The Mh'ra of Hurys

This large temple building is located within the ancient City of Hurys, in southern Darnia. It is considered to be the oldest building in the country, and one of the very few First Age solian temples that still remains standing in Enaskia.

Purpose / Function

The Mh'ra was built to be a religious temple, dedicated to Saol, the Solian God of Light and Order. At the time that it was built, Saol was one of 7 gods of the Solian patheon, but even at this point, the sun god was already considered to be its most important member. The largest temples of the fate were built in his honour. People from the surrounding region would come with offerings, such as food, money and other valuable items, which they would leave inside. Nowdays, the temple isn't so much a temple but a giant archive and knowledge institution. A few subjects a taught here, but Solianic theology is the most significant. Most Arcan and Rayn in Enaskian temples studied here before taking on their current position.

Alterations

The Mh'ra remained the same during much the of the First Age, serving as a place of worship dedicated to Saol. It got through The Long Winter and reached the Second Age relatively unscathed. During the Valcorian domination of Darnia, the temple was expanded slightly in the back by adding a new section, which would later become a library. Then, a few centuries later, a garden was planted and made accessible to only the temple workers. However, by that time, the temple became less and less frequented as Hurys lost population, However, because of its cultural and political importance, being the place where both local parans and regional Arcans werec onfirned at their post, it survived the decline of the city.
Then, after the fire at the library of Kalosanthar, the temple became the new centre of knowledge in the Kingdom of Darnia as it held many transcribed copies of original texts from Kalosanthar in its basement. The Temple's Arcan at the time took the opportunity to convert large parts of the building, mostly its newer sections, into a library where most of the copied texts from the basement were moved to. The basement became an exclusive archive, holding the most precious or controversial documents.
With the rapid rise of popularity of its library, and the growing need for a learning centre for Solian theology, new annexes were built around the garden to house students and to provide space for teathers to train them. The garden was also made accessible for the students living there. In the decades and centuries that followed, the Mh'ra of Hurys became a vital centre of learning for the country, and one of the biggest in Enaskia.

Architecture

Exterior

The original building is vaguely shaped like a rectangle, with its front entrance on the longer southern side. Its side walls are sloped at various angles, giving the building a sort of trapezoid shape. 2 pairs of bronze domed towers are located on the eastern and western side. A much larger dome, 40 metres in diametre, and also covered in bronze plating, is located above the building's central area. It forms it's highest point, rising over 100 metres above the ground. The other sections are much more recent, and their architectural style doesn't match that of the original building, and is largely unremarkable.

Public Gardens

While the front and sides of the building lack greenery, the back of the building, where the original construction and newer annexes form a sort of courtyard, a private garden was cultivated. Fed by a small canal bringing water from the nearby Nyos river, the garden is lush, filled with flowering fruit trees and exotic plants, many of which come from the jungles of Mahador. The canal ends at a small reservoir, from which the water is brought underground into a large cistern. Gravel and stone brick paths, lined with wooden benches, intricatly built water fountains, crafted by the most skilled stone mages, as well as statues of various Rayns, Arcans and Mages snake through the thick greenery, providing respite and calm to visitor of the temple.

Interior

Entrance
After entering through the heavy iron doors of the main entrance, a visitor must walk through a short, but tight passage, barely large enough for two people to pass shoulder to shoulder. At the end will be greated with a large entrance room with painted walls. Three paths branch off here.
Left path
The path to the left leads to the temple's original small library, and then to the much more recent and larger library as well as the study rooms, where future paran, arcan and rayns learn Solian theology. An access to the basement's extensive archives is located somewhere between the rows of dusty books and parchement, but only the local Arcan known its precise location.
Right Path
The right path leads to the Arcan's quarters, as well as a newer annex where students of the fate live during their time studying at the temple. There are rumours of a second access to the archives within the Arcan's private room, but of course, this has never been confirned.
Centre Path
Continuing straight ahead from the entrance leads to a much larger corridor, lined with collums made of white and pink granite, and tinted with lapis-lazuli accents. Ancient hieroglyphs, the ancestors to the modern Darnian alphabeth, are carved onto their surface, and recount many important historical events. After passing through here, guests finaly arrive at a large and high domed room, called the Sun Room, which contains a slightly elevated pool of water in its centre called the Sun Veil, as well as walls covered in various paintings depicting various episodes of Starfall, Veos and Hoben, as well as various animals, all under a large red sun, meant to be Saol.

Mh'ra of Hurys Floor Plan.png

by Ephraïm Boateng

History

Origins

The Mh'ra of Hurys is the world's oldest Solian temple today. Located in the even more ancient city of Hurys, in southern Darnia, it is estimated to have been built around 5000 years ago, before the first unification of Darnia, and when Hurys was not the capital of Darnia, but only one of many city-state along the Nyos river.

First Age and Long winter

The temple remained a very important holy site even as the much larger Great Temple of Solthar was built, and faired better against both foreign invasions, and The Long Winter. When the later ended, it remained standing and in relative good shape. In fact, unlike Solthar's temple, the Mh'ra of Hurys had remained in service throughout most of the Long winter.

Early Second Age

By the start of the Second Age, Solianism as a religion, had consolidated, and its faithful now only really worshiped and prayed to Saol. As a result, many temples in Hurys dedicated to old and now faithless gods, were abandoned and eventualy demolished. Many of the stones from those temples where used to expand the Mh'ra, as Saol grew ever more popular to worship, the temple needed to expand.

Middle and Late Second Age

However, in the following centuries, the city of Hurys began to lose its importance and declined in favour of Kalosanthar to the south. This resulted in a loss of population for the city and its temple became less and less frenquented. However, in 227, good new for the temple's future came in the form of a tragedy for Kalosanthar. The city's library, a centre of knowledge for the whole continent was set ablaze by members of the cult of Sokral. Fortunatly, many of the books stored in Kalosanthar's library had copies stored in the temple as well. Because of this, the temple basicaly became the de-facto centre of Solianic knowledge in Darnia. The Temple's arcan decided to embrase this role and transformed his temple, with the approval of the Rayn of Solthar, into a giant library and Archive.

Third Age

Over the following decades, and really ramping up after the Age of Chaos and into the Third Age, the Mh'ra of Hurys truly became a prominent institution of learning centered on Solianic theology, where future and current paran wishing to join the temples or ascend ranks in them go.

by Stormbril

Founding Date

Around 5000 years ago

Alternative Names

The Elder Temple

Type

Temple / Religious complex

Parent Location

City of Hurys

Owning Organization

Solianism