The Seat of Mavros, the god of Might and Warfare, is a powerful site of pilgrimage, tucked deep in the Western Wastelands. It offers great power and gifts to warriors, pilgrims, and supplicants strong enough to survive the War God’s tests of worthiness, including crossing the Wastes themselves.

Human, dust goblin and trollkin guides gladly take coin and other treasures to guide pilgrims through the Wastes. (See last week’s Midgard Monday article for more on the pilgrimage to the Seat!) Many are treacherous and will sell the strong into bondage and sacrifice the weak to appease a Dread Walker,

The Waykeepers are an order of Mavros that guard watch over the paths to the Seat. They are mighty and proven holy warriors, but they do little to ease the journey of the pilgrims, other than simple warnings and guidance—not that true pilgrims accept their help. Surviving the dangers of the pilgrimage are considered the first part of the Three Trials of Mavros.

The Approach

As the warrior-pilgrims approach the wind-shadowed, shallow valley of the Seat, they first see the Fire of Mavros, an intense crucible fire hundreds of feet tall, guiding them towards their final destination.

Entering the valley, travelers pass a sour pond of bitter mineral-laden water from a thermal spring. Across the pond is their second trial: the moral and physical dangers of the tent city surrounding the fortress-temple known as the Seat of Mavros. It is said any kind of vice or fraud can be found here: colorful tents housing ramshackle brothels and gambling dens; muddy pits used for cock, dog, and goblin fights; smoky tents where reputedly any known drug or intoxicant, such as Requiem, can be smoked, swallowed or imbibed for a fee. Booths and stalls sell lucky charms and fingerbones of sword saints of Mavros. Weak-willed pilgrims are lost to this chaotic den of vice.

However, if the pilgrim is strong, pious, and steadfast enough, they can make it through this seething, living morass of vice, violence and temptation to the third and ultimate Trial: the actual Seat of Mavros. Most who have never been there and seen it with their own eyes assume it is just a giant stone chair with a cauldron of fire resting upon the base of the seat. They could not be more wrong.

The Temple

The Seat, in its entirety, is a massive, labyrinthian fortress built of gargantuan black stones found nowhere else in the Western Wastes. It is said that Mavros himself brought the obsidian stones from the depths of the Nine Hells.

The fortress-temple is entered through the Victor’s Gate, a massive double gate made of black iron. It is barred and portcullised when not admitting worshippers. The gates, bars and portcullises are all re-forged from the broken arms and armor of Mavros’ defeated enemies, retrieved from the sacrificial crucible on the Seat itself. The Mavros priests who live in the temple make iron holy symbols and icons of the god from these sacrificial metals, which they sell to help fund their operations.

Supplicants enter the fortress one at a time, into the black maze that fills the courtyard of the temple. The obsidian walls are sheer, and the priests strongly discourage climbing them. Transportation and divination magic are similarly discouraged, as the priests consider that cheating. Mavros prefers his worshippers survive on their wits, cunning and strength of arms.

It is said the dangers and tests found in the labyrinth are unique for each supplicant: their greatest fear materialized; a mighty beast to slay; a duel with a sword master; sometimes just a series of physical traps to evade and escape. It may be a combination of all of these and more. No successful pilgrim ever tells the same story of the interior maze twice. The priests can negotiate the maze quickly, but do not help those struggling within.

The Seat

In the center of the maze is dusty courtyard, surrounded by the glossy black walls of stone. This otherwise empty and unadorned courtyard contains the Seat itself, where the War God is said to have enthroned himself during his sojourn on Midgard, when he sired the first generation of Mavronian sword saints. It is a massive throne carved from the blue-veined granite bedrock of the desert. A few rickety ladders lean against it.

Thousands of inscriptions and holy praises have been carved into the base of the chair over the centuries. Each new pilgrim is expected to carve their own prayer using only their favored weapon. The base is very crowded with prayers already, so most pilgrims must now climb a ladder to reach unmarked stone, or crudely carve over existing prayers, which many have done, giving the base of the seat a rough, crumbled look. Worshippers then take the ladder and use it to reach the fiery crucible that sits on the seat of the throne.

The crucible roars with the eternal Fire of Mavros. If the pilgrim is found worthy by the god, they are unharmed by the intense heat, smoke, and flames. They are then able to take their prepared sacrifice of broken shields and armor, battered swords and spears, even dry bones, claimed from enemies that they have personally defeated, and drop them in as a holy offering to the War God. If the pilgrim and or the sacrifice are found wanting by the god (for example, if the sacrifice was bought in the tent city or not taken off the body of a personally defeated enemy), they instantly burst into flame and die screaming, quickly reduced to ash and smoke, which blows away immediately and joins the poisoned winds of the Wastes.

If the supplicant is found worthy, it is said they, and their arms and armor, are reforged like metal in a smithy’s fire: open wounds gained in battle heal and become runic scars that grant special abilities, such as being able to cast a fire cantrip at will; arms and armor damaged in battle are instantly repaired, and etched with the holy symbol of the War God, allowing them to be used as divine focus.

For those found most worthy, one piece of armor, shield, or weapon may be infused with the power of the god himself, such as the ability to sprout flames on command, or give electrical shocks to enemies. These warriors are revered by the priests and asked to join their holy order.