Monastery of the Sacred Stone is the name of a monastery in two worlds: in Antiterra, a cult house near Abeto Rojo built around a fragment of the Stone; in Vala, a reclusive rock-cut monastery and school thirty miles from Caldero.
This name refers to different places in 2 worlds; the versions are not merged.
| Type | Monastery |
| Spanish entry | Monasterio de la Piedra Sagrada |
In Antiterra
A large, multi-level house “full of secrets” in the Abeto Rojo district, centered on a fragment of the Stone: “We have a fragment of that stone here; that is why this is the monastery of the sacred stone.” Its people call it “a cult of a cursed stone, though I call it sacred”.
Building
- A central hall, “a place of community and conversation”, where the monks gather before taking their seats; upper galleries overlook the altar. A stair descends to lower chambers; in one, on the northeast side, is a niche in the wall with a hole, of unknown purpose.
- Somewhat Gothic panels in a style “brought through Europe”, carved on site from a strange local rock with gray inlays; half-demonic gargoyles on the walls; an austere cross above.
- High up, splashes of yellow, red and violet “as if someone had sprayed color”, about which “no one says anything”.
Hospitality
The Abbot receives visitors in the Sancta Sanctorum, after which they are formal guests with a room, breakfast sent up and a private garden. The house serves in bowls its own thick distillation, “almost a food”, “like a kind of beer with bread and cheese”, nearly without alcohol. A monk who speaks well of someone to the order may lead to that person’s initiation. The public spaces are where the cult selects; below the stair lie the chambers and what is guarded.
Doctrine
A blind elder of the house expounds it: when the Earth was created, “God left a seed, a very deep seed”, and announced a prophet of the Earth, “the stone on which he would build his community, his church”. Hence the cry “we are free of sin, children of the Stone!” and the rites, “a test that allowed the Lord to redeem humanity”. The Stone can be invoked against “the enemy of the Stone!” and is a key: “the stone… to get the book”. Its cultists have exceptional magical powers.
Stones and places
- The Black Stone lies about ten miles into the country from Abeto Rojo.
- Another account places the cult’s stones, secretly, under the town. Whether these are the same is not established.
- Northwest of the town, a “fallen granite stone” where the father of Jürgen lived isolated, among signs: “I am sick, stay away or you will share my fate” and “we don’t want those people living here without having asked permission”.
Standing in the district
The cultists are known and feared. A passing company said that “even those cultists… respected us, tinged with fear probably”, and the respect was mutual. Dornen acknowledges “a real cult” and has excavated things connected to it.
Conflicting accounts
- The house presents itself as initiatory and redemptive.
- Outsiders call them “cursed cultists who say they are free of sin… they have the first stone and want to enslave, to steep everyone in a mysterious rock”.
- One record states: “we were attacked by the Order of the Stone, the Order of the Temple of the Stone”.
Open questions
- The deity of the cult is explicitly left incomplete.
- Whether the niche hides a real mechanism, and which book the Stone opens, are unknown.
- The number of monks, governance beyond the Abbot and the content of initiation are unknown.
- Whether the granite stone fell from the sky, is natural or is a structure is unknown.
- The plan, number of levels and link between the Sancta Sanctorum and the lower chambers are not recorded.
In Vala
Thirty miles (“that is, 50 kilometers”) from Caldero and under two hours from the cabin of Jared the Mad; the direction is not recorded. Caldero sends people there “to be trained”.
Building
It occupies “half a block, with some outbuildings at the side; it is not huge”. It is rock-cut, “Petra style”: the natural rock was shaped “to go inside this mountain”. Its corridors are excavated from “an ancient and noble stone… like Roman stones”. It has a crypt of the same stone, and guards.
Rule and doctrine
It houses “a kind of training center for young people and adepts”, tied to the elemental arts, training with stone: “Monastery of the hard stone, of biting the stone”. The doctrine holds that the earth contains wisdom; the order follows druidic traditions and favors the druids and the earth goddess. Its monks “are especially reclusive and do not proselytize”. No other house of the order is known.
School and prison
People who later traveled far were trained there. The house also holds an unnamed dwarf under guard, as one of its active functions.
Unrelated stones
No recorded fact ties this house to the Stone of the Apocalypse (whose custody is attributed to Gatil, linked to a transaction with EKT), the white limestone marking a route in some catacombs, the stone obelisk over the lava, the stone of facets and eyes (“over a hundred”), the stone one must possess in order to speak, or the stone giants near Ushuaia.
Open questions
- Which sacred stone names the house, and where it is kept, is not recorded; whether the “shining stone” some mention is the same is unknown.
- The mountain, number of monks, admission, length of training and nature of the elemental arts are unknown.
- Whether the crypt and corridor described belong to this house is unknown.
- Who the dwarf is, why he is held and by whom is unknown.