The Order/Temple consecration

Temples

Our temples stand upon land that has been declared holy, balanced, and free from evil. To ensure that this is so, certain rituals and prayers must be performed before the creation of a temple can begin. The following is a list of different things required for the consecration and construction of temples of The Order.

Preparation

First and foremost, a priest or enlightened member of The Order must find an area of land that is naturally calm and pure. Often times, places like these appear as groves of virgin forest, or bluffs that overlook natural scenes of beauty. If land is naturally balanced, it will be pleasing to the soul.

After discovering such a place, the priest will then search the area thoroughly for any hidden evils or places of decay. Evil comes in many forms, and it will often hide to prevent discovery and lash out from the shadows; such is the nature of evil. So, a priest must discover the evil before it can take hold to taint the land and take away its natural beauty.

Again, evil is deceiving and can hide in intangible things, like the air, or in the shadows. It is up to the priest to find these things. However, certain incantations or wards can help with the process.

Construction

All temple of The Order must adhere to rigorous "balance" codes. All of our temples must radiate balance and order while deterring and discouraging the presence of evil. Our temples are meant to be safe havens from the chaos of daily life and the world. As such, evil may not be present in any form.

The outer walls of temples are a specific geometric shape with perfectly equal sides. The shape changes with the size of the building. Level one temples are circles, the perfect shape; level twos are square, level threes are hexagonal, fours are octagonal, and fives are decagonal. When temples are enlarged, they aren't torn down to accommodate new growth, they are only built upon to prevent destruction(destruction is a form of evil and chaos). So, an aerial view of a level five temple would show five different shapes that enclose one after another in precise proportions, with the inner being a circle, and the outer being a decagon.

Along with the horizontal perfection and balance of a temple, height must be considered also. the original building in the center will always be the tallest of the surrounding buildings, even if it must be added on to repeatedly. The ratio of the height of the tallest building to its surrounding building is in a perfect proportion. We use a special equation, a^2+b^2=c^2, to determine the height of the surrounding buildings. a^2 is the height of the surrounding buildings and b^2 is the distance the building is from the center. c^2 is the height of the center building. Using this equation, the temple would appear to be a circular slope that comes to a stark point in the center.

Consecration

The last step in the construction of a temple is the consecration. A priest must walk through the near complete temple and examine everything closely to ensure that no evil was brought in or created while building the temple. This process works much the same way the preparations for building the temple work.

When the physical construction of the temple is complete, and the priest has deemed the area pure and clean of all evil, he will begin to place several major wards all throughout the new temple and bless it with his holy signature(holy signature=a secret marking on the main entrance to the temple). after doing this, the priest can finally establish the new temple fully functional and able to serve and protect the people.

Written by: Telemechus Barthalemus, Heung Shu Crusader of The Order.