Camp at Altenis
The Valorian Knights' second training ground, the Camp at Altenis is where gryphons and their knights learn to fly.
Purpose / Function
Altenis was originally a temple to Alteneia, and probably the last standing temple to the old gods before it was finally located by the Raithar Empire. When Valor was founded, expeditions were sent shortly after to find the remains of the temple, which had been well kept (appropriately enough) by the cold, dry air.
Despite the relatively good condition of the ruins, however, it was deemed best to learn what they could, and build anew. The Altenis Temple is one of the finest in Albion, and receives far more visitors there than it could in the remote mountains. However, the ruins were neither wasted nor forgotten. Instead, the only people who could easily reach them--the Valorian Knights--rebuilt, and have used the complex as a training camp and outpost ever since.
Alterations
The foundation and even many of the exterior walls are original to the old temple. The interiors are mostly new, built into the shell of the temple and outlying buildings, but they mostly followed old lines; the layout of the structure has changed very little. What was a sanctuary is now a meeting hall. What were monks' quarters now house knights and trainees. The kitchen and mess hall may easily look much the same as they once did. Glass has been fitted neatly into the ancient windowframes, and wooden shutters added, but the drafts have been present far too long to fully banish.
The gryphon stables alone are a purely modern addition, built on the smooth stone of what was perhaps once a place for contemplation or exercise, along the low wall that surrounds the compound.
Architecture
Altenis is built nearly as sturdy as the mountain it stands on, which has served it well. That altitude is mostly too cold for rain, so even the finer details of decorative carving outlining the doors and windows survive, as do the scars of the Raitharan vandalism. Several walls are darkened where they attempted to blot out the murals of Alteneia with fire, and many of the murals have only chisel marks where her face should be, but the shapes and colors remain.
The newer construction is mostly simple and utilitarian, but the knights did commission and fly in wooden beams for the gryphon stables which are carved and painted to echo the features of the ancient temple. The worst-damaged mural was the relief at the front of the old sanctuary, reduced almost to nothing with chisel and pickax--it alone was cleared and replaced, after its likeness had been carefully recorded by one of the Archivists Table's finest painters. The new mural depicts Valor Ascendant facing Alteneia, either offering her sword or receiving one, each of the gods in armor fresh from battle.
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