danielsmaps

The Temple of Tanakos

Added 2024-10-25 07:00:05 +0000 UTC

Hey everyone! Let me present to you the Temple of Tanakos, the final map for the Monasteries & Temples theme.

The Temple of Tanakos is located in the Hills of Sukreica on a hill that overlooks the entire peninsula of Kreos. It is the oldest temple complex in Preica and one of the few places that has managed to withstand the numerous disasters that have befallen the lands of Preica.

The complex is made up of numerous temples, shrines, fountains, and gardens, each dedicated to Preic gods and heroes and spread out over several levels. The lower level is entered through the Entrance of Mortals, where people ascend a flight of stairs and pass through a richly decorated arch into the complex proper. Here are baths, gardens, and the treasuries, where tributes paid by the Preic city-states are kept. There are several shrines dedicated to the lesser deities.

The upper level contains larger shrines and temples to greater deities. At the top of the hill is the Temple of Okoreus, King of the Gods and God of Conquest, Order, and Nobility. Along the temple is the Colonnade of Enecus, Okoreus' son, who is tasked to forever protect the humans, to prove worthy of succeeding Okoreus after Eternity's End. Next to Okoreus' Temple is the Temple of his wife, Derina, the Goddess of Femininity, Fertility, and Fury.

In these temples, the Preic people recount many legends and myths, great and small. One of these tales is of how Derina inadvertently created the sunset out of envy. This was long ago when the skies were still bleak and the sunset a cold limbo between light and dark. In that time, there was a beautiful woman named Selea. Selea was more beautiful than any mortal, and even more beautiful than Derina. Kings from all over the land came to court her and ask for her hand. She wore elaborate dresses that elevated her beauty even more. Moreover, she was an artist, and she used her face as a canvas, shading her eyes and lashes with elaborate colours and designs that always seemed to accentuate her dresses. She had a love for colours that could not be tempered.

The Queen-Goddess saw this and became jealous. One night, she appeared to Selea and forbade her to wear dresses, and instead wear old, worn rags. Selea, a devout woman, obeyed, and from then on, she only wore old and torn rags. But it did not have the desired effect, and people gathered around her, praising her for her modesty. And even as she was forced to wear old clothes, she managed to bring out the best of it in her face paint. Her beauty, it would seem, could not be quelled by ugly dresses.

Angered by the result, Derina appeared again to Selea on a stormy night and forbade her to ever paint her face again. Selea loved painting, but she obeyed the command of her Queen-Goddess and promised to never paint her face again. But her passion for art could not be contained, and she painted the streets in bright colours, with beautiful patterns and designs. The people rejoiced in her artistry and flocked to her. And still, the kings came from all over the land to ask Selea to grace their palaces with her art and beauty.

Derina, now full of rage, appeared to Selea once more during a night with thunderstorms so wild, it seemed as if the heavens themselves came crashing down. Derina would suffer Selea no more and forbade her to ever spread art again. Selea, not able to imagine a life without art and colour, refused. Derina became so angry that she punished Selea. She turned Selea into the Sunset, the bleakest, coldest time of day, to be forever without colour. But Selea's passion for art and colour could still not be tempered, and in an act of defiance, she painted the sunset sky full of red, orange, yellow, pink, and purple.

And forever after, the people praised the sunset for its beauty. And that is how Derina learned to hate the sunset.