The Catacombs of Vekirai

Purpose / Function

The catacombs were built in the year 336BU. The Council of Elders faced a crisis of cemetery space. The growing city had grossly inadequate space for burials. The 'Tower of the Dead' as it is sometimes called rises only 10 stories. but descends into a labyrinthine complex of tunnels, many times extended.
The upper levels were first populated by the tombs of the Elders themselves although later kings made a habit of reshuffling these tombs in order to give themselves and their ancestors the most prestigious placements.
The deeper reaches of the catacombs contain the memorials of many of the common people of the city. They are not well mapped and their full extent is not known. Some of the tunnels are collapsed so the entire network is not accessible. The tunnels are built to varying quality with different sections built in some cases hundreds of years apart.
The upper levels of the tower have been closed to the public since Oloroa took control of the city. The sages practice life-extending magic and little is known about their funerary practices.

Architecture

The upper levels of the catacombs were designed to match the other existing towers. In the typical Vekirati style of the Gerontocratic Period, the tower is square-based and only very simply adorned. The windows are large are boxed by simply carved stone frames. The building is adorned with simple geometric patterns picked out by slightly lighter and slightly darker grey limestone blocks.
The interior of the tower contains large rooms with high ceilings supported by square columns. The floor in the tower is polished smooth. The rooms have been filled with sarcophagi and statues. The sarcophagi are inscribed with the names and biographies of the people whose corpses are inside and also with prayers and poems. The Elders' sarcophagi are plain and unadorned, most have a bust of their respective Elder set on top of them. The later sarcophagi of kings and nobles are highly adorned and more often have full statues of the king or noble on them. These funerary statues became more and more fantastical as the Royal Period went on. The funerary statues placed in the last few decades of the royal period were highly ostentatious. In these later statues, the dead are depicted in battle side-by-side with legendary heroes and gods.

Alternative Names

The Tower of the Dead

Type

Catacomb

Parent Location

Vekirai

Owner

Oloroa

Owning Organization

The Great Sages of Vekirai