Sandon Hill Monastery

Sandon Hill Monastery was built on Sandon Hill, a raised area near the town of Sandon located between Husl and Gwennport. It is a Sabenius Order monastery focused on hard work, submitting to God and included a lot of rules (Godly Dictums) within the Church of Rahn lead by Abbot Hintru Oktax.

The Monastery

The Sandon Hill is one large hill near a handful of others located close to the coast line, but surrounded by several very old copses of trees, creating a mellow and sheltered area, with good overview of the surrounding area from the monastery tower.

Gardens inside the monastery and a couple of nearby fields supply the monastery with its nutritional needs, making it self-sufficient. The monks also trade with the local population and the proceeds are turned back into monastic activities as well as paying for some fairly local orphanages and almshouses.

Brothers or Elders from the monastery would on occasion lead sermons in the local churches relating to work, work ethic or the joys of manual labour.

Monastery life

Very similar to life in other Sabenius monasteries, but a portion of work as well as prayers are dedicated to the self.

Inhabitants

The monastery is currently inhabited by its Abbot, Hintru Oktax from the Southlands, 4 Elders, 53 Brothers and 9 Acolytes. There are currently 8 orphans being taken care of by this enclave of the order and 13 adult guests. In addition there are 2 guards living in the monastery, for protection. These are part of the Hand of Rahn, the military arm of the church.

Philosophy

The monastery generally follows the Sabenius Order's Godly Dictums, but Hintru Oktax originally comes from a slightly different school of thought from his home culture and the Sandon Hill Monastery focuses a little bit more on personal development and introspective thought than pure labour.

Defensive capability

The monastery is surrounded by a 2.5 metre tall stone wall that makes the cloister and has a guard house near the main gate. Should there be a raid on the monastery, the monks and inhabitants of the monastery will barricade themselves into the tower while one or more of the guards give them enough time to do so. One guard generally stay with the monks.

All of the really valuable items of the monastery are kept in the vault of the tower and it is the most fortified of the buildings within the cloister.

In addition to valuables, the tower also has stores of food as well as wood and oil and a small cache of bows and arrows to defend its inhabitants and contents until reinforcements arrive. Carrier pigeons are placed at the top of the tower and are released in the case of danger. In addition, there is usually one monk visiting Sandon every day, and the town is asked to report any inconsistencies to more central branches of the Church. As such, it's unlikely any barricaded monks need to hold out for more than a couple of days before reinforcements arrive.