Forum Senatus
The senate building.
Visible for miles a towering spire rises into the low hanging haze of smog. For miles around it a massive complex sprawls, a den of corruption and a spider's web of bureaucracy. Smaller buildings support larger ones who sit astride them like pillars. Thousands of clerks, officials, and bureaucrats make their way to their desks as the previous shifts leave. Within the spire a thousand foot tall circular room ringed with balconies occupied by the corrupt who run this city. The Forum Senatus is where the Ordo Senatum runs the city from and where all bureaucracy leads.
Purpose / Function
The Forum Senatus holds session for the Ordo Senatum. The senate building is where all official senate business is conducted and where all offices of senators and senate bureaucrats are located. Originally it was created simply as a hall for the congregation of the senate. However, it now houses many subordinate organizations and municipalities.
Alterations
At its creation the senate building was at its base a square foundation approximately 10 city blocks on either side. Atop the foundation a building of roughly 500 feet tall housing offices, bureaucracies, and municipalities of all kinds. Atop its gargantuan base the senate building displays its most prominent and important feature, the spire. The spire, at its creation, a structure about as wide as 2 city blocks and circular in structure that sat centrally atop the base. It extended 650 feet to the sky and hosted the senate's convenings in a tall room ringed with balconies at its core referred to by many as the Arena. As more and more representatives earned seats on the city's senate the spire was expanded upwards eventually reaching a height of over 1,000 feet tall by the year 1537 BCM. Throughout its expansion the spire has never had a window to the outside added and the number entrances and exits have stayed very low to keep the secrecy of the senates meetings. In addition to the extension of the spire, the whole of the Forum Senatus's base has grown outwards, engulfing the surroundings to take up roughly 25 city blocks square in a massive megastructural complex of bureaucracy. Thousands of bureaucracies and organizations have erected vast offices, housing for those waiting the years for an audience and the bureaucrats who work there has been set up, and infrastructure to support the vast thousands that run the cities lumbering bureaucracy has been made. In addition several darktrain staitions have been set up underneath the complex, the largest one of which is station #322 directly under the center of the Forum Senatus. Access to the Underlabyrinth has also been made possible by the connection of hundreds of tunnels to various area. This made clandestine travel in, out, and throughout the Forum Senatus all the more possible, only adding the already superfluous levels of corruption. Smaller towers stand around the original spire erected for important organizations that require a place to convene, such as the Ordo Inquisitionis.
Architecture
The Forum Senatus is a motley of thousands of years of constant expansion reflected in the chaos of its architecture. Its original center of the base and the spire was erected with concrete and metal. It contained massive carvings of the founding nobles' heraldry and many telling the story of the War of Order that brought the Ordo Senatum to power. The spire itself is created out of concrete is now supported by concrete and metal flying buttresses that often extend to smaller towers that ring the central spire. The spire markedly contains no windows to the outside as to keep the integrity of the senate's meetings. Overall the Forum Senatus is a patchwork of different styles and materials. Smaller annexes are often made of wood or stone, while larger structures are usually made of concrete and metal. Many of the larger organizations make their headquarters more identifiable with large carvings or marking on its walls. The Forum Senatus is a maze of small streets that wind in and out of its interconnected buildings. Enclosed bridges, tunnels, and paths connect each structure to each other. Most streets that wind within the choked chaos of the senate complex can barely see the light of the sun through the lattice of bridges and walkways that pass above them between the narrow space between towering offices. Many larger buildings stand on top of smaller ones as if they where supports since no more room could be found for them to expand outwards—making the only choice upwards. This creates an interesting lattice of layers of buildings that stand on top of each other which can be seen in the other more crowded areas of the city.
History
The Forum Senatus stands on what used to be the city hall. All that remains of the city hall is its great forum where many would gather to debate and vote. It still stands right at the center directly underneath the Forum Senatus's spire. It is the last testament to the times before the War of Order. The Forum Senatus began construction in 1286 BCM and was finished 23 years later in 1263 BCM. Since then it has constantly been expanded.
Alternative Names
Senate Building, Tax Factory, the Arena.
Type
Government complex
Parent Location
Included Locations
Owning Organization
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