Valor Ascendant's Victory Hall
Design
Victory Hall is a large, cross-shaped room. Each rectangular "wing" of the room is of equal dimensions and orientation, stretching out North-South. The floor and walls are stone, like most of the Valorian Temple, without the usual carpets and tapestries. It is two stories high, with windows to the second floor of the temple between the eaves of the vaulted wood ceiling.
Entries
The southern door leads to the antechamber and then to the main entrance of the Temple. This is the largest doorway, easily accommodating gryphons (though they are not particularly encouraged in the space under normal circumstances), with wooden doors always propped fulled open on the interior, and the option to be closed off by portcullis on the antechamber side.
At the northern end, there are two doors leading into the temple proper. On the east side, twin staircases lead up to a second-floor balcony; there are various small doors to the first floor on both the east and west sides.
Sensory & Appearance
The acoustics of the Great Hall can be strange. The sound of muffled voices hits right away when entering the room from the North or South ends, but fades as you go further into the space. The area around the center fountain is silent, and it is not unusual to pass a small group engaged in hushed, secretive conversation there--and you would need to pass very close indeed to overhear anything.
Denizens
The room is naturally a grathering place for knights, and others who work for the Valorian Temple, but it is a public space as well. The doors are always open to the castle plaza, day or night, rain or shine, and anyone is welcome. Some come through on their way to the temple proper, to pay their respects to Valor Ascendant, but mostly they come to entreat the knights for assistance, or to do business under Valor's watchful eyes.
Contents & Furnishings
The Hall is well furnished with bright candelabras and chandeliers, lushly carved benches, and bright banners displaying symbols of Valor Ascendant and her victories. In the center, there is a six-sided fountain of well-polished albion stone, full of clear water.
But what primarily draws attention is the fountain, of sorts, at the north end of the room. It is six sided and elongated, with one side flush against the north wall, filled not with water but with ashy grey sand. Filling the space is a life-size statue of Valor Ascendant, in magnificent white armor, standing at rest on the enormous, cracked skull of a dragon.
Supposedly, it is a real skull, of a war dragon felled in the Sundering War against the Raithar empire. However, some claim that it is too small to be real.
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