Pillars of the Sky

Heh - didn't even make the Stuff I Want to Get Done post - but I was thinking about:

The Pillars of the Sky
The Spires of the Gods
The Fingers of the Earth

There are twelve spires of stone that reach up toward the sky across Daen-Ral. Each is linked to the others via powerful magics. Some are "dark" right now, the magic has failed in them. Crystalspur is one such dark spire. At least one (demonspire in the far south) crosses into a different dimension.

Other spires: Griffonspire, in the Great Forest (Cayleit Forest), Godspire, on an island somewhere. There's one in the far north, one or two on the Frontier in the east.

What are they? They offer powerful protection for the area (when Crystalspur failed, because of a huge magma dwelling creature, the Dwarvana were hit by a plague that wiped most of them out - the few remaining dwarvana clans became isolated and protectionist - but I'm getting ahead of myself). They offer means to transport quickly from one part of Daen-Ral to another. What no one on Daen-Ral knows is that they also connect to twelve identical spires on the continent of Baroth, the Old World where the mage wars still rage.

The Spires are powered by captive Firstborn/Firstfallen Exiles.