The StarGate Lord

You think it’s a realm-building story. It is—until the gate opens. Alden Rook inherits Dustcrown, a dying frontier built on a poisoned well and collapsing mines. Hunger is days away. Factions are already sharpening knives. So Alden does the one thing a “good lord” isn’t supposed to do on day one: he seals the granary, seals the well, and turns survival into procedure. Then he finds it—an ancient circle carved beneath the mine. A stargate. The gate can stay open for twelve hours at most, fueled by crude mana crystals that burn fast and kill slow. The first jump is random. Every jump after that demands coordinates—taken from the locals on the other side, by treaty, trade, or blood. And if Alden uses the gate too loudly, someone—or something—can trace it back. With Mira Voss, the mine-born doctor who refuses to let his “math” become murder, Alden builds Gatefort into a machine that can endure: ledgers, quarantine lines, rations… and steel. Because beyond Dustcrown waits not salvation, but civilizations that will bargain, exploit, invade—or be conquered. A lord can rule a border. A Stargate Lord can rewrite the map.