Saint Paul's Sanctuary (Location)

Type
Locations: Religious: Church.

Locations: Faction Headquarters: Saint Paul's Sanctuary (Faction)

Location
City of London, where the current St. Paul's Cathedral stands in real-life.

Description
At six in the morning, noon, and six at night, the faint and haunting toll of church bells drifts over the city of London from what was once the heart of the city. If you follow the tolling of these bells, whatever perils and dangers may attend you on your journey, you will eventually find a place of rest and aid at St. Paul's Sanctuary, housed in the old pre-war edifice of St. Paul's Cathedral.

Distinctively marked by its impressive dome, topped with a weatherbeaten and tarnished cross-and-ball, this old Baroque church has been put to use by Bishop John Whaler and the Roman Catholic Church in London as the headquarters of the Saint Paul's Sanctuary faction (which takes its name from the building itself). The Sanctuary is a place of neutral hospitality: anyone from across London can seek shelter, medical assistance and a hot meal at St. Paul's—provided they remove any faction insignias at the front door checkpoint. Rule #6 (see below) explicitly forbids political proselytizing, and (depending on who you're talking to and what faction you're a part of) so much as mentioning your faction might get you politely escorted from the church by St. Paul's mysterious head of security, The Frenchman. Other rules include a requirement that long-term residents work to support the sanctuary and the observation of silence after 9:00 PM.

Saint Paul's Sanctuary can boast of the best infirmary, and best-educated doctors, outside of the Gentry walls. This has been a source of serious tension between St. Paul's and the Gentry; although the Gentry have pre-war medical technology, St. Paul's Mother Margaret is a Gentry-trained chemist who left Westminster for the religious life, thus providing anyone who visits St. Paul's Sanctuary access to medical knowledge usually hoarded by the elites. Although Westminster is willing to turn a blind eye to this for now, St. Paul's willingness to share its medical discovers has begun to make it a hub of medical information for non-Gentry physicians—possibly, in the eyes of the Gentry, giving aid and succor to those who would like to move in on their turf.

Poor traveler, have the intrigues and conflict in London weighed down your soul? If you are weary or imperiled, come in and rest for a while; the Sanctuary turns away nobody in need.

Pre-War History
The current St. Paul's Cathedral stands on the land which once supported the Old St Paul's cathedral; following the church's seizure by the Church of England during the English Reformation and the 1666 Great Fire of London, which caused massive damages to the already crumbling church, the old cathedral was torn down and the new Baroque-style church put up in its place, with most construction concluding in 1708-1711. The church made a striking mark on the London skyline and notably survived the Blitz in 1940 and 1941, with minor damages from the bombings, including one which destroyed the high altar and another which managed to shift the dome slightly from the force of the explosion.

During the Great War, many people looked to St. Paul's for aid. When the bombs fell, London was chaos, people running in all directions to try and find somewhere to escape the inevitable holocaust. Many within London ran to find shelter in familiar places but to no avail. London, much like her citizens, was decimated: countless monuments and centuries-old buildings were destroyed and scourged in nuclear hellfire. But much as in the Blitz, St. Paul’s Cathedral survived. The grand edifice was marred by the war, but left mostly intact even as the city around it devolved into madness.

As the Gentry, including the Church of England, consolidated their holdings within the walls, St. Paul's Cathedral was left effectively abandoned until the Roman Catholic Bishop of Middlesborough (and effectively the new de facto bishop of London and broader England) took over the edifice and created Saint Paul's Sanctuary.

Post-War History
Post-war history of the location (if applicable. If not applicable, just put everything under "History")

Layout
St. Paul's is laid out in the traditional cross format, with the high altar in the east and the front doors opening west. The original design of the church has been divided up in-game to serve both spiritual and practical purposes, with wooden or brick barriers separating internal spaces (note for developers: wood for the rest of the barriers is fine, but the armory should be bricked off from the infirmary for security reasons; the only way to reach it is through a guarded door).

Terminology:


 * Nave: center aisle of the church, where parishioners usually sit; the "lower" and "upper" beams of the "cross." For simplicity's sake I've divided into the West Nave (west of the center crossing below the dome) and East Nave (east of the center crossing). In-game the West Nave has been separated off from the chapel and is now used as Hospitality Barracks (see below).
 * Transept: the "side beams" of the "cross." Usually also has extra seating for parishioners.
 * Aisle: exactly what they sound like, aisles are parts of the nave that run to the right and left of the main aisle down the center of the church, and are usually separated only by pillars. They usually have a lower roof than the main aisle.
 * Choir: not found in most modern churches, the choir is a wooden structure in the upper part of the nave, made of tiered benches that run parallel to the walls of the nave. This is where the choir (hence the name) sits during the mass; traditionally the members of the choir would have been monks and nuns, and at St. Paul's Sanctuary they once again are.
 * Chapel: smaller rooms with altars branching off from the nave or transepts. In Saint Paul's Sanctuary, the major chapels on the ground-floor level of the church have been turned into offices/living quarters for important faction figures.
 * Vestry: a small room in which the priests and deacons change into their robes for Mass. St. Paul's Cathedral has several of them, but the only one that's important to the game is the northwest vestry, which has been turned into living quarters for the groundskeepers.
 * Gallery: a hallway/long balcony running along the walls inside the building, about one story up from the main floor, that allows someone (in this case the Saint Paul's Sanctuary Guards) to look down into the rest of the church.

Upper Church

 * Dome (Inaccessible; represented by sign near staircase)
 * Library (Inaccessible; represented by sign near staircase)
 * Gallery (Inaccessible. St. Paul's Guardsmen can sometimes be seen patrolling the gallery)

Main Church (Floor-Level Church)

 * Bell Towers / Lookout Towers (Inaccessible. St. Paul's Guardsmen can be seen in the towers from down below.) These ring out the sound of church-bells at 6:00 AM, 12:00 PM, and 6:00 PM (in-game hours) if you are close enough to the Cathedral to hear them.
 * Front Doors / Checkpoint
 * Hospitality Barracks (West Nave)
 * Chapel (East Nave / Transepts / Below Dome)
 * High Altar
 * Choir
 * Father Dunn's Confessional
 * Bishop Whaler's Office (All Soul's Chapel, i.e. Kitchener Chapel)
 * Office of External Affairs (St. Dunstan's Chapel)
 * Office of Security (Chapel of St. Michael and St. George)
 * Groundkeepers' Quarters (Northwest Vestry, i.e. Lord Mayor's Vestry)

Lower Church (Crypt):

 * Infirmary (South Transept / Center / East Nave)
 * Mother Margaret's Laboratory (North Transept)
 * Armory (West Nave)

Exterior

 * Medicinal gardens

Rules for Living inside the Sanctuary
Bishop Whaler's rules for living at the Sanctuary are pasted on signboards outside the Sanctuary checkpoint entrance and in the Hospitality Barracks:

1. No drinking, gambling, or carousing.

2. Grand Silence begins at 9:00 PM.

3. Silence must be observed during services when within the chapel area.

4. Attendance at services is encouraged.

5. All who are of able body are expected to assist with manual labor during the day.

6. No fighting will be tolerated within the Sanctuary walls, or upon the Sanctuary steps. All faction insignias must be removed upon entry to the Sanctuary. All weapons must be declared and surrendered upon entry to the Sanctuary.

7. Food, shelter, and medical assistance are to be denied to no one.


 * Grand Silence: a practice observed in monastic communities. From 9:00 PM to 6:00 AM, the lights in the Hospitality Barracks and Infirmary are dimmed, and all members of the Sanctuary are to observe silence as much as reasonably possible, with the exception of those working in the Infirmary.
 * Long-term residents are expected to support the Sanctuary's mission if they are able by working in the infirmary or garden. Some long-term residents have jobs outside the Sanctuary and pay room and board in the evenings.

Mass and Divine Office
As the Sanctuary is technically a monastic community, the Daily Office (a schedule of prayers to be repeated every day) is prayed by religious members. Visitors are heavily encouraged to attend:

Prime: Prayers said at 6:00 AM. (Canticle of Zechariah gregorian chant).

Mass: 7:00 AM, every day. (Our Father/Pater Noster gregorian chant.)

Sext: Prayers said at 12:00 PM (noon). (Angelus gregorian chant)

Vespers: Prayers said at 6:00 PM. (Magnificant gregorian chant)

Compline: Prayers said at 9:00 PM. (Canticle of Simeon chant).


 * Note to the other teams: the easiest way to represent this (if possible) might be to set it up such that, if the player visits the East Nave (where the Choir and High Altar are) area during these game-time hours, these chants replace the ordinary soundtrack for St. Paul's Sanctuary. That would imply that prayers and Mass are taking place without having to actually animate anything.