The Temple of the Scalded Blades

The blighted valley of Reg’Ar is famous for its unnatural acid rains that have scarred it for generations, but it is precisely in that cursed location that the Temple of the Scalded Blades was built. The temple's origins can be traced back to the Age of Dissolution, when the first Acid Seers discovered that pain could be transmuted into power. Legend speaks of Arthex the Corroded, a warrior-monk who survived forty days submerged in a pool of natural acid, emerging with skin like weathered bronze and eyes that wept caustic tears. His teachings formed the foundation of what would become the Temple's central philosophy: that true strength lies in allowing oneself to be unmade and reformed.

The temple's architecture reflects this brutal ideology. Spiraling towers of acid-etched stone reach toward perpetually storm-darkened skies, their surfaces constantly weeping corrosive condensation. The Grand Hall of Dissolution, where initiates first learn to channel acidic energies, features floors deliberately pitted by generations of practice, each crater and channel telling its own story of mastery achieved through suffering. Of course, anyone even dreaming of stepping into the hall must first be able to survive the valley itself, a feat only few accomplish.

Deep within the temple's lower levels lies the Chamber of Caustic Communion, where the most sacred rites are performed. Here, beneath green-tinged crystals that weep acidic droplets, warriors undergo the Ritual of the Scaled Blade – a ceremony where their weapons are bonded to their essence through prolonged immersion in blessed acidic pools. Many fail this test, their bodies and spirits too weak to withstand the corrosive baptism. Those who survive emerge transformed, their weapons permanently imbued with the power to unmake both flesh and steel.

The temple's hierarchy is as unforgiving as its practices. The Acid-Marked Elders, their bodies covered in ritualistic acid scars that form intricate patterns of devotion, oversee the training of new initiates with merciless precision. Each scar tells a story of mastery, each burn mark a lesson learned. The position of High Dissolver, the temple's supreme authority, can only be claimed by one who has undergone the Rite of Complete Dissolution – a secret ceremony from which few return, and those who do are forever changed. Only three individuals in the temple’s history have been able to claim this honored position. While vacant - as is currently the case - the temple is ruled by a council of elders.

The temple's libraries house countless scrolls detailing the mystical properties of various acids and their spiritual applications, many of them written on specially treated parchment that resists decay. These texts speak of even darker secrets: ancient rites that allow practitioners to transform their blood into pure acid, and forbidden techniques that can reduce entire fortresses to bubbling ruin. Still, these secrets and techniques are of little use to anyone outside of the temple, so the organization has little fear of them ever being stolen.

In recent years, the temple has gained a fearsome reputation among the surrounding territories. Its warriors, instantly recognizable by their acid-scarred bodies and weapons that smoke with caustic energy, are both respected and feared. They serve as living reminders that true power often comes at a terrible price – one that reshapes not just the body, but the very essence of those who seek it.