Sunken Palace

Fountain District

Entering the structure, your senses are overwhelmed by smell of warm steam and lotus flowers. After passing several attendants in the foyer, you find yourself inside a massive chamber. The ceiling—and thus the earth’s surface—rises some forty feet off the ground. It is held aloft by dozens of marble pillars, each carved to look like a flowing river. The pillars are illuminated by the dancing reflections of many deep pools. Their surfaces are adorned by the occasional lotus flower and their bottoms are made up of luminous stone mosaics, which fill the whole space with glittering iridescent light. Dozens of naked men and women relax in various areas of the chamber, either debating rhetoric amid the steam or exercising their ancient bones in one of the lap pools.

—Wyford of Heathmere's "A Tour Of Old Palladia."

Purpose / Function

Though its name implies a place of royal residence, the Sunken Palace is in fact primary repository of freshwater within Iskendra's downtown—Sunspire Bluff, the Fountain District, and the Palatine Hill. Without a river or spring from which to draw water, the rulers of Iskendra instead rely on rainwater collected from various bronze dishes. These dishes act like rain barrels and are connected to bronze pipes which lead to the Sunken Palace. Here, acolytes of the Church of Porcia, Rashi, and Lacorré practice their craft of purifying the water into drinkable fresh liquid. This fresh water is pumped into all of the houses of the Holy Palace and even supplies the Sunken Baths, a series of heated and cooled pools where the Emperor and his other noble subjects can wash themselves, exercise, and engage in fierce intellectual debates, far from the confines of the haughty Philadelphion.

Architecture

This cathedral-size cistern is an underground chamber approximately 138 m. (453 ft) by 65 m. (213 ft) – about 9,800 square m. (105,000 sq ft) in area – capable of holding 80,000 cm. (2,800,000 cu ft) of water. The ceiling is supported by a forest of 336 marble columns, each 9 m. (30 ft) high, arranged in 12 rows of 28 columns each spaced 5 m. (16 ft) apart. Fifty-two stone steps descend into the entrance of the cistern. The cistern is surrounded by a firebrick wall with a thickness of 4 m. (13 ft) and coated with a waterproofing mortar. The weight of the cistern lies on the columns by means of the cross-shaped vaults and round arches of its roof. Many of the columns that support the vaulted ceilings and arches are decorated with aquatic motifs. Some are even adorned with plaster seashells.

Alternative Names

The Imperial Baths; the Imperial Cisterns;

Type

Water pump / Well, Large

Parent Location

Iskendra