Grand Plutonia Casino
The Grand Plutonia Casino is the largest, oldest, and most famous of Dancamort's casinos. It is located in the Styx Hollow neighborhood, the main commercial district of the city. It is one of the most-visited establishments in the Aquatic Kingdoms, if not all of Belcantas.
Purpose / Function
The Grand Plutonia is a sprawling complex, larger than the central market district of many towns. It hosts the largest casino floor in the Aquatic Kingdoms, as well as a wide variety of other entertainment attractions, including eight taverns, two dance halls, four theatre and performance stages, a fully-equipped gladiator ring, shrines to both Hades and Dionysus, and the headquarters of the Courtesan Guild of Hadesia.
Architecture
The Grand Plutonia's architecture slightly echoes that of the classical High Elf architecture of Bjália, with its organic-looking columns and the high vaulted ceilings of its amphitheaters. However, the look is rendered in distinctive granite-and-brass Dancamortian elements.
The caverns of the Grand Plutonia display an incredible amount of fine paintings and tapestries. Aside from the aesthetic considerations, these also dampen sound much more effectively than the bare rock would, allowing better separation between the music of the different venues and the other portions of the casino. It also makes the bells that govern Dancamortian Timekeeping notoriously difficult to hear.
History
In the early Y300s, during the various naval skirmishes that dotted the Aquatic Kingdoms, Dancamort signed a deal to sell the kingdom of Voli an enormous amount of steel for its use in wartime. City council member and armorer Yanis Pluton proposed that the city use its wealth from this deal to build a grand pleasure hall to improve the lives of citizens and increase the city's profile worldwide, offering his family's ancestral portions of the caves for such a project. Construction was slowed during the War of Great Sorrow, but the project was completed during the war nonetheless, in Y355. It was immediately a hit with the populace, and upon the war's end in Y361, it became popular abroad as well.
The Pluton family has used their wealth from the casino to continually expand it into the mountainside and continue to adorn it with treasures from across the world. Yanis Pluton's lifelong passion for the artistic potential of the human race has been carried on to this day via the Grand Plutonia's commissioning of paintings, tapestries, sculpture, and other decor from prominent human artists from Val-Nurem to Cape Hildegard.
Tourism
The Grand Plutonia Casino is wildly popular among tourists looking to experience gambling and other vices. Since it offers rooms, services, and price points ranging from relatively modest to exorbitantly expensive, it appeals not only to wealthy travelers, but also to middle-class travelers looking to experience a taste of luxury at a seemingly reasonable price. (Of course, these travelers tend to return home significantly poorer than they expected, due to the allure of the gambling tables.)
In addition to the entertainment, Grand Plutonia is known worldwide as one of the grandest examples of Human art gathered in one place. Artists from across the centuries of the Age of Complexity have been commissioned to decorate its many wings.
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