The Ruins of Serebjer

What was once a luscious plains is now a wasteland and around the ruined temple, the ground is black as the stone it was built from. The air is stained with the stench of death and even the light of the sun is dimmed. the packed earth trail that leads to the temple is cracked and torn until it looks as though it was ripped from the ground. sculpted pillars lay scattered across the courtyard, but don't seem to have worn down. Twisted faces howl in eternal agony and pieces of skeletal wings have broken off. The door of the temple lays where it fell, a great fissure through the carving of a triumphant Sereb.

Inside the temple, the great domed roof has collapsed into pieces, still brightly colored as if painted only yesterday. the altar, with blood-stained grooves is the only piece still intact and the dark magic that built the temple is strongest here. Should the errant traveler step too near the altar, he will find himself giving in to the darker impulses, a need to kill soaking deep into his soul. If he cannot fight the urge to kill, he will eventually become a Shahira, a dark soul whose only reason for existence is to kill.

Purpose / Function

The ruins were once a place of Worship to the Fallen Guardian, Shahar'an, or Sereb, which means "the lost one" in Melekite.

Alterations

The once beautifully twisted temple is now in ruins, pillars broken and scattered, the main dome has fallen in on itself, and the sculptures have toppled.

Architecture

The temple was built of stone that was magically carved, daubed with mud and painted white. The ceiling was a vaulted dome, with pillars sculpted in the images of the fallen Guardians, twisted, grotesque faces with skeletal wings and tattered robes.

History

After the Heavenly War (see The Creation of Magic ), the ten gifted who did not help the Guardians who fell, injured, to the earth decided that they preferred Shahar'an to Elyon and defied the King of Guardians. Elyon exiled them from the paradise of Eirena and sent them south to the plains now known as the desert of Meleki. They used their magic to build a glorious temple to the Guardian they renamed Sereb, but the magic they used was tainted. No matter how beautifully they tried to make the temple, it created twisted images and the ground around it died.

Eventually, the foulness of the magic corrupted those who lived there, slowly turning them into Shahira, evil spirits who exist only to kill and corrupt. They spread into the nearby village, decimating it within days. The survivors of the corruption, those who did not easily give in to the urge to destroy, fled to the palace at Ensou and beseeched the Faron for help. The Faron in turn, sent for the sorcerers of Eirena to purify the temple.

The sorcerers tried for weeks to cleanse the temple of its darkness, but could only contain it within the grounds of the temple. The darkness fought back, corrupting two of the ten sorcerers, who had to be killed by their comrades. The spirits of the two now stalk the ruins, luring victims to their corruption.

RUINED STRUCTURE
583 CE

Type

Temple / Religious complex