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Post by Harliven Darkshine on Aug 19, 2008 17:35:34 GMT -5
Situated on the coast of Silvanus, this monastery is a week's horse-ride from the Night Court and is home to many intellectuals who have pursued knowledge in all aspects. It is home not only to its own mentors and doctors but also to rebellion demons and vampires who have disowned their warring heritage in favor of 'purification'; while their memories and base racial traits are intact, a natural transfusion initiated by the most advanced of elfin magic has tied these deserters to the elves and the earth indefinately, allowing them to live off of the forest's life energy as opposed to the consumption of flesh and blood which so differentiated them and dulling their dominative powers over influence and/or flame. Those humans, demons and elves who have been permitted to live as a part of the monastery have been heavily enchanted with consequences against their betrayal; a single intention that opposes the nature of the elf charged with responsibility of them causes condemns them to an anguishing fate on the spot, their blood freezing and boiling in their veins and their entrails deteriorating completely within the hour.
Merely the second of three buildings in Silvanus, barring the Black Wood's construction, that is clearly aided by unnatural foundations, the monastery is built from deep scarlet stone which appears both brick-like and metallic at the same time. Most of the towering formation is bathed with a writhing pattern of vines, overwhelming in variety and natural patterns which make an intricate array of inter-workings amidst the plant life, and lush grasses transcend the lawn into a small village of lesser Brothers and Sisters living in humble stations amidst their livestock. The mid courtyard is filled with exotic animals and plantlife as well as ponds which then surge beneath the earth into an underground waterway, home of the most amazing aquatic specimans and water nymphs - mischeivious spirits who were elves so in tune with nature that they merged into it gradually instead of dying, but so lively and indomitable in soul that the earth could not sustain them. They, like the nandin (dryads, elves who became engulfed by trees and assimilated into woodland spirits of various subtypes), only freely make themselves known in the Mercaellian Monastery, usually being Sisters and Brothers of ages passed, but some even being suspicious spirits of the Lefi'Har.
The stunning collection of volumes within the library itself overrun six massive levels, five pack with dark wood bookshelves twining with plantlife and the chapters themselves bound in a substance that acts and feels like some strange foreign leather. Gleaming mahogany woods wall and floor the building, stained glass windows circling high-vaulted ceilings which are adorned with epic paintings of elfin history creating beautiful murals to cover each chamber. Branching corridors from the main libraries show gathering halls, council rooms, and inhabitants' offices and experimentation chambers for the highest members of the order while the seventh level hosts full-time living quarters for those who have dedicated the entirety of their lives to the monastery.
Visited regularly by elves even amidst the war, the Mercaellian Monastery is frequently referred to as 'The Vault of All Knowledge' and is packed with the millions of secrets of the world. |
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