Church of the Dead - Still Image (Patreon)

Another original location from my world, and one of the defining parts of the culture is the Church of the Dead. When the new folk landed on the shore of this old and abandoned land they quickly found several things. The first was the ancient and strange architectures left behind by the Elder folk who disappeared, and the second was that the dead change. To combat this, a guild was quickly developed to 'process' a body after it has died, and they used knowledge left behind by the Elder folk to stop the 'Death Change' that would happen otherwise.  And after 10 generations this guild has formed into the major church of the land. Protecting the secrets gained in its original days, the church and its priests (featured in my Grim Borderlands Town image) wield great power, and they, along with the royal guard, posses a vast majority of the magic items left behind by the Elder Folk. 

This building is one of the many creations left behind by the Elder Folk but now claimed by the Church of the Dead, and many current scholars debate over the meaning of the scenes depicted in its facade.

In reality this location is based off the amazing and unique Sagrada Familia church designed by Antoni Gaudi in Barcelona. I have been a fan of his architecture ever since visiting Barcelona and his style of work is my main influence for the style of architecture of the Elder Folk. You should definitely check it out if you haven't seen images of it before.

Again, I'm really enjoying exploring this world, and I hope to start playing an adventure based in it. So let me know if this inspires anything for you all and what you think of the location. I'm looking forward to doing more by I think the next few will be back to published adventures, I've still got more Curse of Strahd on my list of course!

And as always, check out the animated version preview on my Instagram