Amarylla

Following the Cataclysm, the human clans of the roughlands on the continent of Belinara fought for survival and supremacy in the changed landscape. As the arid sands and scrubs of the roughlands shrank and new mountain ranges and forests emerged, some of the clans were forced into these new environments.

The tribal leader Xi-Lo-Sung of the Flying Horse tribe, leaving behind his horseman heritage, led his people into the Shattered Mountains to escape the chaos of the roughlands. He struggled against the harsh landscape, raids by other tribes and giants and a constant depression in his people. To overcome the physical and mental obstacles of his people Xi-Lo-Sung formed a regime of focused martial and mental training.

The newly developed techniques healed the mass depression of the populace and a thriving community was created around a newly formed monastery hidden on a craggy peak within the shattered mountains. The monks of the temple became renowned for the ability to heal illnesses of the mind. Pilgrims and outcasts from other clans traveled to the monastery in search of peace of mind. The monastery was named Healing of The Broken Circle, though it is often referred to as simply The Broken Circle. His people, and those that have joined them in the Shattered Mountains, are now known as the Shattered Clans.

Taurnil Carnesîr the Elven brought the fellowship of Aeridin to the Shattered Clans in the year 134. Having travelled to Belinara as a missionary, he was despondent after finding very few willing to accept the precepts of Aeridin. This, coupled with the expansionism of the human tribes sent him into a dark depression. However, he continued on with his mission and eventually found his way into the Shattered Mountains, and to The Broken Circle.

At The Broken Circle he found a receptive audience and his depression was ministered to by the monks. Taurnil spent several decades with the monks and in his time there he learned to find aspects of Aeridin in forms of nature other then that of his beloved forest.

A chapel devoted to Aeridin was built alongside the monastery under Taurnil’s leadership. The chapel within the monastery was made up of entirely human clergy. The joint clerical and monastic temple was renamed Amarylla, meaning sanctuary. Amarylla became known as a place of healing for both body and mind. Taurnil continued to guide the temple leading the human Clerics and Monks through several generations. During the troubled decades of the Human-Elf war (148-334) Amarylla reduced its contact with other Aeridinte temples and withdrew from the affairs of the outside world.

In 383, before the arrival of the Demon Prince Xandrial to the continent of Belinara, Taurnil received a vision of that impending doom. Taurnil set into motion a plan to ensure the safety of Amarylla, to hide it so that this seed of Aeridin’s faith would remain on the doomed continent. Taurnil spent a year in strict prayer and meditation. Aeridin granted his prayers, and since that point, Amarylla can only be seen and entered when both moons Orn and Ausir are full in the sky, or at Mid Summer.

Taurnil vanished mysteriously from Amarylla with this act, his fate unknown to this day. With the disappearance of Taurnil Carnesîr the Elven, access to Amarylla became nearly impossible. The human clergy and monks of the temple continued their traditions unabated, supported by the surrounding villages of the Shattered Clans. Over the centuries the traditions of Aeridin followed by the human clerics in Amarylla deviated slightly from the original teachings.

The giant tribes of the Giant Run Mountains have legends of a mysterious temple that can be seen by those of keen eye on various peaks of the Shattered Mountains. Whenever a giant patrol ventures to investigate they return confused, having been unable to locate the exact peak that the mysterious temple was sighted upon.

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