Teiruun Monastery¶
Teiruun Monastery (pronounced "tay-roon") is a large temple complex at the northeastern edge of the Black Jungle region, perched atop the mountain range and overlooking the eastern ocean. The structure is filled with hostile monks and fanatical former Virtuo followers, who were attempting to re-create Virmari through their own alchemical means after the Goddess' departure.
Teiruun is a very significant dungeon, housing the Pure Corruption legendary helmet and several very important lore books, among other features.
Location
Approximate Coordinates: 5649, 105, 2908
Entering the monastery for the first time grants the "Monastery of Virtuo" advancement.
Mobs¶
Teiruun is full of "Teiruun Prior" enemies, custom Drowned mobs wearing blue and purple leather armor.
Layout¶
While mostly situated in the Black Jungle region, Teiruun is most easily discovered and accessed from the north, towards the Spearhead Forest region. A white diorite dock extends from the monastery down to the ocean on this northern face, culminating in a blue concrete door which can be opened by pressing the button to the lower right.
This opens into a room with a flooded, complex floor pattern. There are several directions to go from here, which lead to various interconnected rooms throughout the temple. Navigating Teiruun can be somewhat difficult, so this article will focus mostly on a more direct guide to completing the area.
Library Room¶
Partially up a spiral diorite staircase (at y=202) is a library room, containing several notable lore books. This includes the History of Teiruun book on a lectern at the front of the room, telling the story of the monastery. In a sectioned-off area of the upper balcony, another lectern holds the Dusty Tome book, an extremely significant work written by Akim, the second alchemist known to have completed the Great Work.
Reaching the Top¶
From the starting room, continue straight, then take a left and climb up the spiral staircase. Exit along the corner, halfway up the stairs and head to the west. Continue all the way past the gardens and head to the top of the spiral birch wood stairs. Exit along the diorite wall-lined path and follow this trail until coming to a tower with alternating back-and-forth quartz stairs. This will lead to a circular platform, where the Abbot Balthysar miniboss will spawn on your approach.
Abbot Balthysar, a blue-skinned near-Virmari, appears wielding full diamond armor and an iron sword. When killed, he drops the Letter of Thanks book. This book suggests that Teiruun's monks succeeded at re-creating the process of ascending to Virmari, and states that their goal was completed "beneath the altar of the caged chapel deep within [the] mountain", hinting at where the player must go to find the fruits of their labor.
Caged Chapel¶
The "caged chapel" referred to in the Letter of Thanks is an altar behind iron bars, two floors up from the starting room, at (5598, 187, 2975). The signs here read "May she grant us resilient hearts".
Digging beneath this reveals a hidden staircase, which leads downward to a ring of small rooms. Experiments took place in these hidden rooms, attempting to forcibly convert Drehmari into Virmari without any direct action from Virtuo. The experiments used include extreme sensory deprivation and other means of corrupting the souls and bodies of subjects, forcing them to ascend. A side room locked off by an iron door is home to Immortal Monk Shi'en, a husk enemy who is truly invulnerable.
A room in the center of the ring holds the Pure Corruption legendary helmet.
Lore¶
Teiruun Monastery was founded sometime shortly after the end of the Deity War in Av2 1000, by a group of Drehmari led by Virmari settlers. It apparently operated for many centuries as a normal monastery to Virtuo, attracting visitors from around the realm, particularly the neighboring regions of the Black Jungle and Spearhead Forest.
The monastery developed into a place known for meditation and wellness, with its monks eventually turning to what they perceived as the most extreme form of self-control and mental toughness: self-mummification. The few who succeeded in this task are still found memorialized around the monastery today, encased in glass or ice and labeled with signs that give their official titles, earned in death.
After the departure of Virtuo, ending the Third Avihm, the monks at Teiruun grew emboldened by their newfound lack of oversight. Previously, Virmari could only be created with the explicit blessing of the goddess Virtuo herself, being her specific ascended form of Drehmari. However, the monks at Teiruun grew obsessed with finding a different path to ascension, trying to create Virmari without the Goddess through alchemical means. This resulted in decades of cruel experiments, including on pilgrims who came to the monastery in search of healing. Eventually, they believed themselves successful, with Abbot Balthysar apparently being the closest to a true Virmari that anyone had created in almost 100 years.
The monastery also very prominently holds the only known writing of Akim, stated by multiple sources to be the second known finisher of the Great Work. Referred to as the "Lord of Dust", Akim's exact actions are not clear at all, but his writing, Dusty Tome, clearly references the secret Sixth Sphere, and therefore potentially the Ambition. The fact that his book is found here does not necessarily mean that Akim himself lived here, but at the very least, it shows that the monks of Teiruun likely tried to follow his teachings.
Extras¶
Trivia¶
Teiruun Monastery was built by developers DomeMaster and Yllusive in December 2020 (1), following their Emperor's Estate build implemented in version 2.1. Following this build, these two were formally invited to join the dev team, beginning the significant increase of the team's size for the 2.2 dev cycle.