Waterdeep - House of Inspired Hands
The House of Inspired Hands is a large temple complex dedicated to Gond, the Wonderbringer, located in Sea Ward, Waterdeep. The oldest buildings in the complex are also some of the oldest buildings in the city, having been constructed in 911 DR as a walled monastery and trade mission by merchant-monks of the island nation of Lantan on a rise outside the old walls of Nimoar's Hold, a settlement that at the time was just becoming known along the Sword Coast as "Waterdeep". The structure was burned during the Orcfastings War, was rebuilt, and later burned again a century later in the Year of Crimson Magics (1026 DR). With the expansion of the Trollwall around the entirety of what would become Sea Ward during the late rule of Ahghairon, the rebuilt Lantanese monastery was wholly reconsecrated to Gond with the construction of the Lantan Embassy in Castle Ward.
Construction
The House of Inspired Hands consists of a complex of four main structures enclosed by a high wall of ancient fitted granite blocks covered with the black ash of old burning and the lush growth of crawling ivy and moss. It is bounded on the north by Shark Street, on the east by the Street of Whispers, on the south by Gondwatch Lane, and on the west by Seawatch Street.
The wall is pierced in three places, the Main Gate, on Seawatch Street, is the ceremonial entrance to the main cathedral of the temple, and the most used by the general public and vistors. The South Postern Door opens onto Gondswatch Lane, and is the most heavily used by the acolytes and crafts-folk that frequent the inner courtyard, and the Trades Gate is the large, double wooden-beamed entrance for the heavily laden wagons of wood, stone, and metal ingots used in the temple's active creative ventures.
Most citizens of Waterdeep never see more than the Exhibition Hall, the main house of worship for the Wonderbringer which fronts from the Main Gate upon Seawatch Street, its doors facing directly to the distant island of Lantan. The only other structure visible from beyond the walls is the Tower of Inspiration, an octagonal sixteen story domed tower whose outer walls are fitted with long, elegant brass and copper tubes used in the conveyance of heat and water throughout the tower. The Craftworks is a large but squat wood and stone structure whose roof and dozen brick and stone chimneys can be seen just above the eastern wall. The final structure, the Stable, is a stone and wooden structure that clings to the southern wall used for the housing of the temple's conveyances, from simple mules and horses to elaborate steam powered iron wagons.
The Exhibition Hall
By far the largest and most impressive structure of the temple is the so-called "Exhibition Hall", the main cathedral of the holy complex. Unlike the rest of the temple, which is composed of a combination of grey granite, black marble, and speckled gray marble, this wall, enclosed by a portico of heavy Doric columns, is composed entirely of a single sheet of transparent glass-steel, within which spin thousands of brass cogs and gears in an intricate and perpetual dance. The cogs range from the simple to the ornate, as well as from the tremendous (20' across), to the tiny (1/16" across). The enormous 40' tall brass doors are likewise fitted with perpetually spinning gears and cogs on both sides, and are opened and closed remotely.
The doors give way to an enormous space that soars through a ribbed vault over 80' above the floor. The semi-domes that form the ceiling are continuously concealed behind illusory images of the glories of the Wonderbringer, from a lateen-rigged sailing ship plying a storm-tossed sea to the time-lapsed construction of a vaulted cathedral to complexity of a wooden-bound printing press. The images shift and change on a pre-arranged mathematical pattern and new images are added every time word comes to the temple of a powerful innovation of benefit to the Realms.
The floor of the chamber is tiled in slate with a complicated pattern of dwarven runes and arcs. The light of the sun shines through a weather-shrouded gap in the upper dome and is focused upon an ever moving point along the swirls and arcs upon the floor. The circle around the room is inscribed with numbers and degree inscriptions, allowing the astute mathematician or cartographer to discern that the whole floor is a massive time-piece for determining the exact time in any point on Faerun should one know the Lantanese cartographic coordinate system.
The same focusing mirrors that allow the functioning of the astrolabe upon the floor also serve to redirect some of the light into sconces along the lower rim of the dome set with glass fittings that become opaque and mirrored in direct sunlight, thus filling the chamber with natural light. On overcast days, or at night, the glass shifts to transparency, allowing the golden light of continual flames to light the inner dome at all times.
The pillars that support the dome near the east wall are of bronze, 50' tall, cast to depict the massive likeness of Gond himself supporting the upper dome on the bare shoulders of a blacksmith's brawn. The apse formed behind them is a shadowed, quite place of reflection out of the tumult of the inner vault, which is nearly perpetually filled with visitors, tourists, laity, demonstrators, and the clank, whir, and hum of dozens of display pieces between the hours of dawn and moon-rise.
The inner vault is the true exhibition space, filled with an ever changing array of cutting-edge (but rarely truly experimental) technology. Velvet-bound ropes define display spaces in which perpetual motion machines spin their gears, redesigned water-pumping systems demonstrate their principles, smoking steam engines slam pistons, and weaving machines cord wool. Each piece is a work of one of the Waterdhavian faithful of Gond, on display to the innovative entrepreneurs of the city for study or commission. Almost all pieces are accompanied by their chief inventor or designated representative, on hand to explain the principles and application of the work to a questioning visitor. Especially dangerous or valuable technologies are often accompanied by one of the brass bound clockwork golems known as "Gondsmen" that serve as temple guardians for the entire complex. Regardless, these large brass constructs can be found standing or patrolling throughout the complex and the hall during both open viewing and closed hours.
The hall is exited by one large, brass bound door that is closed to the public unless accompanied by a full-priest of the Wonderbringer. Set into the southern wall, that door leads to a tall foyer from which the offices and public business meeting rooms can be accessed, as well as the covered walkway that leads to the inner courtyard and the Tower of Inspiration.
The Inner Courtyard
The Inner Courtyard of the House of Inspiration is a broad accessed by the South Postern Door and the Trades Gate. It is kept clear by novitiates of the faith. It has its own deep well, dug in the first days of the founding of the monastery by the first Lantanese clerist-merchants. The courtyard is bounded on all sides and is not for public use, except for the escorted tradesmen that deliver raw goods, food, and take away garbage and dirty laundry through the huge Trades Gate. The courtyard is dominated by the shadow of the Tower of Inspiration, which soars 16 stories above the cobblestones. All of the buildings of the complex can be accessed from the inner courtyard, and it is heavily patrolled by both priest-acolytes as well as the clockwork "Gondsmen" for which the temple has become justly famous.
The Tower of Inspiration
The soaring Tower of Inspiration serves as the home of the monks and priests of the House of Inspired Hands, as well as their guests, wards, and foundlings. Not accessible by the public, the many floored tower houses the refectory of both the under-priests and the High Seeker herself, the dining hall, the private chapel, the library, the school rooms, the sensitive work chambers of the upper clergy, and the Celestial Observatory.
The exterior of the tower is octagonal and built of fitted blocks of carved granite. At each of the eight rounded corners of the tower runs a large brass tube, from base to just beneath the upper dome. These tubes, cast with decorative ivy-like designs, flow with water from heated basins in the base of the tower. They provide both radiant heat for the tower as well as delivering water to individual spigots and large catch-basins on every floor. The tower is slightly pyramidal, with a larger foundation than it's upper stories, and the windows on each side are organized in descending number per floor until one reaches the top floor, where only one window remains on each side of the octagon. The windows are tall, pointed arches fitted with real glass.
The lowest levels of the tower are given over to the dining hall, capable of feeding worshipers and apprentices, as well as the more functional aspects of the dormitory living, including the kitchens, storage chambers, and pantries. The upper levels, accessed through the circular stair or rising brass cage progress through the library and classroom rings, the clerical residence rings, the Chapel of the Wonderbringer, the chambers and office of the High Seeker, and the Celestial Observatory.
The Craftworks
The Craftworks is the three-story fitted stone hall used by the House of Inspired Hands as a work-space. This slate-roofed, many-chimneyed structure is almost constantly active, and resembles nothing so much as a functioning manufactory. Large wooden doors allow the access of full-sized wagons and carts into the factory floor, which is open in the center and subdivided along the walls into large workshops for the production of nearly every type of craft. There is a fully developed forge and smithy, a sculptors gallery, a kiln and potters workshop, a carpenter and joiners shop, a glazier's workshop, and more on the first floor. The upper floors are given over to less resource intensive pursuits, including an alchemists lab and chemists shop, a broad space used for the modeling of architectural designs, a well-lit gallery for drafting, and a tailor and fuller's workspace. The upper rooms are well lit by cunningly designed skylights set into the ceiling.
The Stables
The Stables are the final building on the grounds of the House of Inspired Hands. A long, low building of wood and stone, the stables house any number of vehicles and conveyances, from the actual stables which house the monastery's herd of donkeys, mules, horses, and oxen to the secure garages which contain the small fleet of wagons and carts used in the conveyance of raw materials, to the sealed chambers which house the large industrial proto-types of even stranger vehicles, including wheeled horse-less conveyances with two-, three-, four-, or more wheels, and at least one theoretical flying machine.
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