Difference between revisions of "Dome of the Sapphire Stele"

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The Dome of the Sapphire Stele is an Immaculate manse-monastery and pilgrimage site located in the frozen expanses of the Northern Threshold. It was constructed to surround the Sapphire Stele, a massive gemstone obelisk carved with stories of the Immaculate Dragon Mela, that form part of the Immaculate Texts.

The Dome is centered on a large domed building from which five low wings radiate, each ending in a tall minaret tower. The main building contains a corridor surrounding an open central chamber, within which the Sapphire Stele is found and which is used by resident monks for sermons, martial arts exercises, and receiving pilgrims. The wings contain sleeping and meditation cells, kitchens, storage rooms, and other rooms for use by the monks in residence. While the kitchens have massive hearths, there are few sources of heat elsewhere, and the whole edifice remains cold throughout both day and night. The minarets are open to the wind and snow, used by monks seeking to meditate or call out to pilgrims under the full force of the northern winds.

The remoteness of the monastery means its monks tend to be amongst the order’s most devout in seeking to emulate Mela, and also amongst its least interested in politics, for its location keeps them distant from affairs in the Palace Sublime or Imperial City.

Those seeking to reach the Dome of the Sapphire Stele must make an arduous trek across an empty, inhospitable landscape. Starting from the docks at the Temple of the Frozen Shore in Garafrax, they must journey overland, a journey of ten days in clear weather… but the weather is never clear, instead full of blizzards and frozen rain which chill to the very bone, sometimes tainted by even more deadly weather swept in from the edges of the Wyld. There is no road to the monastery, merely a series of smooth stone obelisks to mark the way. This is intentional: a pilgrim must find their own path through the harsh environment, the only hint provided by the prayers carried on the biting winds from the minaret towers. The people of Garafrax, devout in their devotion to Immaculate doctrine, are practiced at following the route to the Dome from their frequent supply deliveries, but they will not assist travelers in making the journey as that would deny the pilgrim the enlightening lesson the journey represents.