The cultural beliefs and practices of the Astral Elves center on the stars, celestial bodies, and astronomical occurrences. As a people, they track the movement of the planets and changes across their observable Universe, and have kept an extensive record of these movements within their spiritual houses called Sanctuaries. They also draw Charts of the Night Sky for births, major life events, holidays, community festivals, deaths, and portal/planar crossings.
While they are not traditionally as religious as the humans and species with shorter life spans, they do construct buildings that are cathedral-like in architecture and design. There is one in every Astral Elf settlement. Similar to a religious temple, there are spiritual guides and diviners who work at and keep up the sanctuaries. While the size and features of each sanctuary varies, they consistently all offer a place to view the Night Sky; sometimes as simple as a well-positioned telescope, other times there are fully equipped Planetariums, libraries, and ritual spaces. They all also have a basement-level Vault for cultural record keeping.
The spiritual practices of the Astral Elves do not include organized rituals or meetings -- though these are not discouraged from the space, they must be prompted and organized by visitors rather than hosted by a religion order.
The Sanctuaries exist as an open space (open 24 hours, no locks or restricted access) within the Astral Elf settlements and communities for the citizens to seek out their purpose within the universe and deepen their understanding of the Unknown. The guides and diviners are often mistaken for being priests/priestesses because their role is similar in the way they serve the patrons of the sanctuary.
The sanctuaries are often constructed from stone, and the windows resemble a stain glass style, but are made from crystal. There is often a glass, rounded top for the planetarium, and a lower level Vault where the star chart record of birth/life/marriage/death, and other communal records are kept.
The Sanctuaries are always guarded by at least two soldiers from the Keepers of Culture and in larger cities it is commnon for additional guards to be posted throughout the interior as well.
The spaces began as an archival building for the birth and life charts of the citizens, the major celestial events that are tracked/recorded by the Loremasters, and other relevant celestial happenings for the village/region. As the spaces grew and more people wanted to use the sanctuaries to discover and deepen their walk with the Universe, these records were moved into Vaults.
Sanctuaries that have more features, such as bathhouses, saunas, libraries, botanical gardens, and tea houses are often located in major cities and attract quite a bit of tourism. The self-care practices of the Astral Elves are believed by humanoid races to resist aging and prolong life. Likewise, the readings from the Astral Elf diviners are said to be more potent and accurate than other spiritual readings, so many people either at a transition point or at a dark point will seek out these guides.
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