The first Unity Scene Jam put on by Portalarium for the Shroud of the Avatar fan community has ended, of course, and I gather that scenes are being judged even now. The subject of this first Scene Jam was the Lunar Rifts, magical portals that can be found at various points across the breadth of New Britannia:

Here’s how the history of the Rifts is presented:

Long ago the Lunar Rifts were used to effortlessly travel through the world. As their names might imply, the Lunar Rifts were controlled by the two moons. They were considered to be almost holy ground and small villages and ornate temples frequently sprung up around them. Due to the powerful magic nature of these ancient rifts, the earth and stone around them for a hundred feet or more was more stable and protected through the eons. The result was that many of these Rifts are actually on plateaus left behind as the earth around them was eroded away.

At some point on the very edge of recorded history, something terrible happened and the Lunar Rifts changed. Instead of being an efficient and reliable travel method, many of them became erratic. Sometimes they worked fine, other times they were inert, and worse yet, other times they became portals that allowed the darkest of creatures to enter into the world. These creatures quickly destroyed the villages and temples that had sprung up around the rifts.

The Cataclysm that shook New Britannia, it would seem, had more to it than the destruction of one moon!

Also included with the description of the Rifts were a series of concept images drawn up by Stephen Daniele. You may remember seeing some of these during the Kickstarter campaign.

Note that the filenames say “moongate”; it’s quite clear what the inspiration for the Lunar Rifts is, and what they are meant to homage by their design.