The Rift (Beginning)

Overview:
The Fall of Paxia, the corruption of Jagdas: these events, spread across both time, space & even reality have one thing in common: the mass, definite annihilation of entire worlds, the fabric of reality in these worlds coming apart at the seams, resulting in the complete and utter destruction of the planet. Knowledge of these events comes from Yimmu-Audal, the empire which fled Jagdas to come to Rathnir, as well as many other smaller nations & people groups who fled from Jagdas. The archives of these nations, rather they be scientific documents, personal accountants or otherwise all point to one, common phenomena signifying the beginning of the end. That being the destabilization of their reality due to cataclysmic, and most importantly anomalous events. (separate articles exist covering the rifts of Jagdas & Paxia)

Rathnir:
Signs of destabilization are already present in Rathnir, with initial signs coming to light with the sudden & startling appearances of the Quartz Forest, the Pyramid of Gnova, the Nether Cacti and the Red Ice Spikes,as well as additional signs, and the reason for this article's existence, the tearing open of the once long dormant End Portals.

End Portals:
At 6:09 PM Est the most alarming and perhaps most consequential of these anomalies occurred, with the God Stoney dying of fall damage. While the God dying was not necessarily a new phenomena, the death of a god still always carries with it huge consequences. In this instance, mere second later, for the first time in Rathnir's history, all throughout the world was the opening of an End Portal heard. Certainly, people had gone to the End before, and these such incidents could very well qualify as anomalies in their own right, however this time was different. For this was the first time that the these the abandoned, decrypt gateways lying miles under the ground had themselves been opened. Surviving accounts from Jagdas have revealed that these such portals have also existed in that world, however unlike the world of Rathnir, these portals had always been opened, or at the very least openable.

Now though, with the death of a god, a hole had been torn into the very fabric of the universe opening the First Portal of Rathnir, or, The Original. Following that event, seismic activity erupted all across Rathnir for approximately 8 minutes. Upon it's cessation, 3 more portals could be heard opening, that being one at 6:17, 6:22 and finally 6:27. These portals have been nicknamed the 5-Minute Portals, as all were opened exactly 5 minutes apart, perhaps signifying a connection between the 3. Admittedly this is somewhat of a confusing name, as it somewhat sounds like there are five, minute-portals, but this fact has not seemed to deter people from using it.

Post Script: Escape Theory
One interesting theory on the matter, however certainly not one that is confirmed, is that perhaps the End Portals are not anomalies at all. This documenter proposes the Escape Theory, that being that these gateways are not in fact symptoms of the Rift of Rathnir, (at least in the traditional sense) but rather they are designed to combat the Rift. Construction of these gateways predates certainly all civilizations on Rathnir, and data from the world of Paxia & Jagdas points to them being older than all civilizations in those worlds as well. Furthermore, bafflingly enough these gateways are made in part from end stone, a material only found in the end, perhaps signifying that these portals, despite the strongholds built around them, are not of this world. Lastly, one must note that, at least from histories known from the little surviving information, the end portals of Paxia & Jagdas had been open for as long as the civilizations were aware of them, whereas of course the gateways of Rathnir had only been opened as of Nov. 29th. Interestingly, this is perhaps because, at least as its currently believed, anomalies were though still by nature incredibly rare, had been occurring much more frequently as well as much earlier than in Rathnir.

From all of this, it is in this researcher's opinion that the End Portals, or rather the gateways they are in, are not designed simply as portals to the End, but as portals from Rathnir. The Escape Theory states that some benevolent, ancient people, sensing or perhaps fleeing the end of their world to the entropy death that is The Rift, and with this knowledge, built the portals to allow the inhabitants of these worlds to escape to the End, where upon arriving an the End, they would, through yet unknown means, be able to flee to another hospitable world, such as that of Jagdasians fleeing to Rathnir. These portals would remain dormant in their respective worlds, waiting until a signal of some kind to open. Perhaps by detecting a spike in anomalous energy, or by the directive of some higher power, but regardless, upon a portal's activation they would send a signal out to the other portals, who then themselves would act as a relay system to the rest, which could explain the near mechanical timing of the 5-Minute Portals.

Regardless the Escape Theory is just: a theory. But, at least for some, the idea that an escape exists, or that some higher power is watching out for the safety of the people of Rathnir, is comforting to say the least.