City Tour: The Maze & the Ancestor Tree

The Maze

Not all the temples, churches and shrines belong to the human pantheons. We have quite a few of the demi-human, or non-human ones too. After all, their gods Avatars took part in the great battle, same as all the rest. This obsidian temple is one of them. Known as THE MAZE, or the WEB OF FATE, this is where the loppe worship their creator deity, the spider goddess, MOTHER WEAVER; at least that's how it translates into the Common Tongue. I don't have the mandibles to pronounce her true name. Inside is a maze of webs, with their High Priestess at the very centre, in eternal commune with the Goddess.

Anyone can enter the maze, and if you can find your way to the centre, you can ask three questions, to the WEAVER herself, through the High Priestess, and have them answered truthfully. Take a translator with you if you don't understand their language, but be warned, I'd heard of people who have entered, only to get lost and come back out, scared witless; others have disappeared altogether.

You can spot the priests of the loppe by the maze patterns painted on their abdomen. Exercise caution when dealing with them, for they are skilled manipulators; the MOTHER WEAVER has domain over birth, death, fate, and her followers believe that fate can, and should, be manipulated for their own benefit. Loppe priests make excellent lawyers.

The Ancestor Tree

If you look down that street, right at the end, where it meets those others, you can see a tree. It's the urban elves ANCESTOR TREE; a dead, grey tree, petrified, hard as stone after all these centuries. It's the closest the native elves have to a temple or church, to religion in fact, and they only pay homage in passing, except on special days, what we'd call holy days, but they think of as excuses to get drunk. The tree was planted by their ancestors when the elves first settled here, but the tree eventually died, despite being tended to. All foliage withers eventually, within the desolate wasteland the city is built upon. Even GREEN HILL will wither in time; every time it does, the council go to great length and expense to spread new turf, plant new trees, bushes and flowers, and bring the hill to life again. Various clerics of the nature deities lend their magic to the cause, as do a few specially trained magi from the ACADEMY.

Despite not having clerics attending to their tree, the elves do keep an eye on it. It's a good idea to be on your best behaviour when near the tree.