Mausoleum of the Warg's Repose

Architecture

The building is a massive cicular structure constructed of dark blue stone. Its walls slope sharply up seventy feet to a wide roof with three concentric, ten-foot-tall tiers atop it. Resting upon the centermost tier is the remnants of a colossal statue that once depicted the human king, Metinoch, standing over a prone, snarling wolf in triumph, his boot planted firmly on the wolf's throat. The effigy of the hated tyrant has long since been torn down, smashed, and scattered through great effort by lycanthropes and the Aggrieved. All that is left adorning the roof is the giant wolf, eternally struggling against a disembodied foot. Into the outer walls at regular intervals are built seven great, rectangular towers that surround the broken statue, rising just above the wolf but not quite to where Metinoch's waist would have been. Each tower is capped with a visual representation of one of Vaadstrael's seven moons.
On the inside, the mausoleum is a single, huge, dome-shaped hall, supported by gargantuan pillars and arcing buttresses. Built between and even into these massive support structures, are daises and display-alcoves by the hundreds, with still plenty of room for many worshippers to move between. Arranged upon these are the mummified remains of wolves, some displayed singly and others in groups. Each preserved cadaver is posed as though in a state of calm or sleep. In the center of the building, lying on a great stone stage, is the body of the Great Warg himself, appearing to be in the midst of slumber. With him, the corpses of his seven daughters, all arranged in a serene (if somewhat macabre to an outside observer) scene of a parent sheltering his sleeping pups.

History

The Sacrilege of Metinoch

The priests of the Aggrieved tell that when the Ancients emerged victorious from the Lunar War, King Metinoch was not satisfied with simply having killed the God-Wargs and slaughtered their wolf descendents. To commemorate the humans' campaign and mock their fallen foes, Metinoch ordered the bodies of all eight wargs, and as many dead wolves as could be transported with them, be specially preserved and taken back down to the surface of Vaadstrael. Once home, the Ancient king oversaw the construction of what he named the Grand Mausoleum of Victory. His vision was not merely a static, unchanging monument, but place where every triumph of the Lunar War could be relived. The mummification of the wargs and their progeny was highly sofisticated, their bodies were kept free of rigor and fitted with an inner laticework of strange wire that allowed the joints to be moved easily and still maintain most poses indefinitely if needed.

The Curse Avenges

Upon the mausoleum's completion, Metinoch declared a day of celebration to coincide with the annual event of all seven moons rising simultaneously over Vaadstrael. It is then, the clerics of the the Wolf Cult teach, when the revelry of the humans was in full swing, with the corpses of the wolves made to move like grotesque puppets upon the great central stage as Metinoch's retelling of the war was played out, that Rhmrrahg's Curse, lycanthropy, took its hold on those the who had killed the mighty wolf.
Most scholars place the first recorded incidence of lycanthropy as occuring much sooner after the humans returned from their campaign, as pieced together from the precious few accounts that survived. However, it is universally agreed that, given the connection of lycanthropy to the lunar cycle, all seven moons being in the sky no doubt would have caused a large outbreak that would have only grown larger as the lycanthropes infected more humans in such a densely-packed area. Whatever the truth, the Grand Mausoleum of Victory was forsaken by the Ancients after that point.

A New Purpose

For ages the mausoleum remained abandoned, only visited by occasional looters to scrounge for any leftover relics of the Ancients. It wasn't until nearly three hundred years later that it was rediscovered by adherents of the Aggrieved. They found the titanic hall largely intact, with the mummified wolves still locked in frozen battle with half-pilfered suits of human armor. Moved by their discovery and distraught at the treatment of their gods, the Wolf Cultists began the arduous task of turning the monument meant to mock their masters into a proper resting place for them. The armor and weapons of the Ancients were cast out (when they could be removed from their mounting), and the bodies of the wolves reverently placed into positions of rest, giving rise to the modern name for the mausoleum. Eventually the word spread of a massive wolf temple, and for thousands of miles lycanthropes struggling with their shattered memories and confusing mental gestalt flocked to the Mausoleum of the Warg's Repose for the hope of finding purpose or clarity beyond their debilitating rage and hunger. At first, many of the Aggrieved were wary of them, but it quickly became clear that the lycanthropes had no malicious intentions, and were from that time forward welcomed. Many lycanthropes, such as the Tattered One, rose to become high priests of the Wolf Cult. Their inborn connection to Rhmrrahg and, by extension, to the wolves of bygone days is seen by Aggrieved as a blessing rather than a curse.

The Threat of War

When the Worldshaper Wars began, the custodians of the mausoleum inadvertently found themselves the focal point of a great many battles, as their temple-home was not merely of symbolic import to factions such as the Dominion and the Inheritors, but also of strategic import as a nigh-invulnerable structure that could easily house a small army. The defenders of the mausoleum were constantly defending their home from siege after siege, the only reprieve they get from these attacks is when two or more invading armies find each other a more pressing threat.

Type

Temple / Religious complex

Owning Organization

The Aggrieved