The Barons' Council Hall

The Barons' Council Hall is the seat of civic power in Sandwater Slough and the meeting place of The Barons' Council, in The Central City. It is a circular stone building that was once the Temple of the Bound Martyr (Ilmater). Most of the religious iconography has been removed or sealed behind stone panels, but the bones of the temple still show in its high circular ceiling. The central chamber has stepped seating and a raised dais bearing a broad stone council table marked with the seals of the ruling barons.

The shrine. Along the eastern interior wall the council keeps, by decree, a small shrine to the Bound Martyr: a plain stone plinth, a length of worn golden chain hung between two iron pins, and a shallow bowl for offerings of oil. The stone around it is worn smooth by touch. The city's leaders justified reducing the Bound Martyr's worship after the abolition of slavery, arguing that a god of endurance and imposed burden was no longer central to the city's moral identity; commerce, governance and trade were to be its defining virtues. The shrine is open during council hours but is not advertised.

People

• Brother Halvek, retired monk of the Bound Martyr, who tends the shrine daily
• High Steward Caldrin Vos, who oversees access and maintenance