The Altar of the Evening

History

Varas, the First Apostle of the Church of the Broken Sun, had a difficult journey while attempting to find a suitable location for his Altar of the Evening, but without even trying he stumbled upon a temple in Kumari completely abandoned. He assumed perhaps it had been used by the Priests prior to Ra's arrival, but the architecture didn't match. He searched the temple high and low to try to find out where it had come from or why it was abandoned. He stayed for one whole year, awaiting the return of the inhabitants, but no one ever came. At this point he decided that such a grand cathedral should not go unused and took it upon himself to make it his new Altar.
The past of the Altar has continued to be entrenched in mystery to this day. None of the stone work can be placed as matching any architectural style known to the planet, either native nor Atlantean. Further more, some of the building's materials also seem out of place. Many of the floors and walls are composed of ebony and obsidian, neither of which can be found naturally for hundreds of miles around the temple. However, most curious is the oily black stone that permeates the entire structure. Not only is not native to the area surrounding the Altar, but the stone has not been found to occur naturally on any known location on the planet.  
As the centuries passed, the Altar grew. Not in size as the complex was already massive, but in both the permanent population as well as how filled out the temple became. Given its location near the Manuxet Sea, the temple was able to trade leathers for food and other supplies, meaning that they were able to survive the brutal climate even with the growing population.
For the last several decades, the Altar of the Evening has been watched over by the current Apostle of the Evening, a human woman named Annalucia Nox. During her tenure the Altar has been relatively peaceful, with limited interruptions by Ra's forces.

Description

The temple consists of one large building that extends both into the sky and under the ground. The main central room is open on all sides thanks to the massive open doors on the four main walls. While three of them face the snowy landscape, the fourth faces the sea and as such it is not unusual for the sounds and smells to pervade the entire temple. At the center of the main floor is the original flame, said to be originally fed by Varas on his maiden journey around the planet to find his altar. It is the only light and heat source in the room, causing the shadows and cold to drift and warp the surroundings.
The top of the tower consists of a single room and a brazier second only in size to the central flame. The room belongs to the governing Apostle, in this case Annalucia Nox. It is a small room, but the Apostle does spend a great deal of time there, reportedly in deep prayer when she is not writing. The large brazier above her room provides all the heat and light that she needs, but it serves a secondary function. By sheer size alone, the Altar of the Morning is the largest lighthouse on the planet.
The majority of the tower and its residents live in the underground portions of the Altar. With many luster stones and fires in addition to the natural insulation, the underground is practically toasty compared to the floors above. The underground contains a large library consisting of many philosophical and religious texts written by the church over the years. Free thought it encouraged, even if it may border of heretical. This is also where the lodgings for both the followers and guests are, though with it all being communal, there is little room for privacy.

Type

Temple / Religious complex

Parent Location

Manuxet Sea

Owning Organization

The Church of the Broken Sun

Characters in Location

• Annalucia Nox