11.11 Offerings, Shrines, and Monuments

Offerings
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Related commands:

OFFER <offering>
OFFER CORPSES
OFFERINGS SHOW

Offerings are the major way in which you as a devoted follower may gain your Order shrine energy. Many things that an Order might do cost it energy. In order to replenish shrine energy, you must first find a location in which a shrine to that God has been erected.

Once you have done that, you must find something to offer. You may only offer corpses of once-living things. Simply type OFFER <offering> and you will send your offering winging its way to both your beloved Patron, who will be notified of your offering and their divine Order.

Shrines
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Related commands:

ERECT SHRINE
PRAY TO DEFILE
PRAY TO SANCTIFY
OFFER <corpse> TO DEFILE
OFFER <corpse> TO SANCTIFY

As you wander about the land, you will undoubtedly encounter shrines to various Gods. These shrines have been erected by highly-ranked followers of Gods as testaments to the glory of their God or Goddess, and in order to provide more offering points for followers.

Those who have attained a certain rank or higher in an Order may ERECT SHRINE. This will take approximately ten seconds and raise a shrine, during which you may not do anything else. It will also sap a quarter of both your endurance and willpower. It should be noted that shrines may not be placed closer than three locations away from each other and that each order may only have a maximum of one hundred shrines.

Each shrine can be used to call upon various powers from their Deity, whether they be for the user's benefit, or to call upon abilities to harm enemies that wish to defile your shrine. These abilities expand the range of the shrine influence, which is designated by the size of the shrine. Newly erected shrines are very weak and cannot be used for any powers, while large sizes have their influence expand out to two rooms away from the shrine.                                                   

As such, it is possible to both strengthen shrines to a larger size, and harm them so they become smaller in size. PRAYing TO DEFILE at a shrine will cause it to shrink the longer you pray, while PRAYing TO SANCTIFY will cause it to grow.                                                     

When a shrine reaches its full size, a protective seal is placed on the shrine to prevent malicious people from defiling it. However the seal only provides limited protection, and can be broken by OFFER <corpse> TO DEFILE. It can also be strengthened by OFFER <corpse> TO SANCTIFY.
                                                    
To see the various powers useable by Orders at a shrine of their Divine, read HELP ORDERS.  

Monuments
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Related commands:

ERECT MONUMENT
OFFER ORB UPON MONUMENT
BREAK ORB UPON MONUMENT
POUR BLOOD ON MONUMENT

Monuments are focal structures which help strengthen an Order's shrines. An Order can only have a maximum of three at any time, and only one per area. It is often advised to place monuments in hard to find places, as they affect how quickly a shrine can be defiled, or how quickly a shrine can be sanctified. Having the maximum amount of monuments will also allow the Order to detect defiling of a shrine early on.

Those with the ability to erect shrines can also ERECT monuments to their Order. Once erected, the monument will enter a turbulent stage in which the Order will need to strengthen it with orbs of essence, or risk having the monument lost. These orbs will spawn within a ten room radius of the monument, and will need to be collected. Once you have collected as many as you can find, the orbs can either be used to strengthen the monument (OFFER ORB UPON MONUMENT) or broken to harm the monument (BREAK ORB UPON MONUMENT). For each orb of essence not found, the monument will be damaged, so it is important to find as many as you can 
and offer them before the time runs out.

Destroying monuments can only be done during a Holy War. First you need to collect ten buckets of blood and POUR them upon the monument to break the seal protecting it, and bring it into the turbulent state mentioned before. During this time, you will need to gather orbs of essence and break them upon the monument. For each missed orb not collected, the monument will heal itself so it's important to do this as quickly as possible.                                                               

Once destroyed, the Order's shrines will become weakened. Be warned that when a seal protecting a monument is broken, all Order members will be informed of this act, so be prepared for repercussions.