Temple of Memory

## Common Knowledge

Amnesiacs seeking to restore their memories may hear about temples to a goddess of memory in different places. A person could also stumble upon a monk from such a temple, on a journey to “find new information”.

## Beliefs

The Temple of Memory cherishes memories and information, and devotes itself to preserving both at nearly any cost. In pursuit of these goals, members devote themselves to Emlek, the goddess of memory who gave them their sole sacred edict.

The Temple of Memory also believes Emlek to be, in her words, the daughter of the God of Dreams. They know next to nothing about this entity, as there are no texts on it, and Emlek does not talk about it very much. In recent years, Emlek has also said that the Binturians had saved her father, who had gone mad.

## The Worshiped

Members of the Temple of Memory worship the goddess of memory, who founded their earliest temples and beseeched them to cherish memory and preserve information.

To some degree, albeit not the same degree to which they worship Emlek, followers venerate information in any form and despise its destruction.

## Religious Practices

Private worship of Emlek is encouraged, but not required or enforced. The only true sin is to destroy knowledge, erase or manipulate memories, or otherwise disrespect Emlek’s teachings. Among these teachings, Emlek encourages a healthy night’s sleep, but forbids the consumption of alcohol.

Members who stay at temples themselves are scholars and archivists who meticulously record all that they can for historical memory. Their temples are open and free libraries containing historical accounts, magical knowledge, songs, poetry, and personal daily accounts written by monks, priests, and travellers across thousands of years. Travellers wishing to stay are provided lodging, and membership is open to all.

Some knowledge is sensitive information, or even dangerous in itself, and in such cases individual monks and priests decide if recording that knowledge is worth the risk.

Members often cooperate with priests in rites and rituals, both to recover lost memories and to commune with Emlek herself.

## Celebrations and Holidays

Monks, priests, and other followers have no unique holidays, nor are they restricted from observing any other holiday they so choose.

Though not a holiday, the head priests of each temple will sometimes congregate for meetings of importance. This usually happens at least once a year, and is an almost-holiday when not done for emergencies.

## Religious Scripture, Artifacts, and Locations

### Artifacts

#### Amulets

Amulets given to priests are imbued with power by Emlek herself that can only be harnessed if the person has devoted years of study to understand and utilize it. After reciting an incantation, the priest may draw upon Emlek’s power in the amulet in order to use strong memory manipulation magic, such as drawing memories to the front of one’s mind from their storage in Thymisi.

Amulets are also used to commune with Emlek herself, and perform religious rites. In many ways, the amulets of Emlek have power similar to those which can manipulate dreams, similar to her parent god Morpheus or the Dreamwalkers.

In order to communicate with Emlek, a ritual is performed by the priests with the help of the monks. It is easier to communicate with Emlek with more amulets, as there is more of her power connecting the priests to her. It can still be done with less amulets, but it takes more time to complete the ritual.

### Locations

The Temples of Memory are the sacred sites to worshippers of Emlek. There are Temples of Memory built in the Arlaven Glades, Barg, some of the Fera Isles, the Peaceland Commonwealth, and Port Calla.

Temples of Memory have a magically empowered room devoted to rituals and religious rites, which the devoted refer to as Ritual Rooms, as well as scriptorums.

## Personage

Members of the Temple of Memory are divided into three ranks: Monk, Priest, and Head Priest. Many of its members are phantasmal magic users or essence users, but membership is not exclusive to such people.

### Monks

The lowest rank, and the majority of devotees. Becoming a monk simply requires asking to join a temple. Monks must, of course, be respectful and follow Emlek’s teachings, and can be kicked out for failing to do so. Monks may remain within a temple to write and copy manuscripts, or they may travel Orelisle to find and record new information to bring back to a temple while spreading the word of Emlek. Monks are expected to help priests perform rites and rituals if asked, as well as cooking and cleaning their temples.

Monks may leave the fold at any time, with no penalty, and are still permitted to use the libraries of the temples.

Monks traditionally wear yellow robes.

### Priests

The second-highest rank, priests are monks who have trained for years to attain priesthood and are elevated to the position by a consensus of their peers. Each temple usually has more than one priest, and their duties and responsibilities are similar to those of monks. Instead of merely participating in rites, priests are expected to lead them directly. Most priests also stay close to the temples, but are not barred from travelling.

Upon becoming a priesthood, a priest acquires an amulet. In addition to being a symbol of their station, these amulets let the priests more directly commune with Emlek, and grant priests special powers, as described below. Emlek may even use this emboldened connection to direct priests where to go for new information.

If a priest wishes to give up the priesthood, they must give up their amulet and never again claim to be an active priest to the goddess of memory.

Priests wear orange robes over their yellow monk robes.

### Head Priests

The highest rank, head priests are leaders of their particular temple and represent it in annual/necessary convenings with other head priests. Each head priest is elected to their position by members of their temple, provided they are already a priest.

Head priests wear either a red robe or a red cloak over their clothes.

## Founding and History

### Founding (C. 1,000’s A.B.)

Emlek first reached out to mortals some time in the 1,000s A.B., beseeching them to cherish memory and do all they could to preserve information. These ideas were codified into a religion specifically to her. Emlek was also responsible for the founding of the first temples dedicated to this religion, now called the Temples of Memory.

To the priests of these temples, Emlek supplies amulets imbued with some of her own power. This allows the priests to commune with her, perform rites, and use fairly strong memory manipulation magic.

### Barg Temple Amulet Theft (10,017 A.B.)

In 10,017 A.B., when a group of bandits stole the amulets from the Barg Temple of Memory, its members and priests asked the Binturians to retrieve them; the Binturians successfully retrieved them and returned them to the temple.

## Further Information

* Arlaven Glades
* Barg
* The Binturian Party
* Dreamwalkers
* Emlek
* Fera Isles
* Magic
* Morpheus
* Peaceland Commonwealth
* Port Calla
* Thymisi