Aefus Gate
This monastery is a large complex comprising of the domestic quarters and workplaces of the warrior monks in The Steadfast Order. It includes a chapel reserved for prayer, dormitories, refectory, kitchen, library, balneary, and infirmary. All surrounding a cloister. It also has a hospice, school, barn, stable, forge, and brewery as exterior rooms. Surrounding it on three sides are granges where they grow apples, pears, and many other food stuffs to support their self-sufficient lifestyle.
The life of a clergyman knight is one of rigorous schedules, communal living, and self-sacrifice. Prayer and combat are their work and takes up much of their waking hours. Between these duties they are allowed to sit in the cloister and work on their own interests. Non-fighting clergy spend their down time writing, copying, or decorating books if they are scholarly. Otherwise, manual labor awaits them. They produce items for sale to help with the upkeep costs of the monastery.
Purpose / Function
Built by the Church of the Great Mother as a place of solitary prayer and contemplation, to house lay brothers and sisters, serfs, the parish community, visiting pilgrims, and dignitaries. It has since been co-opted by the Steadfast Order of knights that serves the church and protects the congregants. There are 24 clergymen knights in this order, all of whom have rooms in the dormitory. When their travels bring them home, they reside within these walls, and spend their days praying and training. There is room for the most senior commanders to lodge with them as well, the rest stay with their troops, encamped in the surrounding area.
Architecture
The whole structure is built of locally mined gray stone, cut into large blocks. The roof is lined with red clay tiles, formed from packed mud of the Uduntre riverbank. Furnished with local northern softwood couches, chairs, and tables. The floors above the ground level are made of imported southern hardwood. Adorned by wall tapestries that both decorate and insulate.
Defenses
Heavy stones were used in construction and offer a modicum of defense. Windows on the first floor are cross shaped arrow slits. The outer rooms, open to the public, do not connect to the interior. The only door that connects to the cloister, and all the interior rooms, is through the chapel. It is heavily fortified with added thick hardwood doors strapped with iron and a heavy iron portcullis that block the way to the barbican. A recent addition to the structure, it is designed to be a deadly obstacle course before the gatehouse, which is also new. The barbican is a thin enclosed passageway that juts out from the chapel to the gatehouse, to funnel attackers to the gate. Murder holes line the ceiling so defenders can drop rocks or bludgeon attackers with every step.
Tourism
Every year thousands of pilgrims come to this structure to view the majesty of the stained-glass windows in the chapel, the glory of the Gypsum stone bequeathed to the church by the gods, the Bella orchards that produce ritual wines and ciders, the Angietto that take the Steadfast into battle, the Fiends that patrol the grounds, and the cemeteries and ossuaries protected by Alfsir vessels. Many aspects of the faith can be seen in the flesh when visiting the monastery, if one is lucky.
Founding Date
1210/7A
Type
Monastery
Parent Location
Owning Organization
Related Traditions
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