Shangra-La
A place of peace and reflection
An ancient temple of Piggen wise men, who had psychic abilities. Gifted to Silvano by Stonetusk for the use of all psychics.
Purpose / Function
An ancient temple of Piggen wise men, who had psychic abilities. Gifted to Silvano by Stonetusk for the use of human psychics.
Shanga-La was given its name by the psychic Silvano, modeled after a holy place he knew of on Pre-Scream Earth. Silvano has since moved off, and the new Psychic Academy has occupied the site for its own continued uses as both sanctuary, and scholarly retreat.
THE APPROACH
A dusty mesa stretches out before you at the base of a mountain. Dozens of large boulders sit scattered around you, and a white spiral is painted with age flaked pigment onto a nearby cliff face. A winding staircase is set into the mountain, invisible if you didn’t know exactly how to approach the mountain base.
Hundreds of red-brown terracotta stairs lead up through the mountain to a destination you cannot see. The stairs wind through the mountain, at times opening to create covered passages with the sides open to the sky. Ivy and hardy desert succulents hang from rough-carved window sills. You approach a final landing after hours of climbing, that turns sharply to the left. From down below you can see that after the turn the steps lead to a leveled off rock face.
THE TEMPLE
You turn the corner, and at the top of the final flight of stairs rests a structure, towered and well-hidden in the side of the mountain. It’s made of stone painstakingly hauled up from the plains below, mixed with the local red-brown variety to form a stunning temple keep. Cracked pots of the same material spill dehydrated dirt and plants long rotted to nothing. Nets of rope like fronds blow in the light breeze, hanging from windows. The doors are sealed, an indent for a key matching the talisman given by Stonetusk. When the key is placed, heavy locks behind the door whirr and click. Deep bangs signal the locking bars disengaging and the large doors swing open, revealing a foyer.
TEMPLE ROOMS
From the foyer another set of stairs goes up into a library at the rooms north. The library, which had been in ruins due to long neglect, has been repurposed as a mundane study and teaching area. The new furnishings there are of local make, and the bookshelves once again hold tomes of recovered psionic knowledge. Most of the shelves are still bare.
A spiral staircase in the corner leads to the level above.
The level above is dominated by a few monastic-looking cells for quiet reflection that make you feel peaceful. A very large central chamber (dubbed the Reflection Room by Silvano) with a crystal ceiling depicts a planetscape showing piggen, animals, and plants all growing strong under a golden sun. In this chamber you feel the most peaceful you’ve ever been (this chamber enhances precognition, allowing you to see further into the future. All psychics have perfect recall of events they've witnessed in the past, allowing you to always get truthful information if something from your past becomes relevant or someone from your past shows up again). The wind whistles through small holes in the stucco outside the towers musically, adding to the relaxed atmosphere.
To the east lies a kitchen, and a ladder going down into a storage room and work space below. Down in the basement you climb down a ladder to the recommissioned machine shop. Grupp has worked in this area extensively and it now doubles as is Archeotech research space. The room has enough powered and hand tools to aid in virtually any kind of project.
A secret tunnel behind a tool rack Sil found when he first explored takes you down a hallway carved with stylized piggen murals, ending in a giant piggen head, mouth open. A giant orange, red, and yellow crystal resembling a flame makes the entire room warmly glow. In this chamber you feel raw power coursing through you with every step you take closer to the glowing crystal formation (this room boost telekinesis and lowers the effort of other psychic abilities). The room is a very large dome carved into the deep mountain rock, and there is enough space to manipulate most vehicle sized objects here- though getting them in and out would need teleportation support.
TOWERS
The towers contain other cells for meditation, and the top of the leftmost appeared to have once held pet birds. A small area of leveled ground on the side of the courtyard has been revitalized as a proper garden. Local herbs grow here, along with flowering plants, and creeping vines.
The left tower's first floor has been turned into rooms for students, currently able to accommodate five. The second level enhances biopsionic abilities and has been set up as an infirmary. The topmost level (rookery) enhances telepathy. Some of the facilities meant to house birds have been left intact for future use.
The right tower's first floor has been set up as housing for teachers. It currently has space for three, intended for Val, Doona, and Silvano. The second level used to be a map room and has been cleaned out to resume that purpose, or to be an administrative planning space, but doesn't enhance any abilities. The topmost level enhances teleportation, doubling the range. For TP-4, a psychic could teleport to the moon.
Architecture
The buildings are carved into the rock of the mountain, and are made of local stone hauled up from the desert plains below when local topography could not be carved to match the desired use.
Type
Room, Religious, Sanctuary
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