for good.

In Ravnica, Azor is remembered for being the author of most of the written part of the original Guildpact. He was present during the Clash of Two Champions, where he proposed the legal covering of the inter-guild pact for the first time. He also created the Implicit Maze.

As part of the plan to trap Bolas, Azor traveled to Ixalan and sacrificed his planeswalker’s spark to create the Immortal Sun, a powerful artifact that in addition to other effects prevented Planeswalkers from leaving the plane. By this act, he also had to trap himself on the plane. He first brought the artifact to Torrezon and later to Orazca. As the Last Guardian, he was revered by the River Heralds, who he considered to be the wisest beings on the plane.

When Jace and Vraska reached him in his sanctum within Orazca, Azor prided himself on having given countless worlds perfect order. He revealed that he had created the Immortal Sun to imprison Nicol Bolas, but that he had never received Ugin’s signal to activate the sun and draw the evil dragon to the plane. As a result, he wanted to use the Immortal Sun to establish another perfect system of government, but one after another Azor rejected the various civilizations as worthy to reign. Vraska tried to kill him for disrupting the balance of countless planes, but Jace stopped her. Speaking as the Living Guildpact, he sentenced Azor to spend his life in solitude on Useless Island.

Azor's Gateway (1)In Dungeons & Dragons

Azor’s Gateway has one main function: to protect what’s behind it from misuse, but at the same time allowing for someone with the right intentions to overcome it without difficulty. This is done with two keys that must be turned at the same time to activate a labyrinth hidden in the ornaments of the gate. After being activated, the labyrinth must be ran with one finger from one key to the other, which requires three DC 15 ability checks (Wisdom, Dexterity and Intelligence) from which the character trying to open the gate can fail only one.

The gateway’s protections include a prismatic wall effect which is temporarily deactivated when the keys are within the reach of the effect. The sanctum contained within the gateway is actually an extradimensional space, so the gateway can be built anywhere and the object protected can’t be reached bypassing it from other side.

In Eberron

Deep in the wilds of Xen’drik, the Sanctum of the Sun is rumoured to be hidden behind Azor’s Gateway. The gynosphinx Flamewind continuously gives hints about it to whatever adventurer wants to listen to them, but she is never clear about the reasons why she wants to find the place.


How are you planning to incorporate Azor’s Gateway in youir campaign? Where do you think the keys that open it are hidden? Most importantly: what is inside? Take your guesses and leve it in the comments!

7 Comentarios Agrega el tuyo

  1. Tarkabarka dice:

    Hi! I really like your theme! 🙂 And I like this the mechanics on this gate. I might use it in an upcoming campaign. Thank you!
    Happy A to Z!

    The Multicolored Diary

  2. Frédérique dice:

    Oh, heroes, games and creatures! Great to read you again 😉

    Quilting Patchwork & Appliqué – A = Abat-jour/Lampshade

  3. timsbrannan dice:

    Looks fantastic. Can’t wait to see what you do.

    Tim Brannan, 2021: The A to Z of Monsters

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