High House of Wonders

The High House of Wonders, or the High House of Gond, was a grand temple to Gond, located in the city of Baldur's Gate. It was an expansive series of workshops, within which the Gondar priests created a variety of experimental devices and machinations for the Baldurian people. Baldurian priests of Gond were given exceptional patronage by Baldurian officials, as their innovations were highly demanded throughout the city.

Location

The temple was located in the Temples district of the The Upper City, adjacent to the Hall of Wonders museum.

Structure

The High House was built of white marble, and featured a number of columns that made it stand out among the surrounding Baldurian architecture. It was the largest temple in Baldur's Gate. Its great bronze doors appeared as if they were floating above the ground and rang to signal every hour. In fact, the doors were suspended by an intricate pulley system that involved a series of weights and the chimes were placed within the door-slabs.

Interior

Each wing of the High House was devoted to a specific type of craftsmanship or scholarly pursuit. Within its halls, the temple housed a number of grand items including full-scale ships, siege weapons and a collection of unique inventions. Many marvelous inventions were displayed in the halls of the House of Wonders, including gnomish mechanisms of Baldric's Brilliant Blamblower and Gurn's Great Gnomeflinger.

Activities

Within the temple, the Gondsmen engaged in all manner of "holy labor". They designed new machinery, improved old designs and manufactured the devices sold in the Hall of Wonders. The temple also produced bards of heavy untempered bronze available for sale. Like other temples in the city, they offered healing and magical services, though often sometimes a bit begrudgingly so. Priests did leave the temple to carry out repairs on structures, mechanical devices, waterways or wheel-powered cranes throughout the city.

Inhabitants

As of the late—14th century DR, the temple was run by High Artificer Thalamond Albaier with the help of twenty-one priests. By the following century, the clergy had grown to over 100 priests and acolytes. Perhaps most notably, the temple was once led by Duke Torlin Silvershield. For many years the High Artificer was a celebrated statesman and head priest, before he was revealed to be one of the city's most reviled villains. Some years later, Thaura Brinn served as High Artificer of the Gond's High House in Baldur's Gate. Some of her beliefs regarding arcana were considered too extreme for official publication by the Gondar church, and she was forced to espouse them in outsider publications.