[caption id="attachment_10167" align="alignright" width="200" caption="North entrance of the chapel."]
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Chapel of Saint Alberic (1), the adjacent rectory and the campus tunnels running under these buildings house the Ouroboros University’ seminary, one of its major colleges. Here paladins, clerics and others engage in religious studies.
Situated on the north wall is an elaborate pipe organ, the largest for leagues around, which is also living construct popularly known as “Pipes.” While an excellent musician and judge of character, Pipes (too merry to be ominous) does not always accurately assess a given situation – sometimes when people are plotting something in the back rows, it bursts out with romantic music.
A domed ceiling stands over the worship hall. Large tiles of polished marble cover the walls and floor, with decorations and candelabras of ornamental and polished brass. Murals and frescos adorn the ceiling. About a century ago, a dour tempered canon (2) plastered over the old art, much to the displeasure of the art (3). Maintenance in recent years declined and so a roof leak went unrepaired. During a recent rainstorm, much of this plaster pealed fell of the interior of the dome, revealing the original art for the first time in generations.
The revealed murals across the ceiling depict a number of things; sprouting from the north wall is vast and fantastic tree, while arching up from the south-east wall are lines of marching text and from the south-west walls humans battle as they both avoid and seek an unsettling black circle. The original art, though damaged by time and water, is strikingly vivid and credited to someone known as Patrick D (4).
Elves and eladrin from their embassy assert the tree is a reference to some of their oldest stories, that all the world is a dreaming tree, all the limbs, leaves and flowers dreaming all the other flowers, leaves and limbs into being so that they may also dream. Time and weather damage have destroy large sections of the tree and left much of the rest of appearing to suffer from some blight.
Dwarves in the city confirm the marching columns of text are passages from dwarf holy works, which say “Embrace Death” and “Tomorrow is the death of today.” The dwarves lose respect for anyone to whom they must explain this concept. Sadly, time and water erosion have damaged much of this section, leaving few passages legible.
Human historians say the mural depicts a battle over a sphere of annihilation between forces dedicated to a god a light and a god of misery. The “good” humans won, keeping this fearful artifact out of the hands of evil. Text in this area reads the sphere of annihilation is a blind spot for the gods themselves – they can neither see it nor into it and thus can do nothing about it. “What can you do about the things of which you are always unaware?” Ouroboros University currently keeps the sphere in a laboratory where it is undergoing study.
A line of text, alternating in elvish, dwarvish and human language runs along the base of the dome, calling upon people to “beware” the coming of the “Devoratrix Spes” (or “devourer of hope” in dwarvish), the “Парене Утре” (pronounced parene utre, or “burning tomorrow” in the human dialect used at the time of the chapels construction) and the “Tuo Tuskaa” (“brings the pain” in formal elvish). Expects identify this with a red figure appearing in each of the three sections of the murals.
For “safety reasons” access to the worship hall is limited to approved seminary faculty and students.
A bell tower stands over each of the three entrances. People visiting the chapel often find themselves the subject of baleful, silent stares from a dozen screech owls roosting on the chapel and nearby trees.
The rectory is a long four-story wattle-daub building with balconies facing the chapel. It houses multiple offices, classrooms, storages spaces and the like. It is a dully-functional place.
New Feat – Lay Person Religious Training
Prerequisites: Wis 12 and a semester of training at Ouroboros University for each replacement.
Benefit: You may replace any single feature or special power from your class with a feature or special power of equal power from the cleric class when you advance a level. This does not include cleric spells.
Special: Replacing eight features entitles you to call yourself a minor canon.
Note: Refer to the Cleric Class on page 38 of the Pathfinder Core Rulebook for more information.
Watching You All the Time: Canon Mraz is a remarkably well informed man, knowing many things about many people which he uses to subtly blackmail people and coerce them into behaving. Even giving the gossip network and his position at the head of the seminary, he is too well informed. Where does he get his information?
(1) This is a reference to "Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book” by M.R. James.
(2) Canon is a special church term for members of the clergy responsible for following and teaching ecclesiastical rules among members of the church body, including following vows of poverty, chastity and dwelling with other members of the clergy when possible. The head of the Ouroboros University has been a canon since the rededication of the chapel.
(3) They are “sentient and alive” like most holograms from Star Trek – carefully recreations of notable saints, clerics and paladins matching the originals personality, knowledge and temperament but not technically alive. In any event, the dozen or so revealed on the old murals are surprisingly earthy by contemporary standards.
(4) It is beyond my ability to say if he ever did make it to America-side but he did spend time on this campus and in that time he made it a more beautifully place. Say thankee.
[/caption]Chapel of Saint Alberic (1), the adjacent rectory and the campus tunnels running under these buildings house the Ouroboros University’ seminary, one of its major colleges. Here paladins, clerics and others engage in religious studies.
The Chapel
The chapel possesses Carolingian architecture and is 800 years old – it predates the formation of the university – and at the time of its first consecration served as home to shrines to three gods of light and law, one from the human, elf and dwarf pantheons. Following a war about 500 years ago, the structure saw a dedication to only the human deity (a god of law appropriate to the campaign). It retains a slightly rounded triangle shape to its floor plan – each side of this triangle once sported a shrine to a different deity. The worship hall dominates the structure, with small offices, storerooms and hallways scattered throughout. A balcony faces the worship hall over each of the entrances. Narrow spirals staircases lead up to the balconies and bell towers and down to the campus tunnels.Situated on the north wall is an elaborate pipe organ, the largest for leagues around, which is also living construct popularly known as “Pipes.” While an excellent musician and judge of character, Pipes (too merry to be ominous) does not always accurately assess a given situation – sometimes when people are plotting something in the back rows, it bursts out with romantic music.
A domed ceiling stands over the worship hall. Large tiles of polished marble cover the walls and floor, with decorations and candelabras of ornamental and polished brass. Murals and frescos adorn the ceiling. About a century ago, a dour tempered canon (2) plastered over the old art, much to the displeasure of the art (3). Maintenance in recent years declined and so a roof leak went unrepaired. During a recent rainstorm, much of this plaster pealed fell of the interior of the dome, revealing the original art for the first time in generations.
The revealed murals across the ceiling depict a number of things; sprouting from the north wall is vast and fantastic tree, while arching up from the south-east wall are lines of marching text and from the south-west walls humans battle as they both avoid and seek an unsettling black circle. The original art, though damaged by time and water, is strikingly vivid and credited to someone known as Patrick D (4).
Elves and eladrin from their embassy assert the tree is a reference to some of their oldest stories, that all the world is a dreaming tree, all the limbs, leaves and flowers dreaming all the other flowers, leaves and limbs into being so that they may also dream. Time and weather damage have destroy large sections of the tree and left much of the rest of appearing to suffer from some blight.
Dwarves in the city confirm the marching columns of text are passages from dwarf holy works, which say “Embrace Death” and “Tomorrow is the death of today.” The dwarves lose respect for anyone to whom they must explain this concept. Sadly, time and water erosion have damaged much of this section, leaving few passages legible.
Human historians say the mural depicts a battle over a sphere of annihilation between forces dedicated to a god a light and a god of misery. The “good” humans won, keeping this fearful artifact out of the hands of evil. Text in this area reads the sphere of annihilation is a blind spot for the gods themselves – they can neither see it nor into it and thus can do nothing about it. “What can you do about the things of which you are always unaware?” Ouroboros University currently keeps the sphere in a laboratory where it is undergoing study.
A line of text, alternating in elvish, dwarvish and human language runs along the base of the dome, calling upon people to “beware” the coming of the “Devoratrix Spes” (or “devourer of hope” in dwarvish), the “Парене Утре” (pronounced parene utre, or “burning tomorrow” in the human dialect used at the time of the chapels construction) and the “Tuo Tuskaa” (“brings the pain” in formal elvish). Expects identify this with a red figure appearing in each of the three sections of the murals.
For “safety reasons” access to the worship hall is limited to approved seminary faculty and students.
A bell tower stands over each of the three entrances. People visiting the chapel often find themselves the subject of baleful, silent stares from a dozen screech owls roosting on the chapel and nearby trees.
The Rectory and the Tunnels
A system of tunnels runs under most of the campus buildings. University administration employs the tunnels for storage year round, while students and faculty use them to move around the campus during frequently savage winters, as the tunnels are always dry and in winter qualify as warm. Several tunnels connect the chapel and rectory to the rest of the campus.The rectory is a long four-story wattle-daub building with balconies facing the chapel. It houses multiple offices, classrooms, storages spaces and the like. It is a dully-functional place.
Religious Orders
A number of orders part of the church are involved with the seminary and several members of the faculty across the University belong to one order or another. Most relationships are casual, members supporting the seminary whose responsibility is the education of people in the ways of the church, with the seminary hanging out banners honoring these groups and inviting them to give guest sermons and provide guidance to students. Further, most such group uses the seminary as recruiting grounds. Any group, in a home-campaign, dedicated to the same deity may be a part of the seminary.Canon Mraz
Ouroboros University seminary, Canon Podul Mraz (LN human male cleric 16) possesses a cool temperament and a preoccupation with rules. While he does not possess any military background, he gets on better with the church’s military orders than does most of the civilian leadership. Cardinal and Grand Inquisitor Ludd, the church’s leader in the country home to Ouroboros University, named Mraz to the position of Canon, and Ludd carries a great deal of national political weight. For his part, Canon Mraz operates the seminary in a manner legally unimpeachable but also cold. He possesses a surprising amount of information about students, faculty and staff, information he uses this to deal with obstacles. Canon Mraz’s goals are known only to himself and Cardinal Ludd – and presumably the Chancelor of the University.New Feat – Lay Person Religious Training
Prerequisites: Wis 12 and a semester of training at Ouroboros University for each replacement.
Benefit: You may replace any single feature or special power from your class with a feature or special power of equal power from the cleric class when you advance a level. This does not include cleric spells.
Special: Replacing eight features entitles you to call yourself a minor canon.
Note: Refer to the Cleric Class on page 38 of the Pathfinder Core Rulebook for more information.
Adventure Hooks
Iconoclast: Canon Mraz instructs the religious PCs (clerics, Paladins and any PC working to get that Lay Person Religious Training feat) to assist in the destruction of the animate murals decorating the inside of the chapel. The murals are legally not alive and are property, and views expressed by the murals on church doctrine and historical events are (subtly) at odds with the church’s current position on those issues. Canon’s Mraz’s view is cold and theoretical, though legally supported by the country’s secular government and the ecclesiastical body of the church. The views of the murals are Earthy, at times almost bawdy and practical. The murals do not wish to be destroyed. Complicating matters, the sentient pipe organ is legally alive and thus not property and thus destroying it would be an act of murder.Watching You All the Time: Canon Mraz is a remarkably well informed man, knowing many things about many people which he uses to subtly blackmail people and coerce them into behaving. Even giving the gossip network and his position at the head of the seminary, he is too well informed. Where does he get his information?
(1) This is a reference to "Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book” by M.R. James.
(2) Canon is a special church term for members of the clergy responsible for following and teaching ecclesiastical rules among members of the church body, including following vows of poverty, chastity and dwelling with other members of the clergy when possible. The head of the Ouroboros University has been a canon since the rededication of the chapel.
(3) They are “sentient and alive” like most holograms from Star Trek – carefully recreations of notable saints, clerics and paladins matching the originals personality, knowledge and temperament but not technically alive. In any event, the dozen or so revealed on the old murals are surprisingly earthy by contemporary standards.
(4) It is beyond my ability to say if he ever did make it to America-side but he did spend time on this campus and in that time he made it a more beautifully place. Say thankee.
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