The Hall of Ages
Description
The Hall of Ages is the original seat of government from the time of the Saikar Empire, and now serves as the seat for the S.A.C. Within these halls, the Board meets regularly to hold negotiations, and make important decisions for the Coalition. It is one of the most secure buildings in the system, and it is impossible to gain access to the building without the Board's approval.
The outside of the building is designed to be imposing and uninviting. Located at the end of the massive Domunus Square, the entrance looks down on everyone from it's position resting at the top of a large, square concrete platform. 100 wide, deep stairs separate the people on the street from the building.
The Hall itself has a similar shape to a church cathedral, only significantly larger. The flat front face is broken up by a series of vertical, extruded segments that break up the otherwise perfectly flat, dark grey and black surface. The wide spread sides look like the shoulders of a giant, erupting from the ground, and cutting a straight line at a thirty degree angle towards a central, square spire that rises like a church bell tower for what seems like hundreds of feet, ending at a flat top with four triangular battlements, one on each side of the roof. It immediately gives the viewer a feeling of authority and dread. Of future design, and historical architecture all in one.
Layout
Entry Hall
The entry hall is a large, single room. Blue leylights hover ten feet overhead, lighting up a long, snaking chain that is hooked from post to post, creating a meandering pathway that crosses from one side of the room to the other and back, front to back. The walls are lined with holographic projections of important moments in history. Most of them seem to involve a bunch of old, male humans sitting around a table signing papers, or gathered in stuffy looking court rooms. In these, they stand just close enough that their shoulder's look like they might touch, but aren't. They smile hollow smiles as they stand over top of different people who have clearly been charged with some major crime, looking dejected.
At the far end, a large metal barricade plugs the access into the next room. In the center, a doorway onyl large enough to fit a single, above average sized human is guarded by four armed security guards. Over top of the passage, a metal ball on an articulating arm, with a circular blue gem embedded in a hole at the bottom scans those entering for magic and weapons.
Grand Hall
Located just beyond the secruity checkpoint, the grand hall is a massive chamber lined with the Coalition's banners. There is nowhere to sit, and the only other exit is on the opposite side of the hall, behind a processing counter. It is here that those seeing the Board are checked in, and are made to wait until the Board summons them. The room is designed to make people feel small, and reinforce the authority of the Saikar.
The Board Room
Located up a large, brightly lit flight of elegant stairs leaving the Grand Hall, the Board Room is where the Board holds meets. The far end of the room holds the Board. Each has their seat located at the top of a 20 foot tall pillar topped with a kind of egg shaped front that obscures their ower bodies where they sit, and holds a desk for them. The pillars are made from a black metal, and each is covered in golden inlays in patterns relating to the member seated atop it, covering the length of it. Behind these thrones, a robotic arm carries the seat they sit on, transferring them from a walkway behind the pillars to the isolated seating area, where it remains extended as they sit. While in session, a technomantic device projects an image of each Board member above their heads three times their size, and amplifies their voice.
The majority of the floor is a gaping black maw; a pit that descends out of sight into darkness. At the civilian entrance, a semicircle of stone floor surrounds the door, and from the apex of the arch, an extended walkway stretches out into the center of the room, with no railings, that ends in a rounded platform at the end, with a standing podium, and a small black box that is used to amplify the voice of those down below.
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