Ancient Temple of Khemozh (keh-mohzj)
The ancient temple to the deity Khemozh is located on the cursed and desolate island of Mehzim. It was completed during the second century 1A, somewhere between 150 and 165. No one is sure of the exact date of completion or dedication, as records were kept somewhat secret, and the main architects and builders vowed never to speak of the project once its ramifications and consequences became known.
Prior to the construction of the temple, the island of Mehzim was a lush rainforest with a few small villages located mostly in the southern half of the island. These villages interacted little but would occasionally either cooperate or compete for resources and game that the island nurtured. Around that time, the cult of Khemozh was looking for a place to build a temple to their deity. They searched all over mainland Ayndrinor for decades, unable to find a spot where they could build the temple uninterrupted or unmolested by followers of the Light Pantheon who would oppose this project vehemently.
The cult enlisted the service of an architect allegedly from the city of Gel Morgran , though records are not entirely sure if that's where he actually grew up or if he is associated simply because of his prowess with building and architecture. This architect brought in a crew of workers to help build the temple over the course of about five years. They shipped certain materials from elsewhere in the world, but they managed to establish a quarry on the island's mountain which supplied all of the stone for the temple.
Upon its completion, the architect and all remaining workers left the island, recognizing that they had built a shrine to one of the dark deities and determined to wipe their afiliation with the project from history. In that endeavor, they only partially succeeded. Word soon got out of the crew who had built the temple and indirectly caused the deaths of thousands of islanders, and the main architect was shunned from all major cities for the rest of his life, his name completely stricken from previous buildings and all historical tomes.
The evil and destruction of the temple did not take long to become apparent. The dedication ceremony of the cult caused all of their number to collapse and decay into dust instantly, except for the high priest, according to rumor. The withering began to spread out from the temple to the lush rainforest and even the mountain itself. Within five years, everything and everyone who could not escape the island were dead and had decayed into dust. No one has set foot in the temple since its completion, and everyone who has tried has either gone mad or succumbed to some sort of sickness before reaching the base. The temple remains the crown gem for adventurers and holy acolytes, all of whom hope to someday mount an expedition to cleanse the temple and remove its blight from the face of the world.
Architecture
The temple building resembles a classic ziggurat or stepped pyramid shape, as one might find throughout Central America. It has ten tiers, each about fifteen feet tall, crowned with a twenty-foot shrine at the temple's apex. Scholars know the exact layout of the temple, as the original architect's plans were preserved throughout history - though his name and the names of his crew were purposely lost to time - though they do not know what rooms were used for what by the cult, or what may have collapsed or shifted in the millennia since.
There are only two known entrances into the ziggurat: one in the apex shrine, which has a staircase leading down into the structure, and one hidden exit well-concealed on the northeast corner of the temple, near the quarry where the temple's massive stone blocks were carved. The rooms inside the temple are labyrinthine and antithetical to typical architecture or flow; their layout was dictated by the cult for some unknown reason that was apparently related to their deity's worship or customs.
The original plans of the temple are locked away in the Torloch Observatory and are only accessible by high-ranking and trusted members of the college or the High Priests of various religions that these academics trust.
Founding Date
c. 155 1A
Alternative Names
Ziggurat of Decay
Type
Temple / Religious complex
Parent Location
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