The Grand Temple City is a city-state and an independent theocracy located clockwise to the Imperial Palace in the remaining “star” of the Crest formed in the Delphia city plan. Unlike the rest of Synthetica, which is a secular theocracy with Syntheticism as the official religion of the state but freedom of religion explicitly guaranteed by Imperial Decree, the Grand Temple City is a theocracy in its purest form. Syntheticism is the state religion, and the only faith permitted to be expressed within the city’s walls. Heresy and apostasy are crimes within the walls of the Grand Temple City, punishable by either exile or by confinement and re-education.
The Grand Temple City has three main landmarks:
- The Plaza of the Black Obelisk
- The Grand Avenue
- The Grand Temple of Syntheticism
The Plaza of the Black Obelisk
Between the loop around the Temple City and the main city gates, the Plaza of the Black Obelisk is the only section of the Grand Temple City that is accessible to the general public. However, this is the only section of the city that is this openly accessible.
In the center of this plaza stands an obelisk of black latex. Those who place their hand upon its surface are gifted with a full-body conversion to living latex. Their body’s natural colors are preserved, but fur and feathers are flattened down to smooth, glossy skin. Distinguishing features such as hair, crests, and manes, may be preserved. Those gifted with such a conversion who then touch its surface again may have it reverted if they so choose.
Surrounding the obelisk on three sides are three fountains, again filled with black latex. Those who swim in the synthetic waters of these fountains will climb out of them fully coated in a skin-tight, bonded suit of latex that, again, preserves their natural colors. This suit may be removed and kept, but only after it has been worn for 24 hours at minimum, during which time it cannot be removed by any means.
The Grand Avenue
The main city gates, guarded by a pair of devout dragon drones of the faith, marks the entrance to the Grand Avenue, as well as the main entrance to the Grand Temple City. Only those made of latex, or covered in latex from the neck down, are permitted to pass through this gate to enter the rest of the Grand Temple City. It is by Divine Commandment that the only skin or skin-like bodily covering permitted to be seen in public be latex. All clothing of any materials other than latex is banned outright, with punishment being compulsory stripping and forfeiture of such forbidden articles and the public nudity that it entails.
Those of non-synthetic faith are permitted to enter and explore the Grand Avenue, a concession that Calyo herself had to insist upon at the behest of her most fundamentalist Children in order to keep the Grand Temple accessible to all who desire to explore it, and to perchance invite new converts to the faith. However, any parts of the city beyond the Grand Avenue are entirely off-limits to non-Synthetics.
The Grand Avenue is lined with shops, restaurants, and small hotels, the city-state begrudgingly relying heavily upon this tourism as a primary source of economic revenue. Fortunately, most of the Synthetics that run these bordering businesses are those of more liberal faith, as those who are more stringently fundamentalist tend to shun the unfaithful who pass through this buffer zone.
The Grand Temple of Syntheticism
The Grand Temple of Syntheticism is the most central temple of the religion. It is what marks Delphia, Synthetica, as the Mecca of the faith. With services predominantly attended by only the most faithful of Synthetics, the Temple is regularly closed to tourism in order to host these services. Though not a requirement of faith, it is a commonly-held belief amongst Synthetics that one should go on pilgrimmage to Delphia, Synthetica, to visit the Grand Temple in the heart of the Temple City at least once in their life.
Unlike Islam in the real-life Earth, this does not equate to tremendous crowds of adherents in the Grand Temple City, as Syntheticism has an exceptionally small global diaspora, with most adherents of the faith living within Delphia or Greater Delphia, itself, and many more living throughout Synthetica as a whole. Thus, “pilgrimmage” merely amounts to, at most, taking the train to the capital to visit whenever it is convenient.
The Grand Temple itself is, thus far, the largest temple of Syntheticism and the only one that could be considered akin to a cathedral in both scale and design, with most temples being of more modest build and design. This is to accommodate masses of several thousand adherents of the faith at once.