[Arthro Galanos] Troulous Apo Mitera -- Pillar of Ioannes

[Ragman]

Perched on the Northern bend, amid the shimmering sapphire of Arthro Galanos is the Troulous Apo Mitera, or the Dome of the All-Mother. The building is one of the oldest on Secyclion, and indeed, believed to be one of the only buildings that had survived the volcanic asunder that formed the caldera that present day Secyclion sits on. It's make, consisting of Delorite would eventually inspire the Galanos Estate to be built; and like the rest of the buildings in the waterprime Estate, the building turns blue when it is wet, be it by rain or mist.

Yet what separates the building from the rest of the Secyclion architect is not just in the make of its stone; but the overall design of the place of worship. Artefacts and design that reassembles that discovered from the Ancient Xetan Empire, as well as the spiraling glyphs of the Lamia are also manifested on the dome, golden cast of Arakmatan influence; further providing evidence that those ancient civilizations did exist at one point, and had some sort of cross-cultural influence with those who had first built this structure that now stands on Secyclion.

It's façade is extremely ornate, with bas-relief that depicts events and calligraphy which are unknown to the locals, even Imperial Historians, which leads to the common belief that it predates the Empire. Arched dome ways are cut into the face of the central dome, and the symmetrical geometry of the building, with the main entrance opened by an ogee-arch that fills into the narthex. The archway designs never stops inside, further expanding into ogives and other form of arches that rises from above the main arch, creating a mosaic network of tessellated patterns before leading into the main building, which is painted and designed by alternating colors of bricks that form the walls, which lacks solid ornaments as compared to the exterior whose design is so complex that it would take several candlemarks just to take in everything.

The eastern wall though is the one which is greatly decorated. A recess has been created in the wall, with the niche carefully framed in the shape of a pointed arch, surrounded by mosaic and geometrical opus tesselatum. Gold and silver are inlaid into the walls; forming a lunetta over the niche, together with jewels cut in a way which has never been popularized in current times.

Inside the dome, which stretches up to seven stories high, with the ceilings carefully extending in a spherical manner, with openings properly cut and created in the exact angles that allows light to gleam over the glossy texture of the forgotten language. Light shining from the outside would cast its glow at a specific angle that seemed to make the glyphs and words embedded on the wall come alive and dance in the air. The representation of the light from the five skies are also analogous to the old traditional folklore that the Higher Plane, or the Aelyrian equivilent of Aethernia, has five different skies, and the light effects sough to mimic that ethereal and Utopian quality.

Yet what is truly magnificent about the structure is the relics it houses. A blade and a shroud within a metal case sits on a sarcophagus carved out of the same Delorite that is the main material used for the building, lying within the recess of the eastern wall. The stone tomb is inlaid with pictures and motif to suggest that there was once a sea monster who threatened to destroy an island, but one woman alone came forward to defeat the monster and saved the entire City. The same woman has now been celebrated as the 'All-Mother of Secyclion', and a huge statue of her now stands at the Cape of the Northern Bend, a testimony for all to bear witness.

Secyclionians do not use the structure for a place of worship, even though they believe the structure is used to house the courageous woman. People occasionally enter to seek blessing, or even to meditate, but the building has never been used with much religious fervor, mainly because the Secyclionians were never a religious sort.

Shortly after Secyclion was assimilated into the Empire. The Church of Faith deemed the structure a heretic congregation of worship and threatened to tear it down. Fierce intervention was mete out by the locals and the local government, and finally, after a harsh debate that stretched almost two decades, a compromise was finally made.

Thus the Pillars of Ioannes was commissioned, fitting into where the northern wall of the dome once stood. From the wall, an opening was created which leads to the Pillar, which is an awe-inspiring twelve stories high, and made from the same Delorite, albeit, not from the same cut as the original building, which is evident from the exterior. Lacking all the usual structures that form a proper Church, with the nave, even with the antependium absent, the pillar only houses one monument, which is the statue of the tri-faced God of Aethernia, made out of gleaming gypsum that shines at the softest kiss of light.

A triptych -- a three paneled altarpiece is also emblazoned over the wall behind the statue, poised on his throne overlooking all who enters. The piece depicts the victorious triumph over the dark forces of Jorel, and the eventual ascension of Ioannes as the Sovereign of Aethernia. While the Domes were originally untended by religious figures, in the Eras after the completion of the Pillar of Ioannes, they have more or less taken over the maintaining and care taking of the entire premises, and offer basic religious service as offered in the rest of the Church's across the Empire.

Secrets : This location can be self-moderated.