The Pagan Piles

The ancient, now-defunct holy sites where the dead were once burned in Paleflame to be sent back into the Lifestream

Purpose / Function

Though they no longer serve that purpose, the Pagan Piles(Better known amongst kinder crowds as The Tributaries, as "Pagan Piles" is a degrading phrase coined by ancient Zheng-Kitarans to describe them in the wake of the Advent of the Spirit Kings) were constructed untold millennia ago by the ancient creatures who once walked the lands of Zheng-Kitar upon ancient Nexus Points that would allow them to properly send their dead back into The Lifestream; to send their dead onto the next stage of The Soul's Journey.
In the ancient Piles, the dead would be brought from all across the land to be tended to by the ancient keepers of the Piles, who would burn the dead in ancient rituals to seperate the soul from the vessel that once contained it, releasing the spirit in the flame that consumed the corpse(As in ancient times, Flame was held in much higher, almost religious reverence) to be funneled through the energies swirling within the Pile(Built on Spiritual Nexuses that "Bordered" the ancient Lifestream) and eventually into the great Life-river(AKA Lifestream) where The Soul's Journey would begin again.

Alterations

The Pagan Piles have undergone a great decaying ever since they were constructed so long ago - though once constructed of natural materials(Though unlike the modern preconceptions of the word, "Natural" once included even the likes of metal) and made into great and mighty temples to the natural world, they have since fallen into complete disrepair and have mostly vanished from the world, one after another.
This is partly due to the immense gulf of time between when they were built and the "now" - now to mention, the complete scouring of the continent that occured at the hands of The Yema before the Advent of the Spirit Kings eventually led to the reformation of the continent, wherein most all life, structures, and even geographical features were reduced to atoms.

Architecture

The Pagan Piles - or at least, the few that remain - are things of great, splendid natural beauty that appear to have been constructed out of primarily wood, metal, and dirt with minor variations occuring depending on exact locale. Typically, they seem to have been built underground(To be closer to the heart of the world, through which it was once believed the Lifestream flowed most freely), in vast caverns both natural and artificial, with their enormous bulk built into the top and bottom of the cavern they resided in; Most commonly, six massive statues adorned equidistant points surrounding the structures - believed commonly to be cultural representations of The Spirit Kings of the time.
This tendency to be constructed underground seems to have spared these ancient relics of history the brunt of the wrath of The Yema during The Age of Desolation which saw them scour all life and matter from the surface of Zheng-Kitar - however, it did not seem to spare them from the ravages of time, as cave-ins and careless digging led to the collapse and destruction of most of the remaining Piles until now, only a scant few remain across the world, each a precious memorial site untold thousands of years old...the oldest of which, seems to be nearly 50,000 years old.

Defenses

The defenses of The Pagan Piles are not exactly well known - time and its ravages were not kind to the original architecture of the Piles, and only a handful of the remaining Piles has any intact defenses; in general, these defenses seemed to be primarily mundane mechanical traps, with golem sentinels serving as powerful watchdogs in the Pile's darkened, silent halls. Magical wards are nonexistent, though they may have existed at one point - even in the most well preserved and most ancient of the Pagan Piles which is nearly 50,000 years old, a handful of ancient Golems silently stand vigil over the complex, operating alongside ancient mechanical traps and a host of interred, semi-sentient warriors who seem to have willingly embraced the shackles of undeath to stand guard over The Pile for all time.

History

In ancient times, the Pagan Piles were sites of unfathomable importance and reverence - the dead were carried from all across the known world by those who found them or cared for them in life to be handed over to the ancient keepers of the Piles, who would burn the dead in ancient rituals to seperate the soul from the vessel that once contained it, releasing the spirit in the flame that consumed the corpse to allow for The Soul's Journey to continue for the souls of the departed.
These ancient places served as the analogues for modern-day "Graveyards", though in those ancient times bodies were not interred in the ground by and large as they are in the modern day - instead, only the mightiest or most notable were given this honor, as the rest were used as fuel for the chilling Paleflame, their bones and bodies ignited to create the soft, ghostly fire that stood as a symbol of the times. They were often spiritual sites of importance and pillars of the nearby communities, and a place to commune with and give peace to the departed and the dead - a place whose caretakers diligently worked to give each corpse that passed through the Pile's entryways the same, quiet kindness afforded to all in death.
Though not known exactly, they are also believed to have been powerful centers of worship to The Spirit Kings, where faith was given and the dead were offered up so that their spirits may return to the grasp of the cosmos, the energies of the dead funneled back into Reality to fuel new growth and keep the cycle fresh and alive.

Tourism

Though the number of intact Pagan Piles is in the single digits in the modern era, they are maintained as museums by the countries or cultures that surround them - even the likes of tribal barbarians recognize the power of the Piles as well as their historical significance. In either case, they are maintained and opened to the public(Sometimes at a nominal fee), though maintained in the name of archeology and studying the past - or in the case of Piles in the territory of barbaric tribes, are often guarded as tribal or clan territory, forcing those who wish to enter to negotiate with the local leader in exchange for passage.

RUINED STRUCTURE
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Founding Date

The First Pagan Piles were constructed untold millennia ago.

Alternative Names

The People's Piles, The Tributaries

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