Figora Convention and Exhibition Center

The Figora Convention and Exhibition Center is the former palace of Krobeshan royalty in the city of Figora on the Krobeshan island of Kobesh. After the royal line of Figora ended, the building stood empty for many years before being repurposed and refurbished as a convention center.

The Figoran Palace

This building once housed the royal seat of Krobesh, when the continent was ruled as a single empire. It was built around BV 200 after the city Tebau (now abandoned) was conquered and the Krobeshan Empire firmly established. Meant to house the entire government and much of military command, it was equipped with hundreds of apartments, at least twelve meeting rooms, and five different halls for receiving guests, holding audiences, or hosting banquets.

Over its centuries of use as a palace, the building was renovated, remodeled, and expanded as needed. One project added a web of secret tunnels and passages in the walls of the building for the emperor and their family to use in case of emergency. Another reinforced the outer walls of the palace with iron and steel in case of attacks.

By the time the last Krobeshan emperor abdicated the throne in AV 350, the palace was 550 years old and had seen generations of changes. One could view the last five centuries of architectural history by simply walking through any of the palace's long and winding hallways. After abdication, it was abandoned as the rest of the Krobeshan Empire crumbled and fractured into smaller factions, which in turn shrank until only the city-states were left.

Abandonment

After the palace was abandoned in AV 350, it was boarded up by the residents of Kobesh. After centuries of rule by an emperor, no one was willing to move into the building that had been a symbol of that rule. It stood for decades as its rooms gathered dust and the exterior grew weathered and cracked, coated in moss and tropical vines. In AV 398, a particularly destructive storm hit Kobesh, and the coastal city of Figora was devastated. Its citizens had been able to evacuate, and upon returning to their homes, began the long process of rebuilding. Building materials were desperately needed, and crews began to salvage stone from the abandoned palace, which had been partially destroyed already by the storm.

Restoration and Repurposing

The skeleton of the abandoned palace sat for a few centuries more, used as a scavenging site for construction crews when needed, until AV 712, when a large group of travelling scholars arrived in Figora for a scholarly convention. They visited the nearby scholar's guild, but soon discovered that there was not nearly enough room for them to meet as they had expected. Upon searching the city for any other available spaces, one group eventually came across the ruins of the palace. A proposal was put forth to rebuild the palace and use it as a large meeting space for their convention as well as make the space available for other guilds or large groups needing such a large space to meet. Part of the guild's agreement with Figora's government was to use part of the space as a museum to educate visitors about the Krobeshan Empire and current-day Figora.

The construction of this large project took nearly twenty years to complete. Hundreds of workers from Figora and other cities across Krobesh were hired to clean the ruins, plan the building's layout, and construct the space. In the end, the former palace was restored to much of its former splendor, with several adjustments made to better accommodate the new purpose for the building. It now contains five large conference rooms, ten smaller rooms, and countless single rooms which are used as offices or dorm-style spaces for conference attendees to stay in. An entire wing has also been converted into the Figoran Museum of Krobeshan History, which tells the story of the rise and fall of the Krobeshan Empire as well as educates visitors on the culture of Krobesh and Figora itself.

Current Uses

Currently, the Figoran Convention and Exhibition Center hosts multiple conferences a year. Its most regular is the annual World Scholar's Conference, where scholars from across Galactus gather to share research and trade information. It also hosts livestock exhibitions for the Krobeshan people, from cattle to exotic pets such as frogs, fish, and reptiles from the various islands of Krobesh.