Author: Justin Love

The Temple of Shine

About a day outside of The City, along The River Division, lies the only true temple of Shine; the rest of the formal religious structure consists of wandering clergy whom meet the needs of the dispersed people better than sparse structures. Most religious needs can be meet by the mobile priests and priestess, but major events (weddings and such) usually necessitate a visit to the temple.

The temple itself is a fairly simple stone structure; construction is somewhat primitive, but sturdy. Built into the wall across from the altar is a slab of yellow stone upon which is written the rights of initiation into Shine's favor. The observant will notice that this is the same type of stone that is used on the inside of the memorial section of Sharza-Zara's tomb. A small garden of sun roses is maintained outside the temple along it's wall.

The Lake of Dancing Lights

"Hm? The Lake of Dancing Lights? Well, there's a tale there, as there is with many things. You'd like to hear it, I presume?

There are some who say that even though their followers bicker and fight, Shine and Shimmer actually want their children to cooperate. And they will say that long ago, even before the coming of Shares-a-Tear, they once attempted to show the people the way, and appointed a prophet with both their blessings. He was called Shining Son, and he was born to a family devoted to Shine. As luxury he gave to Shine his pride that he was better, and as innocence he gave to Shimmer the belief that those who followed Shimmer were lesser.

At the gods' command, he wove both the sun roses and the moon roses into his hair at dusk, and when the sun roses opened the ones of the moon did not close, and so his head shone with the light of both the gods, intermingled.

But the followers of Shine saw it as blasphemy that one of their members should embrace the other god. And so, ignoring the divine omen, they captured him by the lake. For mixing the two holy flowers, they shaved his head and threw the hair and the flowers into the water before taking him off to be put on 'trial,' and then executed.

And to this day, people report seeing gold and silver lights dancing about on the lake at night. Some even say they dance during the day, but they are harder to see or mistaken for reflections off the water. But perhaps they are the roses that once decorated Shining Son's head, empowered with the god's wills, the one place where their powers mix and dance in harmony."

Note: This is the tale as told by a follower of Shimmer. Devotees of Shine will reverse Shining Son's heritage and slayers. Also note that as the tale occurs before the coming of Sharza-Zara (Shares-a-Tear), and the times that the roses normally bloomed would have been reversed, though this has been forgotten.

The River Division

In addition to dividing north and south, The River Division once divided the two peoples of the land, the followers of Shine in the north and those of Shimmer in the south. When Sharza-Zara came, she had The City built over The River Division to unite them. However, a new division has formed, as the followers of Shimmer took over The City and the followers of Shine took all the land outside it.


See Also: