Siege of the Northern Kolovrat Temple

The **Siege of the Northern Kolovrat Temple** was a battle that took place 5,600 years before the Tornarin Bombardment at Narivo.

## Events

The Third Vilonian Empire targeted the mountainous country of Narivo for its strategic value: if they take the region, they will easily conquer the rest of Vozolaz. Firstly, its emperor and leaders sought to force Narivo's people to capitulate by bombing their country and the Northern Kolovrat Temple, its holiest site: the attacks on the latter angered Narivo's neighbours, who sent their armies to defend the ancient stone temple from the Vilonian armies.

Although thousands of defenders were killed during the defence of the temple, their remnants weakened the invading Vilonian armies and their greatest cannons, exhausting and sabotaging them until they had to retreat. Among the defenders were thousands of Porasonids, who sought to purify their souls from their ancestors' sins by fortifying the temple and dying in battle.

Enedris once took part in the defense of the temple. At times, he evacuated civilians that happened to cross his path, and at other times he went into a furious rage against the Vilonian besiegers for desecrating the temple and its gods.

After they retreated from their loss, many of the Vilonian soldiers plundered whatever temples, libraries, and storehouses that they found in their way. They contracted many painful diseases, and nine days later, they died. This was taken as a sign that the god of this holy land, Svarog, had cursed them for desecrating it and slaughtering its people.

## Trivia

* When viewed from aircraft or in a satellite image, the temple might look like a captain's wheel or a dharmachakra. The primary eight avenues, the great stairways in and out of the temple, and the watchtowers and gates at the end of each stairway are its "spokes"; each gate is dedicated to a different god or goddess.
	+ Due to its shape, some people referred this temple as "the Great Wheel", "the Wheel-house", "the Cyclical Halls", "the Great Star", or "the Wheel Temple".
	+ The temple was also used as a star map, as the priests installed golden plaques representing the nations of the Galaxy. For example, Vovtarla was located to the north of Jerde, so its corresponding plaque is located at the southern arm. If possible, the plaques are replaced every year on July 17, when the temple was closed for a ritual purification.
	+ At the middle of the south arm is a large hall. There, people pay their respects to kings and other heroes, whose cremated remained were interred in mahogany sarcophagi. That hall was known as the Falcon's Wing, decorated with statues representing Rarog, Svarog's falcon.
	+ The members of the Holy Veche, the council of high priests who govern Narivo, wear headdresses shaped like the heads of falcons, with red disks behind the heads.
* The Northern Kolovrat Temple may be influenced by the Angkor Wat of Cambodia, the Mahabodhi Temple of India, and Egyptian tombs. The falcon motifs and solar themes, and the designs of the sarcophagi, may be based on the veneration of Horus (Rarog is a falcon, like Horus), Ra (a sun god like Svarog), and the pharaohs.
	+ In the Primary Chronicle of Kievan Rus', Svarog (the god of the Northern Kolovrat Temple) was associated with Hephaestus, his Greek counterpart. One legend mentions that he (as Hephaestus) was worshipped in Egypt, presumably as Ptah or Ra.
* In Slavic pseudohistory, the kolovrat is considered as a symbol of the sun god Svarog, when in actual history similar-looking symbols were used in later times as a good luck charm long after the Christianisation of Russia. It is used mainly by worshippers of Slavic gods, nationalists, and fascists in Eastern Europe (who co-opt it for its similarity to the notorious swastika).