Welcome to Gaia! ::

This 325-metre-long palace was built in the Baroque-style. It has approximately 1,786 doors and 1,945 windows, with around 1,057 halls and rooms combined, give or take.

More than 100 kilograms of gold were used to gild the sophisticated stucco facade and numerous are statues erected on the roof. It is even rumoured that the palace's roof was constructed entirely of gold. In front of the palace a great formal garden was laid out.

It centres on the azure-and-white Pavilion near the lake, which is formerly crowned by a grand gilded sculpture representing Prometheus. The interior of the pavilion features dining tables with dumbwaiter mechanisms. The grand entrance to the palace is flanked by two massive "circumferences", also in the Baroque style. A delicate iron-cast grille separates the Palace from the town (or rest of city).

In Baroque architecture, new emphasis was placed on bold massing, colonnades, domes, light-and-shade, 'painterly' color effects, and the bold play of volume and void. In interiors, Baroque movement around and through a void created monumental staircases that had no parallel in previous architecture. The other Baroque innovation within the Palace was the state apartment, a processional sequence of increasingly rich interiors that culminated in a presence chamber or throne room or a state bedroom.

The palace is best known for it's grand suit of formal rooms known as the Golden Enfilade. It starts at the spacious airy ballroom, the "Grand Hall" or the "Hall of Lights", with a spectacular painted ceiling, and comprises numerous distinctively decorated smaller rooms.

The Grand Hall, is a formal apartment in the Russian baroque style designed by Bartolomeo Rastrelli between 1752 and 1756. The Grand Hall was intended for more important receptions such as balls, formal dinners, and masquerades. The hall was painted in two colors and covers an area of approxiametly 1,000 square meters. Occupying the entire width of the palace, the windows on the eastern side look out onto the park (or Garden, whichever you prefer) while the windows of the western side look out to the palace plaza. In the evening, 696 lamps are lit on 12-15 chandiliers located near the mirrors. The halls sculptural and gilded carvings and ornimantation were created according to sketches by the royalty of the past.

Beyond the Grand Hall is the dining room for the courtiers in attendance (fancy stuff). The small room is lit by four windows which look out into the formal courtyard. The architect placed false windows with mirrors and mirrored glass on the opposite wall, making the hall more spacious and bright. Decorated in the typical baroque interior style, the hall is filled with gilded wall-carvings, complex gilded pieces on the doors, and ornamental patterns of stylized flowers. The ceiling mural was painted by a well known artist. It is based on the Greek myth of the sun god Helios and the goddess of the dawn, Eos.

Across from the Courtiers-in-Attendance Dining Room, on the other side of the Main Staircase, is the White Formal Dining Room. The hall was used for formal dinners or "evening meals". The walls of the dining hall were decorated with the utmost extravagance with gilded carvings. The furnishings consist of gilded carvings on the consoles. The painted mural, The Triumph of Apollo is a copy of a painting completed in the 16th century by Italian artist, Guido Reni.

The Portrait Hall is a formal apartment that covers 100 square meters of space. The rooms walls boast large formal portraits of important Gaia figures as well as paintings of the Palace residents. The inlaid floors of the hall contain precious woods. The drawing room stood out from the rest of the formal rooms in the palace due to the fact that the walls were covered in red silk. Other decor in the room was typical for the palace's formal rooms, a ceiling mural, gilded carvings. The elegant card-tables and inlaid wood commode display foreign porcelain.

The Green Dining Room, is the first of the rooms in the northern wing. The pistachio-coloured walls of the room are lined with stucco figures.

Other interiors include the Waiters' Room, with the inlaid floor of rosewood, amaranth and mahogany and stylish Chippendale card-tables; the Blue Formal Dining-Room, with white-and-blue silk wallpapers and Carrara marble chimneys; the Blue Drawing Room; the Choir Anteroom, with walls lined in apricot-colored silk; and the columned boudoir of the current resident, executed in the Pompeian style

Lavish rooms, such as those pictured here are common place in the winter palace, where royalty and nobles of all kinds gather during the winter months for court life.







Balls and 'events' of all kinds are held here, serving to further show off the decadence of the Empire as well as it's power and influence. Each of the multitude of rooms has a theme that has been incorporated into it. Such as the Emerald room which has actual emeralds embedded into the ceiling as well as emerald glass tiles that decorate the floor. Or the gilt room which is covered in white marble and gold gilt.

Another point of interest is just off the side of the Grand Hall where court was held, is the chrisining room in which all noble newborns were chrisened when they were born in a basin made of malachite.

























The large ballroom was also where court was held generally. Fireworks and gaily lit rooms were often aglow until the wee hours of the morning as the royals and nobles wined and dined, plotting and such the counry at large.





~Majority of write up courtesty Vahn Kyonuske

Servants had arrived, dusting tables, removing clothes from chairs, cleaning windows, waxing floors. You name it, they were cleaning it. Everything was being prettied up. No one knew exactly whym but a few people, and everywhere rumors were flying.

The palace was set up. There was liveried servants everywhere, bustling about prepping things at the last minute. Guest rooms were noted and corrected. Place settings in the banquet hall, the food was being cooked and decorations were hung. The deep blue of the grand hall's ceiling was lit by mage work, giving the appearance of the night sky.

Everything was ready and some of the more...enthusiastic brown nosers were arriving. Gowns that has never seen the light of day were being worn, though rarely, the gowns were new, the seamstresses finally able to earn a decent wage. Some were out of style purposely, representing the last cling ons of the monarchy.

But everything was in fine form. Soon the actual important people would begin to arrive. Soon, all of Holdine would get to see who was now pretended to rule them. Soon, politics would be played and hands revealed as the game began anew.

It was one of the few excuses he had to actually get out of the mansion when the carriage finally rolled up to the front of the Winter Palace.

"We've arrived, Sir."

The blue-eyed, blonde-haired representative of the Hyldern family could hardly tear his eyes away from the huge entrance that was now in front of him. Such a huge place could only belong to one of the more wealthy families in all of the land.

It made his own family's mansion look like a toy in comparison as he stepped out of the carriage and headed, unescorted, towards the ball. The carriage pulled away, making room for others. It wouldn't return for quite some time.

'Young' Eric Hyldern was the eldest of four legitimate children, and the only son, born to Aiden and Catalina Hyldern of Strane. Being that they were away on 'personal business', Eric was the sole representitive of the family for the affair. He was in his early twenties, of average height and build. His garb was traditional of the nobility in the surrounding area. Silk, light clothing that seemed too puffy for its own good. Royal blue was the prominent color, with the upper sleeves and chest portion being colored crimson. He wore a strange two-piece cape of sorts, with one section that came to a stop just below his shoulders, and the other tied off at the waist with a black cord. These two additions were of a darker, navy blue color, with the lower portion of the cape having a length that reached to the top of his ankle.

He found that the moment he had entered the ballroom he was accosted by all sorts of finely dressed servants, all offering him drinks and h'ours dourves. Before he knew what was actually going on, he had a glass of champagne and a handful of various delicacies that somehow found their home there.

He finally made his way to a fairly unpopulated area, where a passing servant carrying an empty tray happened to be making his rounds. He placed the spare food on the tray, then stepped back and took a drink of his his champagne.

"Well...this is off to a great start for your first steps into the political world."

He whispered to himself as he wiped a small crumb from his shirt.

"No way. Not a chance in hell."

That was what he had told the servants when they came to his quarters, insisting that Satarel had wanted him to escort him to the palace. It wouldn't have been too bad, if they had not insisted on him wearing the clothes that they had brought with them.

He didn't exactly know how, but for some reason or another Galen had reluctantly agreed to go.

And now he was sitting uncomfortably in a carriage, tugging at the collar of his shirt which just wouldn't seem to loosen, no matter how many times he messed with it. Unlike Satarel, Galen was not wearing a big coat or any other incredibly fancy piece of clothing. Still, Galen didn't like the light, airy feel of the clothes. He felt almost naked despite the fact that the shirt was choking him and the pants actually tucked into his shoes.

"Hah, you're telling me."

Galen stepped out of the carriage, following Satty. The undershirt he was wearing was white and quite frilly, with about three sections along the sleeves that were puffed out. How they managed that, Galen would never know. Overtop he wore a vest, one that the servants quite literally had to pin him down to put on. It was blue and sparkled, and for anyone that wasn't a soldier was probably a pretty regal affair. As far as Galen was concerned, he felt like a woman. They couldn't even leave his hair alone. It was cut a little bit shorter, and for some reason the servants felt that the unkempt look was not becoming of a noble, so they had used all sorts of grease and gunk to slick it back. Now it not only felt like he was wearing a helmet, but it had a creepy shine to it as well.

The servants wouldn't even let him take his sword. What sort of escort was this going to be?

He pulled his overcoat out of the carriage. Unlike the vest, the coat was of a solid dark blue, completely lacking in glitter or finery. Not like it mattered, he'd probably end up discarding the coat once stepping inside anyway.

"Ready as I'll ever be..."

He threw the coat on over the puffy white shirt and stepped right next to Satty, looking around. He responded to the spectacle with a low whistle.

"People sure do know how to live, huh?"

There was another shrug of his shoulders. Hardly becoming of a noble, but he wasn't set to play the part. Although the looks he was getting from passerby were making him feel it all the more.

"Yeah but, if they went with less than people wouldn't be lining up from across the ocean to get in here."

He looked towards Satty as he made a little snarky comment about calling him Lord. He was smiling, well, at least the guy had a sense of humor. Galen shook his head with a sigh.

"I will never live this down. And if I get assassinated or mugged because of this, I'm taking it out of your dad's contract."

He was joking, but still, the thought of hazard pay hadn't really crossed his mind until recently. He wondered if it applied to his work at fancy parties as well. Galen started forward, following Satarel as he worked his way through the crowd.

"So uhh...anything I should know about talking to these people before we go in there?"

Oh, my.

Michelle wanted to scream By all the gods, no! the moment she set eyes on Eliza. The girl embodied exactly what Michelle thought was wrong with most noble women: all fluff and no sense. She was even ridiculously pretty, like some kind of porcelain doll people would marvel at all the live long day.

Michelle herself was as plain as her dress. Her figure could best be described at lanky, and the pile of hair atop her head did little to offset her boyish features. Her brother used to joke that the only way to tell she wasn't a man was to undress her; a joke she'd protested violently before she began to take a perverse pride in it.

But Eliza looked exactly like the kind of empty-headed twit who would gossip on for hours and might slip something important. So it was Michelle's sacred duty to speak to her.

So thinking, the Lady Michelle walked up to Eliza, a smile on her face. "Good evening, Lady...?"

The blond turned, her eyes narrowing for just a second before they became vapid and empty once more. "Hello.." She beamed, full of fake good cheer, but it was impossible to tell. After all, she had spent months convincing Daddy dearest that she was just a empty little twit. It had been perfected She courtesied prettily.

"I'm Lady Eliza Marie Alexandra Du Pri."