Greg Stafford
The Great Temple of Rufdayen, Raibanth
I was used to buildings now. I'd seen them enough now. I now expected every building to be roofed; tall public buildings did not make me stare in wonder; and the tall towers that the stargazers used did not make me fear for the clouds any more.But I had never been to a Lunar Temple before. Holy places, shrines, revival tents, sacred sites, but never to one of the places made to house the place of Her Holiness.
We, who had been chosen to rebuild the cities, were going to visit it to see the best example of what we wished to build again. The group of us, the whole study, went with a guide among the twisting streets of Raibanth. We stopped at the gate, beyond which lay the Temple Court. The six arched door ways were each crowned with a face. Between each two doors was a small statue.
Janaren, our assigned guide, had a somewhat impish streak to him, and his delivery to us was occasionally teasing, or delivered with unconvincing zeal. For instance, he insisted on using the Dara Happan "Long Count" Calendar, telling us that She came to Raibanth in 112,235, only adding if we asked that it was 0/17 by Moon Count, when in fact it was really 0/15. When someone, usually that dullard Sharmara, corrected him he would smile and nod. Nonetheless, his information was generally accepted by everyone. It was a good place to begin, even if some of his facts turned out to be wrong.
We began our tour at Yelmgatha's Square. Yelmgatha was a great and loyal friend of Rufdayen, an avatar of the sun just as she was an incarnation of the moon. He was Lord of Truth and Light, and bore the Power of Yelm and became Emperor of Dara Happa. He remained heirless, "for no mortal woman or nymph could bear the fire of his seed in her womb," said Janaren. "The Empire was his bride. When he transcended, he gave the ancient empire to the rule of Takenegi, Our Blessed Father, who has ruled it like a god ever since."
The inscribed stone wall that stood around the plaza was already scrubbed clear of Kazkurtum grime, but it was still chipped from the iron hooves of the demon horses. New marble panels were in place to replace the ones that the demons had destroyed when they camped here, but they were blanks. The square had an odd look of ancient and new. The new marbles were not yet shaped and each shined bright in the daytime sun. All about, even among the new slabs, were old, broken ones panels that showed the Sun God and his heroes in scenes of epic battle, divine splendor, or godly protection.
Two circles of statues stood around the plaza. The gods had come anew to Raibanth after Our Father killed Sheng Seleris and drove away the demons. They gave orders for their best idols to be brought here, as of old. These had been brought in from afar and from many holy places to stand mute witness to the holy affairs of the Imperium. They were a mismatched set. The originals had been pulverized by Sheng Seleris, the demon emperor.
Only the ancient Pillar of Raibanth seemed unhurt by Kazkurtum, and that was only because it had been so crude to begin with - hardly more than a rock. I had seen others like that near our hiding places, but the demons often leapt atop them to look for us, so we avoided them. I studied this one up close. Forty two or forty six feet high, depending on where you measured; shaped like a cylinder but irregular, and ten yards diameter, or so.
Janaren saw me walking around it. He said, "That is Raiba, the Old Father who sheltered Jenarong. This is the god that walked out those gates and surrendered to the Red Moon Goddess."
Janaren did not call Her Rufdayen, as we all did. He instead used the words which said Red Moon Goddess. I thought he was mocking when he rolled his eyes upward towards her every time that he said that label.
"Well, maybe not walked, but maybe it turned over and rolled," he added. A couple of people chuckled.
The hard grey stone was not like most stones of the city, which were all tan like the local earth above the flood plain. The city stone hummed peace to me. This one, though - when I touched it my fingers were seared with blue gathered from my throat.
"And where is this from?" I asked loudly.
"Lord Raiba was born here, on this very spot. I know three stories about his mother, and one about when the Sun God's seed spilled." He glanced about the crowd. "Perhaps you'd like to hear one, for a copper?" He was always asking that, and often got it.
We went east down the huge Imperial Way, towards the Square of the Sun. From anyplace on that wide road we could see the Selshena. The huge pyramid was mounted by a tower. Atop that, on holy days (I am told), the column of light called Antirius appeared once again to bath Our Father, and begin anew the cycles of appearing every seven years. But that site, resurrected by the gods themselves, was not our destination. We turned left, to the Red Quarters.
"When the Red Moon Goddess came into Raibanth in *235 she came as a companion to the Yelmgatha, the Man God Hero. Later he was the Great and Glorious Emperor. She and her entourage stayed in a vacant palace set aside for the most honored guests. It stood from approximately the edge of that cindered wall over there," and he pointed so we all swiveled our heads, "to the far side of the pit, over there. Nothing whatsoever remains of her sacred resting place in our world. The ruins will be preserved to show the horror of King Kazkurtum to future generations and encourage them to obey."
"Nonetheless, much of this surrounding region was spared the demon's wrath. After she flew up and became the Red Moon Goddess in the Sky, all these buildings and that this whole area of the city turned red in her honor, as you can see. Now the ground and the walls and the roofs are all red for Her."
I stopped to listen to the walls, hoping to hear their song of creation. I had seen even from a distance that these buildings were not like the brown Old City mud buildings, neither in shape nor feel. Now, grazing them as we walked, they made a noise inside my fingertips. First the music showed me Our Father, the Emperor, driving the Cart God to carry these buildings to this place. Then, in a bass sound with a hook, the brisk brick told me it had come from westward from where the first bricks were made, carried by wagons to make the first buildings built here by the Red Emperor. I rejoined the rest of the party, in the courtyard of the temple.
We entered into the Court of the Moon. Six gates entered it. I looked upward, noting that we were passing under the white northern gate. A child's face, carved softly from the pure marble, smiled and watched over our backs. I wished we had gone under one of the red gates, to either side.
Before us, across the paved court, was the Great Temple. From here we saw Her temple first. It stood alone, lofty and magnificent. Lesser temples surrounded the circular court, ignored.
The great temple was not brick, but red marble. Several reds, in fact, different for floor, ceiling, and pillars. And not all reds either, I realized as I gazed, for white and some black and even grey appeared in places. Nicely proportioned, not garish or startling. The perfect example of what we sought to restore. The fluted columns, Benhayac capitals, and stepped stylobates showed itself to me. It was beautiful enough to gaze at across the square. Just like I had been told: entabulature exactly two and a half times the height of the columns, forty nine rows of terra cotta roof tiles, and the six living statues perched atop the acroterions. The pediment showed the Seven Mothers at the nativity of Our goddess.
"This great temple was raised in seven days," said Janaren. "I was here then, and I saw it happen. The Moon Emperor came, and with his imperial and lunar powers, raised this edifice from fragments and dust to be this precise structure which you see here."
"You saw it?" asked one man.
"Yes, Sir," he said, "through a hole in the fence. I peeked first, and was entranced to watch it all at the end. It was fast, taking seven days. Grand."
I paced across the courtyard, ignoring the paving underfoot which was laid with hexagramic fired tiles. Only She overhead caught my glance once, and I felt Her looking upon me here, inside Her. I stopped, straightened my robe about my knees, and went on more slowly. Others from the group walked alongside, or followed.
The stairs were twice their height in width, forty-nine in all, to the portico. I had to look up at the Guardian overhead, looming upon its acroterion to stare at us far below. It was the Huntress there, bow in hand, watching us. If we were false, her arrows would slay us. I feared nothing from that.
Seven long steps here, and seven steps past each of the two rows of pillared columns. I saw many other people there, servants and lords, acolytes and armed guards, among the colonnades. Business held within whispered of Her presence. Not my business.
I paused upon the threshold.
"He rebuilt it the same way that She had done," said Jareden. "Some say that it was easier for him because all the materials were already here, but in fact they weren't all here. And is it easier to fix something or make something anew? Our lives of suffering are a fix, our new creations are a joy without pain. The Red Emperor came here and fixed this, with his own suffering, for the joy of us who had never experienced this before."
"When She first came here, at the side of the Hero Lord Yelmgatha, this whole quarter was in ruins. It was burnt down in one or another of the disturbances which the Raibanth citizens inflicted upon their overlords. Those lords were the ruthless Karmangs, and they were maybe as evil as the demons which most lately leveled this neighborhood."
"As She did when She came, I saw the Red Emperor and his assistants erect a great tent over this entire site. The poles of it were each elaborate and decorated with carvings or paintings, each of them ringed with precious metals. They were fifteen feet high, eight of them around the perimeter, and with one great central pole which was three times that. It stuck way up above everything. It was brought there upon the shoulders of thirteen painted men, and I will assure you they did not come here through the city gates. They came out of an ornate crate, a gold-bound black box carried by two red men with black goat horns. The thirteen men, with little strings used like ropes, raised the central pole. They went back into their box. The two carriers, guarded by a hundred soldiers, departed the next day through the eastern gate.
"The Goddess herself, the first time, sat and slept on a small rug at the base of this pole. That little rug is, today, in the chapel of the Duke of Kitor. The Red Emperor, this time when I watched, had his own rug, and gave it away at the end of the rites.
"The next entire day they spent with some little men digging. I still say they were dwarfs, but I am told to tell you they were earth men, and they came from Jeski Varadoki. They had shovels instead of hands, and pick axes instead of feet. They scooped out a horizontal cave from the ruined basement of a palace which was long burnt to nothing. It was wide enough for five wagons side by side, and just as high. I could not see how deep it was, but it went out of my sight into darkness. At the end of the day they drew a curtain across it.
"The third day, when the Goddess did it, a low rumbling hum came from the ground. Oria's priestesses can do that too, and so we know it is the voice of Grandmother Earth. From this grew the perfect cubical block of the temple foundation. Only part sat above ground, and around that they laid the marble steps to reach its top, which is the temple floor.
"When the Red Emperor did this temple, he made the same sound, and it tickled my feet until I could not bear to stand still, and hopped around for a while, laughing. When I looked back I saw the floor forming, rising from the dirt and ashes in small patches, then growing together into a single slab. The steps grew then, too.
"On the fourth day, I saw nothing. I ate then. Someone had pity on me and brought me food. I had barely slept and eaten nothing since becoming transfixed at that peep hole. All day, though, nothing changed.
"The fifth day was the Pillar Day. Out of the cold stone base they rose from nothing.
"On the sixth day I saw seven people in black and white or red clothing come to the pit. They came from someplace inside the city, not from that magic pit in there. At noon each was joined by seven more, and they stood side by side where the walls of the temple are now. They stood there, hands joined, and when the sun rose the next day I saw the walls, and no people.
"On Her seventh day She sat upon Her throne, and took upon herself the shape of a statue, larger than life, and radiating Her holy power through the whole of this Temple.
"When the Emperor made this one, he summoned Firmaxus, the great servant of the God of Art. I know his name because it was in my mind as I watched. Firmaxus scooped up bits of ash and dust, and with it he made a crude shape. Then he sang over it, with his handsome voice, and from that shape came the Goddess once again, as of old."
I went to see Her.
Atop a man-tall pillar sat She. The statue was simple beauty: Clean lines, naturally draped clothing, and a relaxed, natural pose as she sat upon her stool. This statue was from pure white marble by Uranafus, shaped by the artistic magic of Firmaxus or, as other insist, either chiseled and polished. Firmaxus was a living treasure, for he captured the true likeness of any person, and he reproduced it in whatever medium he chose. And here sat She, larger than life, cross-legged and modest. Her head was hairless. I saw that her gown, pure white like the marble, was of actual clothing. Perhaps the statue was dressed by attendants in different clothing, for different seasons.
A single rune decorated her: a bi-color round medallion, red on right and black on left, with a silver rune, the sacred Rufdayen Rune (ie- R-shape). Her left hand, held upright with palm visible, signaled the gesture for kindness; her right pointed upward with the two outer fingers, while the two inner were folded and crossed by her thumb. This ancient gesture signaled health.
Her eyes were open, looking at me. Brown eyes, like humans have. When I stepped to the side those eyes followed me. I saw She smiled then. I felt, there, what an artist can do when she brings the life out of a stone.
