The sacred places of the earth

 As per Nickorsh_inck's (blog here)challenge where some of the residents of the OSR discord server would hit others with prompts and we'd write a blogpost based on then.

I demanded Kahva (blog here) for a promt to a post and was hit with this:

And thus we get to me finally getting around to writing this post for which I actually did have some ideas for already, but I've now once again had to flex those brain muscle things and either expand on the ideas I already had or make up some new additions.
With that being said, if you're reading this post then here's what I've got:

The sacred nature and church of Varchic

Varchic is the God-giant who lead his people out of a pit in the earth, creating land amidst the endless sea wherever he stepped and bestowing gifts of knowledge to his people so they may inhabit this new world he had led them onto.
It is said that Varchic has laid to rest after a hearty meal and having bestowed his people the means and knowledge to survive and thrive, with a whole mountain range having grown to cover him as he's slept.

The Foundation

The creation myth of the church tells that Varchic now lays sleeping under a range of mountains, and the commonly accepted on resting place for him among church officials is the holy mountain range of Foundation, named after the fact that the father of all land and stability is what these very mountains have formed upon and around. 
Each winter pilgrims make their journey as deep underground into the mountains as they can in order to be closer to the father of all mankind, hoping that that way he might hear their prayers over the howling wind and falling snow covering the mountain range. These pilgrims may spend even weeks underground depending on their devotion to Varchic, or the desire and need to have their prayers be heard.

The Sacred mines and tunnels

As discussed earlier, land is exclusive something bestowed by Varchic and thus considered a symbol of stability and the domain of the followers of Varchic.
For this reason, any mines must not be dug without first receiving the blessing of the church upon it. Long rituals where priests inquire Varchic for a permission to mine deep into the earth are required before any major digsite can be properly established, and it is not unheard of for prospective mining forays to get shut down after such inspection and ritual consultation about the area from priests of the church.

While requiring the blessigns of the church to begins excavations only a handful of mines and tunnels have been proclaimed to be truly holy in nature, but those that have are still to this day near limitless in their yield of whatever resources they had been established to mine for. 
Several of such mines are located along the mountain range of Foundation.

The holy church-capital, Ecclesiarchy of the Pit

Both the capital of faith and it's own church-governed state, the Ecclesiarchy of the Pit is said to have been the first site of worship for Varchic. Established around the pit that this God-giant first crawled out of and eventually grown into both a city and an amalgamation of chapels and cathedrals, it now completely surrounds an endless hole deep into the earth that spans nearly a mile in diameter.
Entry to the pit itself is considered the highest possible offense to the church and several people have been publicly tortured for weeks for such blatant disrespect against the Father who lead us all out of the pit in the first place.

The Pit itself is both revered as the most holy place on this continent save for Varchic himself sleeping under the mountains but also the largest taboo within the church for it represents the origin of where we came from, where our ancestors were lead to this land from and where we must never return lest we go against the will and intent of Varchic himself who clearly had deemed the Pit a place not suitable for him and his kin to continue living in.

Lesser places of holiness

While the Pit and the mountain range of Foundation are the two focal landmarks of worship, there exist several other structures and location that are likewise condisered to be holy by the church and it's followers.

River crossings, particularily bridges, are the most common of these holy sights and those tasked with maintaining them are exempt of taxation. Such bridge keepers are religious men or women, for the act of looking after the bridge is a form of prayer in itself.
Just like Varchic created land to fill the endless sea, his followers erect bridges to cross rivers so they may travel further and spread their civilization.

Natural caves that lead deep underground also hold some small signifigance to the church, seen as an open invitation to examine the work the God-giant Varchic created in order to separate the sea, and thus the Deep from his people and to give them a place to live.
These are not quite of the same significance as man-made digsites and mines and are often believed not to hold many resources as they rather are opporturnities for his followers to admire Varchic's handiworks.
Some smaller sects of the church would argue that such cave formations are indeed to be held in higher esteem than man-made ones and have made small shrines in some better known cave systems, but such believers are but a minor branch within the vast church of Varchic.

Burial sites are also considered sacred ground. The hole dug by funeral laborers that every child of Varchic gets lowered to at the end of their lifespan represents their return to where they have come from.
While the act of trying to descent into the Pit is considered heretical in life, in death the symbolism is that of returning to where one's ancestors once lived and from there being able to climb back to the world of living like the great God-giant Varchic once did as he lead his people to this world.