Discussion Lizardmen Temples and Worship

[Warden]

To expound a little more on what temple-ceremonies could have looked like, I have found some pictures from modern recreations:

1) On Top of the Temples:


Photo from the movie Apocalypto.

From this angle, few attendees in the plaza below would be able to see what is happening, but they could easily be kept up-to-date with the progress by some loud skink-priests on the edge of the platform bellowing out ritual incantations. The huge plazas would be filled to the brim with devoted worshippers, who would probably roar approval each time a sacrifice was made in the name of sotek/heads were rolled down the steps of the bloody temple.

2) In Front of the Temple; at the platform steps


Modern day reproduction

These ceremonies would have taken place in full view of the teeming masses, whether to dedicate a newly-constructed temple-pyramid for the first time, or to commemorate some other great public ceremony such as the dedication of an altar/stela pair at the beginning of another 20-year katun cycle.

Notice the incense: a great deal was used in ancient ceremonies by the way of fantastically-decorated incense burners

Spoiler: incense burners

These two incense burners are from Palenque; made out of beautifully-sculpted clay. Located in the Kimbell Art Museum, TX.

Another modern-day (NIGHT) reproduction, probably for the sake of tourists of course, but is very beautifully and colorfully lit up in all those green and red lights! Almost magical... something I am sure the Lizardmen would have no problem accomplishing.

3) Parades down the streets of the Temple-City



I forgot about this one previously, but this was also very prevalent in history as the Mayan priest-kings would parade down the white sacbe roads from the city epi-center to distant shrines in the jungle, connected by these holy roads.

Spoiler: Sacbe and Arch

Picture from San Gervasio, the holy Mayan site on Cozumel I visited, also last April. Several white sacbe roads led into the center of the holy site. In ancient times the roads were inlaid with white stone and sea shell fragments: with the light of the full moon on them the roads would have glowed white, allowing religious processions to travel to the holy site without the aid of torchlight!

In the Lustrian context, undoubtably huge numbers of colorfully feathered skink attendants would carry torches or idols through the streets, flanked by temple guard carrying the slumbering Slann, while kroxigor or stegadon beasts-of-burden carry engines of the gods or giant stone idols on their backs in worship of the Old Ones.

 

[pendrake]

What were the raised areas on either side for?

 

[Warden]

What were the raised areas on either side for?

If you are referring to the sides at the ballcourt, at first glance they looked like they almost could have been seating areas. But our tour guide said they were built to assist the players: the ball would go up in the air and land on one of the raised, slanted sides and roll down for the players to get into position and hit them again.
As far as the higher raised sections further up, like about the hoop? I am guessing that is where the nobility/crowds got to sit, almost like a stadium.

 

[Nazqua]

Kroxigor Day is celebrated primarily by Kroxigor and Skinks who have Kroxigor spawning Brothers. Kroxigor Day is not fixed on either the solar or lunar calendar. Each Temple City of Kahoun is free to have Kroxigor Day at different times. Sometimes a couple of years go by with no Kroxigor Days. Sometimes a city can have multiple Kroxigor Days every year. Kroxigor Day can last a single day or stretch to a whole week. Bigger cities tend to have Kroxigor Day less often but they tend to run longer. Smaller cities tend to have Kroxigor often but they only last a single day.

- I bet this is when Nakai the wanderer is praised and gifts are put out into the jungle for him, if anything if there was a battle or something on this day he would show up to celebrate or help fight back the Children of the Oldones enemies

 

[Scalenex]

- I bet [Kroxigor Day] is when Nakai the wanderer is praised and gifts are put out into the jungle for him, if anything if there was a battle or something on this day he would show up to celebrate or help fight back the Children of the Oldones enemies

That's a good idea. I figure most Lizardmen religious festivals would have both somber and celebratory aspects. I viewed Kroxigor Day as being most celebratory Honoring dead Kroxigor of renown (including but not limited to Nakai) would definitely fall under "somber" but it would certainly fit in there well.

 

[Killer Angel]

This thread is a goldmine.

 

[Paradoxical Pacifism]

A superb world-building thread. So much awesome ideas to work with too ... I'm not very good at world-building, so this is very helpful!

 

[Krai’kotak]

Very good point, it makes sense the Slann would not have built the ships. I personally think they might be on the large size, but your justification makes sense.


Switching over to the subject as temples as places of worship, here are a few things from the historical perspective to think about (mostly looking at this from an ancient Mayan perspective):

1) Temples. Obviously they are very big constructions, tend to be much smaller at the top meaning there isn't much actual room to hold worshippers. This means that those attending to the worship services would be limited to only those of high status: the ruling nobility and the priests. In Lustria, while the Lizardmen temples are orders of magnitude larger than their historical counterparts could conceivably fit more bodies on top of them, still couldn't fit everyone. I expect that only the Slann, the skink priests, and some assistants such as the temple guard/kroxigor orderlies would be allowed to enter the inner top chambers of any temple. And maybe an honored saurus commander.

In many cases temples were also known to invoke ancient volcanoes, which were seen as "living gods of fire" and objects of veneration. Such a giant temple would constantly have smoke billowing from the top, from ceremonial incense and fire, very much reminiscent of man-made volcanoes. This is something I could see happening at temple of Chotec (god of the sun/fire) in particular.

2) Plazas. So where did the rest of the worshippers stand during great ceremonies? Most likely in the wide plazas between the "clusters" of temples within the great cities. They might not have front row seats to directly witness the mysterious ceremonies taking place at the top, but could easily listen to whatever chanting/singing is emanating from the priests on the stairs to let them know what is going on.

Plazas were also the location of various altars and stone stela commemorating various gods, and more often invoking the names/victories of long-dead warrior kings. In the Lizardmen context these could also be used as more visible reminders of heroes long past, invoked for help in future battles/endeavors.

3) Ballcourts. There is already a Lizardmen precedent for ballcourts in the form of the blood-bowl universe, but in the historical perspective ballcourts were also very much places of worship (i.e. the game of pok-a-tok). However they also served a dual purpose of being readily available to the masses, who could witness first hand the unfolding cosmic events played out by the actors/players in the ballcourt. Many stories of gods exist (such as the maize god and the hero twins) of heroic ballcourt matches against the gods of the underworld. Undoubtedly the rulers of these ancient cities used ballcourts as visible (and bloody) ways of bolstering their legitimacy in the eyes of the common masses.

4) Shrines outside of the cities. There will always be places located outside of the cities that are considered "holy," so small-scale shrines is probably the best option as far as the Lizardmen are concerned. The smallest ones may only have a token skink or chameleon patrol occasioanlly passing by when ceremonies are not taking place, but during months of worship entire baggage trains of skink priests, worshippers, saurus guard, and kroxigor workmen may trample through the jungle to revisit the shrines: clear the undergrowth, set up tents on the cleared platforms, and conduct the sacred rituals ordained in eons past. I am sure there are plenty more that are completely forgotten hidden within the depths of Lustria as well.

In the Aztec,Mayan and Peruvian pirámids only the priests ands high religious charges were in the top of the piramids during the ceremonies not even the nobility were allowed to enter that sacred place so I think that only the skinks starseers,high priests and some acolites will be on top of the temple probably the acolites and the rest of the city will watch from the surroundings.