Temple of St. Ancelin
First time visitors to the city of Elderkeep in the First Kingdom of Humankind are awestruck by the beauty of many of the buildings in the central part of the ciy, but there are two that stand out among the rest. One is the Palace of the High Sovereign, the residence of ruling family and seat of all secular power within the kingdom. The other - and many folk would say the most awe-inspiring of all - is the Temple of Saint Ancelin.
The Temple is not merely a house of worship; it is center from which the True Church of the Humanar operates. As such, it is a place of governance as well. To the faithful, it is a place of history and mystery. To those branded as heretics by the faith, it is a place of deceit and dread.
The walls are covered from floor to the 20 foot (6m) tall ceiling by mosaics and tapestries which depict important saints of the faith and the events that made them memorable. This ring is a place where the faithful - even the illiterate faithful - can come to be reminded of the important tenets of the faith, or to learn more about the great works of the past.
Twenty specially-trained Servants of the Church are stationed to wander throughout the hall to answer questions any visitor may have about what they are seeing, or to offer additional instruction in related tenets of the faith.
The wall panels in this hall are filled with entire contents of the Tenets of Saint Ancelin, the sacred scripture of the True Church. The writing has been chiseled into the stone and inlaid with gold leaf. Like the outer hall, this is an instructional place, but here the words themselves - all of the words that matter to the Church - can be found.
Twelve clerics are stationed here - Pastors who have received the Second Rite of Ordination and are therefore supposedly more learned that the Servants of the outer ring. Like the Servants, though, they are available to assist the faithful in understanding the passages on the walls, and to provide any additional guidance or instruction a visitor may seek.
The outer walls of this hall are bare, smooth marble. The eight panels along the inner wall of this hall each have a 10 foot (3m) tall statue place in their centers, with a stone altar set before the statute. The statues, made of the same pure white marble as the temple itself, depict the eight major deities of the Humanar - the gods of the True Church. The altars are also of the same white marble. These are typically festooned with various offerings left by the faithful who come here to offer prayers of thanksgiving for favors granted, or to make implorations for favors needed.
Usually, this hall is quiet and relatively empty, with visitors leaving their offerings and prayers quickly and silently before departing. On important Feast Days of the Faith, however, this hall is generally packed with faithful who simply cannot fit into the innermost circle of the Temple. Those near an arch at least get a view of what is happening inside.
This hall is where the Archprelate Rector, or on special occasions, the First Among Servants, perform the daily rituals and offerings to the gods, as well as those required for any special Feast Day. On those special days, as many as 6000 of the faithful crowd into the Hall of the Gods, with another 6000 packing the Hall of Prayer.
Administrative Wings The wings to the left and right of the main temple, when viewed from its formal entrance, house the residences and offices of the Archprelate Rector and First Among Servants respectively. Each of these wings has its own entrance from the outside that provides public access to the administrative office portions of the wings. The private apartments of the clerics that call these wings home are generally off limits to the public (and well guarded by a special detachment of royal guards).
The third wing, behind the main temple also has its own entrance to the outside, directly opposite the main entry to the temple itself. This ground floor of this wing house the Courts of the Adjudicators and the offices that support the courts. The upper floors, not open to the public, contain residences of the Adjudicators and Inqusitors that do their work in this building.
Below ground are the Inquisition Halls where those suspected of crimes against the faith are interrogated. Various instruments of interrogation - i.e. torture - are employed here in order to extract testimony used in the courts on the floor above. Holding cells for those accused of crimes and undergoing questioning are also found here.
According to the annals of the Church, Saint Ancelin's building reached a point where it was too difficult to maintain, and so it was replaced by a larger, all wooden structure. This served the ever-growing town, then city, of Elderkeep for another 300 years.
By this time, the Humans of Elderkeep had established strong trading ties with the Duagan folk of the Crystal Delve and the Ironhills Delve. In a spirit of friendship and cooperation, it was artisans from those Delves that constructed the third temple - this time of stone. The granite building was twice as large as the wooden structure it replaced, and stood for over 13,000 years - a testament to the skill of the artisans who constructed it.
The current temple was constructed over twenty-five hundred years ago - three hundred years before the The Great Strife began, and at a time when the First Kingdom was reaching its peak in power and reach. At the time, the sources of all its building materials were within the realm of the FIrst Kingdom, and were donated by the people of the kingdom. Officially, it was decided that the current temple was simply too small to accomodate what was now a large population of worshippers in the capital city of the kingdom. However, some obscure communications now hidden in the massive archives of the Church suggest that it was equally as important that the Temple be built by Humans, rather than Duagans; some saw the non-Human source of the existing temple as an affront to the Humanar Gods.
As the Archprelate is also responsible for advising the Earl, and administering all of the clerics in the Duchy, the day to day administrative duties fall to the staff of Pastors and Servants who work for the Archprelate.
The Temple is not merely a house of worship; it is center from which the True Church of the Humanar operates. As such, it is a place of governance as well. To the faithful, it is a place of history and mystery. To those branded as heretics by the faith, it is a place of deceit and dread.
Architecture
The Temple of Saint Ancelin is actually a complex of interconnected buildings, though all have been built with a coherent plan to give the impression of one massive structure. The complex consists of the temple proper - the central and most massive building of the complex. Three wing buildings adjoin the main temple; one housing the residence and administrative offices of the First Among Servants, the titular head of the True Church. A second houses the residence and administrative offices of the Archprelate Rector of the temple, the church official responsible for the administration of the faith within the city of Elderkeep itself. The third houses the offices, courtrooms, and interrogation halls of the Adjudicants and Inquisitors, clerics tasked with ensuring that the faithful do not stray - or lead others astray.The Temple
The central temple is a circular structure built of pure white marble quarried from the mountains of the Elvenring range in the southern part of what is now the Grand Duchy of Eastguard. The interior is divided by walls, columns, and arches into four concentric circles, each with progressively higher ceilings as one moves from the outer to inner circle.The Circle of Contemplation
The outermost ring is formed by the temple's outer wall on one side, and another solid wall opposite it. The ringed hall has an outer diameter of 500 feet (150m) and an inner diameter of 400 feet (120m). Six double doors of mahogany wood harvested from the forests of Wistria provide entry into the next inner hall.The walls are covered from floor to the 20 foot (6m) tall ceiling by mosaics and tapestries which depict important saints of the faith and the events that made them memorable. This ring is a place where the faithful - even the illiterate faithful - can come to be reminded of the important tenets of the faith, or to learn more about the great works of the past.
Twenty specially-trained Servants of the Church are stationed to wander throughout the hall to answer questions any visitor may have about what they are seeing, or to offer additional instruction in related tenets of the faith.
The Circle of Instruction
This hall's outer wall is formed by the inner wall of the Circle of Instruction; its inner wall is a series twenty-four wall panels separated by high arches that lead further into the temple. The outer diameter of this hall is 400 feet (120m its inner diameter is 300 feet (90m). The ceiling here is 35 feet (9 m) high.The wall panels in this hall are filled with entire contents of the Tenets of Saint Ancelin, the sacred scripture of the True Church. The writing has been chiseled into the stone and inlaid with gold leaf. Like the outer hall, this is an instructional place, but here the words themselves - all of the words that matter to the Church - can be found.
Twelve clerics are stationed here - Pastors who have received the Second Rite of Ordination and are therefore supposedly more learned that the Servants of the outer ring. Like the Servants, though, they are available to assist the faithful in understanding the passages on the walls, and to provide any additional guidance or instruction a visitor may seek.
The Circle of Prayer
The Inner wall of this hall is another series of arches and panels, this time eight arches and eight panels. The outer diameter is 300 feet (90m and the inner diameter is 200 feet (120m). The ceiling here towers to a height of 50 feet (15m).The outer walls of this hall are bare, smooth marble. The eight panels along the inner wall of this hall each have a 10 foot (3m) tall statue place in their centers, with a stone altar set before the statute. The statues, made of the same pure white marble as the temple itself, depict the eight major deities of the Humanar - the gods of the True Church. The altars are also of the same white marble. These are typically festooned with various offerings left by the faithful who come here to offer prayers of thanksgiving for favors granted, or to make implorations for favors needed.
Usually, this hall is quiet and relatively empty, with visitors leaving their offerings and prayers quickly and silently before departing. On important Feast Days of the Faith, however, this hall is generally packed with faithful who simply cannot fit into the innermost circle of the Temple. Those near an arch at least get a view of what is happening inside.
The Circle of the Gods
This chamber is the core circle of the temple, with a circular altar at its very center. Standing at each of the eight panels that separate it from the Hall of Prayer are another eight statues of the major deities; these however are larger still, reaching 15 feet (4.5m) in height. Cloth-of-gold drapes hand down from the ceiling on either side of the panels, framing the gods. The ceiling itself is a spherical dome that begins 50 fedt high at the walls and towers to 150 high at its center above the altar.This hall is where the Archprelate Rector, or on special occasions, the First Among Servants, perform the daily rituals and offerings to the gods, as well as those required for any special Feast Day. On those special days, as many as 6000 of the faithful crowd into the Hall of the Gods, with another 6000 packing the Hall of Prayer.
Administrative Wings The wings to the left and right of the main temple, when viewed from its formal entrance, house the residences and offices of the Archprelate Rector and First Among Servants respectively. Each of these wings has its own entrance from the outside that provides public access to the administrative office portions of the wings. The private apartments of the clerics that call these wings home are generally off limits to the public (and well guarded by a special detachment of royal guards).
The third wing, behind the main temple also has its own entrance to the outside, directly opposite the main entry to the temple itself. This ground floor of this wing house the Courts of the Adjudicators and the offices that support the courts. The upper floors, not open to the public, contain residences of the Adjudicators and Inqusitors that do their work in this building.
Below ground are the Inquisition Halls where those suspected of crimes against the faith are interrogated. Various instruments of interrogation - i.e. torture - are employed here in order to extract testimony used in the courts on the floor above. Holding cells for those accused of crimes and undergoing questioning are also found here.
History
The temple that exists today is the third building that has been erected over the site where, according the the annals of the True Church, Saint Ancelin himself built the first wattle-and-daub meeting hall for the people of his village to gather for worship and instruction in the ways of living that that were communicated to the saint by the gods themselves.According to the annals of the Church, Saint Ancelin's building reached a point where it was too difficult to maintain, and so it was replaced by a larger, all wooden structure. This served the ever-growing town, then city, of Elderkeep for another 300 years.
By this time, the Humans of Elderkeep had established strong trading ties with the Duagan folk of the Crystal Delve and the Ironhills Delve. In a spirit of friendship and cooperation, it was artisans from those Delves that constructed the third temple - this time of stone. The granite building was twice as large as the wooden structure it replaced, and stood for over 13,000 years - a testament to the skill of the artisans who constructed it.
The current temple was constructed over twenty-five hundred years ago - three hundred years before the The Great Strife began, and at a time when the First Kingdom was reaching its peak in power and reach. At the time, the sources of all its building materials were within the realm of the FIrst Kingdom, and were donated by the people of the kingdom. Officially, it was decided that the current temple was simply too small to accomodate what was now a large population of worshippers in the capital city of the kingdom. However, some obscure communications now hidden in the massive archives of the Church suggest that it was equally as important that the Temple be built by Humans, rather than Duagans; some saw the non-Human source of the existing temple as an affront to the Humanar Gods.
Administration
The Archprelate of the City of Elderkeep - not the First Among Servants as many of the faithful mistakenly believe - is nominally in charge of all goings on in the temple. This position carries the alternative title of Archprelate Rector of the Temple of St. Ancelin.As the Archprelate is also responsible for advising the Earl, and administering all of the clerics in the Duchy, the day to day administrative duties fall to the staff of Pastors and Servants who work for the Archprelate.
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