Angryl - Temple of Peoni

Location: Royal domain of Burzyn, Kingdom of Chybisa
Holder: Church of Peoni
Liege: Church of Peoni
Population: 16

Saint Angryl's Temple lies on 465 acres in the wide valley of the Ulmerien River, almost one league south of Burzyn castle. Approximately 300 acres of the temple's fief are cleared farmland and pasture; the remainder is covered with mixed woodland. The temple holds only enough land to support the resident priests and acolytes; there are no villages or other tenants associated with the fief.

The temple was founded by Sir Uthris Venera, Earl of Chybisa, when the region was briefly a Kaldoric fief in the turbulent period following the Treasure War. Grievously wounded in the fighting north of the Ulmerien River in 675, Sir Uthris, a cousin of Leni Cerl (the Queen of Kaldor), was not expected to survive and was left in the care of Brother Brant, a mendicant Peonian reslava who tended to the common soldiers of King Torastra's army. Uthris survived his wounds and, after spending nearly four months in the care of Brother Brant, rejoined Kaldor's forces as they lay seige to Burzyn castle. King Torastra named Sir Uthris as Earl of Chybisa following the castle's surrender in 678.

In a display of gratitude for the services of Brother Brant, and hoping to curry the favor of his new subjects, the Earl immediately granted Peoni's Church just enough land to establish what would become the first, and still only, Temple of Peoni in Chybisa. Uthris petitioned the Peonian Sulaplyn (Bishop) in Tashal to accept the grant and she quickly appointed Sister Lauran (655-717) as the first Pelnala of the new temple.

A small chapel, living quarters, the workshop and first barn were completed soon after the arrival of the temple's first Pelnala in 678. The temple itself, constructed of undressed fieldstone, was completed and consecrated to the memory of Saint Angryl in 681. The remaining major buildings were completed soon after, and by 685 the temple had established its role as an important center of religious education and training.

When King Balesir regained the Chybisan throne in 687, he found it politic to leave the temple intact and reaffirmed the deed of transfer to the Church. Mindful of the economic interests of the nearby manors, however, Balesir included in the deed restrictions on the acceptance of tithes that came at the expense of the local glebes. These restrictions are still in effect and the temple, though self-sufficient, is constantly on the verge of poverty.

Political and Religious Climate

Peonian disinterest in secular politics and the temple's very tenuous ties to the Sulaplyn in Tashal allayed many of King Balesir's concerns regarding the founding of the temple by Kaldoran invaders. His successor, Verlid VII, is less comfortable with the temple's ties to Tashal, noting the church's practice of appointing natives of Kaldor as its Pelnala.

Sister Lauran, the founding Pelnala, operated the temple as an autonomous entity focused on theological education and the practical training of new ebasthe - completely ignoring both secular politics and those of the church. She deliberately distanced the temple from the Kaldoric church in order to implement her unique interpretations of the Unification Doctrine and the message of the Aerlathos - both of which were slightly out of the mainstream of conventional belief and practice in Kaldor. During her nearly forty-year tenure at the temple, Lauran passed on her beliefs and practices to almost every ordained Ebasthe currently serving in Chybisa.

Lauran's successor, Sister Cerila, shares few of her beliefs and initially made several attempts to bring the temple's practices and teaching back in concert with those of the Kaldoric church. In this she was opposed by the temple's Ebasthe, all contemporaries of Sister Lauran, and enjoyed only limited success. Cerila's campaign for recognition as Chybisa's Sulaplyn has recently caused her to reconsider the value of forcing the temple to adopt Kaldoric practices.

Saint Angryl's Ebasthe

Saint Angryl's Temple of Peoni is shared by both the female Order of the Balm of Joy and the male Irreproachable Order. The temple's humble status precludes the establishment of separate facilities for the two orders and they share all but living quarters. This practice, though unusual, conforms to the founding Pelnala's views on the centrality of the Unification in church doctrine, and the relationship between the two orders as symbolic of the joining of the Aerlathos. The present division of the temple's leadership evenly between the two orders reflects these same principles.