Flaming Brazier

The Flaming Brazier was a temple dedicated to Kossuth located in the city of Bezantur on the southern coast of Thay. Within that city, it was also known simply as the Temple of Kossuth. During the mid-to-late 14 century DR, it was renowned as the biggest Kossuthan temple in all of Faerûn.
==Location==
thumb|300px|A map of Bezantur showing the Temple of Kossuth (labeled #44).
Bezantur was the so-called "City of a Thousand Temples", and the Flaming Brazier sat on the eastern edge of the many tightly packed temples that dominated the center of the city (the only temple that lay further east was the neighboring Temple of Juiblex). To the south, the Flaming Brazier was separated from the docks only by the Temple of Lolth. To its west sat the temples of Bane, Beshaba, Talos, and Tyr.
==Structure==
The main temple was a tall, four-tiered step-pyramid of blackened red marble with smoke belching from the top. It was illuminated by many sacred fires which were kept burning all along it as well as by thirty or more fire elementals that danced across the exterior. This structure loomed over the skyline of Bezantur like a hungry volcano, however the majority of the temple was actually underground. Forges deep within the temple produced a foul-smelling yellow smoke that permeated the center of the city.
The main pyramid—referred to as the "Great Pyramid"—sat on the southern side of the temple's square compound. A "Lesser Pyramid"—a smaller replica of the Great Pyramid which housed a ramp leading down into the temple catacombs—sat in the northwest corner. The whole compound was surrounded by a fortified, black wall hewn from cooled lava with guard towers at each of the corners. An imposing pair of brass gates flanked by two towers allowed access to the compound from the west. A narrow walkway ran along the top of the wall and gate, protected by a parapet.
The courtyard inside the walls included the entrance bailey—called the Ward of Savyels, which was scorched, dusty, and lined in smoldering stones that would burn anyone who lacked sufficient resistance or protection from heat—as well as the tiltyard where the temple's defenders trained.
==Interior==
===Great Pyramid===
Inside of its double brass doors, the Great Pyramid was hollow: a large chamber known as the Inner Sanctum of Kossuth extended from the chimney in the very top all the way down to a pit of lava on the floor. This lava pool was known as the Altar of Fire, and it was where sacrifices to Kossuth were performed. The lava was fed by a deep, artificial volcano dug into the crust of Toril, and was prevented from erupting only by the grace of Kossuth. The pool of lava was ringed by a gap, which was in turn encircled by a bed of hot coals used to test initiates in the Oath of Firewalking. Within the gap between the coals and the lava sat six towering efreet transformed into brass statues, which would come alive to attack any intruders who did not bear a holy symbol of Kossuth. These efreet guarded a set of stairs on the north side of the Altar which led down to the Hall of Flame Flowers in the catacombs, a grand chamber with narrow paths connecting gardens of flame flowers that illuminated the room.
Above the ground level of the Inner Sanctum, small doors from each of the pyramid's outside terraces connected to narrow balconies suspended within the pyramid. The only means of accessing these balconies was to ride up upon several magical jets of flame.
===Catacombs===
====First Level====
Inside the Lesser Pyramid was the main entrance to the catacombs where the temple inhabitants lived. A ramp surrounded by a ring of hot coals descended into the first level of these catacombs, arriving in a chamber that served as stables. The first level predominantly contained the barracks, mess hall, kitchen, and armory for the Kossuthan Knights of the Fire Drake, but it also included vast natural caves in which monstrous inhabitants of the temple lived, notably a colony of firenewts who dwelt in a cavern on the northern side of the tunnels.
To reach to the second level of the catacombs required passing through the Hall of Fire Flowers—detailed above—and the Pit of Lost Lights—a trap that dropped intruders (or disfavored members of the clergy) into a deep shaft with a huge green slime at the bottom. The Pit was normally kept closed and locked (except when it was needed), and it sat at the top of two stairways which descended to the west and east.
====Second and Third Levels====
Down the western stairs were the austere barracks and mess hall of the Disciples of the Salamander. This side featured more stairs descending deeper still to a third level of the catacombs where the barracks of the remainder of the priesthood were located. This section included the quarters of the highest ranking members of the temple, including the opulent chambers of the high priest, as well as antechambers in which to meet with these leaders.
Down the eastern stairs from the first level was a chamber known as the Redoubt of Fire, a fortified guard post designed to keep the temple's army of slaves in check. Six crossbowmen manned the post at all times, and walls of fire were used to restrict access to the upper levels as needed. To the north of the Redoubt were the squalid slave pens, while to the east was the descent into the mines wherein the slaves toiled to extract coal, phosphate, and sulfur, which served as the raw materials for the temple's foul forges.
==Activities==
The temple was an important base for the Church of Kossuth, and its priests coordinated both short- and long-term plans to further the goals of the faith. These priests actively evangelized in the streets, seeking both converts as well as victims to be scarified in temple rites.
===Ceremonies and Rituals===
Rituals were conducted in the Inner Sanctum, which saw the ground level and all balconies packed with worshipers, each of whom held a lit torch. Even when no ceremony was being held, thirty or more priests were always present in the Inner Sanctum to chant prayers and tend the fires.
The temple hosted a number of daily rituals. Each dawn saw the Ceremony of First Fire: a carefully scripted welcome of the sun, referred to as the "Great Sky Fire", which was considered an avatar of Kossuth that tirelessly incinerated the "imperfect children" of rival Akadi. At Highsun, the temple performed the Burning Rebirth: an hourlong ceremony in which one or more sacrificial victims (sometimes including disgraced members of the faith) were burned alive. On some special dates, sacrifices were also required to include objects crafted in fire. Nightly services were led by the high priest and involved feeding yet more sacrificial victims to the fires. 
In addition to daily rituals, the temple also hosted pyromaniacal Festivals of Burning once each tenday in order to build ties with the community and to curry favor with Red Wizards and Thayan politicians. Annually, the temple also hosted a magnificent party for the high priest's birthday.
==Defenses==
The primary defenders of the temple were the Knights of the Fire Drake, who were supported by a small legion of firenewts who patrolled the battlements of the compound wall. These firenewts numbered 140—including regular and elite warriors as well as priests—with a stable of 60 giant striders. They were supported by four fire giant sentinels from the Smoking Mountains, whose tribe sent them to serve as a matter of tradition. Two of these giants stood guard at the Greater Pyramid while the other two operated the complex's gates, which were made of magically hardened brass (resulting in the durability of steel). Opening the gates required both raising a steel portcullis as well as lifting a massive iron slab that kept the gates barred from the inside. Atop the six guard towers around the perimeter were large catapults designed to hurl balls of flaming pitch (vats of which were kept smoldering nearby at all times). Each guard tower was operated by seven firenewts, and the northeast and southwest towers each housed a pack of hell hounds. Another four squads of seven firenewts patrolled the wall both day and night.
Gaining access to the deepest barracks within the catacombs required traversing a floor of magically hot coals. In addition, the antechamber of the high priest's quarters was home to firedrakes, who were hatched and raised there until they grew too large, at which point new ones were acquired to replace them.
==History==
As of the mid-to-late 14 century DR, the temple known as the Flaming Brazier was the most recent in a long line of similarly named Kossuthan temples on that same site: whenever Kossuth was displeased with his priests, the temple usually burned to the ground that same hour (regardless of the materials of which it was built). The first such temple was erected when Mulhorand rebuilt Bezantur (then called Kensten) in the , after it had been razed to the ground two decades prior by an avatar of Kossuth during the climax of the Great Conflagration. This original temple was a small shrine intended to appease Kossuth and keep him at bay, and having it was so important to the still-fearful populace that the god-kings of Mulhorand were unwilling to oppose its construction despite being loathe to allow a foreign god to be worshiped in their territory. The first high priest of Kossuth in the region was named Bezantur.
Worship of Kossuth came to be persecuted in Mulhorand over the following millennium, and even as the center of the faith retreated north to Tyraturos, the site in Kensten remained holy and was never completely abandoned. During this era, it was not uncommon for Kossuth to burn down the temple.
The first version of the temple to be called the "Flaming Brazier" was built shortly after Kensten gained its independence from Mulhorand in the , which coincided with an increase in the public worship of Kossuth. At the time, the temple priests clashed with the new city council over taxation, and so supported efforts by the Red Wizards of Thay to capture the city. In the , they brokered a secret deal to assist the Red Wizards in besieging the city in exchange for leaving the temple and its wealth alone. When the Red Wizards attacked, the priests empowered their fire magic and the city fell within a fortnight. The Thayans then renamed the city of Kresten to Bezantur in honor of the priests. By , worship of Kossuth had become one of the dominant religions in Bezantur, with only the faith of Myrkul as a true rival. By this time, the Flaming Brazier had burned down twice since the renaming of the city.
During the mid-to-late 13 century DR, the Flaming Brazier's high priest attempted to summon Kossuth with an insane and convoluted plot that involved igniting the Alamber Sea with oil using a decanter of endless lamp oil. This caused damage to the sea life that lingered for years, and resulted in a lasting grudge against the Kossuthans by the sahuagin of Aleaxtis.
By the early- or mid-14 century DR, the Flaming Brazier had fallen into disrepair. At some point around this time, a high-ranking priest named Mythalanir arrived from the Burning House of Kossuth in Tyraturos, and within a fortnight, the Flaming Brazier had burned down and Mythalanir was the most senior surviving member of the clergy. Mythalanir then led the effort to construct a much grander temple, and inevitably became the next high priest. The new temple's defensive wall was created by Red Wizards casting a specialized form of wall of stone that created lava rock, which was then shaped by azer lavasmiths. This version of the temple still stood as of the mid–14 century DR, and at some point, a Zulkir of Abjuration had placed permanent wards around the temple meant to stop any fire creatures or elementals from threatening the city. Also during this time, the bounty hunter Savyels Aka'Pillihp was said to have prevented an assassination of the high priest in the temple bailey, and so that area was renamed in his honor as the "Ward of Savyels".
In the , Kossuth intervened on Thay's behalf in the Salamander War, leading to greater support for the temple and for the faith from the Red Wizards. Aznar Thrul, the Tharchion and Zulkir who ruled Bezantur, threw his support behind the faith, helping to catapult it to the dominant religion in the city. This was done (at least in part) in hopes that Kossuth could be persuaded to continue lending military aid to Thay. As payment for Kossuth's aid, Mythalanir insisted that Aznar Thrul acquire Yrix's ring of fire from his former mentor, Khelben Arunsun, and donate it to the temple. 
By , Mythalanir had led the Flaming Brazier to become the preeminent Kossuthan temple in all of Thay—if not all of Faerûn—after the Burning House of Kossuth in Tyraturos burned down. The high priest of the Burning House, Klanak Famouth, suspected Mythalanir of masterminding his temple's destruction, and so began plotting to retaliate in kind. Klanak thus left the task of rebuilding the Burning House to junior members of the faith while he travelled to Bezantur, where he allied with the Zulkir of Illusion, Mythrell'aa, who sought to undermine Aznar Thrul by hamstringing his Kossuthan allies.
Although the Flaming Brazier was renowned as the largest of Kossuth's temples as late as , a temple purported to be even larger had been erected in Eltabbar by , which was also called the Flaming Brazier. 
==Inhabitants==
Nearly 300 Kossuthan priests occupied the temple complex alongside almost a thousand slaves and a wide array of fiery creatures. Life in the temple was regimented and monotonous but also highly dangerous, and turnover among the clergy was high. However, the temple had little difficulty recruiting from the bleak streets of Bezantur to fill its lower ranks.
===Clergy===
The priesthood observed a strict hierarchy. At the top was the high priest, known as the Eternal Flame of Kossuth, who was in turn served by the three Most Fervid Fires, each of whom oversaw a different branch of the clergy:
*The Most Fervid Walker of Fires oversaw the priesthood, known as firewalkers. These priests gave sermons, sought out converts, captured sacrifices, and administered temple business, finances, and schemes. A small brigade of these Firewalkers were responsible for tending to the sacred fires in the braziers around the temple.
*The First Disciple of the Salamander commanded the monks of the Disciples of the Salamander. These monks were largely responsible for coordinating the temple's mercantile enterprises, namely the transportation and sale of ores between the temple mines, its forges, and the markets of Bezantur. Following the Salamander War, there was some discussion of renaming this branch of the temple.
*The General of the Knights of the Drake led the crusaders of the Knights of the Fire Drake. These knights were responsible for defending the entrances to the temple, the Inner Sanctum, and the coffers. They trained constantly.
Each of the three Most Fervid Fires was served by two Numinous Blazes, who were in turn served by an Inspired Forge, who was served by a Flamebrother/sister, who was served by a Fury of the Faith, who was served by a Pillar of Flame, who was served by a Zealous Pyre. Each of these layers of the command hierarchy oversaw thirty junior priests consisting of ten Devoted Blazes in the upper ranks, ten Righteous Flames in the middle ranks, and ten Torches of the Faith at the lower ranks. Below these priests, each branch of the clergy oversaw a dozen Lightless novices (who had yet to take their Oath of Firewalking) and 15-20 lay members from the community.
====Crimson Warlocks====
During the mid-to-late 14 century DR, as a move to solidify political power, Mythalanir directed the temple to introduce the Order of Crimson Warlocks as a fourth branch of its clergy (despite this being highly unorthodox as far as the Church of Kossuth was concerned). This Order allowed Red Wizards to join the "clergy" and to select a title within the hierarchy which they believed suited them best (which naturally led to most of them claiming the highest allowed rank: Most Fervid Fire). While the actual clergy paid lip service to these high-ranked Warlocks, they rarely obeyed any commands without first consulting with their true superiors.
===Slaves===
Slaves were predominantly human, and were tasked to work and die in the mines or to keep the temple in perfect condition under the direction of the priesthood. They were also commonly offered up as sacrifices in rituals like the Burning Rebirth.
The slaves were beaten to the point of exhaustion, and were required to sleep in shifts so as to keep the mines running. The only food provided to them was whatever refuse was thrown away by the firenewts in the cavern above the slave pens.
===Monsters===
A tribe of firenewts occupied the temple compound, with adult males serving as defenders in the bailey and along the outer wall while the females and young dwelt in a large cavern on the first level of the catacombs. Individual clans lived by themselves in side chambers of this cavern, while the central area served as a communal space, eating hall, and hatchery. This central area also included a pit for refuse and any unneeded food, which fell to the slaves below. The firenewts' giant strider mounts were kept in the stables just below the Lesser Pyramid, where they were made comfortable with scorched hay. 
As of the mid-to-late 14 century DR, the temple was also home to four fire giants who dwelt in the caves on the first level of the catacombs, two packs of hell hounds who were kenneled in the guard towers, and a number of lavamen who dwelt beneath the Altar of Fire unless summoned. In addition, fire mephits served as couriers around the complex, enslaved efreet guarded the vaults, and firedrakes protected the high priest's chambers. Firetails occasionally visited but rarely stayed for long, and prior to the Salamander War, salamanders had occupied the temple's depths. The Great Pyramid was also home to a colony of fire bats who flitted in and out of the Elemental Plane of Fire and had free reign of the temple. Any such creatures from the Plane of Fire were unable to leave the compound on the Material Plane owing to the wards placed around the temple to protect the city from them, although this did not stop the fire bats from flying up and illuminating the night sky above the temple.
===Notable Inhabitants===
Notable inhabitants of the Flaming Brazier as of the mid-to-late 14 century DR included:
*Eternal Flame Mythalanir, the tyrannical, ambitious, and politically savvy high priest.
*Blaze Mythalanir, the second-highest ranked priest at the temple until he was recruited into the Red Wizards, at which point he confusingly had his name changed to match that of the Eternal Flame.
*Flamedancer, a tshala with Harper sympathies who moved into the temple to spy on the Red Wizards and rescue the slaves.
*Mantorra Hennaflame, a noble-born apprentice of Aznar Thrul and member of the Order of Crimson Warlocks.
*Most Fervid Fire Grilyanthyn, an elementalist who traveled from the temple to investigate a Kossuthan curse in Procampur.
*Xakamt, a ghost beholder bound to serve Mythalanir after a failed incursion into the temple during the .
==Appendix==
===Appearances===
===References===
Category:Temples
Category:Temples to Kossuth
Category:Kossuthan locations
Category:Locations in Bezantur
Category:Locations in Priador
Category:Locations in Thay
Category:Locations in the Unapproachable East
Category:Locations in East Faerûn
Category:Locations in Faerûn
Category:Locations on Toril
Category:Year of Metropolises