[OL - CH1 ]Terra Pontilla, Maison Côtière d’Ouest

[TribunM]

After months of hearings, debate, and exile, Frère Lucien de la Tour Forbie left Arondrelle behind.
The verdict was clear — exile, at least. A mercy, and perhaps a sentence of another kind: banishment to the western shore.

His uncle, Dom Alaric, once Grand Archdeacon of Arondrelle and near to becoming bishop himself, accompanied him part of the way.
He too had fallen from favor — not condemned, but quietly removed. 
On their final day together, he pressed a sealed letter into Lucien’s hand:

“They may take the cathedral from us, Lucien, but not the Depth.
The Depth lives wherever thought seeks honestly.”

Those words stayed with him as he arrived at the farthest edge of Pontilla — a coast of wind, salt, and silence.
Here stood the Maison Côtière d’Ouest, the westernmost commandery of the Knights of Poseidon.
It was no grand monastery, but a fortress of stone and spray, facing the vast Phyrite Sea.

The Order had agreed to receive him — cautiously, but deliberately. 
For in his controversial De Bellis Sacris, the brothers of Poseidon found what they had long sought but never dared to claim aloud:
a theology that justified their own existence.

Lucien’s doctrine of the bellum sacrum — the holy war as moral trial rather than political tool — gave their life at sea a new dignity.
It made their mission not mere obedience to crown or church, but an expression of divine harmony: to fight, to build, to protect, and to think as one movement of faith.

In essence:
The bellum sacrum appealed to the Knights of Poseidon because it
– gave theological foundation to their calling,
– sanctified their struggle with intellectual grace,
– and offered a measure for spiritual self-examination.

They assigned Lucien a place apart from the main hall — an old storehouse near the western wall.
A low building of worn brick, half forgotten, filled with barrels, ropes, and dust.
A place no one wanted, and therefore a place suited for beginnings.

Lucien accepted it silently.
On the first day, he cleared the debris.
On the second, he washed the floor with seawater.
On the third, he placed a single shelf against the wall.

On its lowest tier he laid a heavy blue-bound volume — the Holy Scripture.
Above it, a scroll of ancient fragments, remnants of the philosophers of the Great Empire.
And last, he placed his own work beside them: De Bellis Sacris.

The book that had ruined him — and might yet redeem him.
He looked at the three texts together and whispered:

“Three mirrors of the Depth:
the sea, the thought, the faith.
Here, all shall begin again.”

The brothers watched him from afar.
Some distrusted him, others were moved.
But all sensed that something significant had begun in that dusty shed —
a renewal not decreed from above, but born from within.

As the sun fell behind the sea, Lucien remained alone in his cleared space.
Outside, the waves beat against the stone; inside, the air hung still, like a breath held.
A new work was forming — not yet named, but already alive.
It would be his greatest act: not a war of the sword, but of the spirit.

EDIT: Title

Spoiler

Either my order was late or the parcel service was. Either way, tight now it is only the draft with Studio. Hope to replace it soon. Apologies.

 

Edited 58 minutes ago by TribunM

[Khorne]

Welcome aboard! Fun to see an entry for Terra Pontilla. I think it's a Sub Faction with a lot of promise. I was planning on making a small figbarf or little build myself to promote the relatively unknown Sub Faction to future players, so I'm glad this is your entry build.

The story is intriguing! I liked how you fleshed out the situation and the character and I'm eager to see where this is going. The build is nice too. I'm always a sucker for redbrick medieval buildings. The integration of the woodwork and the reddish brown decoration is nicely done.

I get the frustration with the parcel service. I had the same issue .

[Ross Fisher]

Sorry you couldn't build in real bricks, but this is a lovely entry.