Elantian Palace

The **Elantian Palace** is the royal palace of the Crown of Vigila, located in the Elantian Court district of the city of Elantia on the planet of Vigila. For thousands of years, the Elantian Palace has served as the Elantian residence of the Aengelian absolute monarch and the location from which the affairs of the Vigilian government are directed.

The Elantian Palace has existed in some form since ancient imperial times, though the foundation of the modern palace dates back three millennia, and the modern layout edifice date back to about 152 BNE. The palace is located on the outskirts of Vendemian Square, at the end of the Campus Priphonus, which leads to the Temple of Rhya.

## Courtyard

### Vendemian Gate

The great gate in front of Elantian Palace leads onto Vendemian Square, hence its name. The gate is composed of one great gate opened only for formal mounted processions and two side gates for pedestrian use. Great square columns flank the great gate adorned with detailed engravings depicting crowns, seals, angels, feathers, and laurels. The great gate itself is designed to appear as if composed of gold-tipped spears, with two blazing seals depicting the royal crest of Vigila wreathed in solid gold on one gate and the emblem of the Empire on the other.

The gate is always guarded by two Queensguardsmen in full gold powered-armor, helmets plumed with blue, and red-blue-and-white tabards bearing the blazing sun of the Crown. They will be armed with hardlight polearms and longblades. Human militae in bright red uniforms belonging to palace security will frequently be nearby, doing the manual work of checking the papers of those who wish to enter.

### Front Lawn

Separating the palace buildings from the front gate is a vast courtyard with pleasant hedges, gravel walkways, large stretches of grass, and landing platforms reserved for speeders and shuttles. Should all the flat and open spaces on the property be converted for the purposes of parking, as sometimes happens for certain events, 50 vehicles could land comfortably on the palace grounds.

## Main Building

#### Entrance Hall

Visitors arriving from the courtyard must pass through the entrance hall, where palace security operates a security checkpoint. With the exception of pass-holding members of security, staff, and members of Her Majesty's government, visitors are briefly searched, scanned, and logged, before being led further into the palace by a palace attendant.

Chairs line the walls of the entrance hall on either side of the checkpoint for the convenience of those waiting.

#### Imperial Room

The Imperial Room is one of the main state reception rooms in the Elantian Palace, a room entirely dedicated to celebrating Vigila's relationship to its Orbitritan overlord. The room was given its modern gold-and-black appearance in 2 BNE, in preparation for a visit to the planet by Veritas III, and the Orbitritan Emperor was entertained there by the royal couple. A magic mirror portrait of Veritas III being knelt before by a young Queen Taiantra and Ketor Kathura in the throne room of the Elantian Palace hangs on the wall. Gifts from the emperor, and replicas of gifts given by the Vigilian crown, line the walls and shelves.

Tragically, this room had originally been referred to as the "purple room," and had been and decorated with gold trimmings and purple cushions for a state visit to Aengelia conducted by Umbyrvraxa, Prime Magistrate of the Phero Ecumene, shortly after its formation around 1700 years before the current era. For nearly two millennia, it contained a copy of the Phero Accords in a display case and prominently displayed state gifts and artifacts given to Aengelia by members of the Ecuemene for safekeeping. With Aengelia's capitulation and annexation into the Ascendancy of the Broken Ring, these artifacts disappeared and the room was almost never used. It was entirely made over with imperial black in 2 BNE.

#### Great Eelek Room

The Great Eelek Room, also known as the Green Room, is an ancient and intimate state room dedicated to celebrating natural life and natural artifacts, as well as the hunting prowess of certain Aengelian monarchs and the traditional weapon of the Aengelians: the psibow. The Great Eelek Room is named after the almost complete fossilized eelek skeleton on display, an eelek being a now-extinct elephant-like creature native to Lessos.

The room features soothing earth tones in the carpet, with carved wood inlaid with stones smoothed by the flowing of river water decorating sections of wall. The cushions are accented a bright forest green and the sofas and chairs they sit on are deep and comfortable. A bookshelf sports leatherbound hy'tel tomes, including many illustrated natural encyclopedias. Psi-crystals rest in receptacles throughout the room and provide psionically-sensitive creatures with echoes of visions and sensations of breathtaking vistas and natural wonders gifted to the crown. The door-windows open out onto the garden. The room is a favorite among members of the Vigilian court when they are in a more recreational mood.

#### Blue Room

The Blue Room is a neutral room with a turquoise carpet, creme-colored furniture, and green surfaces, reportedly favored by many of the Queen's officers for receptions due to its tasteful, dignified, and stately aura and lack of overt political message. A desk sits in the corner, while the windows open out onto the gardens.

#### Music Room

The Music Room is a small room with great acoustics down the hall with a number of Aoshanti instruments big and small, arranged in such a way which is both ornamental and practical. It has traditionally been used by musically-minded members of the royal family for rehearsals and intimate performances. Sometimes, the music room hosts private performances by professional musicians and singers for the royal family, in preparation for larger performances for the whole court.

#### Great Dining Room

The Great Dining Room is an impressive room with a flowery red carpet dominated by a rectangular table with 32 possible seats. It is favored for dinner receptions involving great numbers of guests. The walls host a gallery of stately portraits, a who's who among those who are in good graces with the royal family, including Queen Tainatra and Ketor Kathura together, Tainatra Benedicta in full Orbitritan battle regalia, Ketor Aurelius' stately portrait as Margrave of Cormeum, Fidelis, Dux Osvaldus Virgilianus, and a portrait of Aurelius XXI of Vigila, Tainatra's father.

#### Grand Ballroom

The Grand Ballroom is a large room at the great extremity of the building. It is lined both inside and out by marble columns and arches recalling ancient imperial architecture and is by all accounts the oldest part of the palace. The far walls are lined with glass doors which lead out into the gardens, and these are left open or closed based on whether an event is meant to spread itself out onto the grounds or not.

The room is vast and has been furnished differently for different events, from auctions to wedding celebrations to seasonal balls to state dinners to military conferences. A guilded marble statue of Dios, the Aoshanti patron of wine and revelry, has pride of place on one of the walls of this room, pouring water into a fountain through a receptacle. On extraordinary occasions, the statue has been made to dispense wine, or even melted chocolate.

#### Throne Room

The throne room is the centerpiece of the Elantian palace. It is a cavernous room supported by marble columns with a crimson carpet running down its center aisle. Ascending to the throne requires the visitor to climb marble steps to an elevated dais where the Aengelian throne rests, looking down upon the floor of the throne room. Above the throne, just behind the head of the monarch, is the Rhyan rose.

Save for visits by the Aoshanti Emperor, that throne has been vacant for more than forty years. The monarch of Vigila currently sits on a slightly smaller throne, traditionally reserved for consorts and regents, just to the side of the primary throne, which is reserved for the Aoshanti Emperor.

Ceremonies which take place among the Aoshanti inside the throne room are highly formal and require strict adherence to protocol: trials of Vigilians of aristocratic birth, declarations of war and peace, the granting or revocation of titles, the reception of envoys, vassals, allied heads of state, or members of the royal family. During these events, the entire court is present and all are given seating in accordance to their rank.

#### Red Room

The Red Room is a room next to the grand staircase with a pleasing floral red carpet and gold trimmings. It is usually unfurnished and used as a spare room. During events where security is required to maintain a separation between guests upstairs and guests downstairs, the red room frequently houses security equipment and personnel to pat down guests and keep people who are not supposed to be upstairs out.

#### Private Dining Room

The private upstairs dining room is less grand than the Great Dining Room downstairs, but by no means less impressive. The walls press close around a dinner table with space enough for 16 guests, giving more of an atmosphere of intimacy. The room hosts a display of fine silverwear mounted on the walls and inside cupboards, along with a few paintings of fluffy animals and common life. The windows give out on the gardens below. This is very frequently where guests staying at the palace have their meals when they are not eating with the monarch.

#### Guest bedrooms

Seven guest bedrooms are arrayed up and down the hall. Each is luxurious with full amenities: queen-sized beds, large windows, exquisite furnishings, drawers, private bathrooms. They are clearly meant to accommodate state guests who expect luxuriant accommodations and treatment, such as foreign ambassadors, members of the royal family, and powerful vassals.

### Third Floor

The third floor contains servant's quarters and facilities.

## Residence

The residence is the west wing of the palace, and it is there that members of the royal family have their chambers. While the residence is connected to the rest of the house by hallways and to the park by doors, these are guarded at all times by queensguardsmen, and nobody except palace servants, guardsmen, and members of the royal family are allowed to enter except by the invitation of the royal family.

### First Floor

#### Queen's Suite

The Queen's Suite is a series of connected rooms, little about which is known to the outside world, with the exception of the study, where the Queen often meets with intimate advisors. This is where the Queen spends a lot of her time. The suite includes a bedroom, a study, a private dining room where the Queen eats alone or with her family, a private living room, a large bath, and a private shrine.

The Queen's study is a room dominated by a polished and curved wooden desk, lined by bookshelves, screens, and holographic projectors. The room is equipped to allow the Queen to project herself into meeting rooms throughout the city and kingdom and is often used for that purpose.

#### Ketor's Suite

Ketor's suite is a series of connected rooms adjacent to the Queen's suite, connected to it by a door. Just like with the Queen's suite, these are the King Consort's private apartments and so very little is known about them, with the exception of the study, where Ketor often receives his guests.

The suite includes a bedroom, a study, a private dining room, a private living room, and a large bath. After Ketor's return from the Battle of Shesta, the living room was converted to an infirmary for use by crown doctors to monitor the King Consort's fragile health.

**Third Failure:** The Data Center knows the degree to which they were compromised.
.

#### War Room

The war room is a complex of rooms located down the hall from the Queen's chambers staffed at all times by adjutants and liaisons from the Royal Army, the Queen's Astronavy, the Order of Unimanus, and other armed orders. The purpose of the War Room is to deliver timely briefings on evolving military and political situations to the Queen herself and members of her government so that they might make decisions and have those decisions be communicated to other organs of government. The room is dominated by a long table and its walls are covered with screens and holographic projectors.

### Second Floor

The second floor contains secondary suites which have variously been used by children of the royal family, nannies, and close relatives. These suites are almost never seen by outsiders.

#### Tainatra Benedicta's Suite

The rooms belonging to the crown princess, Tainatra Benedicta, are located on the second floor. They are composed of a bedroom, a dining room, and a living room.

#### Empty Suite

Another suite is located on the second floor. It are composed of a bedroom, a dining room, and a living room.

### Third Floor

The third floor contains servant's quarters and facilities.

## Temple

At the center of the gardens is a small private temple tended to by a small number of Reformed Order clerics who are suspected to be Reformed Order spies for the Reformed Archprelate of Vigila. A Reformed Rhyan rose is engraved in the far marble wall and the interior of the engraving is coated with silver. A throne — a representation of the Orbitritan throne — is just under the rose, and it is to this that worshippers kneel. A brazier is kept lit at all times at the heart of the temple, filling it with the smell of swirling incense.

The temple is the site of multiple religious observances attended by the Queen and her court a day.

## Service Building

The service building is a square building tucked away in the gardens which is dedicated to housing servants and to storage. It contains the data center belonging to Palace Security and an armory. It also has 9 servant's quarters and an infirmiary.

## Gardens

Stepping out any of the doors at the back of the palace will land one inside the gardens, which fill up the whole space until one reaches the outer fences. The gardens are filled with gravel paths which navigate through a maze of hedges, flower beds, fountains, and pools. When in full bloom, the garden presents an invigorating array of shapes and colors, while calming the nerves with the gentle sound of running water. Gardeners are very frequently seen tending to the plants, as the impeccable arrangements need constant maintenance.

## Barracks

Tucked away among the hedges and gravel paths behind the palace is a multi-storied building which contains none of the luxuries of the palace. It's the barracks, where the 1st Regiment of the Queensguard assigned to the Elantian Palace and palace security have their quarters. The grounds include a courtyard outfitted for practicing with their weapons. Around 60 Queensguard have their quarters here at any given time, along with 120 palace security.

The Vigilian Queensguard are known by their gold powered-armor, helmets plumed with blue, and red-blue-and-white tabards bearing the blazing sun of the Crown. They are generally armed with hardlight polearms and longblades and sometimes carry shields.

Palace Security is a different organization composed primarily of privileged Asami humans loyal to the crown. They do the manual security work and are known by their bright red uniforms and photonic rifles.

## Trivia

### Mechanics

* The Elantian Palace is mechanically composed of:
	+ An estate with a palace built on top of it (which is split between the main building and the residence)
	+ A large lot with a villa built on top of it, which is the service building
	+ A large lot with a warehouse built on top of it furnished as a barracks
	+ A medium lot with a big house built on top of it, reskinned as a temple
* The throne room is a reskinned ballroom.
* The music room is a reskinned performance studio.
* The ritual chamber in the temple is a reskinned ballroom.