Great Cheriumn, the First Cathedral

In the middle of the modest small city of Cheriumn, tucked away in the northwestern Chera Forest of Jevithem, there stands one of the greatest manmade structures ever built. The Cheriumn Cathedral was surpassed in height only by the Sun Tower and Phedailin Palace. The Sun Tower was one of the genius constructions of Sage Carson. It was constructed around 4300 years before Cheriumn Cathedral, and was mostly destroyed only a few hundred years after its creation, making this cathedral the second tallest manmade structure standing.

History

Cheriumn Cathedral was begun in the year 672BD, during the reign of Lord Daphne. It was born of a disturbing vision given to Lord Daphne by a wandering man claiming to be a prophet. This man said that the River Chera, the primary source of water for Lake Baymoor, was the weakest point of the kingdom of Nidonn. Though it ran from the seemingly innocent and impassable Leren Range, Lord Daphne was particularly superstitious and thoroughly believed that something could indeed ride the river into the heart of his province and poison Lake Baymoor, one of the greatest sources of fresh water in all of Riiga. The fact that none were able to trek up the river to find out where it actually came from fuelled his suspicions. So he sought advice from the High Priest of Dualkedor at the time -- Father Senrias -- and Daphne was told he should build a grand structure imbued with Nikina's power to oversee the flow of the River Chera.

Lord Daphne immediately sent his emissaries out to search for the greatest and most religious architect available. What he found was a man known simply as Brown. It was not known what proof Brown provided as evidence of his masterful archtectural skills, or to what degree he expressed his loyalty to the Dualkedorian Order and Nikina, but whatever happened during their private meeting, it was enough to convince Lord Daphne to hire him and make him master architect of the project. Before this time, in fact, there was no such thing as a cathedral in Riiga. The closest thing was a church building, no greater than a house of two stories. Brown's initial drafts depicting a grand structure dedicated purely to the authority and godliness of Nikina inspired and impressed Daphne and his council. Brown drew on the rough appearance of Phedailin Palace in Duracia, though his designs were significantly more religious in their symbolism; the overall floorplan was not one of an ordinary rectangular building, but an elaborate X shape with another entrance hall between two of the halls and another hall extending the opposite way, between the other two diagonal halls. This "vertical strike-through X" design, inspired by the pattern of chains crossing over Nikina's chest, became the basis of Dualkedorian cathedrals worldwide. Despite the astounding technical accuracy required to build such a cathedralic structure properly, the technique payed off immensely. Even as its foundations were laid, the design gave a much larger appearance than a typical church design would have, even though it uses far less stone than a rectangular building with the same dimensions would have. From the outside, it seems to stretch toward all horizons like a sort of sprawled sea creature, and from standing in the middle, it was like an immense and heavnly crossroad, overwhelming to any commoner. The central nave is the primary feature of the cathedral and the four "arms" extending diagonally each feature immense stained-glass windows at their facades.

The workforce consisted mainly of tradesmen guilds and religious citizens employed by Lord Daphne. Around a hundred years earlier, the previous lord of Jevithem, Lord Dominic, was lost to the great Baymoor Plague. This plague, which lasted almost 20 years, was believed to have come from Lake Baymoor, making it another reason for Daphne to heed the warnings of the prophet man. When Daphne became lord, his first move was to hide a large amount of funds to use in case such an event happened again. The construction of Cheriumn Cathedral consumed all of these hidden funds and more; Daphne pushed the northeastern borders of his province upward into Laurondrian land, consuming Relanee and taking it by force in a typically swift Jevithium battle in 663BD, nine years into the construction of the cathedral. Though the fight was fierce, few lives were lost. The province of Laurondirin retaliated and sent fresh forces back into Relanee to try to drive Jevithem soldiers out. This battle was far more brutal, as both armies were large and neither wanted to leave. It wasn't until the city's population began to drop to a dangerously low level that Jevithem withdrew their forces. Laurondirin nestled back into their city, oblivious to the Jevithium messenger heading to King Taharial to express Jevithem's woes at the hands of Laurondirin. King Taharial responded and demanded that Laurondirin pay compensation to the people of Jevithem and to give Relanee over. The lord of Laurondirin did so, drew back their borders further, and fell silent. Daphne, however, only gave a small portion of the compensation funds to Relanee, and spent the rest on the construction of the cathedral.

By 650BD, construction was coming along very well. Brown's genius enabled the unique construction of the cathedral to go quite well, earning him the nickname Preoland Brown, after Oswin Preoland, the famous master architect of Phedailin Palace. The cathedral was announced to be complete in that year and Father Senrias visited it and blessed it in Nikina's name. He was so impressed by it that he gave the cathedral a relic gift to hold within its mighty stone walls. Father Senrias bestowed an ornate chest upon the church and within it was the golden penannular brooch of the robe that Father Duosol was wearing when he first encountered Nikina within Hunnuklad, over 3000 years ago.

The New Weapon

There was a grand inauguration ceremony held that year in the cathedral as its famous bells, Perion and Wrisen, were rung for the first time. The huge crowd was shown the brooch as a symbol of Nikina's presence within the cathedral. On seeing the brooch, Preoland Brown immediately left the building, ran to the well, grabbed hold of a heavy stone, and jumped into the water. Those who followed in concern were too late; he drowned himself. The well was sealed off for two reasons. The first was the obvious contamination that comes from a decaying body in water. The second, however, was due to Lord Daphne's superstition; he was now convinced that Preoland Brown had been taken by The Enemy in an attempt to prevent such gloriously powerful constructions being built in the future. So Lord Daphne gathered the floorplans immediately and had them locked away in a secret place. Duplicates were created and send all around Nidonn, with an accompanying letter describing the cathedral: the great new weapon against The Enemy. Vilenden, a city south of Cheriumn, build a smaller but more ornate cathedral not long afterwards. Most other cathedrals within Nidonn were much smaller variants, but almost every city and large town had one. The master architect was claimed to have also taken his own life upon completion of Vilenden Cathedral, proving once again that The Enemy was trying to thwart the construction of more powerful cathedrals.

More plans and letters were sent to Dualkedorian emissaries around Riiga. Grand cathedrals were erected in Scarcus, Sirantiryl, Varoicca, Ellecil, Ubura, Amaiga, Lihuil, New Nelvi, and several throughout South Ideitess: Nelvi, Solein, Venugias, Selesen, Merlases, Espeil, Clemiel, and Eizey.

The Town of Cheriumn

Cheriumn Cathedral, due to its peculiar history and grandeur, became a very popular site for religious travellers, so many traders began to set up stalls outside in the cathedral's grounds. The cathedral taxed them part of their profits but they made such good business that it barely mattered to the traders. Soon, some began to build homes and settle around the cathedral. Then there were so many houses that a government house was required to oversee everything, and a town formed around Cheriumn Cathedral which they named after it. Cheriumn grew into a small city and nobody ever did see anything sinister come from Chera River. Due to its somewhat out-of-the-way location, pleasant surroundings, and glorious central cathedral, Cheriumn managed to avoid any great battles or conflicts and became known as a very peaceful city.