Jiangzhou, the Castle on the River

A model of the ship.

Jiangzhou was created by Shengshi to serve as his home to live in and host all his siblings, as well as a vehicle on which he can travel across Galbar. The colossal ship's hull is made of mahogany wood, with the pillars supporting the castle towers being made of amber, roofed with green jade. The boat is tipped with a massive dragon head at the front and a dragon tail at the bow. The castle consists of three major towers, with the middle one being the tallest. Each tower is filled with guest rooms and larders for food, with the bottom floor of the tallest tower together with the hull below combining to make a massive banquet hall that hopefully can accommodate all his siblings. The Castle on the River was created during the first Age of Creation.

## Interior

The interior of Jiangzhou is divided into two major sections, the hull and the towers, each divided into seven and twenty-two sections, respectively.

#### The Hull

The hull of the ship as seen from the outside is half the ship's total height, being fifty feet. On the inside, the middle room of the hull, the banquet hall, stretched an additional 15 feet into the middle tower, making it a total of 65 feet tall. This area of the ship is divided into seven sections on three floors: The larders, the wine cellar and the bathhouse towards the stern; the kitchens, the cargo hold and a guest room for an especially large god towards the bow.

Out of these rooms, the banquet hall is the most exquisite, with an ever-changing buffét of delicious foods to satisfy every pallet. The hall is full of polished tables with silk-upholstered chairs, with the main table having chairs of all sizes, ready to bear any deity. Naturally, this makes passage through the hall a little inconvenient, but that is no excuse not to include them. The walls are dressed in chalk-white paper painted full of river motifs complemented by poetic clauses. Every corner of the room hosts a golden dragon statue with ruby eyes. From the roof hangs a golden chandelier with red paper lanterns.

#### The Towers

The towers refer to the three spires that make up the castle on the ship's deck. The middle tower reaches fifty feet into the air, with its two flanking neighbours reaching forty feet. Each tower is roofed with green jade tiles, complemented with gold dragon ornaments along the ridges of the upwards-curving tips of the roof. The bow tower (also called the front tower or The Delta Spire) contains six guest rooms for Shengshi's divine siblings, as well as the main hallway leading from the deck to the banquet hall. This hallway is draped in white paper, which Shengshi has filled with poetry and paintings. It is lit partially by red paper lanterns and partially through the blinder-style bamboo windows. As one walks down the hallway, tables with delicious fruits and appetisers will occasionally appear and offer the guests a selection of delicious treats.

The middle tower (also called The Grand Spire), in addition to hosting the upper levels of the banquet hall, also contains six guest rooms for other gods, as well as Shengshi's personal chambers at the top floor. Shengshi's chambers consist of one huge room with only sliding paper doors as walls, with a surrounding balcony. The chambers contain several calligraphy sets, as well as a saloon table with surrounding pillows for seating, and Shengshi's bed - that being a 7 foot tall, massive, masterfully shapen, cotton-filled, silk-upholstered, jade and gold-adorned mahogany stick and river reed basket.

The stern tower (also called the back tower or the Fall Spire) contains ten guest rooms for other deities.

#### The Guest Rooms

The guest rooms meant for Shengshi's siblings all differ slightly depending on the traits of the god they are made for. For example, Urhu's room is very simple, with only a bed, a dresser and the requisite carpet with her symbol on it; Asceal's room, by contrast, has several huge paper slider doors for easy access to daylight, as well as a standing mirror, a wardrobe in addition to the dresser, and a saloon table with pillow chairs included. However, the traits that all rooms do share are that they include some form of bed, a dresser and a carpet that displays the respective deity's symbol.

## Powers

Upon creation, Jiangzhou's wooden frame was infused with a sacred oil that made it impervious to all elemental and physical damage. However, as Shengshi has experienced, the oil did not make the ship invulnerable to damage from divine beings. This means that it is not indestructible through godly means.

The oil also enchanted the ship's deck, preventing all passengers from unintentionally falling out of the ship. As such, passengers will not fall over board during turmulous waters, but they are free to jump from deck into the rivers below at their leisure.

Finally, the ship is actually somewhat larger on the inside than one might imagine. This is due to