This setting is within my world of Hewdamia.
The dark God Caedmon came to the realm of Hewdamia with a purpose. What the purpose was, only he knew as he kept it close to him and took it to his oblivion during the War of the Gods. In his wake he left a swath of confusion that to this day holds a mystery to the knowledgable.
When the Gods argued, Caedmon began to work in secret. He slipped away and began building gates in remote places of the world, hidden from the questioning eyes of his fellow Gods, away from meddling mortals. These massive stone gates depict scenes of horror and terror beyond what anyone had seen. These gates were doorways to another place, possibly from where Caedmon originally came from.
These gates open to the world of the Demons and their kin. Caedmon had originally planned to open the gates and unleash a swath of destruction so encompassing, that the Gods would fail to stop it. The gates were dubbed the Demon Gates and they stood ready to unleash a hell on the world only Caedmon had ever seen before. He placed keys throughout the world to be used when he was ready, but before that time came, he was thrust into a war between the Gods that ended his existance.
It is thought, or rumored, that Caedmon traveled from world to world unleashing this hell on the worlds he visited. Some whisper he was a Demon God trying to usurp the power of the others. The truth, no one knows and can only be speculated by those insane enough to deeply study the dark God’s teachings.
Effects of the Gates
The Demon gates are not limited to operating only while open. A side effect that the God Caedmon had not foreseen was the amount of desire the demons force through the gates, even while closed. A few have been able to filter through over the centuries but that pales in comparison to the deadly power that flows through the closed gates.
Those who have stayed near the gates, whether aware or not, have come away changed. Even a simple evening spent in the shadow of foreboding gates changes a person forever. Thoughts and voices are often heard in the minds of those that are within 100’ of the gates. These voices are fleeting at first, but build up over exposure to the gates. At first, only a whisper of noise can barely be detected and will often be ignored as the wind or odd noise. The longer one spends around the gates however, the voices get stronger and more persistent. The voices become personalities of their own soon demanding the attention of those they infect. Silent words of death and murder filter through the mind turning into detailed visions and thoughts of death and horror, often dealing with loved ones or friends.
This is enough to make anyone crazy and desire to flee from the area. Spending a day away from the gates will clear the mind of the voices, but will never clear the thoughts that they had during their exposure.
Those sleeping near the gates for an extended period of time are not so lucky. Visions and detailed murders grasp at their subconscious, forever tainting their mind. As their exposure to the gates increases, so does the frequency and the detail of the horrible nightmares. Vivid nightmares about riding a cresting waves of Demons, surging out from the gates or towers frequent the dreams. Most often with massacres of entire kingdoms running with the blood of those murdered.
This begins to slowly change those who spend time near the doomed gates. They begin to become angry over the most mundane of things, arguing frequently with others, and coming to blows after only a short period of time has been spent near the gates. The images of murder and destruction begin to change their ideals and they begin feeling the urge to reproduce these vivid omens. No longer seen as nightmares or dreams, but omens or portents from a higher source, the fallen God Caedmon perhaps.
Eventually if not controlled by a stronger force, they will turn on anything to satisfy the bloodlust that fills their veins, and the anger and hatred that fills their soul. Any demon or being capable of withstanding the overwhelming effects would capitalize on anyone in this state in an instant, using their weakened mind to control for their own purpose.
Documents written in an old text tell a tale of physical deformation as well with extreme exposure to the gates. But the journal ends with indecipherable scribble as the scribe was obviously insane when the journal was completed.