Saito Palace

Banner by Terry-Lynn L!

... Perhaps if Saito hadn't been so blatant in it's disrespect to the Dark God, none of this would have happened. In a show of almost foolish loyalty to the Goddess of Truth, the crown prince of Shikahn participated in a ceremony meant to strengthen their Goddess at the expense of the Dark God. It took place when the sun was at its peak on the Solstice, when their Goddess was at her most powerful. The Vessel of Truth, the voice of the Goddess on Tarin, was meant to be a conduit, transferring magic from a relic of the Dark God's once grand temple to one of the Goddess of Truth's. But the prince took things too far. He smashed the relic to the ground, destroying the last object that remained of the God's long desecrated temple.
They say the Vessel screamed. They say the sky turned red, and the bright light of the Solstice was blotted out by a sudden and utterly impossible eclipse.
When the Knights of Chaos descended upon Saito, it was the Palace they destroyed first.

Purpose / Function

Saito Palace was once the seat of the royal family of Shikahn. It was the gem of the capital city, people came from all across Shikahn and other countries to see the glorious sight. Artwork indicates that the gardens that surrounded it were home to many shoni sprites, and their elemental magic was a common sight. The palace housed the main line of the royal family, and was their seat of power in Shikahn.

Architecture

The palace was stone inlaid with gold, silver and white marble, honoring three of the Elder Gods. Runes glowed faintly inside for warmth in the winter, and cool in the summer. The gates were an early form of a construct, unless the correct runes were drawn, they were made of solid light. Those unwelcome could gaze upon the palace and its gardens, but could not enter.
Sprawling gardens encircled the palace grounds, esseni-made lakes and ponds encircled by carefully cultivated hedges. The roads leading to and from the palace were carefully maintained; Saito skirted the edges of the magically corrupted ground of the Red Forest afterall. Fires, kept alive by shoni crystals burned in great braziers along the edges of the city and the roads.

History

Not so very long ago, Saito was the most prosperous city in all of Shikahn, and its palace was a crowning achievement of magitech and natural architecture. The royal family was well liked, though overzealous in their worship to the Goddess of Truth. In fact, the temple to Truth that housed her Vessel was within the palace grounds.
Everything changed when the crown prince blatantly disrespected the fourth of the Elder Gods. He had no idea just how foolish it was until he was face to face with the Dark God himself and an army of his Knights. The Knights of Chaos took to destroying the Palace, the city... and killing all of its inhabitants. A fate much worse than death awaited the Prince, though accounts of the event differ in the specifics, all are clear in the suffering the Prince endured for his disrespect.
Now, the Palace and the surrounding lands have been reclaimed by the Red Forest. The once grand structure has been left to fester like an open wound, the once busy halls now only filled with memories, Celestial Beasts, and the uncanny red mists of celestial magic ever-present in the Red Forest.

RUINED STRUCTURE
35 years prior to the present date, the capital city of Saito was destroyed.

Type

Palace

Owning Organization

Shikahn