Originally Submitted to FurAffinity.net on Mar 31st, 2012 12:59 AM. Before it was transferred to Inkbunny it had 105 views and 5 favorites.
This is a picture of Adleria's main temple, the Temple of Winds. It is a temple unique among all other temples for it is more of a large collection of temples, monasteries and other holy buildings, especially a huge collection of reliquaries. The reliquaries contain either holy objects from the deities of the Adlerian Parthenon, the bodies of former heads of the Temple of Winds (also of the Adlerian religion). There are also reliquaries and crypts of former emperors of the Adlerian royal family, great heroes of Adlerian past and / or objects associated with them such as blessed weapon, armor and other associated objects contained and sealed to be seen yet not removed. In retrospect and comparison, the Adlerian Temple of Winds is to the Adlerian religion like the Vatican is to Catholics in importance.
In the center is a building that is the most important. Very few are allowed in the temple in the middle and it is hard to get to. The leader of the Adlerian religion and the temple, and a highly select and chosen few, live withing and safeguard the most prized object in the temple. The object in question is humble looking in comparison to all other objects and buildings the house and / or surround the object. Yet this object is capable of immense power with the ability to destroy anything before it. That object is the Bag of Winds.
The Bag of Winds was given to Adleria to safe keep away from any further use by mortals soon after its misuse by the crew of Odysseus. The Bag of Winds, a bag that carried the combined power of all winds except the west wind, has the power for great destruction for the combined winds can blow the very existence of person, thing even the very land into nothing. Its misuse nearly destroyed Greece and Aeolus, seeing the foolishness of allowing anyone use it, much less for a faster naval passage, gave the Adlerian kingdom the Bag of Winds to safeguard for the Adlerians have the reputation of being some of the finest and fiercest protectors and fighters and the kingdom of Adleria, at the time, was exceedingly far away from nearly all other mortal kingdoms and lands. In addition, the Adlerian religion revolved around the winds and, as such, made the protection of the Bag of Winds a near fanatic long standing quest for the Adlerian clergy and the royal Adlerian family.
The main temple in the center is of an architecture that combines Egyptian, Greek and Roman architecture. It is a temple in the shape of an obelisk and a Greco / Roman temple. Most is carved from the very mountain, the mountain in question is made of an incredibly dense and hard stone and slow to erosion. The rest is made of marble of different colors and then polished to a high sheen. It is also gilded with gold, silver and platinum leaf and dotted with precious stone. The mountain it sits and was carved from is slow to erosion to such a degree that it has retained its steep slope as all other softer stone has long since eroded away.
The other temples, obelisks and buildings that surround it are covered here and there with Adlerian holy scripture. They vary in size and can be seen from a long distance. At close range, there is other scripture at a size meant for eyes at close distance. The roofs are painted yellow and are heavily based on Asian architecture. Other elements, such as the arched bridge, use of tapered columns and the covered bridge are influenced by Greek and Roman architecture. The use of a thatched roof on the covered bridge was inspired by Celtic architecture since the use of a thatched roof lessens the weight of the bridge and helps it become low maintenance.
Many of the temple areas are self sufficient to minimize the need of outside help. This is due in part of the temple of being high in the mountains and a long distance from many towns and cities. The path that leads to this area is as thin as a one lane country road and straddles the edge of mountains and crosses deep chasms. The height of the temple complex is above the cloud line and, as such, self sufficiency is a must.
Despite the hard to get to quality of the temple, it receives devout travelers everyday who stay at the visitor areas. At the end of the bridge across the cloud the wide chasm is a small walled village that houses visitors and acts as a kind of administrative center of the complex as well. There are even a few shops and other modern conveniences that sprung up over the years, but, overall, it is not that large. It is, however, large enough to hold even the largest traffic of visitors that come to the temple area.
The town has a central courtyard and multilevel arcades that rise 10 floors, gradually decreasing balcony floor area to allow light in. Also, one one side, are tall towers that hold living areas rising to a total of 50 or so floors with windows facing into the courtyard. The said tower can be seen on the left hand side of the picture. On the middle area of the tower is a tall covered area with a screened viewing area of the surrounding landscape going around on three sides and ending at the same level, is another tower. It is wider, and shorter, than the civilian one. It holds administrative offices, a dojo for training warrior monks and shops for visiting civilians. The shops are run by students of the dojo and, when the teachers are not teaching, run the administrative area. The shops are at the bottom level, the dojo in the middle and the administrative area at top. The Civilian tower is cut off from the one next to it, even though both towers are next to each other.
The two tall circular towers on either side of the picture hold mainly relics and other holy items. The can be viewed almost like a museum in that they can be viewed, yet spells and incantations keep the objects viewable, yet unable to be moved. Also, the path up and down the tall towers are in a spiral fashion to make simple and easy going up and down. Elevators are a new addition and are powered by simple weight and counter measure mechanics rather than electricity. The part of the tower with small inscription is the area that is part temple and part entrance area. Below that area are the crypts and other resting type areas of Adlerian religious leaders, religious figures, members of the imperial royal family and emperors as well as great and noble heroes of Adlerian past. They are not spread mind you, for each tower is designated to hold a specific type of deceased. the one on the left that is built on a steep pyramid holds past leaders, and related relics associated with them, of the temple and the one on the right is one of the towers that holds the relics and remains of old Adlerian heroes. In all, there are 37 such towers, one for the leaders, 3 holding important religious figures, 2 for the royal family (one for the emperors and the other for other family members) that stand side by side like twin towers, and the rest for heroes and their relics. These towers are spread about here and there, yet are clustered in the vicinity of the area of about 7 square miles.
At the angle shown in the picture, the main center piece of the Temple of Winds, shown in the middle, lies at the end of the tall and treacherous mountain range. Beyond are the lowlands of Adleria where many of the fertile plains and valleys of Adleria lay. Barely in the distance, one may even see the coast line. the cloud cover below tends to cover that view often however.
The building on the mid right hand side are mainly minor shrines and an entrance to a path that leads into the mountain and to a courtyard for the tower just behind. The entrance part is just past the tower and the shrine part is on the edge of the picture with an obelisk attached to it. The shrines are 12 in all and half of them can be seen for there are four on each three levels. each shrine is devoted to the 12 gods of the Adlerian Parthenon. The obelisk, like much of the other towers and buildings, have religious scripture painted and engraved on them. It also holds a spiral staircase to reach the different levels. The small building on the lower right hand corner is not a shrine but rather a visitors center to process devoted visitors before crossing the bridge. In this way a record can be made and also ensure that those visiting have no ill intent. It also has a nice tea house and hospital on the second floor for those that need refreshment and / or medical attention after the long and arduous climb. Unlike the other area across the bridge, the monks that work this and many other areas, save the towers for the relics and resting dead, are not the fighting type.
The bridge that spans the wide chasm is has several arches that lead to one large arch, which is below the cloud line. The passage way that crosses is three levels in height. Ceiling height of each passage lowers from first to top level. The top level are for those that wish to have a nice view through the wooden screens of the ceiling. The middle one is for your every day citizens. The bottom one is for the aristocracy and members of the royal family. To reach the different areas, one can either use the stair case inside the tower or reach the upper levels by way of a ramp on the side (unseen behind the tower) that leads from the upper court yard that is reached by the ramp that starts near the entrance to the first level of the the bridge.
The dragon, which is obvious to see, is a made up dragon. It is, in my mind, the Adlerian species of the standard Asian dragon. I made him long, like dragon Shenron from Dragon Ball Z, and I gave him elements of an eagle's beak, mane of a lion and eyes and fur like a wolf along its entire length. I also tried to give it arms and paws like a wolf, but it looks okay to me whether I was close or not. LOL. For this kind of dragon, I tried to make him playful like in nature and pure in quality. Normally, anyone that gets to near the area in such a fashion like flying there is taken seriously. The Adlerian dragon, however, is innocent and pure like a unicorn and playful in spirit. They like riding upon the tops of clouds and loop about like dolphins in water. They especially like living in areas that are holy for, being holy like beings of divine origin, are naturally drawn to such areas.
Keywords
male
1,116,484,
dragon
139,331,
artwork (traditional)
8,585,
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bag
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eastern
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resting
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temple
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dojo
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place
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crypt
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relic
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complex
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adlerian
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adleria
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winds
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relics
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reliquary
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reliquaries
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5 years, 11 months ago
25 May 2018 04:44 CEST
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