The Holy City of Ithebes

The Holy City, Ithebes, although most often just described as the Holy City. It has stood for thousands of years, once built to worship the gods who walked on Mt Sarysi, and then when the mountain became inhospitable to mortals, it became the true centre of the temples worshipping the Golden Throne.  Over the centuries, it has remained the centre of the Throne temples, although increasingly there is a pull from Kharasaki, who often prioritise their own temple leaders. It is a vast city, sprawling over the hills around the bay, often onto the water itself, and on the high cliffs around. You can walk for six hours and still not reach the other side of the city. Most of the city itself is made up of temples, split into "temple quarters", but there are also small churches and shrines elsewhere. "If you can think of it, there's a church for it in Ithebes", the phrase goes. Throughout the city, on tall pillars, there are many golden thrones that shine daylight constantly in the sky. It keeps it perpetually daylight, to replicate basking in the light of the gods. Only on key festivals is the city plunged into utter darkness. Those who are born and grow up in the Holy City often develop "candle eye", a nickname for the changes that the light brings: usually this means tiny pupils, and more darker and richer colours of the irises.

Structure

The Ecclessiarchy The Holy City is a collection of the High Temples of the Golden Throne, led by the Ecclesiarchy, a Council formed from the High Priests of each of the temples to Illiaern, Asaldine, Farasta, Gardaran and Ephras. The Ecclesiarchy chooses a Voice from their number, to give their shared positions publicly, whose identity is always unknown.
The Temporal Ministers The Ecclesiarchy will choose Temporal Ministers to govern the main issues facing the city, whilst the Ecclesiarchy deals with major world issues. Each temple has jurisdiction over its own complexes, and they share responsibility for the roads throughout the city.
The Practicals The Practicals are responsible for the administration of the rest of the Holy City, as well as implementing the decisions made by the Temporal Ministers. They are a huge organisation, with thousands of clerks and administrators needed to process and guide through the contradictory temple laws whilst also making it easy for merchants, adventurers and travellers who visit to not fall foul of differences between temple quarters. Second only to the complexity of rules and laws in Kharasaki, "Ithebean" complexity is used to describe maddening processes to follow. 
Leadstone Guard Throughout the Holy City, except in temple quarters, the Leadstone Guard keep order. They deliberately choose the dullest of metals, and unadorned stone, as their symbols, to enforce strict neutrality between faiths. They bear enchantments to keep their faces looking the same as their original founder some thousand years ago, and they do not give their names in public, only referring to rank and number. They are constables, sergeant, inspector, chief inspector, superintendent, chief superintendent, chief constable, and commissioner.

Culture

There are some specific cultural touchpoints for the Holy City:

• Perpetual Daylight, Perpetual Worship
This is the hardest thing for more visitors to get used to. In the temples, the light is constant, and throughout the city. Also, choirs sing throughout the city every minute of every hour of every day, again except for some specific festivals and celebrations. As a result, the visitors who are not religious, stay in taverns and guesthouses which create artificial darkness, and people are often sold cloths for their eyes to cope with the midday glare that faces them all day. In most temples, people sleep in shifts, and although darkness is not permitted in most temples, eye covers are encouraged to enable sleep. 
• Blasphemies
It is very easy for casual visitors to the city to inevitably cause a disturbance with the faith-based laws, and blasphemy is the most common crime committed. The Practicals have developed a helpful approach, so that the divine rules don't completely stifle trade and diplomacy. Three warnings are given and even when broken, a short penance is given, usually a donation for one of the many candle-fonts. Only active, deliberate and rude blasphemy is treated as a punishable crime, or repeat and consistent minor offences.
• Candles and Incense
The Holy City is filled with candles and incense. The smoke from incense fills the streets, as does the wafting aroma of wax candles. Again, visitors are encouraged to avail themselves of scarves to help them breathe more easily. Zones of clean air are maintained for the elderly and sick, but again the smoke and flame offered in constant worship to the gods is seen as the purpose of this city. No city anywhere in the world has mastered the art of waxwork as finely as the Holy City. The chandlers are incredible artisans, and at the highest holidays particularly Midwinter, they hold the Flickering Festival, where chandlers make complex art with wax. Some chandlers will create lifesize replicas of the gods, others dioramas of holy scenes or battles. Others will make rude or transgressive art. Wealthy and powerful people across the world will seek candles crafted in Ithebes. In the same way, the incense crafted here and the scents of the parfumiers are sought after greatly, although there are other centres where perfume and incense making is just as skilled.
• Keeper of Time and Festivals
The Holy City is also filled with clocks, of innumerable types. Hourglasses, sundials (largely useless because of the constant sunlight), mechanical, water, and many other kinds. The Ecclesiarchy are given the responsibility of watching the seasons, and they hold to both the Southern and Northern calendars. As a result, they mark many festivals across the year, based on key moments in both calendars. These key festivals are shared across the north, and respectively for the south. These are for the Northern Calendar: Flickering Festival (one of the days where the lights are put out), to mark midwinter; The Boxing Week, where the autumn equinox and the storing of provisions is celebrated; the Birth Day, where midsummer is marked, and people leave their houses without clothes to mark the hottest day of the year; the Racing Day for the spring equinox, where travel is celebrated now many roads are open again, and whole streets are set aside for horse, chariot, greyhound, hare racing, marathons, and other celebrations. For the Southern Calendar: Trader's Day, where sales are decreed for all; Shadow's Day, where people are encouraged to rest and the lights are put out Liberation Day, where all things military are celebrated; Burning Day, which can clash with Birth Day, where people are encouraged to burn their precious things and recommit themselves to all things pure. There are many other smaller festivals, but the place of the Holy City is to decree exactly when each festival is, and this tends to be followed by most nations across Torthe.

For the Golden Throne

Type

Geopolitical, Free City

Alternative Names

The City of the Golden Throne, City of a Thousand Temples, Everwaking City, The City of Eternal Song, Candletown, The Divine Tower, The Cloister, The Godshaven, Gilded Folly (perj.), the City That Never Shuts the Fuck Up (perj.)

Demonym

Itheban (citizen), Candlan, Shiners

Related Traditions

• The Conclave of Light