Seven Arches
Somewhere within the Wilewood, found on no maps (and by few humans), is a great clearing hundreds of feet across. Arranged according to some arcane design, seven arches stand in the clearing, carved from gray-brown basalt quarried nowhere in the River Kingdoms. Time and nature have challenged but not defeated the true arches. Vines climb the sides, and moss half covers the stone carvings of animals and magical beasts. Each arch is a different size and shape; the highest towers 50 feet overhead and 30 feet wide, brushing the lower forest canopy, hinting at the size of what could be summoned through it. Those who sense magic find the arches’ presence nearly overwhelming, bright as bonfires on a moonless night. Others find the clearing unsettling, possessed of a high ringing in the ears, or a vague acrid smell.
Ten thousand years ago, these arches were powerful gates to strange places, including the First World, and the elves used them freely. Now they have somehow become mistuned, perhaps leading to otherworld realms, but certainly degenerated into portals of fey disease that disgorge evil monstrosities known as the gorgas. Gorgas come in a bewildering variety of animalistic shapes, but all have teeth, claws, and eyes of pure shadow. The sacred charge of the Oakstewards is to protect Golarion from the gorgas that emerge from these portals. What else can be summoned through is a mystery to all but the Oakstewards.
The Oakstewards have also learned that elves who come near the portals are stricken with an unnatural plague, one which not even the druids can treat or cure. Known as the Obnubilate Plague, the malady destroys not only an elf ’s body, but also his memory. Oaksteward lore says the plague is highly contagious, so the druids do not allow infected elves to leave the clearing again, lest they pass it on to others of their kind. The druids suspect that a cure might lie on the other side of one of the portals, but none of their exploratory parties have ever returned, and they don’t even know if their search parties chose the right portal.
Every few human generations, a band of elves breaks through the Oakstewards’ protections intent on reclaiming their former holding. The arches become more active when elves are nearby—the gorgas on the other side of the portals can sense their approach. This is detrimental to both the elves (as the plague strikes quickly) and the kingdom of Sevenarches (since the gorgas ravage the kingdom until the Oakstewards can slay or banish them).
For these reasons, the Oakstewards ban elves from entering Sevenarches. They dare not even explain their motive, because they believe Kyonin’s Queen Edasseril and her court will be too proud to listen to mere human counsel. Believing in their own ability to handle the dangers, the Oakstewards think the elves would bring in an army and unwittingly spread the Obnubilate Plague to every elf on Golarion. While the Oakstewards do not think highly of elves, neither do they want them dead.