I believe these are the great temples around Sartar.
- Clearwine Earth Temple (Ernalda)
- Hill of Orlanth Victorious (Orlanth)
- Orlanth’s Hill (Orlanth)
- Shaker’s Temple (Ernalda, Maran Gor)
- Wintertop Fort (Orlanth)
- Boldhome (Orlanth, Ernalda)
- Sun Dome Temple (Yelmalio)
- Whitewall (Orlanth)
- Vorda Hill (Ernalda)
- The Block (Storm Bull)
- Castle of Lead (Kyger Litor, Zorak Zoran)
- Cliffhome (Kyger Litor, Zorak Zoran, Aranea)
- WIld Temple (Arachne Solara)
- Old Wind Temple
As an aside, Eiritha is an important cult for the Pol-Joni, but Ernalda is still more prevalent. The Pol-Joni are very atypical Praxians. The Paps is too far away to make my list – it is a good 120 km east of Swenstown. At that point I might as well be including Nochet.
The point is that I listed the great temples around Sartar. The Block is close enough that I included it, along with Whitewall. But by no stretch of the imagination is the Paps “around Sartar”.
The Hill of Orlanth Victorious gets pilgrims from all over Dragon Pass and beyond. It is a great temple in terms of magic, and is also less than a day’s walk from Boldhome.
The Pol-Joni Tribe
Here is the official position: In 1490 Sartar offered the Pol-Joni Tribe a partnership in the city of Swenstown. They agreed, and there formed a bond between the land of Sartar and the people of the Pol-Joni. The alliance was effective against the Animal Nomads, who bore no love for Orlanthi of any type.
So the Pol-Joni have rights in Swenstown. It is a market for them, it is a sacred place for them, and they are protected by its laws in transactions, etc.
But they are partner-allies of the kingdom, not subjects. The Pol-Joni are intensely loyal to the Sartar Dynasty, but their relationship is different from the other Sartarite tribes and as Nick points out, they are on a different footing (mounting?) than the rest.Now post Dragonrise this gets even more complicated, as the Pol-Joni have aided their Dundealos kin in reclaiming the Dundealos Valley. And those two groups are right now hopelessly intertwined.
Each city is the center of a union of tribes, and shared by them as a market and religious center. Other groups may share in them but with less say over how the city is operated.
The Pol-Joni are usually listed among the “tribes” of Sartar, as are the Duck and the Telmori. But like the Telmori, their relationship is different than most other tribes.
I think in the pre-Sartar period, the Pol-Joni were like the bashi-bazouk or Pindari. They were cattle herding nomadic trouble-makers who’d get hired by the King of Tarsh as high quality irregular cavalry, but would also plunder and pillage mercilessly. Sartar brought them into a long-term mutual alliance with him and they now guard the Pol-Joni March against the other tribes.
Clearwine Earth Temple is a great temple because it is unusual. It is draws not only on the Colymar but the surrounding lands as the “first” Earth temple built after the Resettlement. Of course the Shaker Temple still gets priority because it was still active during the Inhuman Occupation.
As an aside the Humakt regiment counts as a Great Temple when it is fully mustered. But that hasn’t happened since 1602. Although it will happen again soon…
Although a temple is often described with reference to a specific location or building, rites for a given temple sometimes take place in different locations for different events. For example, the Boldhome Orlanth Rex temple sometimes travels to the Hill of Orlanth Victorious for part of the Sacred Time rites. Also, it is worth mentioning that some holy places are shared by several temples. For example, the Starfire Ridges are holy to the Orlmarthing Clan of the Colymar Tribe and when the clan Orlanth cult gathers there, it functions as a minor temple. But they are also holy to the tribal Orlanth cult, and during those ceremonies, it functions as a major temple.
Does Six Stones count as a Humakt temple, or just a shrine? It is a major temple at best.
Emerald temple? Major.
Do the Torkani have a Great Temple to Argan Argar? No, It is a major temple at best. The Torkani have a population of 6500. A little over half are adults, so for this exercise lets say 3500. Of that about 1200 are Ernalda cultists, about 800 are Orlanth cultists, and about 500 are Argan Argar cultists. We also have about 200 Humakt cultists and 200 Heler cultists. And maybe 100 Issaries cultists. And the rest of the cults together get about 500 people. That gives us a a bunch of minor temples of Orlanth and Ernalda, a major temple to Ernalda, and minor temple to Humakt and Heler. And we also have a great temple to Orlanth that serves the whole north of Sartar but the tribe gets revenue from.
Is there a Great Chalana Arroy hospital in Sartar? No, Nochet.
Is Greenstone Major or Great? (per Sartar Kingdom of Heroes)? That was an error in SKoH, Major. It is the main tribal temple for the Malani.
Yelm? no. There’s a major temple amongst the Grazelanders, but not a great temple. The FHQ is a great temple of Ernalda, Wherever she goes she has enough cultists.
Is the Jonstown Library a great LM temple? The Jonstown Library only has about 150 initiates. Assume maybe another 250 lay members and it can just SQUEEZE in as a major temple.
Is there a Great Yelmalio temple in Alda-Chur? it is a major temple.
Trolls
Dan McCluskey says: Redstone should qualify for Kyger Litor, and Maybe Xiola Umbar. I’m uncertain that Cliffhome has the population to support a KL Great Temple, but Cragspider’s personal importance might be sufficient to overcome her small catchment.
I think Redstone counts for Kyger Litor but it is off the map. And the Cliffhome tribe has 10k trolls, so maybe it is too small.
But among the Orlanthi it is rare than any cult gets more than 40% of the population. But with the trolls normally at least 50% only worship KL. So I expect there are a lot of KL great temples in Dagori Inkarth.
As a general rule, trollkin outnumber dark trolls about 2:1 (a lot more trollkin are born than dark trolls, but dark trolls live a lot longer). So if Cliffhome as 19,000 trolls, really that means 12,000 trollkin, 6,000 dark trolls, and 1,000 great trolls. Plus a lot of spiders.
Starfire Ridges? Minor temples. The major temple for the Colymar is at Clearwine Fort. Although some of the rites for that temple are held on the Starfire Ridges.
If the Orlanth Temples in Jonstown, Swenstown, Wilmskirk, and Whitewall are Major, then what about the tribal seats such as Clearwine or Two Ridge? Major.
Why is the Ernalda Great Temple at Clearwine outside the big walls? Temples are placed where the gods desire. Ernalda wanted her temple in the rich fields near where the Nymie and the Stream join and so that is where it is.