The Eclipse Palace

"When Caltha crested the hill before the Indigo-Silver City, she was overwhelmed by light. Stretching out below her lay countless palaces of such refinery to make her own seem a pauper's hovel. Lording over them all, impoverishing each in holy comparison, soared the crescent towers of the Eclipse. Walls of alabaster and inky hardlight circled the center edifice, a tower that seemed to hold the sun itself within its heart. Blinking, Caltha turned away, the afterimage of the Tower seared into her eyes. To linger ones gaze upon the Eclipse Palace was to invite blindness when the Emperor was in the city. Even now, when the Emperor resided in his winter palace, fair Endisbaum, the structure's light was piercing."
The Wanderings of Water

Purpose / Function

The Eclipse Palace was the residence and seat of power of the Emperors of the Terappan Empire. Within its hardlight walls were innumerable offices and apparati of the Imperial Hegemony. It housed the council chambers of the Eroamni, the most powerful members of the Imperial Hegemony. Additionally, the training center and barracks of the Azikadaer, the elite bodyguards of the royal family, is found within the palace. Most notably, the Eclipse Palace holds the Seraphite Throne, the seat of power of the Terappan Emperors.

Alterations

The Eclipse Palace has been radically altered, expanded, redesigned, and re-engineered over the millennia, starting well before the rise of the empire. The original hold of the ancient Ilmenos family, the palace started as a single tower and keep and associated outbuildings. With the conquering of the Azarian penisula by Ceyaun Ilmenos by 5 ADC, construction efforts to expand the building. The first phase, adding several wings and additional fortifications, was finished in 15 ADC. From there, the many successive emperors altered the palace beyond recognition. The final form of the palace was built in 1134 by the long-reigning Hailen Astadir. Further additions, such as replacing the outer walls with hardlight, were added in 1190 by the paranoid Morgan Astadir II. Cosmetic interior changes occurred regularly for the rest of the empire.

Architecture

Despite the flux of the Eclipse Palace, the style remained predominately Azarian across all redesigns. Azarian architecture is characterized by pillars, marble facades, and an eye toward grandeur and intricate detailing. Several features differentiate the Eclipse from classical Azarian design. The outer walls of the palace were of white and black hardlight, the most durable and everlasting material known to man. Even after the Strife, the outer walls of the structure remain pristine. In 1200 ADC, to celebrate twelve centuries of Terappan rule, Jistali mages assisted the famed architect Arkos Agaus in adding innumerable extra-dimensional spaces to the structure. Arkos' notes indicate the Eclipse achieved ytrinalia, the mythical goal of Terappan architects to create an endless space within a set boundary. The most striking feature of the Eclipse was the Light of Imperium, the intense light shed from the central tower that relayed the publicized location of the Emperor. When the Emperor resided within the Eclipse, looking directly at the tower would cause temporary blindness to the unwarded. The intensity of the Light varied in proportion to the distance of the Emperor from the city.

History

The historical seat of the Terappan Emperors, the Eclipse Palace has existed in some form for over 4000 years. Originally, the Eclipse Palace was the ancestral seat of the Ilmenos family, longtime rulers of Aza. When Ceyaun Ilmenos united the Azarian Peninsula into the Terappan Empire, the palace shifted into the hub of administrative control for the empire. The palace was successively enlarged and redesigned to reflect the growing grandeur of the Empire, reaching staggering size by 300 ADC. The contemporaneous emperor, Alsamir Viertith I, conducted the Yellow Dawn Purge in 301 ADC of seditious nobles within the capital and created the Law of Fire, dictating only those families of the Vederamni and greater (the Oniamni and Eroamni) may build palaces within Aza, and only the Oniamni and Eroamni may own land within the Argent Glade, the most desirable district within the city. The houses vacant after the Yellow Dawn Purge were demolished to make way for the Scarlet Quarter, the new home of the bureaucracy of the Hegemony.
The creation of the Scarlet Quarter also emptied the Eclipse Palace of most of the governmental functionaries. The new space was readily converted to gardens, harems, and other recreations for the elite of the elite within the Imperial Retinue. 
Currently, the Eclipse Palace stands in ruin, victim to the Strife and collapse of the Terappan Empire. Although the outer hardlight walls remain undamaged, inner portions of the palace suffered greatly at the hand of the Tirim and other enemies of the Empire. Thanks to the Jistali space-craft, however, it is believed the vast majority of the inner structure remains untouched and un-looted. Yearly, dozens of adventurers dare the haunted city to delve beneath the hardlight of the Palace. None return, but this dose little to stops those who dream of treasure beyond imagination.

RUINED STRUCTURE
2000 ADC

Alternative Names

The Aziarctun, The Imperial Palace, The Tower of the Sun

Type

Palace

Parent Location

Aza

Owner

The Terappan Emperors

Owning Organization

The Terappan Empire