The Lore of the 9 Portals of Power

To better understand why there are nine portals in my role-playing system, I will tell the tale of the legend behind all portals.

As with many of the ancients, the elements were the building blocks of the world. The lore of portals would be incomplete if I did not include the history of the elements, and the creation of the ultimate potential for existence… Midgard (a.k.a., Middle Earth).

Most game lore is based on the Hermetic philosophy in regard to elements. I’ve decided to run my RPG universe a bit differently, mainly because the Teutonic system is so much more interesting, and in greater detail.

We begin with the element of ice, and thus, our first portal in the entire universe is born…

Darkness held the ultimate void in its tendrils of domination. Yet, it was from this darkness that the polarity of contraction manifested as ice. From ice came forth the fire of the younger gods, who then formed the ultimate portal for giants--the fire portal.

Between these two polarities emerged the parallel universe of air and water, thus forming the air and water portals. These four portals are referred to as the primary portals of power.

The secondary portals formed from fire and air, and gave birth to iron. The aggressive, wild expansion of elemental fire threatened to burn away all that darkness dominated. So, then, the spirit of air flew before the curling flames of endless energy, and presented fire with the element of iron as its child god. Fire taught iron the ways of strength, determination, and conquest through expansion—unlike the contraction of the great darkness the elements fled from through outer-space.  

And so, the metal portal was born of fire and air.

Hearing of this newborn god-child, the element of water went unto the ardent god of fire, and gave him a second child. The child was Venom.

The spirit of venom was as restless as her fiery father. She projected herself out into the void, but found that she could not expand, nor create, nor find joy in any part of the universe.

The father of ice was envious of his fiery children, and so drew water to himself. Ice tore away the power of life from the spirit of water. Fire saw this, and in a fit of rage fought against the great darkness of Ice. In their cosmic struggle, the element of yeast scattered everywhere in the cosmos.

Water and ice formed yeast.

The quick intellect of Air saw the opportunity to steal power from the spirit of darkness. So, he took from Ice the designs of the elder gods. In his cleverness, the great spirit of air breathed his life-force into ice, causing the darkness to slumber, and took from him the salts of the essence of life.

Ice and air formed salt, and thus the first necro portal was born.

These were the first eight portals.

Then something miraculous happened… As the fairies and the giants waded in the fiery depths of their great work, a new element gave birth to all life. This element, the ultimate potential in the entire universe, is a place we call home, or also known as Earth. 

These are the nine portals of power.

The giants settled down beneath the earth and the seas. Others took up great houses for themselves upon the earth. The fairies settled in the trees, and others hid in the secret portals of flame, in the infernal realms beneath the deepest depths of the earth.Those who remained built doors of magic. With these magical doors, the giants could traverse the realms in all the universe, and keep mechanisms of the greater portals in order.