Luciera's Temple in Bridgetown
Luciera's Temple in Bridgetown appears first to the many weary travelers entering the town through the eastern gate. Built both on the main thoroughfare and close to one of the gates in the city walls, the temple is easy to reach from both the countryside and within the town. The external structure of the building has some of the same characteristics shared by all temples devoted to the Lady of Light, but secondary rooms and dormitories for the sick have been added in the back of the building.
The Building
The temple is separated from the main road by a simple ungated fence, with a small path quickly leading to the large circular prayer room, and a secondary path leading to the waiting area in the garden.
The main entrance to the temple leads to a circle-shaped prayer room. Two weaved straw baskets stand near the main entrance to the room, one on the right and one on the left of a large dark brown double door, and contain the spontaneous offerings that people often bring to the temple. On the outside, this first part of the structure is made of light colored wood, with tones ranging from cream to almost white, depending on wood and sunlight reflections. This cylindrical structure is topped by a dome of warmer and darker wood, with roof windows and glass panels arranged so that sunlight always shines in the middle of the room throughout the day. Inside the circular praying room the ground is covered by a grey stone pavement, again with lightly colored circular wooden walls. Several simple wooden benches are arranged in a circle around the white marble altar, located exactly in the middle of the room. On the altar, perpetually under sunlight, stands a small statue of Luciera, a common site in any temple of the goddess. The statue, a pyramid with seven beams protrusions diffusing from its apex, seems made of wood, with these rectangular structures representing the colors that first came with light through The Breach of Chaos, painted in the seven tones of the rainbow. On the opposite side of the main door there is another door that leads to the area where the sick and wounded are tended to and to the clerics' chambers. This door opens on a rectangular room with several beds on both sides, separated from each other by wooden false walls. There are few windows, with simple tables in front of them and small discolored curtains to shut off the light. On the far side of the room there is a a desk for preparation of alchemical medicines with several tools on it, including a mortar and pestle and a bronze censer. Near the desk are a number of shelves contain herbs, small wooden figurines and tiny clay pots filled with dense and dark liquids. Above this alchemical station hang several dried or drying branches and leaves, that make the whole room smell like resin and herbal medicine. A stone fireplace can give the room a comfortable temperature.
On the far right of this rectangular room a small door connects this hospital area with the chambers of the priests, nothing more than modest rooms with simple bed, one wooden table and a couple of chairs. The followers of the goddess also share a washing area consisting of a big metallic pot to be filled with water and a kitchen, with a separate fireplace, some wooden counters and a rectangular table. Here, the priests cook food for both themselves and the other temporary inhabitants of the temple.
One more room is connected to these chambers, and that is the place where people in life threatening conditions are kept. In this room, similar to the first, there are however fewer beds than in the general hospital. Healing herbs are also kept to dry, but the stench of dried blood and body fluids overpowers everything else. Instead of a wooden desk with alchemical supplies, near the entrance door there is a table where several surgical tools are kept under a plain yellowish cloth, ready to be used in the most extreme of cases.
The arrangement of the three rectangular rooms, bended by 90° like three sides of a square, leaves a small area empty in the middle, which is used as a small private garden where visitors of the temple can go and people visiting patients can wait.
The Building
The temple is separated from the main road by a simple ungated fence, with a small path quickly leading to the large circular prayer room, and a secondary path leading to the waiting area in the garden.
The main entrance to the temple leads to a circle-shaped prayer room. Two weaved straw baskets stand near the main entrance to the room, one on the right and one on the left of a large dark brown double door, and contain the spontaneous offerings that people often bring to the temple. On the outside, this first part of the structure is made of light colored wood, with tones ranging from cream to almost white, depending on wood and sunlight reflections. This cylindrical structure is topped by a dome of warmer and darker wood, with roof windows and glass panels arranged so that sunlight always shines in the middle of the room throughout the day. Inside the circular praying room the ground is covered by a grey stone pavement, again with lightly colored circular wooden walls. Several simple wooden benches are arranged in a circle around the white marble altar, located exactly in the middle of the room. On the altar, perpetually under sunlight, stands a small statue of Luciera, a common site in any temple of the goddess. The statue, a pyramid with seven beams protrusions diffusing from its apex, seems made of wood, with these rectangular structures representing the colors that first came with light through The Breach of Chaos, painted in the seven tones of the rainbow. On the opposite side of the main door there is another door that leads to the area where the sick and wounded are tended to and to the clerics' chambers. This door opens on a rectangular room with several beds on both sides, separated from each other by wooden false walls. There are few windows, with simple tables in front of them and small discolored curtains to shut off the light. On the far side of the room there is a a desk for preparation of alchemical medicines with several tools on it, including a mortar and pestle and a bronze censer. Near the desk are a number of shelves contain herbs, small wooden figurines and tiny clay pots filled with dense and dark liquids. Above this alchemical station hang several dried or drying branches and leaves, that make the whole room smell like resin and herbal medicine. A stone fireplace can give the room a comfortable temperature.
On the far right of this rectangular room a small door connects this hospital area with the chambers of the priests, nothing more than modest rooms with simple bed, one wooden table and a couple of chairs. The followers of the goddess also share a washing area consisting of a big metallic pot to be filled with water and a kitchen, with a separate fireplace, some wooden counters and a rectangular table. Here, the priests cook food for both themselves and the other temporary inhabitants of the temple.
One more room is connected to these chambers, and that is the place where people in life threatening conditions are kept. In this room, similar to the first, there are however fewer beds than in the general hospital. Healing herbs are also kept to dry, but the stench of dried blood and body fluids overpowers everything else. Instead of a wooden desk with alchemical supplies, near the entrance door there is a table where several surgical tools are kept under a plain yellowish cloth, ready to be used in the most extreme of cases.
The arrangement of the three rectangular rooms, bended by 90° like three sides of a square, leaves a small area empty in the middle, which is used as a small private garden where visitors of the temple can go and people visiting patients can wait.
Purpose / Function
Luciera is considered the goddess of healing, and sometimes even life, in all Western-Humans cultures. Because of this, her temples in the western continent have both religious meaning and the practical purpose of healing the sick and wounded of their area. In fact, in the Enverdoon Kingdom Luciera's priests are expertly trained in both healing magic, thanks to their connection to their divine, and healing alchemy, which they see as an extension of their task. While in cities and large towns there can be small apothecaries and private medics, often at the service of the richest and most influential people of the area, smaller centers rely heavily on Luciera's temples for any type of sickness, disease or wound.
Ghorugo: half-orc in his 50s, deep warm voice, tends to the temple since roughly 20 years.
Almost 2m tall and of slender but robust build, his skin is a tint between green and grey. His two upper canines come out of his mouth downward, and he has a slight underbite. He shaves his head but has a rich brown curly beard.
He was left in front of Luciera's temple in Sidewind and raised by its clerics, and came to assist the former priest of the temple of Bridgetown at 22 years old.
He is caring but energetic, doesn't know much theology but is an expert of alchemy. He knows some healing magic but relies more on alchemy and prayers.
Willa Stonebone: The dwarven apprentice of Ghorugo, she is in her human early 30s. She is 1.20m, has blonde hair tied in a single braid resting on her left shoulder and deep green eyes.
She comes from a village in the Bridgetown countryside, from a numerous family of dwarves that originally moved outside Whitefist a couple centuries ago.
She is kind and extremely patient, and knows a great deal on divine magic.
Almost 2m tall and of slender but robust build, his skin is a tint between green and grey. His two upper canines come out of his mouth downward, and he has a slight underbite. He shaves his head but has a rich brown curly beard.
He was left in front of Luciera's temple in Sidewind and raised by its clerics, and came to assist the former priest of the temple of Bridgetown at 22 years old.
He is caring but energetic, doesn't know much theology but is an expert of alchemy. He knows some healing magic but relies more on alchemy and prayers.
Willa Stonebone: The dwarven apprentice of Ghorugo, she is in her human early 30s. She is 1.20m, has blonde hair tied in a single braid resting on her left shoulder and deep green eyes.
She comes from a village in the Bridgetown countryside, from a numerous family of dwarves that originally moved outside Whitefist a couple centuries ago.
She is kind and extremely patient, and knows a great deal on divine magic.
Type
Temple / Church
Parent Location
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