GuildSchool--Neighborhoods of Igbar. the Godstraat.

[LordVreeg]

The Godstraat of Igbar

[ooc]
The Godstraat of Igbar was not planned.  This is common for many of the settlements that became cities; and is frankly the case for many settlements in the cradle area of Celtricia.  

 

Worship in Celtricia is very close to a daily event, somewhat casual.  Truly spiritual folk might spend hours at a Douhis (temple) for a certain diety, many days in a row.  But more commonly, a quick visit happens a few times a hawaak, and worshippers more often visit the Douhis that fits their current needs.  Business deals often necessitate a stop by the Platform of Trade or the Church of Fortune, hunting might foster a trip to the Church of the Wild Hunt.  Planning a party often requires a blessing from the Hosting God, and this does not include the dozens of lesser planars and saints included in each Douhis.  

 

In Igbar, the Godstraat is the first major left after entering the Recum (North) Gate.  As one enters the area, there is a huge, 25' tall white gate, inscribed with a black, stone Gavel, a Shield,  and a Scimitar, which are the symbols of the Lawful Triumverate.  These symbols have blacksteel accents.

The Douhis are all made of stone or brick;  and the street is also black-bricked Tenimarple, and curbed.  Many of the larger Fanes are white FidikMarple, some shooting up 70 or eighty feet, and the Godstraat is one of the few areas, along with the Royal Way, that is lit with huge, fifteen foot high ornate lanterns.  In short; the initial impression one gets from the marshalling yard of the Recum Gate is extremely impressive.   There are nine major churches in Igbar, and many more minor shrines and buildings that represent the relgions of Igbar.





The Godstraat neighborhood technically incudes a small set of streets and alley between the North city wall and the Godstraat, as well as a few streets to the south.   The off-areas include smaller temples and hopefull someday members, as well as administrative buildings, shops that cater mainly to the theoctratic, and storage areas.

This area also includes dormitories for many of the younger members, and a few inns, as well.

 

The street has 2 more of those huge 25 foot tall black arches.  around 200 feet into the street, there is a second arch, this one has had the carvings rubberd off and the blacksteel accents ripped off.  There is a third one almost five hundred feet into the street, also white, with a black scythe on the north side, and an eight pointed star on the southern.  These have black metal accents, as the other ones.

 

Unlike the wealthy areas in other parts of town, the temple steps often reach to the edge of the road, crowding the street with the facades. Stairways and walkways abut and crossover the street, and the bustle of voices and bells, hooves and horns, surrounds the street from the Sui to the Na-sui, and even in the night, there is bustle.  

Yet all of this is dulled brass compared to the golden, shining throng associated with a festival day.  When more than one church bands together, sometimes three or four, they can create a din and ruckus that disrupts the whole town of Igbar.

 

Churches are not fixed in place, either.  There is some correspondence to how far down the road east a church is to it's relative popularity.  For example, the Church of the Lawful Triumverate, which is the most attended in the town, has moved three times in the past century, until now it occupies the old, huge Mariners of Vicis temple, which is in the very North East corner inside the city Gate.  The Church of Irony and Chance is close by, and has also movced twice in the past ninety years.  By contrast, the smaller churches at the western, gate side are newer, wher religions like the God of Hosts try to retain their new status.
[/ooc]

[Llum]

How do they decide when to move churches? How big a hassle is it? Are important things forgotten? Does the replaced church really want to move?

What happened to the middle Arch? Why was it vandalized?

[LordVreeg]

How do they decide when to move churches? How big a hassle is it? Are important things forgotten? Does the replaced church really want to move?

What happened to the middle Arch? Why was it vandalized?

Wow, all great questions...

Moving the churches, while according to many at the whim of the gods, is really a social thing.  When the Douhis is filled all the time, when there is spillover, then it ios time to think about looking to a bigger venue.  By contrast, nothing is more embarressing than a worship hall that is half-empty all the time.  
It is a giagantic hassle, but normally when the church that is shrinking begins a down-street slide, it is as much becasue they cannot afford the taxes to the town [spoiler=taxes] churches are heavily taxed in almost all cradle areas.  They take in a huge amount of money, but they pay all sorts of taxes.  [/spoiler]  So it is normally the church moving sown that creates the space first, and the churches that all are lloking to move up that go the other way.  Currently, the church of the Weave, the Church of the Livihg Earth, and the Church of Fortune are all worried about this...though Kiko's continued tithes have staved off worry fpor the Isha's for a while.

The Middle arch was the Devilkin Church of the Thundererous Response, a devilkin church of Karm Gresinoid, patron of Argus.  It was ripped apart and despoiled when the Argussians were displaced.