>>As I read this, there is no Sun Dome Temple at the Hill of Gold. Nothing is
>>said about Bikhy, and even less about no temple existing in Vanch. If you
>>want to spread 15 Sun Dome Temples, counting the two in Prax and northern
>>Volsaxi Valley, and one (yet unplaced) in Lunar Tarsh, where do you want to
>>put the 12 others, and avoid Vanch?
>It would be a very unusual religion that has major temples in Vanch
>and none at the Hill of Gold which is their most holy place.
It would be a very unusual religion that has major temples in Dragon Pass and none atop Wintertop, which is the birthplace of their god (Orlanth)...
>This
>would be akin methinks to having the nearest muslim mosque to the
>Holy Places of Mecca and Medina somewhere in Iraq.
AFAIK the Kaaba is not a mosque. The comparison is wrong, anyway, since it is not an unmoveable natural feature. There is no temple on top (or at the foot) of the Ararat or the Sinai, even though these mountains are considered sacred to more than one religion.
>The fact that Yelmalio is not strongly represented at Bikhy seems
>to indicate that some other god (like Elmal) holds sway near the
>Hill of Gold.
There are numerous gods whose holy place is located on the Hill of Gold. Not counting Yelmalio's opponents (Zorak Zoran, Orlanth, Inora), we have Antirius, Amanstan, Shargash and a couple of other sun/fire/light related deities. I'm not at all convinced that Elmal is one of these; after all his combat with Orlanth took place on a "bridge" across some river (the Oslir?).
>If Yelmalio were popular in Vanch then I would
>have expected the King or whoever rules Vanch to have established
>a major temple at the Hill of Gold.
Bikhy isn't that far from the HoG, and nothing bars that temple from being a "major" temple. After all, you don't get mass pilgrimages to the HoG, but solitary heroquesters.
>BTW there's only one Sun Dome Temple in Prax according to CoP so
>the Pavis Yelmalio temple is not considered to be one of big 15
>Sun Dome Temples.
Yes. That's what I used in my definition of Sun Dome Temple. WRT size the Pavis Temple isn't that small (should qualify as a major temple with 400+ initiates), though it is not a "great temple" as per RQ (3) definition. As the easiest way to get that (2000+ initiates), you have two or three mercenary regiments attached.
>>Bikhy is bound to have a city temple to Yelmalio, but needn't have the
>>mercenary templar attachment which makes that a Sun Dome Temple.
>I don't think it's mercenaries that render a temple Sun Dome.
>Methinks the shear size counts.
Well, that's where we disagree. A Sun Dome Temple is a place where Sun Dome Templars reside, and can be hired.
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