Cherusalem

Cherusalem is a town on Eldham, located on the eastern coast of Stormgova. It was founded on January 24, 2023 by the Head Sisters of The Sisterhood of Cher. The town was established on land owned by the Simulami Empire. Cherusalem is one of four towns contributing to the territory colloquially designated as "The Cherlands," with the others being Fjallagrunnur, Cheryang, and Sentakeo; the former are referred to as the "East Cherlands" and the latter the "West Cherlands."

Eldham
After a long, treacherous sail over from Rathnir, the Head Sisters found their ships in Eldham's waters. The Sisters traced coastlines around the continent and its islands in search of suitable site to build the next attempt of Cherusalem Monastery. Once a few areas of interest were mapped, Sister Knell was sent to negotiate with the nation leaders who owned the land. Meanwhile, the other Head Sisters gathered resources to stock the ships in the hopes of their fellow Sister returning with good news. Eventually, negotiations were settled with leaders of the Simulami Empire; the agreement was to grant the Sisterhood one of two mountain ranges to build their monastery upon. The area they ultimately decided on laid atop the ruins of abandoned town, formerly known as Oxhal.

Rathnir
An iteration of Cherusalem briefly stood on Rathnir, though only as an unfinished monastery. It was constructed on top of the ruins of a similarly-styled worship site, of which The Sisterhood was drawn to, believing it might have been connected to Themeraean culture. During the construction of the monastery, threats from nearby settlements put pressure on The Sisterhood and made them question the safety of the place. Eventually, The Sisterhood was given the ultimatum of assimilating and serving the nearby larger settlement or facing endless onslaughts. The Sisterhood burned and abandoned their monastery construction as a result. They gathered what materials they could salvage, and fled via the sea to search for a more peaceful land to construct their worship site.

Earlier Iterations
[TBA]

Cherusalem Monastery
The monastery currently consists of 4 structures: the main cluster, a cliffside building, and northern and southern pagodas with connecting wooden bridges. A lush inner courtyard and pool is enveloped by the main cluster buildings.

Pilgrim City
A pilgrim city has been planned to fill the valley and mountain range south of the Cherusalem Monastery.

Architecture
Cherusalem's monasteries are modeled after the ancient Tybitian-style ruins where the lost relics and texts of Cherism were first discovered. Not much is known about the culture or people of Tybitia, and it assumed they are a kingdom and kind lost to time. The revival of Tybitian-style architecture, such as the one in Themeraea---particularly for its sealand monasteries---and later recreations of those examples, served as inspiration for Cherusalem's holy site. Sister Opera's knowledge, having previously resided in a Cherist monastery inspired by the revival, provided the Sisterhood with the blueprints they needed to construct the monastery in modern day.