Temples of Lenmare

Oh Lenmare, accept our humble offerings to your eternal wisdom and kindness. Let these temples be your home in the realm of men and in turn let us be welcomed into your arms in death. Let us make them a reflection of your patience, your law, and your boundless virtue, for you expect nothing less of them. Let us be judged, but please, oh Lenmare, let us be judged to have honoured your image, for you are all we seek to emulate, all we wish we were, and all that the universe could be. Thank you, oh Lenmare.

Purpose / Function

The main purpose of temples is as a place of worship, but often more things are done than simply worship, especially when dealing with religions of this size. Temples of Lenmare in particular have a few key uses, the first of which is obviously worship. Secondly many temples of Lenmare are used as homes for priests and the poor worshippers of Lenmare who have nowhere else to go. Thirdly they are used to observe the moon and sky, and the best astronomers are priests of Lenmare. Many are also built with a treasury with space for important artifacts of the cities and of Lenmare and the other lawful gods.

Architecture

Temples of Lenmare are usually built of stone and other materials of the earth. All these temples have a large first floor with an emphasis on curvature on the walls. There is an entryway in the front or the building (usually more wide than long) which leads into a prayer hall, consisting of rows of pedestals all with copies of the Lenmarede atop them and a chair in front of them. At the far end to the room there is a clear window, elevated 7 feet or so which goes up 2-4 stories and faces the direction of the rising moon. Several rooms can be reached from the main prayer hall, including the living quarters and the vault from within those, the way upstairs which has some rooms for further prayer and an observatory at the top, and a room lined with statues of all the lawful gods with one of Lenmare in the centre. thesis statues are places of humble prayer for the Gods that do not have temples, and merely an acknowledgment for those who do. The floors above the first grow smaller in area, keeping only the moon view window and back wall as it was on the first floor. By the fifth floor it is a tower and atop the tower, on the tenth floor, there is the observatory.

History

Temples did not exist until the Age of Prosperity, and the first temple of Lenmare, built directly across from the first temple of Senmare, was in Edo at around 300 AC. The original temple later became the standard as more were built. Around the end of the Age of Prosperity small towns began to make smaller temples which were at first thought to be heresy but were later accepted.

Alternative Names

Moon Towers

Type

Temple / Religious complex