The Edelmoed Temple (Shallya)

“The Edelmoed? Oh, that’s the temple to Shallya on Potion Square, you mean. Named after a character from some old story, I think.”

“It’s run by a Brother and Sister - at least, I think they’re brother and sister, as well as just by title, if you see what I mean. Good people, or so I hear. But then again, you can probably say that about all of Shallya’s folk! There’s an orphanage across the way, as well – I think that’s something to do with the temple.”

“They’ve got a hostel or flophouse or something built on, but they’re very discreet about it. There were some worries that they’d bring drunks and tramps and who knows what else in from all over. After all, if they’d wanted to do that sort of thing they really should have built the temple on Riddra, not Luydenhoek. But they’ve been very good about it.”

“They’re a very pleasant couple - if couple’s the right word. I think they’re relatives rather than being married. A bit much sometimes, but then most priests can get that way. Mind you, they abide by their own sermons - one or other of them’s always out among the Channel Rats, doing whatever it is they
do for them.”

This small temple to Shallya stands on the north side of Potion Square. It is a plain but well-maintained structure, and like most temples and shrines of Shallya, it includes a small hospice and
shelter for the sick and homeless. Rasmus Edelmoed is a legendary figure. Opinions differ as to whether he was a trader captain or a privateer, but all the versions of his life agree that he was an exceptionally courageous sailor. However, it is his death that is truly notable.

Shipwrecked in the Sea of Claws, he spent three weeks adrift on a raft with a fellow-survivor – a wealthy Marienburg trader. When it became clear that there was only enough food for one of them, Edelmoed, inspired by a vision, gallantly threw himself overboard so that his companion might live.

Edelmoed’s companion was eventually picked up by another Marienburg ship. On his return to the city, he founded the Edelmoed Temple and entered the cult of Shallya. His experiences had left him a changed man: owing his life to an act of selflessness, he tried to spend the rest of it selflessly helping others. Such was his devotion to this ideal that his name is recorded nowhere in the temple’s annals.