To past generations Anja was the goddess of the weather, and people flocked to her temple to give worship, thanks, and offerings. But the third pantheon is ascendance, and Anja has joined the ranks of the past gods. At Viros, her grand temple remains, its good condition a testament to the quality of its builders. Where once the temple and its complex were full of worhsippers and priests, the stones now see the footsteps of but a dozen dedicated believers.
The temple’s core is a grand open space thirteen stories tall. The stone roof is a network of buttresses that wend, twist, and wind their way down to ground level to create the walls and form the body of the twenty-nine sided shape. At the centre is a pit for a ceremonial fire that is kept continuously smouldering. There are eight altars around the fire pit, each dedicated to one of the Anja’s eight aspects. Angling out from each altar are rows of wooden benches arranged into a pattern that spirals out to the walls. Around the temple core are the supporting buildings. There are eight of these and each is a perfect cube of twenty metres a side. These house the quarters of the priests, barracks for the guards, hostels of the pilgrims, the kitchens, the library, and the storerooms. Most of these now lie empty except for dust and insects. Amongst the few remaining devotees are:
Yrena is the high priest of the Temple of Anja at Viros. Despite her great height and shaven head, Yrena is unpresuming in her modest robes. She stands straight but must lean on her staff of office thanks to injuries she sustained as a wanderer before she became an acolyte. A house fire robbed her of her left eye, her left ear and deeply scarred the soles of her feet. Yrene came to Viros in the hopes of restoration but instead found belief in the light of Anja. Though she uses books to recite the sermons and perform the rites, her understanding of the wisdom beneath the words is as intense as her fervour for her god. She seeks new apprentices to pass on Anja’s worship for she still has faith that there is a future for Anja. Her role as high priest is to tend to the altar fires, ensure the sanctity of the temple, and lead all daytime services.
The Low Priest of the Temple of Anja at Viros is Duses. There is little glimmer left in the eyes deep within the Low Priest’s hood. An old man in his late 60s, Duses mutters to himself behind his beard as he stalks and prowls around the temple complex. He can be found reciting the sacred texts from memory or giving great oratory on deep subjects to audiences of stone and wood. The lack of people at the temple has weighed greatly on his mind and his moods are often dark. Duses feels it is time to begin his religion die and is preparing Anja’s texts for long term storage for history and posterity. Lacking any funds, he is personally inscribing them on stone and metal himself. He is no longer welcoming to pilgrims and fulfills only the minimum of his duties, only leaving his offices during the night. The Low Priest reads the omens at night, administers the temple complex, and ensures the forbidden fruits do not enter.
The Gravekeeper. If you’re willing to make an effort to keep up with him, then the gravekeeper will introduce themselves as Haagi of Hven. A young man with frostbite scars and long ginger locks, he seems quite at home despite the much hotter climate at Viros. His near constant dynamic motion is a result of how busy he is. The title of gravekeeper has captured many other roles at the temple as the faith declined. Haagi is also the groundskeeper, the guard captain, and the comptroller of flags. Due to some very specific bylaws, Haagi often has to change his uniform to ensure that he has the proper legal standing to dig graves, carry out patrol, or buy material for flags. He treats all these responsibilities with great seriousness but when he is off duty Haagi has no regard for decorum. His faith in Anja can seem casual on the surface but his lack of interest in dogma hides a deep understanding of the key tenets.
The Hospitality Master. The role once called for the management of great feasts and the hosting of visiting dignitaries. Such was its importance, a bylaw of the temple was written to ensure that the role would only be filled by a member of the faith from the Paliades Isle, a community famed for its revelry and cuisine. The current Hospitality Master is Kotix, a skinny woman with watery seagreen eyes.Though the role is now that of the cook, this is a task to which she is barely able to rise. The dinner menu is the same five meals every night, lunch is always a basic set of sandwiches with fruit, and breakfast is possibly porridge. This has resulted in the inhabitants managing their own food and households, leaving Kotix to deal with the few pilgrims and guests. Most around the temple would like to find other work for Kotix, something better suited to her meagre talents, but she is the only person currently eligible for the role. Pilgrims and residents alike wonder what she does with all her time given how lacklustre all her achievements are.
The Colourful Pilgrim. It’s difficult to discern much about Ormos, as they are almost entirely hidden by the myriad of rainbow scarves that cover them. Like the scarfs, their eyes are a wide range of colours and are mismatched in more than their patterns, as they never express the same emotion. When one is looking thoughtful, the other astonished, when the right is mirthful, the left could be raging or crying. Ormos has come from the distant north, seeking answers about a set of translation errors in their copy of Anja’s common rituals. Since no-one here speaks their language, this has proved to be a more complicated issue that the High Priest thought it would be. Ormos is relaxed about this and is quite content to enjoy the temple’s hospitality whilst they review the original texts. When not making notes in the library, Ormos can be found atop the temple roof, enjoying the view and practicing their body motion techniques.
The Whispering Pilgrim. Lyton isn’t supposed to be here and is taking great pains to make sure that no-one knows that they are here. He’s staying in a tent a mile or so into the forested hills that range south of the temple complex. From there he sneaks into the temple complex at night and is very carefully searching the temple core stone by stone. Lyton is convinced that there is something hidden in the temple, a secret and important message from Anja that will reignite their worship with Lyton as the new Middle Priest. As an outcast amongst their snakekin for their worship of Anja, he has become guarded around strangers and is thus distrustful of the temple’s occupants. His month of searching has been so far in vain, with the only thing Lyton has gained is a comprehensive knowledge of the temple’s stonework and routines.
Image Credits – Temple by Christopher Alvarenga on Unsplash, Temple Cloister by Despina Galani on Unsplash