Frueskoltar

The **Frueskoltar** (Cold Palace) was one of the most noticeable landmarks of Teranchir, the former capital of the Ardeschi empires of the Sixteenth Age.

During the early years of Red Ardesch, its function as the greatest stage of its inhabitants' desire for pleasure to celebrate the end of the Directorist regime caused it to be known as the **Blidkoltar** (Pleasure Palace).

## Characteristics

The Frueskoltar was an enormous palace. It was known for its massive dome, which gave it its namesake cold temperature to make visitors more frightened of the Director-emperors.

## History

During medieval times, the Cold Hall was a marketplace. After the Plague cast by the sorcerers of Black Ardesch, it became into a theatre, with the southern wing being a brothel until the end of Nolaar's reign of terror.

During the succession crisis, the man who grew to become the First Director used to frequent and write plays in the theatre. Once he became the emperor of Ardesch, he demolished the theatre and ordered a magnificent palace built in its place as a monument to his reign and his godhood.

In Red Ardeschi times, the Cold Hall was demolished and rebuilt as a pleasure palace, often frequented by richer Ardeschis and their clone courtesans for carnal pleasures. Sometimes, the immigrants were given free access to anywhere in the Pleasure Palace, but they also got to enjoy other attractions, such as libraries, a spa, a swimming lake, and even a skiing hall.

During the Technocrats' era, the Pleasure Palace was abandoned, as more people went to other venues and mechanised their own bodies. Months later, the building collapsed, and the last unmodified peoples of Ardesch (both local and foreign) gathered there as a city. Its former bedrooms were converted into archives, and humble tents and huts were set up along its halls where the resisters slept every night. It was also their fortress when the Utopianists exterminated the mechanised Ardeschis.

On the foundation of the Republic of Ardesch, the Pleasure Palace was a historical site, an open-air museum that displayed the tragic history of Ardesch. A smaller theatre was rebuilt where classical plays were held once more.

## Later eras

At the start of the Sarmelonid Empire's time, the Cold Palace was demolished, having been ruined in an earlier war. Two be buildings were built in its place: a shopping mall, and a museum about the Earthling invaders.

In modern times, the site of the Cold Palace is now a graveyard. Sixteen sun priests cursed the site and its foundation stones, denouncing it for its symbolic value for the Directorist and Red Ardeschi regimes. A sun temple was built at the west, while a huge burning pit was dug on the site of the palace proper.

The only parts of the Cold Palace that are revitalised were the ancient theatre and several sun temples, symbols of the people's repentance to their Gods and to Lord Herimann.

## Trivia

* The Cold Palace of Teranchir in Ardesch was inspired by the Volkshalle, a massive palace or temple planned during the Third Reich as a monument to Hitler as a deified world emperor. Like its fictional counterpart, it had a dome that had artificial cold temperatures. As Hitler and his Third Reich were defeated, the palace-temple was never built.
* It was also inspired by urban ruins in post-apocalyptic settings.

* "Cold Palace" was also a name used in Qing Dynasty China for a prison for concubines.