Sarvaran Architecture

Last updated Aug 22, 2024

• Lore
• Sarvara

The architecture of Sarvara refers to the many styles and methods of building structures within the city state, and further settlements and outposts within its cultural sphere.

It was defined by intricate dwellings built in the trees or on the ground, with the main materials being Dhajarh wood, bricks of stone taken from the mountains with bitumen used as mortar, fluvial clay, and Lunuth fabric.

Classical Sarvaran architecture is found in the high-class structures of the Sarvaran golden age, and lived on in the neoclassical architecture of the Empire of the Petrified Child and the Corothic Republic.

Temples were grand constructions in Sarvara, serving as the centrepieces of their respective districts and settlements. They were constructed out of many materials, including stone and wood, and were built on (sometimes artificial) mounds of earth.

The temples were circular or octagonal¹ in shape, with one entrance leading in and out. The perimeter of the temples featured a hallway passing around the structure, which was accented by arched columns, and a plurality of watchstones carved into the walls.

The main area of the temples was paved with stone, with a raised platform in the centre; this is the altar where sacrifices would be performed by priests, rituals would be performed, and sermons would be given to the audience. The audience would collect in the surrounding area, kneeling or prostrating in reverence of the deities.

The temples would also feature areas for ablution, where women could ddraw water from the ground with pumps built into the walls. This is where women would gather in the morning and evening to perform their ritual cleaning.

The main areas of the temples were either open or enclosed. Temples were tiered, with the perimetric hall sloping up toward another wall, with clerestory windows. Open temples would conclude their walls here; however, enclosed temples would have their walls continue into another sloped roof.

Some temples were semi-enclosed, with their rooves replaced by dome-shaped windows, allowing intricate designs to be cast on the ground by the sun. Another form of semi-enclosed temple had smaller, concentric windows in the roof.

Monasteries and barracks were synonymous within Sarvaran culture, with both warriors and priests descending from the same early Morellic caste, the spiritual leaders.

These structures were similar to temples, only without a central area, and would feature kitchens and dormitories. The monasteries also featured many watchstones and small altar rooms, and the barracks would feature closed-eye watchstones, armories, and a large bronze gate through which the soldiers would march out.

Sarvaran plazas often made their place in the centres of settlements or their districts. They were also found more frequently on tree platforms, and often featured benches and sitting areas as well as a large area to stand and walk; they also featured garden plots to augment the urban environment with foliage.

These plazas would serve as communal locations for trade, socialisation, protest, and for heralds to bring news to the people. Around and within these plazas could be found market stands, where goods could be traded for gold.

These market stands were commonly constructed out of wood, with a table, drawer to contain gold, and tiled rooves. They were often basal structures, but some were quite sophisticated, and some settlements even constructed stone market stands to incentivise trade.

Sarvaran Minikin built roads and foundations out of gravel, sand, clay, and stone slabs. Roads featured gutters, through which water would be channeled, and enter irrigation channels, the ground, wells, catacombs, or sewers.

Arboreal pathways were constructed out of clay, which was packed down onto the upside of large treebranches. These would be smoothed over, and had stairs carved into steep areas. These pathways would feature short railings made of carved stone, which would guide the minikin to stay on path; however, they could always realign themselves wth alucinara.

Sarvaran buildings would feature unglazed windows with wooden grilles in place of glass; these grilles would be constructed out of Dhajarh wood, and carved into arabesque, intricate, patterns. Often, buildings would be aligned with the sun as to cast patterned shadows through the windows across the floor.

The rooves of some Sarvaran buildings were sloped and made up of three layers; Lunuth straw, Lunuth fabric, and fluvial clay baked into tiles. The fabric and straw worked as insulation, and tiles allowed rainwater to flow down and over the structure.

Furthermore, the corners of the rooves were notched, serving as gutters to channel water. This water would flow through gargoyles when it reached the rim of the roof, and watchstones would commonly be carved into them.

Due to this, it was uncommon for gargoyles to be carved with their eyes closed, and this was only found around places of systemic inequality where those in power wished to be exempt from the Petrified Child’s law.

Wooden mansions, mainly built as treehouses, are a striking characteristic of Sarvaran architecture. They were commonly built around and tree trunks, specifically of Dhajarh trees, but could also be constructed on the ground.

They followed a polygonal, circular shape, and were constructed out of wood, with unglazed, patterned windows. Houses built on the ground often featured a surrounding pavement that led into the roads of the settlement.

Treehouses were wooden mansions built on the trunks of Dhajarh trees, within or just beneath the canopy. They were supported by large wooden supports jammed into the trunks, and set atop the foundation of wooden planks above these supports.

They would feature a trapdoor or hole by the trunk of the structure, sometimes with rope ladders dangling down, allowing Minikin to fly into the mansions from underneath.

As treehouses were set atop foundations and supports, these platforms often appeared without buildings on top of them. These platforms were used for a variety of purposes, such as communal plazas, lookout spots, and markets.

The Sarvaran Minikin would also build storage shelters out of clay on treebranches. These shelters would commonly contain goods, such as Lunuth grain, fruit, berries, or materials like bronze, gold, diamonds, and alucium.

They took the form of round compartments which dangled from the canopy, but could vary from high to low quality. They were sometimes given hinged wooden doors or fabric curtains.

Higher-caste storage shelters were often carved with ornate patterns, similar to the aforesaid window grilles. They were also fitted with tiered, round bottoms, which tapered off into points, from which would be attached a small ornament or a banner which flew in the wind.

Some structures were huts, which took on many forms. They were generally inhabited by the lower-caste individuals, and were less sophisticated than treehouses or temples. These huts could be built on the ground or in the trees, and were used as living areas, where the inhabitants would live, eat, and sleep.

Within or outside these huts would often be built kitchen areas, with surfaces to prepare food, pantries or cabinets to store it, and stoves where fire could be kindled and channelled out of the top through an opening.

These stoves were small, partially-enclosed spaces, where fire would heat sheets of slate or pots placed above the opening, where food could then be cooked or boiled.

An example is that of treehuts, which were built on ground-level within hollowed-out treetrunks. These huts would be fitted with primitive wooden doors and unsophisticated windows carved into the walls.

They would sometimes be partially sub-terranean, dug further into the ground to maximise space. In these cases, the floor may be slightly underground, or basements might be built-in with a wooden floor implemented at ground level.

Yet another example is mushroom huts. These were made of Giant Morels, a large, domesticated species of Morel that would grow, dry out into robust frames, and hollowed out into dwellings.

These huts would feature up to 3 storeys, with holes cut into the centre of each level, and a rope dangling through the centre to be climbed. They would similarly be fitted with primitive doors, with window-holes cut out of the mushroom’s cap and filled in with circular window grilles.

Some huts were built out of clay, like storage shelters. They were either built on the ground, or as storage shelters, in the canopy. On the ground, they were round, wide, and conical, their walls tapering off into points to allow rainwater to flow off.

In the canopy, they were sometimes indistinguishable to storage shelters. However, they were often larger, padded with straw, wool, and were only used as places in which to sleep.

Toilets and Baths were also an important building in Sarvaran culture. Most minikin would wash themselves and expel waste in nearby rivers, but the higher-caste individuals would do so in specially constructed buildings.

These buildings were similar to wooden mansions, only with stone pools in which to wash one’s self, stations where towels and clothes were kept on shelves, and toilets that led into subterranean sewers.

These sewers would connect the gutters, baths, and toilets within a settlement into an underground system of canals that would divert the flow of rivers to flush waste into the ground or back into river systems. They were built out of stone, as wood would rot.