Sanctuary of the First Hearth
"Before the Rift burned the sky, the fire of our ancestors burned here."
The Sanctuary of the First Hearth is a revered pilgrimage site for the faithful of the Exiled Imperium — a place where the ancestors’ endurance is honored without magic, without doctrine, and without judgment.
According to tradition, this is where the exiled Romans, starving and shattered in the first days after the Rift crossing, gathered around a single fire to warm themselves, to pray to their gods of hearth and home, and to swear their loyalty to one another. That fire, they say, burned for one hundred nights, and the smoke rose straight and true even in the fiercest storms — a sign that the old gods had not abandoned them.
Ritual Practices
Pilgrims who come to the sanctuary bring with them a small bundle of ash and kindling from their own homes. Upon arrival, they scatter the ash into the great brazier at the center of the sanctuary and add their kindling to the fire, symbolizing their bond to the Imperium and to those who came before.
During the high feast of Frostveil’s End, thousands gather to chant the Litany of Coals while the flame is ritually extinguished and rekindled at dawn — a ceremony marking the survival of light through darkness.
Pilgrimage Route
Known as the Ash Road, the pilgrimage begins at the southern gates of Nova Roma and winds through the old districts, culminating at the sanctuary plaza. Pilgrims wear grey robes, carry sprigs of laurel, and walk in silence until reaching the brazier.
Cultural Perception
For the citizens of Nova Roma, the sanctuary represents continuity: a bridge to their ancestors, unbroken even by the Rift. Even among the Riftborn and outer provinces, where faith in the old gods has waned, the First Hearth is respected as a testament to human resilience rather than divine intervention.
Some Arcanii consider it quaint — but even the Magister Prima is expected to kneel at the brazier during their ascension rites, acknowledging the Imperium’s foundations.
Architecture
The sanctuary is a circular courtyard enclosed by marble colonnades, its floor paved in black basalt and inlaid with concentric rings of white stone. At its center burns the eternal brazier, a wide copper bowl supported by a trio of sculpted laurel-crowned figures.
The air is warm and smells faintly of cedar, ash, and incense.
During pilgrimages, the plaza is lit with hundreds of small terracotta lamps that flicker like stars.
History
In the bleak months of Year 0 AR, when the first settlers were beset by Rift storms and dwindling supplies, the communal fire became a beacon of hope. It was here that survivors gathered, shared bread and salt, and, according to the Annals of the Hearth, pledged to build Nova Roma “with stone and with faith.”
In Year 52 AR, the site was enclosed in marble and basalt, and an eternal flame was kindled at its center. To this day, the flame is tended by the Order of the Hearthkeepers, a small priesthood independent of the Arcanii.
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