The Temple is a circular pad carved from the very rock (quartzite in this case cuz its pretty?). During services and times of power, the temple's floor begins to swirl in the pattern of Air and onlookers would eventually see the floor of the temple become completely insubstantial, like a whirlwind of rock so that the godi and priests seem to be floating atop a cyclone. Only the columns remain substantial as a reminder of substantiality and truth of the mythic histories that they represent. I suggest the columns are immense (20m tall?) and carved from the same rock so that there are no seams. They taper at the top to add to their cyclopean feel. The number of columns, style and compass direction signify something appropriate. The direction of the winds? Shrines to the Thunder Brothers? Something Helemakt-ish or Hendreik-ish (I'll leave the details of that to the more scholarly Gloranthans). There is no roof above the columns, just the Air.
Below the main temple is another lowertemple where the communal worshippers congregate. Maybe only devotees and holymen are allowed the view from the top.
From an observer within the walls of Whitewall, looking up to the Columned Main Temple, the architecture of the lower temple blocks from view the spire of rock that the Main Temple rests upon, thus it convincingly seems to be floating above and behind the Lower Temple with nothing to hold it up (just a clever optical trick, no magic here).
- Mitch Lockhart 3-10-04
Wa-hey! We have quartzite! Seriously, Mitch, that'd be grand. It is a pretty rock, and there's a simple mythic reason why it could be there, distinct from anything else--blasted sand. When ol' Helamakt was doing his bit for the environment, his whirling battles among the waters would have stirred up all manner of underlying sediment, which in places would have mantled the bones of his tor of victory. Always nice to have a wee bit of lithic variety. <Stu>
Ya can have da beeeeeg cwystals ov salt in da Whitewall, too! Ev'ry duck knowz da seas are salty, cuz Loueydwil ate da Cosmic Chilli an' couldn't handle it... <Popoquackapetl>
Story Seeds.
- Maybe this is too cliche, but I would think that the battle with the Crimson Bat would take place here. The Bat, with the magical support of its priests, is trying to destroy the center of Broyan's power, the temple. Hence the hero defenders stand atop the swirling temple as the demon swoops upon it trying to literally knock the sacred structure from its rocky precipice.<Mitch>
- The Lunar intelligence officer has sent a band to Whitewall posed as Heortlings aiding the defense. They are to study the fortress learn its inner workings and its weaknesses. One of the Lunar's prime interests is the Air Temple. The characters could be charged with uncovering the suspected spys or could be the spys themselves working for the Lunars.<Mitch>