The Gatekeepers

Members of the Gatekeepers, a druid sect dedicated to protecting nature from the unnatural, spend their lives fighting aberrations and guarding against extraplanar invasion and the release of ancient evils.

The Gatekeepers maintain the oldest druidic tradition on Khorvaire. Over fifteen thousand years ago, the green dragon Vvaraak came to the Shadow Marches and gathered followers around her. She had foreseen a cataclysm that only the younger races would be able to avert, and so she taught the orcs how to work with earth and wood, and how to read the future in the movements of the Ring of Siberys. She charged her students to watch for the signs of the great disaster, and always seek to preserve the balance of nature against those forces that would corrupt it.

It was over seven thousand years before the Gatekeepers faced the first real threat to Khorvaire: the coming of the daelkyr. Leading armies of illithids, beholders, and other aberrations, these fiends sought to remake Khorvaire. The war that followed shattered the hobgoblin empire and left terrible scars across the continent, but Kharaak’s students ultimately prevailed—the gates to Xoriat were sealed, and the daelkyr who remained were driven into the depths of Khyber. The question remained: Was this the cataclysm Vvaraak had predicted, or a prelude to something worse?

The Gatekeepers had been crippled by the war against the daelkyr. The survivors retreated to the depths of the Shadow Marches and the Eldeen Reaches. Gatekeeper barbarians and rangers hunted down the surviving aberrations, while the druids watched the skies for signs of new dangers. Eventually, humans came to Khorvaire. The Gatekeepers shared their secrets with the newcomers, and some humans joined the ancient cause. Today, the Shadow Marches are a stronghold for the Gatekeepers; in the Eldeen Reaches, the Wardens of the Wood and the other sects inspired by the Great Druid Oalian outnumber the Gatekeepers.

The Gatekeepers have a loose structure. Aspirants grow into initiates, and initiates become gatekeepers. Otherwise, rank and respect comes with seniority and deeds. High-level druids guide the Gatekeepers, but they make up only a small part of the sect. For every gatekeeper, there are a handful of aspirants (mid-level druids) and initiates (low-level druids). For every initiate, there are three or four hunters. In the Shadow Marches, the sect’s barbarian hunters allow the fury of nature to guide their actions. In the Eldeen Reaches, ranger hunters carefully track the horrors that have been left behind by the daelkyr.

The Gatekeepers seek to defend nature against aberrations, outsiders, undead, and other horrors that have no place in the natural order of Eberron. They remain ever vigilant, preparing for war against darkness that may rise again. The Gatekeepers of the Eldeen Reaches have a friendly relationship with the Wardens of the Wood, the largest druidic sect in the region. In general, the Gatekeepers have little interest in the politics and affairs of the Five Nations.

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