Haerford Palace

Before its destruction, Haerford Palace was considered one of the most beautiful manmade places on all of Iosis. That beauty, of course, masked the ugly atrocities the empire and its people carried out against their enemies and simply because there was no one who could challenge them.

Purpose / Function

This building served as the home for the Emperor/Empress and their family. This was also the place where they held court with the nobility, planned military campaigns, and presided over legal matters brought forth by the peasantry.

Alterations

Major renovations were made to the palace, 80 years after it finished its initial construction when the new Emperor Oleg, tripled the length of the throne room and doubles its height. Various rulers between then and its destruction added gardens, lakes, and courtyards to the palace.

Architecture

The palace was built using limestone and marble, and like all other buildings in Braris, the palace had a flat roof with open spaces in the walls for windows and doors. The palace walls were decorated with several large colorful murals, and equally colorful tapestries covered the windows and doors.
In the center of the palace is a massive throne room the Emperor or Empress would sit making rulings. Peasants would beseech their ruler from on bended knee under the watchful gaze of all the nobles seated or stood on dias on either side of the audience hall. The audience hall was 1000 square meters long, and the 24 meters tall ceiling was held in place by 72 pillars carved with depictions of twin-headed bulls, eagles, or lions. Behind the throne stood two massive statues depicting Weldes, God Of Strength, and Tepther, God Of Order. On two smaller thrones, in front of the Emperor/Empress would sit their husband or wife and their heir.
From the throne room, several central halls led to courtyards, villas, smaller palace complexes for the royal family, and apartments for officials. The royal apartments featured a bedroom, a dressing room, a private audience chamber, and a large bath. The palace had a central courtyard, and across from the ruler's rooms were apartments for their daughters and son. In addition, the parents and siblings of the ruler had their own smaller palace complex diagonally across from the Emperor/Empress'. The grounds surrounding the palace were filled with many gardens and man-made lakes.

History

The palace was built centuries ago by the first Brarisi Empress, Nerantzia Straka , and served as the home for her descendants until her great-grandson was overthrown by Emperor, Olegs Runcis, who took his throne lived in the palace with his family. Olegs made many renovations to the palace, including extending and adding height to the throne room. As with many construction projects throughout this era, both were done with slave labor. Unfortunately, few records remain from the time of either significant construction project. As such, how many people died in accidents or from horrid conditions of the work camps is unknown. A hundred years later, the then Empress Mina Thanoufreed all of the palace slaves when Braris, under social and trade pressure from the other nations, publicly declared slavery outlawed. Despite this, she turned a blind eye to the nobles who continued the trade that had made their families wealthy.
In 794BRC, the palace, along with most of the capital Carthago Nova, was razed to the ground by Lorenzo Rossi during and after his siege of the empire that had forced him into slavery as a child. On top of the palace's ruins now stands the outlaw city of Sanctuary Lorenzo founded, and much of what was once palace gardens have been turned into farmland.

RUINED STRUCTURE
-794

Type

Palace

Parent Location

Carthago Nova

Owner

Kiriakos Tapalla Atayde

Owning Organization

Braris Empire