Chancel

Purpose / Function

Chancels are the places of worship for the god Boritha Knurla where prayer and other societal events take place. The Ushmâr and Untah who are the religious leaders in the faith lived on site in rooms located behind the main temple.

Design

Upon entering a chancel, visitors will see a large rounded room that slowly descends in the middle of the room almost like an amphitheater. In the center of the room is a rounded alter where religious relics are placed during prayer and a cloth to cover the top. During sermons Ushmâr walk around the center as he preaches, giving everyone a 360 view of him, and it represent he has no treasures or gold to hide from him. Visitors surround the altar by sitting on carved seats with back on them and cultural practice is to sit on these hard stone to be reminded that life is hard, difficult, and may sometimes feel cold. However as the sermons or rituals continue, faith and community help the visitor forget how uncomfortable they are. The exceptions to this rule are of course the elderly and lame who may bring their own cushions or have one provided by Untah or female cleric.
Opposite or away from the main entrance are others doors leading to the rest of the temple including the bedrooms, kitchens, watercloset/ washing room, and other habital areas for the Untah and Ushmâr who reside there. Another main room is the vault storing gold and other values of the chancel. A good many of gold/ gem related relics adorn the walls or ceiling because theft in Boritha Knurla's domain is a high sin. It openly invites the foolish thief to tempt fate and take a object without much difficulty or security. Even so, gold and some valuables remain in the vault because a portion of the wealth is to go back to the community in one way or another.

Entries

One main entrance exists for visitors and if the chancel is above ground windows will dot along the sides. At night when services are complete, the front door is locked and depending on the location of the chancel magical barriers or detection spells reinforce security at night. Above ground chancels often have a door behind the building to allow merchants to drop off goods and food for the Ushmâr and Untah. For mountain city chancels two different tunnel systems will have been carved relatively behind the structure with one tunnel leading down and another heading up. Depending on the emergency situation those escaping the threat take one or both these tunnels such as for fire escapees will head down or in case of flood, head up to escape rising waters.

Architecture

The construction and architecture of chancels are unique because whether located above ground or found in a city mountain chancels are carved from rock. In a city mountain, a rock wall will be measured and tested for stability. If ready the plans are drawn up in such a manner that nothing is built of the structure without wood or loose stones. Each pillar, doorway, arch, and the altar is carved from the rock with significant detail and into beautiful patterns. Aside from furniture and doors, these are the elements of wood used inside.
Regarding chancels above ground, architectures might call upon druids or wizards to press stone and rock together until it is the size sought. From there the structure is carved out like their mountain city cousins with the added addition of windows and glass for the windows. The chancels are often decorated in the color schemes of golds, yellows, reds, and oranges. Such colors represent wealth, the fire stolen from Boritha Knurla, and to represent that earning and spending coin is not a cold act without emotion.

Type

Temple / Church

Owning Organization

Stettad Udos