The Crystal Temple

House of the Crystal Oath

The Crystal Temple is a large ancient-ice structure built by the Crystal Goddess Ravnath, Mother of Balance and Order, for her Crystalbound followers to live, cultivate and practise their Oath Rituals in. The Temple is located in the Nzaxus Fields (Solikax) in Upperland Koreph - the coldest climate in all of Kobadiya, where the bitter temperatures and aggressive icestorms would kill off anyone not belonging to either the Snow People (zelkephics, garshians and ice-belvians) or the Crystal Oath. Due to this, the Crystal Temple remains only of two Solitary Structures, along with its polar opposite: the Solar Temple, as decreed by the Kobadiyan Council (and backed by the High Council) because of the danger of death visiting it would risk. The Crystal Temple and the Solar Temple once shared the Solitary title with the old Phantom Temple, but after its rebirth as the Shadow Temple, it no longer poses a threat to life like the other two Temples do.
The Crystal Temple is the smallest and most compact of the eight Sacred Temples, as cycles upon cycles of freezing temperatures escaping the Temple caused the underground Nzaxus Shrines to become frozen under a thick lake of ice, where nobody can get to them.
The Great Crystal Library is kept in held in the Temple and showcases every single type of crystal charge. Some crystals are available to the public to rent or use in grounds, and some are just there to be looked at behind protective glass. Demonstrations and tours are held in the Library, as well as many books on subjects like charging, history, science etc and practise rooms. The Great Crystal Library is a cultural focal point for Koreph and helps keep a lot of people sheltered and employed.
The Crystal University, as well as being the leading educational house for the studies behind crystals and charging, also leads in mining, environmental sciences and weather protection.

Purpose / Function

Like all of the Temples, the Crystal Temple serves as a place of worship for the Crystalbound, and provides housing, education, enrichment, facilities and other things to guarantee its inhabitants and visitors a good quality of life. It also holds courtrooms for political affairs, though they are seldom used for outside visitors. Additional exclusive facilities of the Temple include its large gardens devoted solely to mejaki trees - very small trees with edible leaves that grow only in cold conditions, and its salt caves, where visitors can take as much as they need for free (and the Land Council can trade the produce with other Lands) and of course the Library & Gallery and the University. Koreph is Kobadiya’s lead trader in minerals, and the sole trader in mejaki leaves thanks to the Crystal Temple.

Alterations

The Crystal Oath, unlike the Solar Oath and the Shadow Oath, received it’s first change after the Unity War, with the establishment of Guardians. Therefore, the only major and instant change to The Crystal Temple was the addition of Krovia the Crystal Guardian’s sleeping quarters, a new High Court and the University.
Although it could be argued that the slow process of the Nzaxus Shrines freezing over was an eventual alteration.

Architecture

The Temple’s structure is built purely out of ice built by the hands of the loving Mother Ravnath, so even if Koreph’s heartland was warm enough to melt ice, there is no worry that the Temple will melt, as their powerful Goddess would never allow that to happen. The main colour schemes of the building is a blend of blues, white and purple from the unak tenjya trees. The patterns and designs of the Temple were hand-carved by ancient devouts, who seemed to favour the intricate art of stiporag - which involves creating patterns that form a narrative of a story. The devouts may have based their patterns on ancient legends or true stories, nobody is sure because stiporag patterns are often purposely vague and open to interpretation.

Alternative Names

During the Unity War, where the long standing hatred between Koreph and Arokei was at its highest, a group of Twinbound Aroke from the Brightrunner Tribe named the Crystal Temple the ‘Death Temple’ due to its mortality rate, but this is considered deeply

Type

Temple / Religious complex