Imperial Palace

Image taken from here.

The Imperial Palace rises up the heavens as if to challenge them. At dawn and dusk, its shadow extends far beyond the capital's walls. A monumental tower a hundred and sixty meters tall and entirely covered in white marble, fifteen years and tens of thousands of workers were necessary to build it. Nothing was imported, all the materials used came from the empire.The Imperial Palace and its physical integrity are a symbol of the power, resources and longevity of the Union of Imperial Duchies, therefore, not a single crack was admitted on its construction. For defense, every floor has between four and eight cannons. Bartizans with rifled swivel guns in the uneven floors are used against aerial threats. The magical defenses include counter-scrying extended to the whole palace, except in a single floor. Besides, there are two seers dedicated to foresee threats which specifically target the tower. The bricks used on its construction were manufactured and individually blessed by priests of Ourgos so that they were highly resistant, also blocking the entrance of spirits and intangible creatures. War wizards used many alchemical and magical effects to test the defenses on each floor. The public archives register that in a certain moment, a meteor was invoked to hit the palace. Upon colliding, it broke in pieces, but the walls remained. Adventurers were hired to infiltrate the tower, but none went as far as the 17º floor.

The palace was built on top of a hill covered with twelve levels of octagonal terraces. The uppermost terrace houses the headquarters of the Guardians of the Boreal Crown Order, the emperor's personal guard. Their jurisdiction is the whole palace and the hill, up to the marks in the octagonal corners: the arcades of Cippis, the Fair. Only they may carry weapons and ride animals in this area. The elevated podiums spread throughout the terraces may be used by any citizen for speeches, lessons, meetings, picnics and other social activities.

The floors are as follows:

The underground has catacombs and exhausted mines older than the empire, from the time that the city was a city-state among many. Nowadays, it has dungeons for important prisoners, such as the leaders of the Terra Preta Duchy Rebellion, tombs of old emperors and senators. It also has a well and exclusive cisterns. The headquarters of the Sicarcani is here, from where the Spymaster Clovis commands them. 

1° floor: hall of public announcements and ceremonies. The northern wall has a relief composed by a mosaic combining colorful porcelain, several granites, shells and amethysts, forming the empire's map. The lineage of the mistress Aglade Tiennelle, creator of the mosaic, is in charge of keeping the map up to date. This is the only area open to the public and, when the emperor goes to his private chambers, the Boreal Crown is shown in a dome of sapglass. However, it is said that it is only a copy. The ground floor is surrounded by thirteen adamantine pilasters housing altars, each one dedicated to a specific pantheon's god and shining in the deity's respective month. Between the pilasters, flying buttresses sustain the bells which ring the end of a month and the beginning of another.

2º to 15º: the senate's hall and the senator's apartments. High panes of glass ensures the hall is illuminated by Diveus' light. Despite being a place where even dukes show a certain humility, the senators are surprinsigly open to talk with the rabble, showing looks which calculate the strengths and weaknesses of every individual. The lives of millions are decided in discussions that might show immaculate rhetoric as well as gross profanities.

16º: arsenal. Here lies an excellent inventory of weapons and armor of every type, from slings to cannonballs, from daggers to bardiches, from gambesons to full plates; It is said that the equipment includes even mechanical arms and armor from Scarnost.

17º: The public archives don't say what is here. Although one may count all the floors from the outside, the stairs and elevators (moved by windmills at the top of the palace) go from the 16º straight to the 18º. Whoever passes through here, feels an unpleasant angst which no one wishes to feel again.

18º: here lie the magic mirrors with which the emperor and the senators keep instant communication with the duchies. About two hundred mirrors, each two meters tall and one meter wide, show faraway landscapes, almost like windows or portals. Through them, bureaucrats and nobles separated by thousands of kilometers exchange information and keep the empire united.

19º e 20º: imperial war treasury. Whoever enters here faces four golems in perpetual guard. Behind them, lies an iron gate which asks for the password to whoever approaches, punishing invaders with deafening screeches and flames. The treasury consists of war spoils, like magical panoplies, and is used to finance military campaigns. When necessary, clerks of unmatched loyalty remove some items, auctioning them in the first floor to nobles and sanctioned companies.

21º: the whole floor is a great circular hall for formal meetings and feasts. A kitchen at the center uses ingredients from the whole empire and beyond to delight the noses and tastes of the guests, serving wonders such as megatherium ribs tempered with fey pepper and arrow-kiss tongues with mint. They also always prepare the emperor's favorite dish, potato with fried onions.

22º ao 26º:administrative and bureaucratic areas, as well as the most secret imperial registers: censuses, prophecies, banished biographies and people whose names were erased from imperial history. The smell of old paper permeates the floors. Due to the amount of files, any fire would be catastrophic. To avoid this, these floors used giant pirilampos as a light source.

27º: the ministerial offices; Primary Ministry, Defense, External Affairs, Internal Affairs, Agriculture, Commerce and Knowledge. These men and women act as great inspectors, checking the empire's conditions, preparing precise reports to the senate and emperor and then ratifying their decisions. 

28º: hall of the imperial throne. Where the audiences with the emperor happen. The throne is made of iron with silver inlays. The walls have alcoves housing altars with the effigies of past emperors. These are made by every emperor or empress upon assuming the crown and removed from the latter after they fulfill the cycle of occupying the many sockets on it until they new effigies are put. This way, the souls of past emperors can see the current affairs and even opine when invoked through the crown effigies. Demonstrating its magnanimity, the crown allows that any imperial citizen watch the audiences, if he registers his presence in advance. In practice, it is very hard to acquire a place.

29º: private chambers of the emperor, Basileus Quatre Palatini and his family: the wife, Diva Palatini; the son, Vasilios Palatini; the daughter in law, Beatrice Divereux Palatini; and the emperor's grandsons.

30º to 35º: the Order of Hippogryph Riders' headquarters. Includes platforms from which they take flight. From here they carry military messages straight to the baronies. From the 35º floor, it is possible to watch over forty kilometers away, see the villages and cultivated fields which sustain Noster Amaranthi, as well as the regular explosions in the Culver Barony.