By Mateo the Elder
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The three shrines straddle the edges of the world - north-west, south-west, and north-east.  Since prehistory these great buildings have towered over all civilization, proclaiming glory to the heavens and protecting something very sacred.
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Their origin is unknown.  They are recorded in pictograms on ancient pottery, in old poems, in song.  A detailed drawing was found deep in the dungeons of Hazharrad, carved deep into the floor, the image itself protected by a flight of griffons.  Even the Fae, the last link to the first peoples, so quiet on so many things, say that the shrines were there before the fair folk were born.
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Who built them, then?  This must forever remain a mystery.  But the buildings themselves have some sort of magic in them.  Vegetation grows all around them, but does not encroach; the stone itself never dirties, never crumbles, and the mortar, too; and they seem to shine with a radiance that can be seen from many miles away.  Each one is an offering, a symbol from the heavens above that They are there, and They are watching.  And within each one is a celestial gemstone of the most immense power.
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The Sky-Shrine, found near the snake-lands, twists and arcs towards the heavens.  Its stones are white and pink granite, each one flawless, each one perfectly cut.  The exterior contains a number of poignant scenes: first of men and women, reaching towards the heavens; next, of lesser divine creatures, singing praises among the clouds; and finally, of the heavens themselves, presided over by Celeste, Aurelion, and the Lady.  The hallways are polished marble, wide, with tall ceilings.  There is the smell of incense, of frankincense and myrrh.  The doors of this building are carved from the trunk of a single tree which itself, given the rings, must be thousands of years old.  And within this shrine, I am told, there is the Heart of Heaven, a skull-sized diamond blazing with white-blue light.
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Next, deep within the dwarf lands, is the World-Shrine.  Created to honour Vedere, Voros, and the Trickster, it is more reserved than the Sky-Shrine, less audacious.  Its stones are a particular type of limestone beloved by dwarves.  These stones display the fossils of strange, primordial creatures, long since extinct.  Hidden in the shrine is said to be the Heart of the World, a massive, rough-cut emerald the size of a man's fist.  It is hidden with a place that is said to look less like a building and more like a natural maze.  The floors are thick with roots.  The ceilings, too, show the protusion of masses of roots, and the walls are thick with vines.
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Finally, there is the nether-shrine.  In the far south-west, beyond the elven lands, it lies in the mist of a great swamp.  Its foundation is said to be the ground-up bones of an unfathomable number of creatures.  Atop the foundation are bricks of thick clay, reinforced with fragments of skulls and bones.  These jut out of the shrine, giving it a strange and alien appearance.  Within the shrine itself are all manner of creatures that praise the dark three: the White Queen, the Black Ogre, and the Shadow of Names Unsaid.  The temple is said to be marked by a deathly silence.  The doors themselves are forged from blackened steel of a quality unknown in the world today.  Who were these first people?  How did they create such a perfect alloy?  Regardless, these gates are said to inspire the vast wealth of religious poems that tell of treks to the world beyond.  They depict a great lake, with an island in the centre.  On the island, the souls of the dead converge to enter a winding, eternal stair that takes them to the endless depths.  They are surrounded by many things: by their lovers and family, by the comitatus, and by the multitude of the already-dead.  Deep within this avernal temple is the Heart of the World Beyond.  A perfect sphere of black onyx, it is said to rest on a stand made from the skull of an ancient reptile, something larger and more terrifying than the largest dragon-king.
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Great buildings attract great interest, and there have been many over the years who have sought the great gems.  They have all failed, every single one.  For if the shrines are blessed by the Nine, they are protected by the most fearsome creatures imaginable.  The heavens teem with dragons and archangels.  The earth shakes with the footsteps of titans, ancient mammoths, and unicorns.  And deep within each shrine lurks creatures the Fae call shrine hags, impossibly old women with terrifying powers.  Their touch cuts through the most powerful armour, and is capable of tearing the greatest knight in two.
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Little else is known.  Since prehistory, these fortresses have been left well alone.  As the fair folk passed, as the dragon and wolf ages came and went, the shrines remained: stark and imposing and impossibly beautiful.
