Capitale

The sprawling, labyrinthine metropolitan melange of Capitale, which dominates much of the island nation of Gregoria, tells a long and storied history. Ruled for many generations by the mad House Gregory, it is a physical record of the many strange whims and obsessions of the Gregories. Extending from the opulent grandeur of the Violet Palace at its epicenter, the city is divided unofficially into historical "districts", presenting the wild and often impractical demands of the reigning monarch on the architecture and civil engineering of the city at the time. In one district, columns might be prohibited, and each building may need to have no more or less than 13 windows; in another, all roofs might be required to sport flower gardens, and all doors must be must be of the trapdoor variety. These are among the less stringent and obscure of the regulations affecting the city's past.
Today, Capitale is the seat of the Grandian Kingdom, and although its new king, Albus Grandius Rex, has done much to modernize the city's infrastructure and technological capabilities, its people still cling protectively to their fantastical traditions and culture. For instance, although the Violet Palace has had a Hadean basilica added to its structure to comply with Imperial Law; in accordance with the gentle suggestions of the Gregorian nobility, it has been integrated carefully with the decadent, manor-like style of the palace (and as a result, is the second-most expensive basilica in existence, surpassed only by the Selanian Cathedral itself).
The Grandian government has also seen fit to utilize the ancient network of catacombs and chambers built into the city's foundation by the Mad King, sealing all discovered exits but one, and using it as a sort of prison for the city's undesirables. Those who break Grandian law within Capitale—or who wrong the royal family in too flagrant a way, are often sentenced to exile in the Gregorian Undercity, a fate which many consider to be worse than execution.
Category:Settlements