Auvrynon City, Temple of Knowledge

The Temple of Knowledge
At the cobbled street, a grand marker draws the eye to the entrance to the grounds of the largest religion in Auvrynon. A beautiful slab of local, red-veined black marble standing seven feet high and ten feet wide with a winged cat carved into each corner has been polished to an impossible sheen. On the side nearest the road, a stunning mosaic was set into the face by the renowned artist Vaughn. The master artist left a wide border of midnight marble around his work. From pieces of colored glass and gemstones, the master artist created the rainbow lights cast from a tall, three sided, precisely cut prism. Magical light illuminates the shards from behind, making it visible even at night. It reads in crimson letters, ‘The Temple of Knowledge’, across the top and below the artwork, ‘Expanding the Horizons of Your Mind’. The words are comprised of slices of a rare, brilliantly colored garnet from the treacherous Storm Peak Ridge.

A garden surrounds the path to the temple, but the young trees within it can’t draw attention from the grand structure. The temple itself is a perfect cylinder, and a massive one at that, made of pale grey stone. It stands two stories high, but each level has elevated ceilings, as if more species than human were thought of in the construction. The roof of the temple is supported on a series of grand columns, so that there is a covered ring before the circular wall of the temple. The roof is gently sloping with many sky lights, but seems to be cut off flat at the very top rather than continuing to a point. Behind the temple are more gardens, if one chooses to bypass the path to the door, including a large medicinal garden. A series of large flat steps lead up to the front door, and standing guard there are two statues. Polished bronze gleams brightly in sunlight of moonlight, the pair of knights watching over the knowledge and treasures inside.

Through the large entrance doors is the religious center of the temple, grand because of the feeling of openness and space. Chandeliers hang from the painted ceiling to light the room, though the light is magical. The main room has seventy rows of curved wooden benches around a simple stone circular altar in the middle. The altar itself is a cylindrical to match the outside exactly, except for having a flat top supported on its columns. The stone itself is a dark granite and is raised four feet off the floor so that anyone can see what goes on upon it. The room itself is slightly wedge shaped, but the tip of the wedge is missing, leaving a large flat wall opposite the entrance. Moving through the rows of benches to the back of the room one can see that the wall is decorated with more mosaics and holds two large doors, one carved with moons and stars and the other with a recognizable medical symbol. The former leads to a grand staircase up to observatory and the later to a lift to allow patients to be taken up to the rooms designated for medical care. In front of the mosaic wall stands another statue, this time of a wiseman seeming to be made of obsidian and polished to mirror brightness.

The benches and alter ahead are not the only view to be had; gazing to each side reveals large arches, the great library visible through them. Not only does this give a hint at the massive collection of books within, but proves that the library actually encircles the main room because of the building’s shape. The library itself is a maze, literally, no matter which entrance is chosen. Following the shape of the building, there is layer after layer of curving walls. The bookshelves themselves seem to be grown from the stone walls. Statues and other large pieces of art block the end of some paths, turning the floor to ceiling walls holding books into a confusing maze that Zol can change at will. The center of the maze is a large circular reading room. This room is placed at the exact center of the building and is filled with bright light and comfortable seating. There is also a door within this room, decorated with the same moons and stars as the door in the main room. The door leads to the very same staircase up to the observatory, or if you wish, back to the main room without having to retrace your way through the maze of books. The door is one sided, having no obvious way to re-open it from the staircase, preventing easy access to the reading room. This isn’t a problem during the day, as the observatory is an equally nice place to read.

The top of the staircase has a long landing with a mosaic of the moons of Auvrynon, and another carved door that leads into a circular room identical in size to the reading room below. The ceilings are as high on the second floor as the first, and sounds from below vanish as sound proofing has been worked into the floor. The reason for the center of the roof seeming flat from below is immediately visible upon entering the observatory. Rather than flat the entire section over the room is missing. Magic is used to keep out the weather, allowing one to watch stars or storms in comfort. This is the only room without magical lighting, the interior as dark or light as the sky.

Visitors to the healer’s area would enter the appropriately marked door in the main room. They would find there are both a second staircase and a lift used for rapid ascent of the gravely injured behind the door. The area directly over the grand foyer below acts as a large emergency area, with beds and equipment and medicines always available, and a healer always on call. Skylights and magic share in keeping the room well lit at all times. The section of the second floor dedicated to healing has a partial ring of rooms around the observatory with skylights in most, as well as rooms along the exterior wall for longer term patients or patients that should have access to the ‘balconies’. These are actually rooms lacking in an exterior wall, but still covered by the roof, with a delicate trellis to keep one from falling off the building. Following the curved hallway beyond the patient rooms leads to the kitchens. The kitchen and dining area are large; the same shape as the massive foyer one level below, though offset for structural reasons. Beyond the kitchen are the rooms of the healers and then other building inhabitants. The area that would house priests seems empty now, the ranks of the temple devastated by the plague.

There are many secret doors in the temple, allowing the inhabitants to get from place to place quickly, mosaics and exquisite wall hangings hiding the paths they use. Though the second level is easy enough for visitors to access from the first, the vault below the temple must be reached through a hidden door. Guarding the riches below is the resident silver dragon, Lucy.