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Temple-Palace of Asuryan

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The Temple-Palace of Asuryan is located on the Crone World of Belial IV that was situated within the Eye of Terror.

History

Spoiler!
This page contains spoilers for: Farseer (Novel)

This structure existed during the height of the ancient Eldar empire where it was built late in their history when the corruption had already begun.[Needs Citation]

It was created as well as tended to by a priesthood that resided at the site. When their people fell into decadence and corruption, the Daemon Saha Gaathon walked amongst the race serving as a dark prophet in order to bring about the birth of the Chaos God Slaanesh. Thus, many Eldar fell before the daemon's influence whilst others fled on great arks, though the priests of the temple attempted to preach against corruption. After failing to do this, they retreated into the temple and used engines of awesome power to capture an echo of death that was used to forge the Deathsword. In this time, the Fall of the Eldar came to pass with savage rites being conducted whilst Eldar hunted Eldar for pleasure and red garbed priests heralded the birth of a new god. As Slaanesh began to gestate, the priests emerged from the shrine of Asuryan and brandished the deathsword that they used to slay the mortal form of Gaathon who had served as the Harbinger of Slaanesh. With the daemon gone, the high priests turned their wrath on Slaanesh and though they wounded the creature, they failed to kill it and it struck back. Most of the priests were slain and the surviving number fled back into the temple where they sealed themselves in the ultimate sanctuary underground where they were protected by spellwalls as the God of Pleasure was born.[1b] The last priest of his order remained at the chamber where he meditated until his death.[1d] For ten millennia, the wielder of the deathsword's dead body remained trapped in the underground sanctuary without a spirit stone though the runes in the chamber protected his soul from being consumed by daemons.[1d] After learning of Rogue Trader Janus Darke being saved by the Farseer Auric Stormcloud, the Daemon Prince Saha Gaathon dispatched the Chaos Space Marine Zarghan Ironfist of the Emperor's Children to intercept them at the Palace of Asuryan so that he could possess Darke's body as his own.[1a] Darke, along with his Eldar allies, later arrived on the surface of the planet where they made their way into the Temple of Asuryan.[1c] They were followed to the site by Zarghan Ironfist who was accompanied by the Daemon Prince Gaathon with part of his power residing within a host body.[1c] The battle between the Eldar along with their allies continued into the Chamber of Faces where the Harbinger of Pleasure's body was destroyed when Auric's soul took possession of Darke's body and used the deathsword to slay the daemons mortal form.[1f]

Overview

The entrance of the Temple-Palace was huge and marked with runes in the graceful flowing script of the Eldar language with the door itself being made of a solid silvery metal that flowed outwards like water. Beautiful mosaics glittered on the floor that depicted trees, forests and other scenes of great natural beauty whilst the ceiling was curved above any visitors[1b]

Part of the structure also included a courtyard.[1c]

The temple-palace was known to be a large place and a labyrinth for those that entered it. The vaults were located deep underground and the structure contained its own ancient power source.[1c]

This chamber containing the bizarre engines that served as the power source lined the walls and resembled statues or plants in the shape of strange forms of abstract art. Appearing as towering shapes, they were sleek and smooth pillars that looked as if they were moulded from many coloured glass and twisted in ways that tricked the eyes of viewers. Psykers are able to sense the power of these unshielded spirit engines that draw psychic power from the fabric of the warp itself, but without safeguards they shine like beacons to the denizens of the Immaterium.[1d]

Within the dark depths below the temple-palace resided a mandala that drifted into a massive chamber and floated through a hole into a massively domed ceiling, stopping atop a massive plinth. Here stood huge masks that covered the walls, each being around ten times the height of a Man and sculpted from living crystal. Their faces seemed to watch anyone that entered the chamber and their eyes were filled with sadness but also full of infinite wisdom making some believe them to be alive. At the edges of the chamber were various lesser daises and stairways that faced one of the great masks with the space between the huge faces being filled with smaller disks that had roughly humanoid faces. Furthermore, every centimeter on the curved wall space was covered in a sea of faces that reached a height of nearly thirty meters. This site was the place where the forebears of the Eldar spoke to their many gods with all the deities represented in the chamber.[1d]

The masks included the face of a monstrous woman whose tears glistened from her eyes, the smile of a sinister mask of some harlequin god and the flames that burned within the nostrils of a face that seemed to be half-Eldar and half-dragon. At the south wall also sat a mask of metal with a visage more akin to a daemon than an Eldar that represented Kaela Mensha Khaine, whose mouth contained the chamber where the deathsword resided.[1d]

The room containing the various masks was known as the Chamber of Faces.[1e]

After the Fall, any Eldar Seer was capable of animating the masks of the gods with their memories thus giving them a brief span of life before they departed into the void once more.[1d]

The crypt that held the deathsword was a small chamber with glassy crystalline walls with runes present that protected anyone from being consumed by daemons, though the opening of the temple could allow a breach where any dead Eldar's spirit could be consumed if they did not hold a waystone.[1d]

Sources