Temple of Ubtao

The Temple of Ubtao, also known as the Maze of Life, was the very center of the hidden Tabaxi city of Mezro in Chult.

"There is no exaggeration in the bold claim that Ubtao founded Mezro. The great god of the Tabaxi built the core of the city himself, the temple and amphitheater rising first from the chaos of the jungle."

- An excerpt from The Eternal Life of Mezro

Location
The center of Mezro was a round cobblestone plaza with the magnificent Temple of Ubtao standing in the very middle with four avenues stretching from the center to the city's rim, separating it into quarters: Agricultural, Residential, Market, and Scholars' Quarters.

Structure
The temple was an intricately constructed building of nine stories rising above the ground. Many flying buttresses accentuated the temple's architecture. The temple had rows of large windows of stained glass and a glistening golden dome crowing the structure. The Temple of Ubtao was the tallest t structure in Mezro.

The magical walls of the temple had a disorienting effect on outsiders. Whatever part of the city they were looking at the temple, it always appeared to have only one wall and looked exactly the same from any angle. These magical walls were constructed using triangular crystal bricks dovetailing together into one smooth surface with one lonely door leading inside. Upon closer examination, the crystals of the wall appeared fragile and delicate as the finest Sembian lace.

The enchantments of the temple's wall could enthrall onlookers. If affected by the images in the crystals, the viewed could stand entranced staring at the walls until forced to look away. The images that were created on the wall reflected the onlooker's deepest desires.

Due to the divine origin of the temple, any person or thing within its walls was shielded from scrying.

Interior
Past the lone Temple door laid the Hall of Champions, a long hallway decorated with glossy black stone statues and pillars on both sides. The statues depicted deceased barae of Mezro, the paladins of Ubtao, and guardians of the city. The statues included the original seven barae who died and having only empty pedestals for those still living. Some of the statues included a woman dancing while engulfed in flames, a boy surrounded by raptors, flying in the clouds, an old man with an anvil and a hammer, a thin woman racing a jaguar. In 1362 DR, one of the statues missing was that of Ras Nsi. The enchantments placed on the hall allowed anyone who said the bara's name out loud to be teleported within one mile of Nsi. There were no sources of light within the Hall of Champions, but the yellowish-brown wooden parts of the temple's structure emanated inner glow that gently lit the dim room. The black walls were constructed out of inlaid panels that were carved with images of people within a labyrinth of vines and plants, with dinosaurs, pools of water, and fountains greeting them in various maze bends.

The Hall of Champions ended in a black archway, a magical gate that allowed passage into one of the countless rooms Ubtao built for his worshipers. Reaching the rooms via the portal was easy. One just needed to think of the destination. If a person passing through the gate had no destination in mind, they were transported into a random room within the temple, such as libraries, kitchens, bedchambers, storages, the meditation hall, healer's apothecary, or the King's audience chamber.

The audience chamber of King Osaw I, who's ruled Mezro for over fifteen hundred years in 1362 DR, was a spacious triangular hall with walls of stained glass that had sun pouring through during any time of the day. The enchanted mosaic depicting Mezro and its every inhabitant in real-time was the chamber's floor. The throne stood in the center of the triangular chamber.

The only room within the Temple of Ubtao was the barado. The archway in the Hall of Champions never randomly led to that part of the structure. The barado was the dark audience hall for communing with Ubtao directly and was never used unless a new bara was to take the god's test. The barado was a seemingly small room with a small magical circle of light dimly illuminating the area. The walls and the casing were of the same glossy black stone, and the air in the barado was humid and stale.

Services
The temple offered many services to citizens and travelers and was open to them all day and night. The clerics provided guests with healing in exchange for a donation to the temple. Servants and bara of Ubtao were healed for free. Travelers were never allowed to sleep in the temple, especially without the King's permission, and were always removed from its grounds.

Members of Sseth, Thard Harr, and Ubtao clergy were allowed to worship in the Temple of Ubtao. The temple held no organized services or ceremonies, apart from selecting the next bara.

All dead of Mezro were interred in the Temple of Ubtao.

History
The Temple of Ubtao, along with the city of Mezro, was created in -2637 DR by the deity himself. Over the centuries, the temple survived wars, goblin attacks, dinosaurs, and many other threats.

In 1362 DR, the temple's barado became a secure hiding spot for the evil and deadly artifact known as the Ring of Winter. The ring was briefly used by Ras T'fima in an attempt to rescue Negus Kwalu and Theron Silvermace from a tribe of ravenous Batiri goblins. Attempting to summon a centralized blizzard, T'fima froze the jungles for miles around and made it pelt the area with snow for three days. Scared of the ring's power, he deposited it in the only place that was inaccessible to almost everyone - the barado.

The same year, rumors of the bizarre jungle blizzard brought two parties to Chult in search of the ring. Artus Cimber, an adventurer and a Harper, and his nemesis, Kaverin Ebonhand, the Butcher of Tantras. In his quest, Kaverin allied with the Batiri queen M'bobo and with her allied clans of Chultan goblins, aided by pterafolk, they laid siege to Mezro. During the open deadly conflict, the Temple of Ubtao served as shelter and hospital for hurt defenders and civilians of the hidden city. Artus found out of the ring being hidden in the barado and was adamant about risking his life trying to wrestle the artifact from the god himself. Artus avoided being taken to the afterlife for violating the temple. He directly interacted with many avatars of Ubtao and passed the bara test. Artus was to draw the maze of his life. He drew his past and came to the epiphany that he can't make an error drawing the future; anything he were to draw would be correct. Artus received the ability to control the Ring of Winter's evil powers, becoming the guardian of the city.

With the artifact's power, the tide of battle was turned in favor of Mezro, and the city survived another strife. Weeks later, when the city was rebuilt, Mezro held the first official barae ceremony in a very long time. A young girl named Fipya was granted the power to control pants and set to restore the city's waining food storages.

In the late 15 century DR, Temple of Ubtao, along with the rest of Mezro, was thought to have been destroyed in the Spellplague of 1385 DR–1395 DR. In truth, the city avoided the hellish cataclysm with the powers of the city's barae. They were guided by Ubtao and moved the entire city to a paradise demiplane. The only person to know of that was Artus Cimber, who was left behind after the city's "destruction."

Appearances

 * Novels
 * The Ring of Winter