“Let every transaction honor the Golden Lady.”
The Temple of Waukeen is the oldest of Athkatla’s five factions and the city’s dominant religious institution.
When the settlement at the Wyrmtale’s mouth was still a riverside market, the temple already stood—its priests preaching the sanctity of profit and the divine order of trade. To this day, Waukeen’s worship is inseparable from Athkatla’s identity.
The Temple serves as both spiritual authority and civic foundation. It administers education, medicine, and alms, while enforcing moral and financial discipline. Citizens offer part of their income as tithe, voluntarily or otherwise. The temple’s vast vaults beneath the Goldspire are said to hold the wealth of all Faerûn, secured in silence and gold leaf.
The temple is directed by The Golden Coin, a synod of high priests and administrators.
Though doctrine claims that decisions follow Waukeen’s divine will, interpreted through scripture and economic augury, in practice the council operates as a mercantile board—investing, legislating, and maneuvering through faith. Advancement is as much about calculation as devotion.
The Temple competes with the Guilds for economic authority but depends on them for prosperity.
It cooperates with the Caravaneers for transport, maintains wary distance from the Arcanists, and publicly denounces the Shifting Sands while discreetly employing them when convenience demands.
Waukeen’s clergy call it stewardship. Others call it control.