Item from The Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb
Ancient standing stones carved with Elderling runes — portals that transport Skill-users instantly between locations, remnants of a civilization that built highways through consciousness.
The Skill Pillars are the Elderling equivalent of a transit system — step through one with sufficient Skill ability and you emerge from another, potentially hundreds of miles away. They are also profoundly dangerous. Enter without enough Skill power or focus and you may emerge... differently. Or not at all. Fitz has used them and lost days, memories, and very nearly his sanity. The pillar network is fragmentary — many have been destroyed or buried, and the Elderling knowledge of how they work has been largely lost. What remains is powerful enough to reshape military strategy and terrifying enough that most Skill-users approach them with justified caution.
Tall pillars of black Skill-stone, covered in worn Elderling runes and symbols. They stand alone or in pairs at strategic locations throughout the Six Duchies, the Mountain Kingdom, and beyond. The stone is unnaturally smooth and faintly warm to the touch — alive with stored Skill in a way that makes Skill-users' hands tingle. Some are half-buried, some broken, some standing untouched for millennia.
Also known as: Skill Pillars, Standing Stones, Portal Stones, Skill-stones