Carcassonne Central

I'm going through the list of AotC expansion ideas figuring out which ideas are worth pursuing. One of the ideas suggested was an equivalent to the shrines, but it was pointed out that AotC doesn't exactly have a cloister equivalent. Instead of cloisters, you have temples, which are scored differently. A temple is completed when all four sides are connected to other tiles, forming a cross pattern. The player with the most followers on the group of five tiles scores 7 points.

It occurs to me that the logical opposite of this mechanic is to employ the same scoring mechanism, but change the scoring value. Since there is no ownership of temples, there would also be no ownership of high places, so you can't simply award the points to a different player upon completion. I propose that if a High Place is completed before the adjacent Temple, that it imposes a score of negative 6 points against the eventual score of the Temple, so the player with the most followers on the group of five tiles scores only 1 point.

The rationale behind the numbers of course stems from the Bible:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_(number)#In_religion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_(number)#In_religion)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/666_(number) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/666_(number))

It looks like AotC comes with 4 temple tiles, so a High Places expansion would come with 4 high place tiles.

I like this idea, but how would adjacent be defined?  Just within the group of 5 tiles, or would diagonal tiles count as well?

So how would a High Place be scored if it was not placed next to a temple?

I think diagonal tiles could count too, but I'm flexible if anyone is strongly opposed.

If there's no temple nearby, I suppose the player with the most followers nearby would lose 6 points? That feels wrong somehow.

How about if meeples can't be placed on the group of eight tiles surrounding the High Place? That might make it useful to keep other players out of an area?

I  have no idea how denial tactics is supposed to work with AotC, but it may backfire.  How about the player who completes it gets to play someone elses follower onto the high place thus trapping it forever there?  Would that backfire too?