The Arcade

Peakshadow is sometimes called the Gift of the Dwarven Lord, and with good reason. Long before the metropolis expanded out to its fourth walls, there was only the innermost surround and, of course, the Sudhall Keep within.

That keep and its surround, was a gift given to Fergus the Third on the occasion of his investiture as High King. As a token of friendship, and for the promise of peace, the Dwarf Lord of Mount Oromir offered to build a great Hall of Stone for the man with the courage to call himself the King of All Westrun.

Using the craft known only to their kind, the Dwarves cut a notch in the face of the mountain's East slope. Upon this notch, they built Sudhall and its surround. But the discarded stone of their quarrying and excavation formed the Haliron -- a small hill and the second highest point on the plain. It was upon Haliron Hill that that the priests sought to raise their Grand Temple of Heaven.

The Grand Temple, on the other hand, was built by men. It was built to face Sudhall, for in 4170ey High Priest Simmon believed it would remind a pompous king to keep himself humble in the face of the gods. But it is said that the architect of that structure had a critical shortage of humility himself. He had more vision than space with which to work. For that reason, the south cella of the Temple protruded off the back of the artificial hill and thus had to be supported by large quarried-stone arches. The builders did not have the skill of the Dwarves and it was only completed in 4371ey.

The space beneath the arches was called the arcade. It was a natural place for the priests and penitents to keep their sheep and goats -- animals destined for ritual slaughter. It also became the place to which the once-ridiculed priest, Gamasiel, was banished when he was expelled from his order for teaching the truth.

Gamasiel credited the Arcade for giving him his priestly formation. He spent a year with the sheep and goats and claimed that by observing and caring for them, he learned to teach men. For this reason, the place where the Church of Westrun now trains all of its priests is still called the Arcade -- though it is not in Peakshadow any longer.

While the original location is now little more than a forgotten slum that still exists in the Second Circle of Peakshadow, the name was given, in the centuries that followed, to the palatial house deeded to the Church of Westrun by the devout citizens of Watersedge of Talir. So while the Arcade boasts arches no longer, it is still known by that name. Every priest who wishes to become a Shepherd in the Church of Westrun, must attend the Arcade and there receive ordination.