The Imperial Square is the four wings, which forms a smaller courtyard and encloses it in the northern part of the palace which points towards the city center, and is where one enters the palace when on visits or where the Emperor enters upon returning home to the palace. There are six parts to the Imperial Square, the four wings, the courtyard and the front yard. The Imperial Square is named so due to being the part of the palace in which the Emperor and his immediate family lives. It is furthermore also being used for state occasions, balls, dinners and banquets, it takes up about a third of the floor space of the roughly 230.000 square meters.
The Front yard:
The Front Yard is where the main gate to the palace is, it is the frontal part of the palace where Tolstov road ends and the Palace begins. At the front there are three gates, one main gate in which carriages enter into the palace upon visit, along with a minor gate on each side for the servants as well as guards to use to enter and exit the palace. Each of the gates has the Emperor’s gilded coat of arms on them. Inside the Front Yard there is little to see, and anyone looking in from outside will not doubt be observing the Imperial Guards more than anything else, whom stand guard outside in wind and rain or sunny and warm.
Northern Wing:
The Northern Wing of the Imperial Square is frontal wing of the palace, which is the one that visitors see first, along with the commoners who pass by. It is located at the end of the Front Yard, and leads into the Courtyard by an opening in the ground floor, allowing carriages to pass under the building by going under the first floor. As this removed a section of the ground floor for the staff, during construction a small cellar only working as a connection between the two parts of the ground floor was built underneath to allow the staff to move through.
To get into the Northern wing, visitors have to pass through a corridor in the Eastern Wing through the courtyard, this corridor leads the visitor through various kinds of art, paintings, sculptures, mirrors, decorations and so forth in an attempt to impress and show royal power. This corridor leads all the way to the middle of the Northern Wing where a rectangular square with an elaborate staircase allows the visitor up on the second floor.
The first floor in the Northern Wing is split into two parts, on the right side is a large series of rooms with various tables, chairs and other comfortable furniture, not to mention various purposes. It has rooms for reading the newspaper, music, a smaller gallery with paintings and paintings on the ceiling as well as gambling tables where a good deal of the nobility spent their time when invited to the palace for state occasions. There have been noblemen both making and losing their fortunes in this room, even an Emperor who had to go to the House of Lords, following a season of poor luck to ask for money. Due to the amount of rooms there are also plenty of footmen walking around with drinks for the guests while there.
At the end of these rooms is a final large room, larger than the ones before, called the concert hall, it is here that the court gathers when a famous musician is playing a new piece, or when a piece of music is dedicated to the Sovereign and played. It was here that Bethany Konrad-de Viscany played a piece for the court following her marriage to His Imperial Highness Prince Stannis.
On the left side of the staircase on the first floor is the most important room in the palace, at least symbolically. A large collection of rooms which forms a corridor then their doors are open going all the way to the end of the wing. The further you get down the corridor of rooms, the more important you are, with the most important people just outside the final room, the Throne Room. There are always two Imperial Guards present outside the Throne Room, no matter if the sovereign is inside. When entering the Throne Room, it is customary to bow three times, once upon entry, another halfway to his Majesty, and a third right before the Imperial presence.
It is in here that foreign diplomats are presented, along with new members at court, or other citizens of higher standing having come with a partition to his Imperial Majesty’s ministers. It is also where the presentation ceremony happens of young aristocrats during the summer months who have now become eligible for marriage.
The second floor is likewise split into two different set of rooms. Over the Throne Room is the Stag Room, rooms only male visitors and courtiers are allowed to enter. In there presides the Emperor, it is very similar to downstairs that it has gambling tables, billiard and different strong drinks for the men to enjoy. It is a place the male nobility spends time after a dinner. Politics are often discussed, the chance to talk away from the formal setting of the House of Lords, and for the Emperor to discuss politics and his wishes for the nation together with his nobility along with a glass of wishky, brandy or scotch along with a Meldavarian cigar.
On the other side of the Stag Room is the Tea Rooms, which is for the ladies of the court, where they likewise come after banquets, it is presided over by the Empress (if she is lacking then the most senior/highest ranking lady). It is here that the women talk and listen to music. There is some talk of politics among those who sit in the House of Lords, but due to the low number then the majority of the talks focuses on art, music and gossip.
Eastern Wing:
The Eastern Wing is the part of the palace which is used state occasions together with the Northern Wing. On the ground floor is the Imperial kitchens, the ones used to cook for the guests at state banquets and other large events at the palace.
As you enter the Eastern Wing upon arrival, going in from the courtyard, you enter into a tunnel through the ground floor to a grand staircase which leads up to the first floor and into a corridor where you can go to either of the two rooms.
Top half of the wing (as in facing north) is the great banquet hall, it is where the Emperors dine with the politicians, foreign diplomats and guests at state dinners and banquets. Opposite the banquet hall, in the lower half (facing south) of the Eastern Wing is the Great Ball Room, where the masquerades, balls and so forth are held for the guests with musicians playing above them on an interior balcony. The east wing is the only part of the palace which does not have a second floor, as the rooms were designed to be large and imposing on the guests, with paintings on the ceiling creating a further illusion making the ceiling appear even further away.
Next to the banquet hall on the first floor is a large corridor, which is used to connect the Eastern Wing with the Northern Wing, filled with paintings, sculptures and other art, which visitors use when going from the courtyard and towards the Throne room in the Northern wing.
Western Wing:
The Western Wing of the Imperial Square is used to house the Empress as well as the Crown Prince. As such they are the private quarters and are very rarely seen by anyone not a member of the Imperial Family, the servants or trusted ministers.
Within the last decade, after the now Emperor Victarian was sent to Tasmir, and the death of the Empress, the apartment stood empty. This was changed when Emperor Emiliano put the rooms back to use by granting the Empress quarters to his favorite mistress which caused a large scandal. Partly because she had no right, but also that she had been divorced twice and as such was seen as unfit company for the Emperor. Eventually the matter dealt with itself as the mistress died. Since then the Western Wing once again stood empty, waiting for new use.
Southern Wing:
The Southern Wing of the Imperial Square is the Emperors quarters, it is reserved alone for the Emperor to live in and have several different rooms. Some of them are the Emperor’s study where state documents are kept and where the Emperor reads the dispactes from the House of Lords and foreign diplomats. A library, game room and stag room among numerous others.
It is in the attic above that the head butler lives, the one who has overall responsibility for the entire palace. The Emperor’s two valets also live there among several footmen. In the cellar are the cooks, a private kitchen installed serving only the Emperor and his private guests with whatever they may wish.
It is also rumored back from the days of Victarian VII that a secret passageway is located behind a fake shelf in one of the rooms, one which Victarian VII used to move between him and his favorite mistresses who lived in the Emiliano Corridor. Its naturally never been proven, not for lack of trying by Emperor Emiliano V’s wife.
The Southern Wing is also the largest of all in the Imperial Square, having an extension on both sides of the main wing which builds into the Emiliano and Valer Corridor which extends down the Palace.
