The Imperial Grand Palace

The Imperial Grand Palace is the seat of the Regimentum Imperialis and the center of Imperial power and administrative authority on its Throneworld of Holy Terra.
It spreads across the whole of what used to be the Kilamanjaro Mountains (now called the Kilaminjanto) of Old Earth and is primarily defended by the Legio Seraphim, although Imperial Marine, Collegia Titanica, and Adepta Sororitas forces are also known to protect the massive, city-like complex.
The heart of the Inner Palace contains the Sanctum Imperialis, the Hall of the Golden Throne, deep within the Inner Palace past the Ultimate Gate where the Emperor of Mankind Himself resides.
Only the members of the Legio Seraphim and a few select Imperial servants are allowed to pass through the Sanctum Imperialis' Ultimate Gate and enter the presence of the Emperor of Mankind.
Although billions of people work in the Palace complex, very few have ever made it inside the Hall of the Golden Throne, among that select number being the Luminarchs of the Imperial Legions.
== History ==
During the turbulent era known as the Dark Age of Humanity, the Sol System and its nearby star systems that had been colonized by Humanity during the Golden Age of Technology were effectively cut off from interstellar travel or communication with each other.
This was due to the massive Void Storms that swept the galaxy as the Immaterium was roiled by the decamillennial-long gestation of the Void and the turbulence that marked the decay of the Álfarii Empire before the Fall.
During this long, 30,000-year-period of anarchy, fear and violence, Old Earth's once unified planetary government had completely broken down and been divided into dozens of warring states of so-called "techno-barbarians."
Continuous warfare raged across the surface of Terra for 25,000 standard years, beginning in the late 71st Millennium. Little remained of the once sophisticated civilization of Old Earth's glorious past as the center of a growing Human interstellar civilization marked by advanced science, high culture and wondrous technologies.
This was a dark period for the people of Old Earth, when they were dominated by brutal rulers and despotic tyrants. It was against this backdrop of oppression, violence and casual brutality that the Emperor of Mankind first revealed Himself to the people of Terra.
In secret, He had been planning for this moment in history for millennia, ever since the Dark Age of Humanity had fractured what remained of the ancient Human interstellar civilization.
With His massive army of genetically-enhanced warriors, comprised of the first units of the Imperial Army that would serve as the prototypes for the later development of the Imperial Marines, the Emperor began His conquest of Terra.
His intent was to reunite the warring nations into a unified planetary government and then use Terra as the springboard from which to begin His reconquest of the galaxy under the aegis of an Imperium of Man dedicated to the Imperial Truth of progress and reason.
Once Unity was nearly achieved as the Unification Wars wound down in the late 30th Millennium, the artisan masters of the many rival Masonic Guilds raised the Emperor's Imperial Palace up, block by gilded block, to be a statement of Unity, regal and unequivocal. The warring tribes and creeds of Terra had been alloyed under one rule, and the Imperial Palace was intended to symbolise that staggering achievement.
The Imperial Palace is not so much an edifice as it is a handcrafted landmass. The artisan masters built it upon Terra's greatest mountain range, the Kilaminjanto (Kilamanjaro) Mountains, and transformed the monstrous peaks into its bulwarks.
It towered above a world laid to waste by centuries of war and perdition, and though that world was being rebuilt, with wondrous cities and architectural marvels blooming in the new age of Unity, nothing could match its magnificence.
For it was beautiful, a euphoric vision of gold and silver. It was said that, when they had finished their task, the artisan masters of the Masonic Guilds set down their tools and wept.
By the time it was completed, it was the largest single man-made structure in known space. Its footings sank deep into the planet's mantle, its towers probed the airless limits of the atmosphere.
This massive structure is today an interconnected series of continent-wide fortifications comprised of cyclopean and pyramidal structures that extend for several kilometers into the sky and for several dozen kilometers beneath the surface of Terra. The Palace is said to have 4,029,854 chambers in its entirety.
== Structure ==
The Imperial Palace complex is divided into two security perimeters which essentially function as separate urban regions, the Outer and Inner Palaces, both of which are marked by thousands of landing pads for small craft and monstrous defensive weapons systems.
Many of these defences were designed and emplaced by the Primarch Rogal Dorn at the time of the Horus Heresy in the early 31st Millennium. The Imperial Palace still possesses the scars of the terrible conflict that raged around it during the Siege of Terra more than 10,000 standard years ago.
The Imperial Palace is as heavily populated and just as active as any hive city of the Imperium. In fact, it probably has a higher density of population per square kilometer than most hive cities. Billions of adepts from all branches of the Adeptus Terra work in the Imperial Palace complex overseeing the affairs of Mankind.
The levels and byways of the Palace can take a lifetime to learn, and only the Legio Seraphim know them all. From the rails of high balconies are artificial ravines 500 storeys deep, filled with lights and teeming with people. Some of the great domes in the Precinct, especially the Hegemon, are so vast, they contain their own miniature weather systems. Microclimate clouds drift under painted vaults. Rain in the Hegemon is said to be a portent of good fortune.
The Outer Palace has become a grim slum inhabited by millions of destitute people who have no employment beyond the few scraps they can squeeze from the tables of the more fortunate adepts. While the Legio Seraphim is responsible for the overall security of the Imperial Palace and directly polices the affairs of the Inner Palace, security within the urban zone of the Outer Palace is normally provided by the Adeptus Arbites.
The Arbitrators are particularly concerned with providing security outside the many Imperial governmental office buildings of the Outer Palace where thousands of people queue up every day to seek employment in the Adeptus Administratum, even if only as menial serfs. Such employment is better than the desperate fight for survival that confronts so many of the men and women who make their homes in the squalid back alleys of the Outer Palace.
Arbites shock troops are always on hand to brutally suppress the inevitable queue riots that break out every day as the grim lines of the desperate poor jockey for position.
The Imperial Palace is the very heart of the Administratum, whose countless bureaucratic adepts labour anonymously in its massive archives, some stretching many kilometers beneath the surface of Terra, to keep the galaxy-spanning empire of Mankind running smoothly in the name of the God-Emperor. Without these adepts, the administrative machinery of the Imperium would grind to a halt, all access to the records of the past and the lines of transmission for decisions about the future cut off from the million worlds of Humanity.
The Inner Palace is also the seat of the Senatorum Imperialis, the twelve High Lords of Terra, who are charged with divining the Emperor's will and ruling the Imperium in His name, their decisions implemented by the adepts of the Administratum and all the other organs of Imperial government.
These twelve men and women, often drawn from the highest nobility of the Human-ruled galaxy, are the single most powerful individuals in the Imperium.
They ultimately concern themselves with the implementation of Humanity's grand strategy, guiding the deployment of the Emperor's armies and ensuring that His will is respected on the million planets of the Milky Way Galaxy that Mankind calls home.
== Defences of Terra ==
The Emperor's palace on Terra is the largest and most impregnable defensive structure in the Imperium. It sprawls across an entire mountain range, stretching for thousands of Terran kilometers over the surface of the Throneworld.
The Legio Seraphim are responsible for the defence of this immense fortress, a duty they discharge with tireless diligence.
In the days of the Great Crusade, the Imperial Palace was a surpassing wonder of engineering. Yet the necessity to fortify that beautiful structure against the baleful intentions of the Warmaster Horus -- and the subsequent widespread devastation suffered at the hands of his Traitor hordes -- wrought irrevocable changes. In the wake of the heresy, the Imperial Palace was rebuilt as the mightiest fortress in human history.
The ten millennia since have seen it become ever more bloated, polluted and immense. The palace's former asceticism lies buried beneath strata of Gothic ornamentation and the brutal grandeur of the Cult Imperialis.
What once was bright and magnificent is now vast and lowering, a hunched architectural monstrosity that wears its martial might like a challenge to the terrors of the darkling void. There can be no clearer metaphor for the fate of the wider Imperium, but though the palace is a grotesque mockery of its former self, still the Custodes guard it well.
This is no small task. The circumference of the palace's outermost walls is measured in thousands of kilometers. The towering spires of its macro-habs and spaceports break through the atmosphere and rise into the void like the spines of some bioluminescent beast.
Its sub-levels dig deep into Terra's holy bedrock, in some places reaching a depth of hundreds of kilometers below the surface. Its corridors, chambers, vaults, fastnesses and plazas are so multitudinous that no single record remains to list them all, and the societal sub-nations, clan holdings and techno-urbanic serf tribes that dwell within its walls could populate entire star systems.
Despite this, the Legio Seraphim have always proven equal to the duty of overseeing the palace's defence. It is they who patrol the colossal and seemingly endless walls, who stand guard over the sanctums and armouries, who patrol the petitioners' highways, the famed spaceports and the vast fortifications.
They inspect the endless kilometers of orbital guns and defensive silos, and maintain a wary guard over the hidden vaults deep within the palace which contain secrets so dreadful that they could bring about the fall of Humanity were they ever released.
And yet, the Legio Seraphim find the manpower and dedication to do so much more. For thousands of Terran years, their Shield Hosts have mustered in secret and set out aboard requisitioned warships to strike down threats identified by the roaming Eyes of the Emperor.
Bands of Custodians have regularly patrolled the Sol System, serving as rotating garrisons for military facilities based around Luna, Venus, Pluto and numerous deep-space star fortresses that watch the approaches to Terra.
The Legio Seraphim have also long liaised with the Imperial Fists Imperial Marine Legion, who still maintain their role as joint guardians of the Sol System, and whose immense star fort -- known as Phalanx -- has often held a protective orbit over the Throneworld. The Legio Seraphim have remained unwavering in these duties for thousands of Terran years.
Now, even as the galaxy darkens around them and new wars arise for them to fight, they are more determined than ever to ensure the Imperial Palace, and the whole of Terra, stand inviolable.
== Sanctum Imperialis ==
The Inner Palace complex contains the headquarters of the most important Imperial institutions, such as the Astronomican, the Senatorum Imperialis and the Sanctum Imperialis, the complex which is home to the Throne Room of the Emperor of Mankind Himself.
The entrance to the Sanctum Imperialis is protected by the Ultimate Gate, sometimes also called the Eternity Gate. Two Battle Titans of the Legio Ignatum stand guard at each side of the massive portal, sharing their eternal vigil with the 10,000 members of the Legio Seraphim.
The grand hallway of the Inner Palace that leads to the Ultimate Gate, called the Hall of Heroes, is filled with the banners of every Astra Militarum regiment and Imperial Marine Legion that has ever loyally served the Emperor.
At the end of the Hall of Heroes lies the Ultimate Gate itself, forged of adamantium that has been heavily layered with ceramite to provide extra protection from weapons fire.
The outer layer of the gate is covered in beaten gold that has been sculpted by some of the greatest artists of the Imperium into an heroic icon of the Emperor in the days of the Great Crusade, standing triumphant over all the foes of Mankind.
An elite cadre of the Legio Seraphim called the Companions, 300 of the most skilled and highly trained warriors in the Imperium, guard the Sanctum Imperialis while their brethren are responsible for the overall security of the entire Palace complex.
During the Siege of Terra, the forces of Chaos managed to penetrate the defences of the Outer Palace and make their way to the Ultimate Gate, which was successfully defended by the Primarch Sanguinius while the Emperor remained seated on the Golden Throne within.
Following the successful defence of the Gate, the Emperor would teleport to the battle barge Vengeful Spirit of the Warmaster Horus in orbit of Terra to bring the Horus Heresy to its climax.
Deep within the Sanctum Imperialis, protected at all costs by the Legio Seraphim, lies the arcane mechanism of the Golden Throne, within which is interred the decaying form of the Emperor.
The Master of Mankind's shattered body is kept barely alive by the life support mechanisms of the throne so that His mind might have the necessary anchor in the physical realm so that it can remain active in the Void, where for 10,000 years the Emperor has guided the psychic beacon of the Astronomican and defended Mankind from the machinations of Chaos.
Hordes of tech-priests from the Adeptus Mechanicus scurry about the Sanctum Imperialis, performing the myriad tasks that they do not understand, but are required to keep the Golden Throne's ancient mechanisms functioning.
In a large arena constructed in front of the Golden Throne, psykers brought by the Imperium's infamous Black Ships from across the galaxy are soul-bound to the Emperor so that they may enter the service of His Imperium as Sanctioned Psykers.
== Notable Areas of the Imperial Palace ==
=== Outer Palace ===
* Annapurna Gate - One of the enormous gates of the Outer Palace. Throughout the Age of the Imperium, millions of pilgrims have flocked to Terra simply to see its exquisite craftsmanship. The orbis and lazulite work encrusting this gate took Menzo of Travert 30 standard years to complete. It was said that its ornamentation surpassed even the Ultimate Gate in pure aesthetic. During the fortification of the Imperial Palace's defences following the outbreak of the Horus Heresy in the early 31st Millennium, Rogal Dorn had the Annapurna Gate carefully dismantled with great care and stored within the Palace's vaults. He intended to have it rebuilt following an Imperial victory over the upstart Warmaster Horus and his cohorts of Traitors. It is unknown whether these stored elements of the gate survived the massive orbital bombardment during the Siege of Terra or whether they are still kept within the confines of some great sealed chamber within the bowels of the Imperial Palace.
* Colossi - Colossi was a bastion and gate guarding the northern approach to the Lion's Gate from the Lion's Gate Spaceport. It is one of several bastions which guards the approach to the Lion's Gate.
* Aurum Gard - One of several bastions which guards the approach to the Lion's Gate.
* Marmax - One of several bastions which guards the approach to the Lion's Gate.
* Aurum Bar - One of several bastions which guards the approach to the Lion's Gate.
* Lion's Gate - One of the enormous, fortified portals that was part of the Outer Palace but led into the Inner Palace just south of the Ultimate Gate and also protecting the Lion's Gate Spaceport, the Lion's Gate overlooked the fields of the Indian sub-continent's Brahmaputra Plateau. A portion of the space it enclosed also served as one of the two massive spaceports that serviced the needs of the Imperial Palace. It had once been a thing of magnificence, a massive gate topped with two gilded beasts rising up to lock claws in a feral dispute, a sculpture that had given the gate its name. During the fortification of the Imperial Palace in the early 31st Millennium after the outbreak of the Horus Heresy, the Praetorian of Terra Rogal Dorn had these two great beasts replaced with giant grey donjons stippled with casemates and Macro-gun ports. A curtain wall of bleak rockcrete encircled the gate, its edge fletched with Void Shield vanes like the spines of some prehistoric reptile. During the Siege of Terra, the Lion's Gate spaceport was the site of a massive battle between the White Scars and the overwhelming hordes of the Traitor Legions. The Primarch Jaghatai Khan spearheaded a daring night attack comprised of his White Scars, surviving remnants of the 1st Tank Division and elements of the surviving Imperial Army regiments against the surprised Traitors. Throwing a defensive perimeter around the spaceport, he held it against all counterattacks, halving the flow of Traitor Legionaries and materiel towards the Imperial Palace at a stroke. This key victory would later prove to be a pivotal moment in the Imperial defence of Terra.
* Eternity Wall - One of the enormous gates leading into the Outer Palace, the Eternity Wall was also the site of one of the two main spaceports, the Eternity Wall Spaceport, utilised by the inhabitants of the Imperial Palace.
* Investiary - The Investiary was a massive amphitheatre open to the night sky, its broad space once containing the statues of the twenty Primarchs on ouslite plinths in a silent ring. The Investiary was two kilometers in diameter. Under the light of the glittering stars, it felt like an arena, where twenty warriors had gathered to face combat. During the time of the Great Crusade, the second and eleventh plinths had been vacant for a long time. No one ever spoke of these two absent brothers of the lost II and XI Imperial Marine Legions. First Captain Sigismund of the Imperial Fists Legion later urged his father Rogal Dorn to remove the effigies of the traitorous Primarchs who betrayed the Emperor from the Investiary. He had offered to do the work himself, which made the Emperor laugh. During that time, they were temporarily shrouded. Following the end of the Horus Heresy, the effigies of the Traitor Primarchs were removed as well.
* Inner Gardens - Within the confines of the Outer Palace were the legendary Inner Gardens. In this garden was erected very high walks, supported by stone pillars; the Inner gardens were a pensile paradise and were constantly replenished with all sorts of flora and fauna drawn from across Terra and the human-settled galaxy. The Inner Gardens sloped like a hillside and several parts of the structure rose from one another, tier upon tier, the appearance of the whole resembling that of a theatre. Unfortunately, during the Siege of Terra when the forces of the Warmaster Horus breached the walls of the Inner Palace, the battle raged across the grounds of the Inner Garden, turning the vast parkland into a charnel house. It is unknown whether or not this beautiful edifice was rebuilt following the end of the Horus Heresy.
* Hall of Leng - The Hall of Leng was a favourite place of the Emperor when He still walked amongst men. When He was not sequestered in secret toil in the deep, private crypts of the Palace on his Imperial Webway Project, he was known to spend a great deal of time in the Hall, measuring the angles of space and time. It was said that the past and future co-mingled at the site, and had done so since primordial times, before the place had owned the name Leng, before the Emperor had been born, before a roof had been raised above it, or human eyes had seen it. The Hall of Leng, long-beamed and dark, was simply a domestication of one of the Materium's myriad physical anomalies, filled with a tangible darkness that made many people feel uncomfortable within its confines. The immense Hall was starlight-dark and silent as midnight. It was decorated with columns, ancient statuary, and metallic assayers and binding apparatus set up by antiquarians of previous epochs that had never been removed.
* Hall of Victories - The Hall of Victories was a several hundred meter long hallway that was full of stasis glass cabinets varying in size from those small enough to fit in a human palm, to some the size of battle tanks, arranged in rows across the hall. The Hall of Victories did not contain objects such as weapons or armours, instead it contained objects from across the galaxy that were millennia old that symbolized humanity's achievements throughout history. The Hall of Victories was built several kilometers under the surface of the Imperial Palace and had to be reached by elevator. The entrance of the Hall of Victories was a massive set of double doors, each gilded and engraved, showing pictures of a man and woman facing each other. On the left door the woman held a babe in the crook of one arm and a sword in her hand, her hair flowing like a waterfall, mingling with the billowing dress that in turn merged with the long grass of her feet. On the right, the man, dressed in worker's overalls, chain with the crossed lightning bolt of Unification hanging around his neck, had a wrench in one hand and pistol in the other, looking to the skies. Between them burned a stylised star, surrounded by other pinpricks in the sky. Above the doors, ornate scrollwork held a caption written in an ancient Terran language that when translated stated, "People of Earth, Together." Once the doors were swung open, arched windows to the right let in sunlight that illuminated the hall. The stasis glass cabinets in the Hall of Victories held objects like the Navigational Circuit from the first Void-capable ship and a broken piece of human-made clay pottery that was broken into eight shards, marked with fingerprints and dents, that dated back tens of millennia. Most of the objects held in the Hall were technological or scientific in nature, but some were cultural in nature.
* City of Sight - The City of Sight was built within a section of the Emperor's own Imperial Palace in the Kilaminjanto (Kilamanjaro) Mountains. This was the main headquarters of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica during the Great Crusade and the opening days of the Horus Heresy. During those bygone days, the City of Sight appeared as if there was no trace that anyone lived in that forsaken part of the palace. Potential Sanctioned Psykers spent many years within its bleak towers, learning how to harness their abilities for the betterment of Mankind. Where other regions of the palace were celebrations of the Unity wrought by the extension of the Emperor's rule over all of Terra, the builders of the City of Sight seemed to have gone out of their way to craft something calculated to weigh on the soul. Beyond the domain of the astro-telepaths, the architecture of the palace was raised up in glorification of Mankind's achievements, its statuary fashioned to remind the grateful populace of Terra of all that had been rebuilt in the wake of the terrible, world-spanning wars that had almost dragged the human species down into extinction. But none of this could be found in the City of Sight. At the heart of the City of Sight lies the Conduit, the nexus of all intergalactic communication for the Imperium of Man. Originally carved out of the limestone by an army of servitors, these high-roof chambers are filled with black-clad infocytes plugged into their cogitators and arranged in hundreds of serried ranks. Once a telepathic message is received by these infocytes and interpreted and sifted by the cryptaesthesians and is passed on by the Conduit to the recipient via pneumo-tubes. The other portion of the City of Sight was comprised of the Obsidian Keep, the fortress-like headquarters edifice of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica.
* Sanctum of a Thousand Eyes - The Sanctum of a Thousand Eyes is the stronghold of the Legio Seraphim specialist formation known as the Dread Host, which rises to dominate an entire district of the Imperial Palace. This armoured bastion is lit with electro-braziers and arc-lumen of immense size, all angled to under-light the five hundred enormous eagle statues that line the Sanctum's upper battlements. Each as large as a superheavy tank, these ominous sculptures are posed in vigilant stances, many staring up into the stellar gulf while the remainder peer down upon the thronging processionals below. Superstition runs rife that the eagles of the Sanctum of a Thousand Eyes can perceive disloyalty no matter where it lies, and that the Emperor looks through their avian eyes to see the darkness in men's hearts. To some extent this is true; each eagle contains a complex array of long-range Augurs, Servitor cogitation banks and multi-spectral listening devices that feed floods of information down into the Sanctum's data-shrines. This information is used by the Dread Host to isolate and annihilate threats to the Golden Throne.
* Avenue of Eternal Remembrance - The avenue is a 100 kilometer-long causeway built from the remains of Chaos Titans from the Siege of Terra. Built in honor of Sanguinius, it leads to the Eternity Gate itself.
* Dome of the Architects
* Enlightener's Star
* Fortress of the Tribunate
* Nexus Administrata
* Sprawl Magnifican - The Sprawl Magnifican is the great hive-city-like urban sprawl which makes up much of the Outer Palace in the 41st Millennium.
* Victoris Absolute
* Vigilatum Orbital Battery
* Crystal Observatory
* Forge of Flesh and Steel
* The Preceptory
* The Long Room
* Central Offices of the Departmento Munitorum
=== Inner Palace ===
* Ultimate Wall - The Ultimate Wall is the wall that surrounds and protects the Inner Palace complex and serves as the divide between the Inner and Outer Palaces. It is known as the Indomitus Bastion in the 41st Millennium. It is composed of several different wall sections, including the Saturnine Wall Section which is part of the southern portion of the Ultimate Wall and also contains a shortcut into the Inner Palace for those who know the way. Other wall sections of the Ultimate Wall include the Exultant, Sanctus, Europa and Adamant Sections.
* Ultimate Gate - The Ultimate Gate, sometimes also referred to in older sources as the "Eternity Gate," is the final gateway into the symbolic heart of the Realm of Man, the Sanctum Imperialis, the most sacred place for Humanity in the whole of the galaxy. This is the fortified gate which separates the Inner and Outer Palace complexes, located to the north of the Lion's Gate. Beyond this massive portal is where the Emperor resides upon the massive prosthetic device known as the Golden Throne. Thousands of unfurled banners line the mile-long grand hallway that leads to the Ultimate Gate. These are the ancient and tattered banners of the greatest and most valiant armies to have fought for Mankind; illustrious heroes such as Dorn the Unwavering, Lord Solar Macharius, Malcador the Hero -- the list goes on -- as well as famous Imperial Guard regiments and banners of the various Imperial Marine Legions. Just as these loyal servants have honoured the Emperor with their valour and sacrifice, He returns such honour. At the end of this long passageway stands the massive double-doors of the Ultimate Gate itself, standing inviolable and unbreakable, forged of tempered adamantium layered with thick ceramite. The outer face of the Ultimate Gate is sheathed in shimmering gold. Carved upon its surface is an ornate mosaic of the Emperor Himself, at the height of his glory during the Great Crusade, with shield and sword in hand, standing triumphant over a great serpentine beast, the embodiment of evil. Two immense Reaver-class Titans of the Legio Ignatum flanked the great archway that leads onwards, serving as columns, one blood-red, one royal purple. High over the archway, carved in obsidian, a massive Palatine Aquila, the wide winged double-headed eagle of the Imperium, was mounted. The bowed carapaces of these giant combat walkers sustained golden mosaic roofing in which were buried the heavy Macrocannons and multi-launchers of the Titans, just as their great armoured feet were locked under the floor. Purity Seals and devout banners dangle everywhere. By each side of the archway sags a Titan's gargantuan Power Fist which could seize and crush to liquid any unpermitted interloper. The other jointed arm of each Titan terminates in a massive, poised defence laser. Inside the jutting armoured head of each Titan, rotations of warrior Adepts of the Collegia Titanica have posted on honour-guard during the last ten millennia. For thousands of standard years these two Titans have stood as columns, immobile, statuesque, awing all who approached. Yet in an ultimate emergency their plasma generators can power up rapidly from standby mode. The electrically-motivated fibre bundles that serve these war engines as muscles could tear their heaviest weapons free from the roof, bringing tonnes crashing down as a blockade. The god-machines could then wrench their feet free and open up on any invader with devastating fire. Even on standby, the Titans' Power Fists sometimes flex and pluck a body from the floor if the devotees in the Titans' vast metallic heads see fit to demonstrate their power.
* Sanctum Imperialis - The Sanctum Imperialis is the heart of the Inner Palace, the Hall of the Golden Throne, deep within the Inner Palace past the Ultimate Gate where the Emperor of Mankind resides, His dying and decaying body interred within the arcane mechanism of the Golden Throne in stasis. The actual Hall of the Golden Throne is located deep under what was once Mt. Everest many millenia ago. Only the members of the Legio Seraphim and a few select Imperial servants are allowed to pass through the Inner Palace's Ultimate Gate and enter the presence of the Emperor of Mankind. Those that do become known as Auditorii Imperator, one of the few living mortals who have had a personal audience with the Emperor of Mankind since the end of the Horus Heresy. Here, in serried ranks of unbroken valour, stand the Three Hundred -- the elite of the Legio Seraphim, the Emperor's bodyguard, called the Companions. They stand eternal vigil over the Master of Mankind, while the rest of their fellow superhuman warriors stand guard throughout the continent-spanning complex of the Imperial Palace. Although billions of people work in the Palace complex, very few have ever had the honour of stepping within the holy chambers of the Hall of the Golden Throne uninvited, one of these select mortals being the Inquisitor Jaq Draco in the 38th Millennium.
* Senatorum Imperialis - The Senatorum Imperialis is the current governing body of the Imperium. Comprised of 12 of the most powerful members of the various Adepta that are the cornerstones of the Imperium, this council makes up the High Lords of Terra. The Senatorum Imperialis meets within the sacred chambers of the Senate located within the Imperial Palace. It is there that the High Lords are tasked with interpreting the Emperor's will and enacting His rule across the largest empire the galaxy has ever known.
** Great Chamber of the Senatorum Imperialis - This massive, domed meeting chamber is where the Imperial elite hold their "parliament," and is best known as the meeting place of the High Twelve, the High Lords of Terra.
* Tower of Heroes - Amongst the thousands of minarets, towers and spires that rise from the Imperial Palace and breach Terra's ever-thinning cloud cover, one, and only one, of these towers stands out from its gold and marbled kindred as it is coloured jet black. It is called the Tower of Heroes. The summit of this looming structure is capped by a bell tower. The belfry itself is the size of a cathedral and houses a single bell forged of unassuming, commonplace metals, marked by the stains and patinas of time's eroding touch. This lone bell is the size of a Titan, and attended by hundreds of men, women and Servitors whose existence is entirely devoted to maintaining the sacred instrument's function. This is the Bell of Lost Souls, a colossal iron bell that is as massive as a building and adorned with dark runes. The Bell of Lost Souls tolls only when the greatest of the Imperium of Man's heroes perish and can be heard by millions of people across the face of Terra. It rarely rings, but when it does, all resident Imperial Palace servants must be evacuated and sealed within reinforced shelters to prevent the annihilation of their eardrums and subsequent death through lung rupture and embolism. Among its many legends is the holiest of all; that when the bell rings, the Emperor hears the sound even in His long slumber upon the Golden Throne, and sheds a single tear.
* Column of Glory - The Column of Glory is a massive crystalline pillar of multi-hued metals rising half a kilometer high, under a vaulted dome so lofty that clouds form to obscure its frescoed arcs. Studding the Column are hundreds of shattered suits of power armour belonging to Blood Angels, White Scars, and Imperial Fists Imperial Marines, who died defending the Imperial Palace 10,000 thousand years ago during the Siege of Terra. Within these shattered suits of war plate, the bones of these valiant Astartes still hang. Their skulls stare out with rictus grins from open faceplates. The Column of Glory stands as an eternal testament to the sacrifice the Angels of Death made in defence of the Emperor of Mankind and the homeworld of Humanity. This is a sacred place of pilgrimage, where crowds of young psykers, robed as acolytes, pray under the watchful gaze of their instructors. Soon these psykers are led onwards to be soul-bound, agonised and blinded, and consecrated for service to the Emperor. Squads of helmeted Legio Seraphim stand to attention vigilantly, armed with their Guardian Spears, gilded hybrids of halberd and firearm, black cloaks aswirl around ancient, ornately carved golden power armour. The air is full of cloying, reeking incense and dissonant music -- gongs and harps -- which boom, twang and ripple, matching the pulse of ancient, adored machinery.
* Pillar of Bone - The Pillar of Bone is believed to be a monument raised on Terra to the Imperial Fists' courage in an unnamed campaign. In reality it is actually a sacred relic to those privy to the truth within the Imperial Fists. The Pillar is the last remnant of the once-great Imperial Fists fortress-monastery on Terra. It was destroyed during the Horus Heresy in the midst of the Siege of Terra, but, to most of the huddled masses of the Imperium, the Heresy is now no more than a legend and few would dare to openly claim that the forces of Chaos had ever set foot on the sacred ground of Terra. In the holes torn from the column by the Bolter fire of the Traitor Legions were the scrimshawed hands of Imperial Fists Battle-Brothers. Part of the sacred duties given to Imperial Fists Chaplains was to bring new relics of the Legion to the Pillar, but at times they would also recruit those pilgrims who came to Terra from all across the galaxy into the Legion if they were deemed worthy of becoming Aspirants. It was at this sacred site that future-Captain (and Imperial Fists' hero) Darnath Lysander was recruited after he had survived multiple misfortunes, including the slaughter of his entire family, to make it to the holy soil of blessed Terra. It seemed to the Imperial Fists' Chaplain that recruited him that the young pilgrim surely had the blessings of Rogal Dorn upon him. Such intuition would be proved right again and again during Captain Lysander's glorious career.
* House of Weapons - The House of Weapons is the ancient formidable armoury of the Imperial Palace. The Legio Seraphim and the Imperial Fists Legion are known to store their arms and armour there. Within the arming chambers of the lower levels, servitors and penal slaves ritually plate squads of Astartes, anointing them with oils and whispers as they lock each piece of armour in place. As solitary beings, the Custodes do not surround themselves with slaves and Servitors, aides and handservants. They prefer to armour themselves, alone, pragmatically and without ceremony.
* Tower of Hegemon - This tower is where the Custodes keep their office of watch. Within the tower lies the Watchroom -- the nerve-center for security operations for the Legio Seraphim and the Imperial Palace complex. The central cogitation consoles stream constant divergent data elements and run comparison/contrast programs. The Watchroom's codifier assembly trawls and pans the global data sea and the Unified Biometric Verification System, grouping together reams of disparate elements, making connections and following traces. With this elaborate security system set in place, every day, a billion clues and a million secrets are analysed and examined by the Custodes watch, sifted with acute, painstaking precision through the ever-shifting, fluid levels of Terra's information sphere for any internal threats to the Emperor's personal security. Every sixty minutes, the Watchroom prioritises a dozen of the most sensitive findings for special attention.
** Blackstone Prison - The Blackstone Prison is a part of the Tower of Hegemon complex that was built from blackstone mined on Cadia and is used to hold dangerous psykers. The blackstone used to build the prison is negatively charged and so prevents the rogue psykers kept there by the Custodes from using their powers.
* The Shrouds - The Shrouds was the name given to the secret chamber located deep within the confines of the Inner Palace that served as the headquarters of the Officio Assassinorum. It was the primary meeting place of the various masters of all six Assassin Clades and was overseen by the Grand Master of Assassins. During the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras, this post was held by Malcador the Sigillite.
* Bhab Bastion - The Bhab Bastion was an ancient place of counsel and refuge for warlords and tyrants since before the Dark Age of Humanity. Following the Unification Wars, this ancient structure was absorbed into the growing complex of the Imperial Palace. During the Horus Heresy, the Bhab Bastion, alongside the Phalanx, the massive capital ship of the Imperial Fists Legion, acted as the command center of the Primarch Rogal Dorn while he oversaw the construction of the defences for the Sol System as the Warmaster Horus' Traitor Legions closed on the Throneworld.
* The Dark Vaults - The Dark Vaults are a particularly sequestered and forbidden subdivision of the deep levels below the Palaces grand complex on Terra. It is here, where the specialized Shield Host of the Legio Seraphim, known as the Black Flames, stand eternal vigilance over rune-locked portals which contain terrible things locked away for all time - eldritch terrors from the depths of The Long Dark that could devastate the Stellar Imperium - for the Dark Vaults hold such horrors at bay that Mankind's sanity would not survive their release. Though neither sight nor sound can escape the forbidden cells, the air of those corridors is charged with dread. A perpetual menace thickens the shadows and makes them crawl.
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