Wien Monastery - The Order of St Boethius
Wien Monastery is on the same grounds of the Wien Cathedral, and has a set of roughly 15 monks. It has a brewery and a library / study attached. The monks regularly have their religious services in the cathedral at different times, and help out with the regular services on a daily basis as part of their routines. They also have a network of laypeople & such like helping out where they can't do a job by themselves. Each monk does have a job to carry out in and around the property. The monastery can hold 30 people but they use the unused rooms by renting them out to travellers, or for helping with the sick. Storage rooms are found on each of it's three floors, and the bed rooms / cloister (or cells) are found on the 1st & 2nd floors, and the ground floor is split into a kitchen, and a meeting room for chores, religious duties, or general duties. There are a set of stores below the kitchen, primarily for storage of food & drink. Small stables are attached. The brewery is attached to one end and able to produce up to three barrels worth of beer a week, and supplies many local taverns & public houses.
The library / study is heavily built and attached by a small walkway to the monastery itself. It contains piles of vellum, papyrus (imported from Egypt), quills, paint brushes, inks, and paints. Bindings, thin wooden frames, and leather (along with tools for leather binding & carving) are kept in here along with a large selection of precious books. A few of the ink & paint supplies are also extremely expensive due to the material and/or production methods used. Many of the books are extremely rare and a minority are potentially dangerous. A few are magical in nature, and copied before being the original are sent on to the Vatican City. These books contain anything involving actual spells, to treatise on different spiritual creatures & matters, along with interviews with these creatures & people who have dealt with them. Copies of details involving possession & exorcism also exist here. Sometimes lesser copies are sold to make a few more coins for the faithful. There are also scrolls concerning the religions of other citizens of Wien, and correspondence between the clergy of each faith. The building has windows made of toughened glass that can be opened, and the building is squat in appearance, being made of hard stone blocks, and thick heavy doors that require two locks to open.
On rare occasions, clerics of other religions can be found in the monastery. They are usually there for business, and the monks act as go-betweens for them and the Roman Catholic church. The clerics usually aren't allowed in the cathedral unless in the most direst circumstances. They also supply information to the monks, and vice versa. A few will also help with the brewing, and adding or withdrawing information from the library. It acts as a safe house for this information, and what many don't know is the monks act as bankers for the local community when there are no other options, taking a cut for the privilege and hiding any amassed gold or treasure in a locked hidden & trapped room below the library. They sometimes pass part of this to the Vatican on a yearly basis, and using some to both maintain the cathedral & their own holdings. This also contains magical items that they do not like to part ways with unless absolutely necessary. For the latter they have lists & codices of any item they have, along with notes on the items. With this they are adept at working out the properties of many such items, given time.
There is usually a number of local militia in and around this part of the cathedral grounds, and one or two more in the general vicinity to respond to any threat to the monastery. Also, their name derives from St Boethius who died in 524 AD, and a patron Saint of Philosophy, and author of the influential book The Consolation of Philosophy.
Type
Monastery
Parent Location
Ruling/Owning Rank
Owning Organization
Related Plots
Comments