Chapel of Red Glass
The Chapel of Red Glass
Headquarters of the Order of Saint Hieronymus
Location: The Rock — the fortified island in the center of the River Stir.
“Between the living and the damned, there flows only judgment.”
The Chapel of Red Glass stands upon The Rock, a solitary isle locked in the current of the River Stir, its blackened spire visible from nearly every district of Mordheim. Once home to a pre-comet pleasure garden for Count Steinhardt’s courtly excesses, the island was obliterated in the cataclysm. What grew in its place is no garden—but a sanctum of ash, fire, and absolution.
This is where the Order of Saint Hieronymus established its dominion—not over a district, but over the very threshold of the city. From this sacred redoubt, they judge all who pass. To cross a bridge over the River Stir is to risk their gaze. To sail upon its waters is to drift beneath their banners.
The Order calls this chapel “The Wound in the Water.” Outsiders simply call it the last place you want to be taken if you're still breathing.
Strategic Importance
- Guards all three major bridges: West (Artisan Quarter), Central (Amman Bridge), and East (Temple of Sigmar).
- Controls river traffic, pilgrim crossings, and mercenary movement between districts.
- Forms a symbolic divide between the fractured city and the corrupted Pit.
- Can quickly dispatch judgment patrols in all directions, giving them unmatched reach.
Architecture & Structure
- Red-glassed Spire: Rises from the center of the island, visible even from the ruined rooftops of the Poor Quarter. Its stained-glass windows glow without sun, sometimes pulsing to an unseen rhythm.
- Bridgeward Bastions: Fortified towers on each of the three bridges, manned by torch-bearing Justicars, who interrogate, inspect, or punish passersby.
- Judgment Hall: The massive inner nave where warbands are judged, condemned, or (rarely) absolved.
- Flood Crypts: Subterranean dungeons that flood with river water when heretics are sentenced to “drowning beneath the Eye.”
- River Gate: An iron-grated waterlock where boats are searched, purified, or sunk.
Rumors & Secrets
- Some say a Repentant walked across the water once, knelt before the chapel—and then turned and vanished.
- The red glass is not stained, but soaked—made from sand and the blood of traitors burned in the first days of the Order’s rise.
- Beneath the altar lies the relic-sarcophagus of Saint Hieronymus, though none are permitted to see it—not even High Judicator Holt.
- River rats never swim near the island. Something below pulls them down.
Influence on Gameplay
- Warbands crossing bridges may be halted, taxed, or judged by the Order—unless they hold a signed Letter of Mercy.
- Some missions may involve smuggling wyrdstone past Order watchmen or bribing a lesser Justicar.
- Warbands that have aided the Order may receive blessings, relics, or military escort through hostile zones.
- Occasionally, a Judgment Procession may leave the island, dragging chained captives through the city en route to The Pit.
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