Administrative and Civic Center of Ravounel

The domed People's Temple, right foreground, dominates the skyline of Kintargo.

The Administrative and Civic Center of Ravounel, colloquially called the People's Temple and formerly known as the Temple of Asmodeus and Temple of Aroden, is the largest temple in Kintargo and government capitol of Ravounel. It dominates the Temple Hill district.

History

Under Chelaxian rule

The People's Temple began life as a cathedral dedicated to the now-dead god Aroden. After the Thrune Ascendancy, the newly empowered Thrunes were quick to convert the temple to their deific patron with a diabolic sacrifice of the now half-mad clergy of Aroden. This gave birth to powerful undead herecites that guarded the belfry.

The Temple was the site of the final battles of the Kintargan Rebellion in Kintargo, in which the Silver Ravens ultimately defeated Barzillai Thrune.

Under the rule of Ravounel

After Ravounel's successful bid for independence from Cheliax in 4716 AR, the new regime of the Silver Council voted to turn the Temple of Asmodeus into the government capitol and officially renamed it the Administrative and Civic Center of Ravounel.

By 4719 AR renovations had begun to change the building's diabolic architecture, but as of 4724 AR attempts had been mired in disputes between stakeholders over style and design. Its infernal appearance has instead become an unofficial reminder of the lives lost during Barzillai's regime.

With both the People's Temple and Castle Kintargo undergoing slow-moving renovations, many government meetings as of 4724 AR instead take place in the Counting House and in Andos Hall, Kintargo's former city hall.

Appearance

The center's towering dome and belfry rise high atop Temple Hill overlooking the rest of the district. Its once graceful façade had been converted to the new Chelaxian style under the rule of House Thrune, reinforced with brutal iron and magically altered to add images of devils and hellscapes.

The structure is a circle 300 feet in diameter and topped by a 200-foot-diameter dome primarily supported by five enormous stone ribs. The centre of the structure beneath this dome descends in pentagonal terraces to the central altar. A blot of permanent darkness enshrouded the southern part of the central nave, and surrounding it were separate areas for living and other mundane temple activities.

As a temple of Asmodeus

The religious symbol of Asmodeus.

Clergy, congregation, and inhabitants

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Despite its size, the Temple of Asmodeus had never been popular in Kintargo. Designed to seat hundreds for its profane ceremonies, the nave is rarely host to more than a few dozen followers. The temple was led by High Priest Corinstian Grivenner, who rumours suggested was the secret lover of Aluceda Zhol, high priestess of the nearby temple of Zon-Kuthon. The temple's clergy included a variety of powerful priests and associates, including the Varisian harrower Zella Zidlii and the mysterious vishkanya sorcerer known only as The Gardener.

The Temple of Asmodeus also boasted a variety of fiendish defenders, including host devils, hell hounds, barbed devils, and even a powerful ice devil, to name but a few. The Temple was also defended by a host of construct defenders, including blood, clay, and rare stained-glass golems.