| Temple | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Races | All except Klackons | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Construction Cost |
 200 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Upkeep Cost |
 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Sells for |
66 | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Reduces Unrest in this town by 1 and increases Power output by  +2. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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The Temple is a type of Town Building. The Temple may be built by any race except the Klackons. A town must already contain a Shrine in order to construct a Temple. The Temple's base construction cost is 200.
The Temple itself provides two important bonuses simply by existing in a town. Its most important benefit is reduction of Unrest by 1 point, meaning that the town will have one fewer Rebel than it would without the Temple. Furthermore, the Temple produces 2 points of Power, fed directly to the town's controlling wizard. This Power can be invested in any way the wizard sees fit. Both bonuses are cumulative with those given by the Shrine.
Also, for the majority of races, the Temple can unlock two additional structures for construction: the Parthenon (a further step down the Religious development branch) and/or the Animists' Guild (which has many beneficial effects).
The Temple requires an Upkeep Cost of 2 per turn for its maintenance. If you're pressed for Gold, a Temple can be sold back for 66.
Description[]
Religious worship in a town is at first the sole domain of the town's local shamans or priests, for whom a Shrine is constructed so that they can make offerings to the gods. Only a scant few common worshipers may be allowed to enter, thus excluding the populace from the religious rites themselves. The Temple, being a much large structure, is therefore designed to provide space for many commoners to join in the religious services, raising the participation level in ceremonies. By increasing the number of people involved in religion, the gods will favor the town more, and religious practice can be studied and improved.
The in-game representation of the Temple is modeled after the Dome of the Rock - a large Muslim mosque in Jerusalem - with a few differences. It is a large square building, tall and imposing, capped with a shiny golden dome that can be seen many miles away. The eaves of the building are elaborately painted with intricate designs in rare blue paints, as well as passages from the holy scriptures.
Races and Construction[]
All Races in the game except the Klackons have access to the Temple - as common folk have a basic desire to take part in ceremonies and show their own devotion to the gods. The Klackons, being a caste-based civilization, leave the task of appeasing the gods to their priests alone.
A town requires the Shrine before it can build a Temple, as the Shrine provides the framework for divine worship and a place to train the priests in the various rituals. If the Shrine is missing, the Temple cannot be built. In fact, if the Shrine is lost or sold off while the Temple is still in construction, the project will be canceled prematurely and cannot be restarted until these required buildings are rebuilt.
Construction of a Temple costs 200. Due to the Unrest-reducing effect, a Temple will eventually become necessary in any town that grows large enough to have Rebels. Its bonuses make it almost essential in each and every town, despite its relatively-high construction costs.
Continuous Effects[]
The presence of a Temple in a town has two separate effects, both of which are quite useful. They include reduction of Unrest in the town and extra Power production for the town's owner. Furthermore the Temple's in-game tooltip says that it enables use of the Nightshade plant, but this is already achieved with the Shrine - a prerequisite for the Temple.
Reducing Unrest[]
First and foremost, the Temple will lower the town's Unrest by exactly 1 point. In other words, if the town has any Rebels (due to high Taxation, subservience to another race, or other reasons) the Temple will turn 1 Rebel back into a normal, productive citizen. Since almost any town will eventually get its share of Rebels as it grows, a Temple is almost indispensable.
This bonus is cumulative with the Unrest reduction given by the Shrine. Therefore, a town containing both the Shrine and Temple will have 2 fewer Rebels than it would without these two structures.
Power Output Bonus[]
The Temple produces 2 points of Power. This is added directly to the town's owner's Power rating. That wizard may distribute this extra point of Power just as he would distribute Power originating from any other source, such as the Fortress, Nodes, and so forth.
Depending on the distribution, this can increase Mana production by 
+2 per turn, increase Research by 
+2 per turn, or hasten the improvement of the wizard's Spell Skill (or any combination thereof). Therefore, the more Temples there are within an empire, the better its master's magical prowess will be.
This bonus is also cumulative with the Power bonus from the Shrine. With both structures in the same town, the town's Power output is +3 higher than without them.
Unlocked Town Buildings[]
For all Races except the Gnolls, High Elves, Lizardmen and Dwarves, construction of a Temple immediately unlocks the Parthenon. This structure has the same continuous effects as a Temple - increasing Power output and reducing Unrest - except they are even more pronounced.
For the majority of races, the Temple is also one of the components required for construction of the Animists' Guild. The inclusion of common worshippers in religious ceremonies gives rise to new ideas on worship. Combined with better understanding of animals and nature as acquired from the Stables (the other required component) then gives rise to animistic religions (devotion to deities of the natural world).
Unlocked Normal Units[]
The Temple unlocks no new Normal Units for construction. However, for many races, further construction down the religious branch - either towards the Parthenon or the Animists' Guild - will eventually unlock strong magical units.
Strategy[]
For a city that has no Unrest, a Temple is of very marginal benefit -- the net effect is -2, 2, which is a rather poor return for 200. For a city that does have Unrest, it will allow converting one Rebel to a Worker. At the initial game state of Tax Rate 1 and no Commerce or Industry buildings, this means the net benefit is instead -1, 2, 2, a much better net return, and a more developed city or a wizard with a higher tax rate will benefit even more; for a fully developed Dwarf city at a tax rate of 2.0 the net benefit would be 4, 6, 2. It may not be worth building a Temple in a city that lacks more basic industry, but most of the time it is worth the cost.
A Temple interacts well with Divine Power and Infernal Power; since you cannot have a Temple without first having a Shrine, the net effect is an additional -1 Unrest, +1. A Temple also interacts with Dark Rituals, but a net of 3 ( 4 with Infernal Power) may not be worth the unrest and population growth penalties of Infernal Power.
Unit-production centers may wish to acquire a Temple in order to unlock the Animists' Guild - which then unlocks one or more powerful units. Note of course that Animists' Guilds are very powerful structures in their own right.
Furthermore, the Temple's bonus to the wizard's Power should never be overlooked. Any wizard who is not completely reliant on "mundane" assets will likely benefit from increased Power, and therefore will strive to build as many Temples (and other religious buildings, if available) as possible.