The Unspoken Word
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The Shaker Temple, 1610 ST
From:
Tarsh in Flames (The Unspoken Word, 2001)
Copyright © Simon Bray 2002
By Simon Bray
Skulking within the foothills of Mount Kero Fin squats the Shake Temple, the greatest holy place of Maran Gor, Goddess of
Earthquakes and War, Mother of Gatings, the axe and mace wielding bellower of curses.
The temple sits upon the edge of a great natural basin called the Shake Lands. The hills around the temple are barren and
rocky, earthquakes and tremors are daily occurrences. Few plants grow in the blasted region, apart from Maran’s Talons, a
blood red briar with great hooked flesh-ripping thorns, with greedy roots that suck the sustenance from the soil, and drink the
blood of animals and men as if sending it as sacrifice to their barren goddess. Few animals roam the land, apart from ravens,
jackals and other carrion eaters; the only herds encountered are the gelded black bulls of the temple itself that are so fierce that
they eat carrion not hay. (The herds of the Shaker Temple do not survive on carrion alone, but are fed ritual offering of flesh,
burnt barley and blood as part of the temple ceremonies.) At certain times of the year, great herds of Quakebeast, descend
from the Brontosaur Ridge to give thanks to their mother. Through this bleak and harsh landscape cuts the Wintertop-Bagnot
road. This is a dangerous route: the road near to the temple is lined with great boulders carved with images of Maran and
during violent quakes these tumble into the road, crushing the unwary traveller, only to right themselves again during the night.
The Cults of Etyries and Issaries have magic that permits safe travel along this stretch of road, although even they are wary of
travelling this route on Maran’s Holiest Days.
The temple complex appears squat and ugly from the road, a rough track leads for two miles through a landscape of cracked
and ugly boulders to the towering walls that form the temple perimeter. Along the track are many skull-topped cursing wards,
which warn any who approach that doom is all that is offered within the temple walls. At any time, the ground may rumble and
hungry fissures open up to swallow even initiates of the goddess. The great cyclopean stones of the temple rise in monstrous
tiers above the surrounding lands. The stones are cut by huge doorways and arches, which dwarf the devotees. Around the
perimeter, the stones form a great shieldwall, where the servants of Erantha Gor and Maran Devor guard stoically day and
night. The wall guardians are aided in their vigils by a number of daemons, which dwell within the great stones upon which they
stand. These otherworldly creatures rise up to attack enemies or use their earthy magic to aid the warriors. The most famous of
these daemons is Gorgorlot the Earth Vomiter, who can project boulders from as small as a man’s head to as large as a
wagon. Impossibly huge gates of carved stone guard the temple, painted with a colossal bloody image of Maran, wielding a
great mace and axe and stomping upon her enemies, renewed with the blood of sacrificial victims each holy day. ‘The Opener
of Earth’ is a huge Quakebeast, which uses its mighty strength to pull the temple gates open. It is tended by fanatical initiates,
who bolster the creature’s strength with their own blood. Pilgrims stop at the gates to bring forth sacrifices, food and goods.
Those seeking the blessings or curses of the Dark Earth must do so through the gate guards. Those who have heeded the
calling of the Maran must state their desires in a display of screaming, bloodletting and fury. Those that suitably impress the
goddess are allowed to pass within.
Within the walls is a great square courtyard of smashed and broken stone, grotesque and fearful statues of the Dark Goddesses
line its edge, looming like giants. The centre of the yard is split by a great chasm that groans and cracks, constantly threatening
to split the temple in two and reminding all within that they live only for the mercy of Maran. The shade of King Varstapoor
guards the courtyard, when the cultists call upon Maran to send forth earthquakes he appears howling at the side of
Vestenbora, his sister’s statue. He howls for days until his reliquary is quenched in blood and his ardour is satiated. The initiates
of the temple and those who seek to join the temple live and sleep in the yard, exposed to the elements. Between prayers and
sacrifices to the Dark Earths, the initiates practice battle and drumming or tend the temple oxen. It was here that beloved
Palashee was raised and his great sarcophagus dominates the eastern corner of the yard. Pilgrims seeking wisdom in war and
conquest over Lunars come here to make sacrifices and touch the sacred long-axe. Those who seek the devotional path
prepare themselves for the deeper mysteries through contemplation, self-injury and tests of endurance. Above them, amongst
the lofty steps and tiers, the priesthood watch for likely candidates to join their ranks. Behind the stone doors of their cells can
be heard the moans of captives, taken in war by temple allies, destined for the altar of Sorana Tor or the cooking pot of the
Earth Shaker and her coven.
Beyond the courtyard lies a great chamber; like all the sacred chambers, the goddess herself wrenched this open. At the
chamber’s heart stand three great statues of Babeester Gor, Erantha Gor and Maran Devor. The room is covered in red, black
and blue tiles and to approach the statues to make sacrifices, initiates must dance in a strange intricate pattern following the
tiles, and a misstep surely spells agony or death. Only the perimeter of the room is easily traversed, but is warded by earth
daemons, and the ghosts of long-dead cultists.
The great temple is a huge cube cut impossibly within the bowels of the earth. Columns or arches do not support its roof, and
the great cracks in its ceiling and floor drizzle down dust and earth upon the congregation. Carved niches line the wall, filled
with images of the Goddess in her many forms, and beneath them lie the coffins and tombs of former priestesses and
manifestations of the Earth Shaker. A huge statue of Maran, her huge fists raised in anger, dominates the centre of the temple.
The statue stands on its right foot, its left foot raised high in the air. Beneath the foot stands an ornate and gory altar. The entire
population of the temple gathers here on holy days, along with pilgrims from all across Kerofinela to sing their horrid dirges and
perform sacrifices of such magnitude that the floor of the temple is ankle deep in blood at their end.
Beneath the temple lie the inner sanctums of the Earth Shaker herself. Within these catacombs the High Priestess of Maran Gor
rules as a formidable tyrant, served by her cannibalistic acolytes. Deadly magic, formidable warriors and terrifying earth
daemons roam the dark halls. Only the ‘Wagon’ room is accessible to initiates, here stands the mighty copper-clad tribute
wagon, which once a year is loaded with the ponderous bulk of the Earth Shaker, and led amongst the Kerofini by an army of
cultists in an expression of power and religious tribute-seeking. Few refuse to give to the goddess and those who do find
themselves paying the bloodiest tribute, with their own lives and those of their kin.
