Mitali asked Lois McMaster Bujold:

I just reread The Curse of Chalion (for the 4th time!). I noticed that in Curse, the temples are said to be four-lobed, with the Bastard's altar housed in a separate tower, whereas in the Pen & Des books, the temples are five sided. Is this a difference because of the different time periods of these books? Or is it an Ibran-only fashion? Possibly because of the Roknari (Quadrene) influence on the Ibran peninsula?

Lois McMaster Bujold
Though the 5 gods (or 4 gods and a demon-god) are real and universal, the religion is not a universal church, like medieval Catholicism (wanted to be); no pope-equivalent. Each country or realm or region has its own temple administration, practices, and history. And local temple architecture.

For the Ibran peninsula specifically, the 4-lobed-or-walled temple plus tower is an historical artifact of the religious-flavored wars washing repeatedly back and forth over the landscape. It's easier and cheaper to deconsecrate and reconsecrate a freestanding tower than to repeatedly tear down and rebuild a whole building every time the rulers change over.

5-sided buildings are also an artifact of building smaller structures in lighter timber. Heavier, larger stone and concrete needs the balance of matching sides to share the higher loads, or so my dim understanding of such building processes go. (Which gives me another chance to plug the excellent Great Course taught by Stephen Ressler, Understanding Greek and Roman Technology, to be found on the Great Courses Plus streaming site and elsewhere -- I believe Amazon Prime carries some of their titles.)

Ta, L.

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