[The following material was originally written for use in the PBeM Beneath the Golden Moon.]
This document provides a detailed look at Menekod's Laranian chapel. The information is in places rather more than most or even all residents would know.
Even before 1296 SA, when the Laranians took Menekod, this room on the second floor of the keep was dedicated to religious use. The Agrikan Order of the Company of the Copper Hook used it both as a place for worship and as a repository of religious artifacts and relics. Even before this, during the Morgathian occupation, the room saw at least some religious use; the dark priests of Morgath make even less distinction between their religion and wider life than the followers of other faiths.
After the Laranians seized the keep in 1296, they immediately broke the stained-glass windows that adorned the room, leaving them unglazed and unshuttered. Everything in the room that was related to Agrik was removed and the walls were whitewashed.
Shortly after the Order of the Checkered Shield took over the castle and made it their headquarters, they began using the room as their own chapel.
The current decoration of the chapel bears little resemblance to its state before the Laranian occupation. All who have used the room, however, have worked within its basic physical structure; that is, a roughly square room with a flat ceiling and a number of rectangular windows. The entrance is in the northeast corner, an opening that cuts the corner diagonally. There are three large windows on the west wall, and two each on the north and east walls; two narrower windows are positioned on the ends of the south wall.
During the period of Agrikan use, these windows were glazed, the stained glass showing a variety of religious scenes and figures. As mentioned above, the glass was broken by the Laranians after they captured the castle; the debris, mixed into dirt, was in fact later used in the construction/repair of some part of the keep. The windows were left uncovered and unglazed until 1308 when Yebael of Tolfane, wife of the newly appointed Chabla, put up red cloth hangings to cover them. No doubt this caused much relief among those who used the chapel during cold or inclement weather. The cloth was backed with dyed calico, which could be easily replaced when it became too weathered, thus protecting the cloth itself from the elements. Shortly after putting up these drapes, Yebael began working on decorations in gold thread for them.
The first hanging she completed shows Saint Ambrathas standing ready with his sword clasped before him, point down. She finished work on this in 1310, ready for the service given by Faenyn Das, Bishop of Perinore. Originally it was placed over the southern-most window on the west wall, but was moved to the middle window in 1315 so that the newly completed "hovel" tapestry could be placed there, opposite to the depiction of Dolithor that was finished in 1312.
The view of Dolithor was Yebael's second work. Her third was smaller in scale, designed to cover the western window on the south wall, and shows Mendiz, the divine servant. This was finished in 1313; a year later she completed work on a representation of Crestyl Calasain, the head of the Order of Hyvrik when the Order of the Checkered Shield was formed. It was in this year that the chaplain was disgraced and subsequently killed himself. Perhaps in reaction to this, Yebael's next scene was taken from the life of Saint Brygyne and shows the humble peasant cottage in which she was raised. As noted above, this hanging was placed opposite the Dolithor drape.
Sparked by the decision of her son to remove himself to a Peonian monastery, over the next year Yebael passionately worked on a new hanging. It shows the goddess Peoni sitting peacefully in a chair, her hands holding needlework in her lap; standing beside her is the goddess Larani, armed and armoured.
Her next two years, from 1316-1318, were spent creating the glorious Passage of Souls, a 'map of Heaven' showing the journey of the souls of those who die in Larani's service. Shockingly, only a day after it was hung in the chapel, during the night before the hanging was to be blessed, it disappeared. No trace was ever found, either of the tapestry or of the culprit who spirited it away, despite a standing reward of 500d for its return. Those who have occasion to visit Yebael's workroom can see the original sketch for this great piece which Chabla Syman had framed for his wife shortly after the disappearance.
After this setback Yebael returned to a more modest task. Intrigued by one of the carvings in the courtyard, Yebael asked after its meaning. She was told that the icon was the exclusive preserve to Mekednir Jayal Dyr, and that only she knew its significance. On speaking with Jayal, Yebael learnt that it was a representation of the Goddess. Taken by its beauty and the new light it cast on Larani, she took this design to decorate her next hanging. The image is that of Larani dancing ecstatically enclosed within a circle of flame.
Yebael's ninth piece of work for the chapel, finished only this winter, covers the eastern window on the south wall and depicts the divine servant Valamin.
When the Laranians began their occupation of the castle, the stone walls of this room were painted. This had clearly been the work of the Agrikans who had previously held the stronghold, since the multi-coloured friezes depicted demonic forms and ritual torments. This art was covered over with whitewash in short order; every year the walls are recoated to maintain the finish.
The sole decoration of the floor are a number of grooves carved into the stone flags. Two sets of parallel grooves run diagonally from near the west and east walls to a central groove that runs most of the length of the chamber. The two sets of grooves slant outwards and to the south, meeting together on the central line forming a feather pattern.
The central groove appears to run under the altar, but does not extend beyond it. In fact, the altar, strategically placed by the current residents, covers a cup-shaped cavity at the end of the groove.
All of the grooves are about two inches wide and one inch deep; in cross-section they are semi-circular. The cavity is roughly a foot in diameter and several inches deep.
The only entrance to the chapel is through a doorway in the northeast corner. There was once a pair of doors in place, but they have long since been removed. The doorway is now covered by a thick curtain of deep blue cloth. Usually this is left in place and pulled aside by each individual as they enter or exit the room. Before and after services, however, it is drawn aside to allow easy passage.
The previous Chabla, Esthoven of Banald, arranged for two carvings to be made on either side of the doorway, on the hall side. Each depicts half of a warrior standing to attention and carrying a spear. In general shape the two are mirror images of each other; however, that on the left is male while his counterpart is female. The carvings are flush with the doorframe, the space of the doorway forming their only separation. They represent, of course, the hermaphroditic warrior Gotáumaþa, the male half being called Jaleîknargs and the female half Qesailuáu.
Chabla Esthoven also ordered the defacement of the carving of a demon visage, which scowled down on visitors to the chapel from above the doorway. A checkered shield hangs over the scarred remains.
On the lower of the two steps leading up to the entrance one can barely make out the relief carving of perhaps an animal or human face. The passage of so many feet over the centuries has worn away the stone so that the image is hard to make out.
There are three main furnishings in the chapel outside of the window hangings. These are the altar, the Seat of the Goddess and the pews.
The altar is a plain wooden table with three closed sides; the back is open, so that material may be stored out of sight for use in ceremonies. The altar has a splendid cover, made of silk and decorated with woven gold and precious gems, a gift to the Order from the Laranian primate of Hârn. It depicts a scene from the Gest of Ambrathas, when the three royal daughters come to the court at Alamire. Atop the altar are the usual trappings of a Laranian chapel: the holy lamp, a bowl for holy water, and a copy of Sebrath Kora's Lives of the Saints, which is used by priests throughout Lythia as the basis for sermons.
The Seat of the Goddess is situated slightly behind and to one side of the altar, and is of course never moved or sat upon. For more information on the rôle of this chair, the holy lamp and the bowl, see the HRT Larani document on Holy Fire.
The pews are wooden and only minimally decorated with carvings.
Lighting for the chapel is provided primarily by the windows and a number of lamps. The lamps are hung over hooks in the ceiling beams, and can be raised and lowered using the long cords attached to them. These cords are tied to cleats mounted in the walls. In order to light the lamps, they must be lowered; generally they hang slightly above the height of a man. Additional lighting, when needed, comes from numerous candles placed around the room.
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