The Palace of the Kings of Nasse

Underneath the colossal outer curtain wall of the Palace was a perfectly pleasant shaded oasis in the former moat, with artfully planted trees along a meandering stream, unusually clear flowing over its sandy bed. Kyris handed Tarvo a wrapped sandwich as they sat down for lunch. Sliced and spiced ham with tomato. A perfectly pleasant meal.
"Thanks for taking me all the way out here, Tarvo. I don't think I would have gone by myself." Kyris unstoppered a flask of light wine; she offered it, but Tarvo raised a hand.
"A Ranger of Etoile not going where she wants is a contradiction in terms, Kyris." The mechanic shook his head. "You just wanted someone with a power-wagon to drive you over."
"Guilty! But it was still a pleasant trip, wasn't it? Museum was alright in the end, but look at this place!" The ranger waved an arm at the Palace. "Could you imagine storming a castle like this? Those old soldiers must have been fearless."
"Even during Unification, the Princeps usually lay siege until the castles surrendered. This was a bit much, even for the time." Tarvo flicked at a bug on his sandwich. "There's not even power on the inside, either. Can't even get a fan going. It must be a sweaty and awful mess during second season."

Purpose / Function

The Palace of the Kings of Nasse was the seat of power for the Kingdom of Nasse, the petty kingdom from which the Principality of Etoile descends. As per the requirements of the time, the Palace was half administrative center and throneroom, half defensible fortress, with heavy stone walls and space for a sizable garrison and supplies. It's walls and bastion turrets remain intimidating, but the advent of siege-wagon launchers render the castle practically obsolete as a military redoubt.
In the modern era, the Palace is more or less a museum, though the building is still used as office space and for official archival purpose. Tourists can even sit on the former throne of the Kings of Nasse and visit the workroom where Power technology was first prototyped. The office area, while renovated for modern considerations, is drafty and poorly lit.

Alterations

The Palace was built to withstand siege, and several siege engine trebuchets and ballista on rolling mounts were set up on the outer and inner curtain walls of the Palace. In addition, a wide and treacherous moat rings the Palace, limiting it to three bridge-controlled access points when the moat is filled.
In the modern era, the moat has been drained and turned into a city park and shaded picnic area, and all of the weaponry has been dismantled, with some being moved to museums. In a bit of irony, despite being the original site of the development of Power technology, power is only delivered to recharger plates in the wagon-lot outside the outer wall - the inner citadel is unpowered and not attached to the rooftop power-shaft transmission system. Most of the relics and treasures were moved to the Hall of the Princeps in the Etoile Capital City upon the conclusion of The War of Unification.

Architecture

The Palace is a standout example of mid to late petty kingdom era fortification construction. Built using then-revolutionary new military fortification principles, the Palace is built as two hexagons, the inner hexagon rotated to the outer and much taller, so that defenders at either curtain wall can defend-in-depth across a wide arc of terrain. Each vertex of each hexagon is a bastion point, mounting 'retractable' siege weapons that can be pivoted to fire at a greater than half-circle field of fire.
Within the inner citadel is a comparatively small set of stonework buildings in the old and simplistic style, as more effort was put on the defenses than the Palace complex itself. These are simply small, square buildings housing the vaults, throne room, royal living quarters, and barracks and storage facilities - the actual political administration of Nasse typically occurred outside the Palace, in other offices in town, with the citadel simply used as a place of refuge in event of war (which never came to the Palace, after it was built).

Defenses

The Palace was built as a two wall fortress, with nested layers of defensive siege engines, plenty of defensive ports for arrows and bolts, and enough barracks space to support two thousand fighting infantry in a protracted siege. Every classical principle of fortress construction was followed in the build of the Palace, being situated on an elevated hill with open fields surrounding the fortress on every side (at the time of the Palace's construction). The overlapping fields of fire meant that at least six siege engines could fire on any spot outside the walls, and the heightened elevation of the interior citadel meant that the trebuchets there would likely outrange any of similar size on the attack.
The Palace was considered utterly impregnable by the standards of the petty kingdom era, and the Kingdom of Nasse itself was never subject to invasion after its founding, so the Palace was never involved in any sort of battle.

History

The origins of the Kingdom of Nasse were the result of the collapse of the Eastern Sky Kingdom to infighting and weakness; a number of smaller lords banded together when a rival attempted to seize territory, and forces from the old king were not forthcoming. The first King of Nasse was crowned after leading his men into battle and repelling the invading force, and the Palace was constructed at his personal direction and design, serving as an intimidating redoubt that was never captured or lost in battle. The Palace became widely famed upon its completion as the 'Invincible Fortress', and was likely a contributing factor to the Kingdom of Nasse never consequently suffering a serious invasion attempt.
The Palace is far more famous today as the historical site where Power technology was first built, demonstrated, and deployed. The moat control gates just outside the outer curtain wall caught the interest of a Nasse military engineer, who built the first experimental Power generation wheel (distinct from prior ordinary wind and water wheels, as it delivered power to a reciprocating rod transmission coupling). All consequent developments in Power are derived from this one invention, and major research and development was conducted in workshops within the inner citadel of the Palace (as the King of Nasse at the time correctly recognized the invention's importance).
The last King of Nasse was rarely in his Palace during The War of Unification, preferring to take the field and lead his Ground Forces into battle. The founding of the Principality of Etoile and subsequent construction of the Etoile Capital City had the interesting effect of 'draining' Nasse, as most of the politicians and major businesspeople left Nasse to take similar positions in the new state Capital. Upon his coronation as the First Princeps, the former King of Nasse made one last visit to the Palace to oversee the moving of the royal treasury to the new Hall of the Princeps in the Capital, and left the Palace empty except for a minor token garrison, overseen by the new District Commander of Nasse. While left largely unused, the Palace was never neglected, and maintained at the expense of the state.
Sometime in the 680s, the Palace was opened as a museum of the former Kingdom of Nasse, with exhibits featuring old Power artifacts and other historical relics of pre-Unification. The buildings that were repurposed as offices were subsequently expanded for the use of several other administrative units of the Principality, for no other reason than it was readily available space.

Tourism

While Nasse was one of the wealthiest petty kingdoms and produced its share of art and cultural artifacts, tourist interest in Nasse has never been particularly strong, as modern Etoilean culture is mostly it's extension. The Palace of the Kings of Nasse attracts interest from enthusiasts of the history of Power or Unification-era warfare, but is otherwise relatively quiet for a tourist destination; the District of Nasse itself is in an unfortunate position where it's too modern to have much in the way of 'historical' interest, and a relative backwater compared to the Capital City itself. 
In comparison to the other settlements of Western Saibh, the Palace is the most well preserved of the historical fortresses and redoubts, as those that were subject to conquest during Unification were typically severely damaged or repurposed and dismantled after the war.

Founding Date

~525

Type

Palace

Owning Organization

Principality of Etoile