[The inner workings of temples and places of worship Kaz has only ever memorized on a technical level. He’s had to use the churches in various places as points of entry in the past, which has meant studying their outline and design, knowing the social hierarchy and hours of operation. He breaks them down like he does any other building or home, with a dispassionate critical eye. Each one’s design and function says just as much about the society in which it sits as it does the architects who construct it.
The largest cathedral in Ketterdam was known as the Church of Barter, built on the plan of the god Ghezen’s hand. The cathedral itself sat upon the great palm, each of its five extended fingers accented with smaller chapels at each fingertip. To reach the top of the cathedral one has to head upwards through a variety of chapels stacked on top of one another like sweetened cake fillings, each commissioned by a separate wealthy merchant family, each preening like peacocks over their placement being higher than another.
Perhaps some of Ketterdam’s citizens truly believe in the god of commerce and industry. To Kaz it seems a lot more performative than anything else.
Ara Vana seems different to him, but then again, she also serves in a house of worship. If Kaz ever bothered to get to know one of the servants of the chapels in his own backyard, perhaps he’d find similarly devout beings.
Perhaps not.
Kaz may not follow her faith, but he at least respects that Ara Vana seems to be genuine in them.
He strolls alongside her through her city’s streets, cane moving in tandem as he walks as another limb. His gaze studies the area discreetly, soaking it in as he does any place. Entrances and exits, windows and ledges. Where secrets may hide and what shadows float at night. He notes how the people move and look, what gazes stare upon their faces and what animals scurry through the streets for scraps. Where it looks like power might congeal and how the outskirts feed into those paths. It’s a map of movement, intersecting to form a place of pleasantry or potential battlefield. He never forgets the latter, no matter how quiet the former.
His own voice is raspy, like a bag of broken marble pieces jostling together, leftover from what’s been used to make his exterior. It’s never been called particularly pleasant to hear, adding fuel to those who consider him made of demon fire, but it’s low and not threatening when conversing with her.]
Sounds like what most who have a home do, doesn’t it? There are layers within any society, units that start large or small and grow in one or the other direction. How stunted those rings of expansion are varies, depending on the person and situation. I’d say it’s less paradoxical and more reciprocal, since usually, the larger community around a home still impacts what goes on inside to some degree or another, and vice versa.
[His life and experiences in Ketterdam are extremely influenced by the city’s values and norms, and it bleeds through to his smaller family unit in the Slat, which in turn impacts how they interact with Ketterdam. Even so, there’s room for some individuality, as his home in the Slat is very different from a rich mercher’s home, and while both overlap in some ways due to sharing parts of the Ketterdam experience, they don’t in others.]
And just like the larger world changes, so does any parallel world and the person or persons within it can.
[He glances over, quirking up an eyebrow.]
Has your temple’s faith changed much over the years?
no subject
The largest cathedral in Ketterdam was known as the Church of Barter, built on the plan of the god Ghezen’s hand. The cathedral itself sat upon the great palm, each of its five extended fingers accented with smaller chapels at each fingertip. To reach the top of the cathedral one has to head upwards through a variety of chapels stacked on top of one another like sweetened cake fillings, each commissioned by a separate wealthy merchant family, each preening like peacocks over their placement being higher than another.
Perhaps some of Ketterdam’s citizens truly believe in the god of commerce and industry. To Kaz it seems a lot more performative than anything else.
Ara Vana seems different to him, but then again, she also serves in a house of worship. If Kaz ever bothered to get to know one of the servants of the chapels in his own backyard, perhaps he’d find similarly devout beings.
Perhaps not.
Kaz may not follow her faith, but he at least respects that Ara Vana seems to be genuine in them.
He strolls alongside her through her city’s streets, cane moving in tandem as he walks as another limb. His gaze studies the area discreetly, soaking it in as he does any place. Entrances and exits, windows and ledges. Where secrets may hide and what shadows float at night. He notes how the people move and look, what gazes stare upon their faces and what animals scurry through the streets for scraps. Where it looks like power might congeal and how the outskirts feed into those paths. It’s a map of movement, intersecting to form a place of pleasantry or potential battlefield. He never forgets the latter, no matter how quiet the former.
His own voice is raspy, like a bag of broken marble pieces jostling together, leftover from what’s been used to make his exterior. It’s never been called particularly pleasant to hear, adding fuel to those who consider him made of demon fire, but it’s low and not threatening when conversing with her.]
Sounds like what most who have a home do, doesn’t it? There are layers within any society, units that start large or small and grow in one or the other direction. How stunted those rings of expansion are varies, depending on the person and situation. I’d say it’s less paradoxical and more reciprocal, since usually, the larger community around a home still impacts what goes on inside to some degree or another, and vice versa.
[His life and experiences in Ketterdam are extremely influenced by the city’s values and norms, and it bleeds through to his smaller family unit in the Slat, which in turn impacts how they interact with Ketterdam. Even so, there’s room for some individuality, as his home in the Slat is very different from a rich mercher’s home, and while both overlap in some ways due to sharing parts of the Ketterdam experience, they don’t in others.]
And just like the larger world changes, so does any parallel world and the person or persons within it can.
[He glances over, quirking up an eyebrow.]
Has your temple’s faith changed much over the years?