The Hierophant's First Temple

Introduction

The Hierophant's First Temple was the first great temple built by The Holy Church of Mankind's Redemption in its early years, before the Occultation of the Hierophant. It was built on the foundations of, and incorporated features of, a pre-Fall temple that stood on a hill overlooking Three Sisters — then still known as The Three-fold City.

Beginnings

The Hierophant — then still known as The Prophet — arrived in the settlement that was to become Three Sisters in 301. As the Scholars gathered around him, the small group built themselves dwellings on a low hill outside King’s Town and the Market. At its summit was a ruined pre-Fall temple, which the Hierophant and the Twenty Scholars occupied and rebuilt. Legend has it that the building was purchased from its previous occupant for the sum of three jugs of wine and a sword forged of iron.
It had been a grand building, formerly a temple of the Eightfold Divinities. It was originally octagonal in plan, with alcoves that housed chapels to each of the Principal and Cardinal Divinities. When the Hierophant occupied it, the dome had collapsed, and the chapels had been looted. Nonetheless it was a magnificent edifice, and suited to the Hierophant’s purpose. He ordered the alcoves emptied of all reminders of the previous old gods that remained, and the construction of a new altar hewn of marble chased with bronze and porphyry, with chalcedony and with gold. Behind the altar was his chair – simply-made of cedar and ebony, and without adornment.
The southern alcove was turned into a portico, with a pair of great ebony and oak doors bound in bronze. Before the entrance was built a colonnade connected by trellis-work of cedar, which over time became over-grown with vines bearing succulent fruit.
Outside the entrance, to the west of the colonnade, was a crescent-shaped stone formation which formed a sort of natural amphitheatre, and it was in this that the Twenty Scholars came to hold their public discourses. By 340, this stone formation had been carved into an actual amphitheatre, with several rows of seats that would allow those attending these lectures to sit comfortably.
Nearby, one of the scholars, who was Nuratum the Architect, had built a number of dormitories, offices, clerical buildings, and smaller chapels, to serve as the administrative headquarters of the nascent religion. I played this role until the headquarters of the Church were relocated to the temple-city at Zarathenis.

Expansion

By 344, as the number of adherents to the Hierophant’s teachings grew, it became clear that the temple would need to be enlarged. However the Hierophant, eschewing things of material value, did not have the funds to build a larger temple. And so the Scholars began to collect money from the adherents, and from money-lenders, and one of the Scholars, whose name was Nuratum, and who was an architect and a stonemason, began to draw up plans for a much larger building. But these things took time.
In the meanwhile, the Scholars continued to hold their debates in the amphitheatre, and the attendant Scribes compiled their Transcripts and Concordances. In time, as the body of work grew, a library was established nearby. Before a building could be built, the codices were kept in a network of caves and passages which were found underneath the temple.
Between 344 and 350, the Hierophant undertook several journeys, to bring his revelations and his Scholars’ teachings to the holy men of the Old Gods, who at this time were still deep in debate about how to regain the knowledge and the gods they had lost. During these Journeys, Nuratum began the construction of the second temple, the Hierophanterium near Pòran.

The Occultation and the Conclave

When the Hierophant became hidden from view in 360, the Twenty Scholars and the Seven High Priests convened in Zarathenis, and founded the Holy Church of Mankind’s Redemption. The Magisters remained in Zarathenis for a time, then began to expand the Church’s influence. During this period, around the year 362, Nuratum returned to Three Sisters in order to continue with her life’s work: the Temple of the Hierophant. She maintained personal correspondence with a number of the Twenty Scholars, and built up cordial relationship with Temple University.
When the temple grew into the form it would have for the next number of centuries, the old Scholars’ Amphitheatre had come to be enclosed in a large courtyard built for the purpose, effectively enlarging the amphitheatre, and providing space within and underneath for the University to occupy; there was even a platform that protruded from the new Temple that occupied the same space as the original speakers’ podium, which permitted a Magister to lecture and preach to a large congregation.

Post-Scholar

After the deaths of the original Scholars, the Amphitheatre fell somewhat out of use from its original purpose; however it acquired a ceremonial role: this was where those who obtained academic titles at the University would be consecrated and anointed in these titles; and this, too, was where the Monarch of Ossiria would henceforth be anointed, before they could be crowned.
In time the Amphitheatre became a place of pilgrimage, especially to those with scholarly ambitions, but also to those faithful travelling to or through Three Sisters. To listen to a sermon based on one of the Twenty Scholars’ Discussions was to proceed far along the path to redemption, as commanded by the Church.

Founding Date

301

Alternative Names

The First Temple, Three-Sisters Cathedral, The First Magisterium

Type

Cathedral / Great temple

Parent Location

Three Sisters

Owning Organization

The Holy Church of Mankind's Redemption