project

project: description of the Templum of Lamentation.

Two massive parallel rows of hollow steel trees are placed into the ground. Their root systems are all interlinking, and also form the plumbing for the ice-shell system that forms the external shell of the Templum of Lamentation. There is an enormous submerged reservoir which supplies the water, and which is also used in many standard Lamentory rites associated with the deeper levels of the cult.

The refridgeration engines inside the black steel tree columns are powerful. Through careful engineering, the trees are able to emit an icy cavern like structure of water which is only slightly chemically altered, though in no way toxic. This 'durable, structural ice' is made to made to perform much like any sheer or load bearing wall while remaining visually much less uniform.

The pews are extruded forms of colloidal black gelatin carbon; essentially, some partially burned detritus suspended inside an engineered gel medium. There are also inflatable black 'mourning horns' connected to a complicated venturi / acoustic breathing apparatchik which uses the dynamism of thermal polarities to create a continuum of air change modulus which is a necessary fuel for the construction of the Rites of Lamentation.

The Rites of Lamentation involve bringing totemic offerings before the enormous weeping mask fountain complex which forms one part of the Altar of Lamentation. One specific offering is the "heavy forlorn body of the dolphin" which is polished brass, and which, though stiff and metallic gives the feeling of a limp and lifeless form. Inside the dolphin are years of donated tears by thousands of cult members. There is also a special breed of bacteria which is cultivated inside, the species is called the Lacrimae lamentomoria. It is also harvested and sold primarily as a biosurfactant in special industrial applications involving synthetic gemstone production. A procession of shivering naked acolytes smeared in coal ash carries the heavy dolphin to its 'navel of silence'.. a special resonating omphalos of 'loss'.. This world navel site of suffering is a big pilgrimage draw, and is actually a sort of deep cavern complex whose entrance is the 'navel of silence' altar doorway assembly. A full plan of the templum complex is available at the visitor's center.