Avernian Gates

An Avernian Gate is a doorway to the "upper" levels of the Underworld, called the Autochthonous Depths.

First Edition

Opening a gate is relatively simple for a Bound, requiring only they touch the location, focus the power of the geist and expend plasm. However, for reasons not well understood, opening a Gate is a sin against Synergy 10.

Second Edition

Avernian Gates are ancient, weathered doors (ancient in appearance even if only created two minutes prior) that appear in locations marked by death, such as graveyards, battlefields, and morgues. They tend to radiate an aura of cold dampness that, while most noticeable in Twilight, can nonetheless manifest as a chill even to mortals.

Opening an Avernian Gate generally requires that a Sin-Eater utilize some kind of key, be it a worn doll or the presence of tears. The Gates can, however, be opened freely by Reapers or their Deathmasks; picking the lock, as it were, in the absence of the key. Other such means of opening Gates include providing them with death (via sacrifice) or paying the toll, something that any ghost can do, for the coins they need are always at hand.

Mages classify Avernian Gates as Irises, and especially powerful Death mages have the ability to create them at will.

References

• GTS: Geist: The Sin-Eaters Rulebook, p. 82
• GTS: Geist: The Sin-Eaters Second Edition, p. 199-200