Imperial Palace

The Imperial Palace is a massive edifice built around the Imperial Manse. It takes up a full third of the bulk of the Imperial City proper, with vast sprawling outbuildings and massive lawns and gardens. It is an immense architectural masterpiece, a city within a city. There are many divisions within the Imperial Palace, held by various functionaries, and of course the Great Houses themselves.

The Dragon Gates

Though the grounds of the Imperial Palace are not walled off from the rest of the city, these are the five official entrances to the Imperial grounds. Constructed after the attempted Iselsi uprising, these gates are consecrated to the Immaculate Dragons, and constructed of precious jade. Rumors indicate that they are some form of defensive Artifacts tied to the Realm Defense Grid.

The Imperial Manse

The short, square building around which the Palace is constructed, the Imperial Manse's appearance belies its importance. It has been sealed since the disappearance of the Scarlet Empress. It is surrounded by beautiful, lush gardens planted to always bloom with crimson blossoms, no matter the time of day or year.

The Scarlet Pavilion

A massive edifice crafted of black marble with red jade accents, this palace is festooned with offices, libraries, shrines and galleries, as well as the living quarters for the Scarlet Empress and her virtual army of guardians and servitors. But the Scarlet Pavilion is perhaps best known as the location of the Throne Room.

• The Throne Room: The massive domed center of the Scarlet Pavilion, the Throne Room is a series of upward rising dias-levels that rise steadily to the august majesty of the jade Scarlet Throne, with its depictions of all five of the Elemental Dragons rising in splendor behind the one who sits the throne. Each of the twelve dias levels rises some five feet above the one beneath it, and is affixed with a beautiful railing. The closer one is in the Scarlet Empress' esteem, the higher the dias one was permitted, allowing those in favor to literally look down on those who were not. The Throne Room has remained all but empty since the Scarlet Empress' disappearance, with a single exception: the appointment of Regent Tepet Fokuf.

Wings of the Great Houses

Though they are referred to as "wings," these building complexes are rarely interconnected with one another. Each is the size of a palace on its own, with the wing's nearness to the Scarlet Pavilion suggesting both the age of the Great House in question, and the favor the Scarlet Empress paid it.

• V'neef Wing: Though smaller than many of the wings of the Great Houses in the Imperial Palace, the V'neef Wing lies quite close to the center of the Palace, a reflection of the Scarlet Empress' affection for her youngest daughter. The V'neef Wing is built in a small arc around a courtyard with a reflecting pool, and is surrounded by lush gardens that V'neef has had turned into a small vineyard with vines taken from her own Vineyard in the Qishi Prefecture, both a comforting bit of nostalgia for the House's founder, and a reminder to the other Houses of the source of V'neef's prosperity.