The primary prince of
Mandoral has his living quarters opposite those of the Arch Potentate, giving him space and a measure of privacy in the royal palace.
The palace itself is, in keeping with Mandoral preferences in architecture, spacious and open, with few walls and many interconnecting spaces. Visual barriers define spaces more than physical ones, but there are walls dividing key areas.
Entrance
The primary entrance to the prince's wing offers a comfortable waiting room for guests and offices for secretaries and clerks. There is also a small audience room for informal meetings that need not be done in formal court. Beyond this (and accessible by a separate, less public entrance) lie the private living quarters for the prince and his immediate circle of servants.
Summer Room
The first room is the summer room, used through most of the year. It is a wide, mostly-round room with a polished stone floor, and it extends directly over the gardens, becoming a curving balcony over the prince's private outdoor haven. Columns delineate the balcony from the rest of the room, and usually colored gauze is hung between them to discourage insects with its gentle undulations and blunt any unwanted views from other royal balconies.
Around the room are set the necessities of the prince's life and activities. He has a desk and shelf of books and scrolls, though the bulk of the educational and state paperwork are kept in separate libraries. The current prince
Kayvin keeps racks of musical instruments and their accessories, including musical paper for recording his original compositions. A stand ceremonially displays the prince's robes of rank and his armor. These are for display only, as the prince's actual court garments are kept safely in the large closet attached to the rear of the apartment, but they are a traditional indication of the prince's status and duty.
The summer room includes a sleeping pit, where the breezes and sun-warmed stone tiles will comfort the drowsy prince during the fine parts of the year. Depth is another status indicator in Mandoral society, affording the extra space to build deep, and the prince's pit is approximately six feet from the edge of rounded ceramic tiles to the pillowed floor. It is a wide oval, ten feet at its widest, and at one end a series of steps curves along the wall from pit floor to the summer room tiles above.
While the royal sleeping pits are always large, to display the wealth of space and to accommodate the royal occupant's
Sera Qadra, it can be made more traditionally cozy. Pillows and furs cushion the floor and walls, narrowing the space or even forming small sub-pits of their own as desired. While Gromgest takes with him to bed several members of his sera qadra, Prince Kayvin often retires with a single member or even alone, and a wrap of blankets and a wall of pillows can go far to creating a more comfortably close sleeping pit.
Winter Room
Beyond the summer room is the winter room, a smaller space which is fully enclosed to protect its own sleeping pit from chilly or inclement weather. When the winter room is used, the desk and other necessities are brought in as needed, to preserve the warmth of the smaller space.
Closets and Passages
The minimalist spaciousness of the prince's primary living quarters are made possible by a network of closets and wardrobe spaces, neatly holding everything from footgear to correspondence. Spread among these are also the primary servants' rooms; while palace maids and pages sleep in the general servants' quarters, the prince's key servants stay near in case of need and because of their own higher status.
There are other passages as well, to allow for quick access by the palace guard or clandestine messages between members of the court, but the casual visitor will never see these.
Sera Qadra
And we cannot discuss servants and status without turning next to the sera qadra's quarters. These are divided into men's and women's rooms, traditionally to keep the sera qadra from sating themselves outside of their master but of course this is an incomplete argument, as male courtesans serving a male master might of course indulge with other male courtesans. However, it does make it more likely that any child laid by a female member of the sera qadra has the prince for a father, and that is useful knowledge when elevating concubines or assessing the varied potential lines of succession.
The men's and women's rooms feature close rows of sleeping pits, all narrower and more typically shallow than the ostentatious depth of the royal pits, around two feet in depth and six long. Around the outer walls stand many cabinets, each holding the belongings of one member. Here they keep their clothing and belongings and perhaps a gift from the prince. There are four servants to keep the sera qadra when it is full.
Bath
There are two bathing rooms for the prince, one on the end of the balcony shared by the summer room, and the other safely enclosed for cold weather use. Both are tiled pits approximately five feet in length and three wide, offering a luxurious stretch while holding the water's warmth. Here the prince can lie and gaze upon the flowers or receive a massage.
Garden
Below the summer room lies the prince's garden. This is a place of beautiful or highly scented flowers and fruit trees, with seats artfully arranged for the best sensory experiences as well as shade and privacy. Prince Kayvin has also made himself a small range for practicing his magic here, safely enclosed by stone walls and plants rather than risking his fine apartment.
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