Snippet #1775927

Once a castle, the Imperial "Palace," surrounding the monumental Crystal Temple, had been abandoned and repurposed when Beraud Cylas, Osiric's father, had a newer, much bigger castle built south of the Imperial City, as such, the castle only ever had one entrance, with the exception of a couple of passages leading out of the Council Hall. Climbing rose trellis, weaving around wrought iron latticework bolted into the outer walls of the council Hall, led all the way up the stone to stained glass arched bay windows, most of them shut. The rooms overlooking the city went as far as the lobby and ended where the courtyard, encircled by high stone walls led to the immense library and entrance to the temple.

The main entrance leads directly into the tax office, connecting to both the central hall and the library, which leads out into a courtyard with the main doors to the temple at the south end. In the tax office, a short, stout man seated on a chair behind a sturdy wooden desk flips through papers, peering over the rims of his spectacles and lifting and lowering pages several times as he compares records. To the left of the desk, two huge doors locked with a heavy bar block the entryway into the Council Hall, and to the right, stands the door to the library.

The library, upon first glance seems daunting, with shelves of books so high there are long ladders extending toward the vaulted ceiling in several aisles. Further back, the exit to a circular courtyard is visible behind rows of shorter shelves. A few people reading silently sit on chairs at the wide tables in the center of the library. In the right wing, a tall, pale-skinned man with long robes and white hair leans toward a shelf on the highest rung of a ladder, his fingers clasping a book. He appears to be deeply engrossed in what he is reading. No one lingers in the courtyard. Some people walk around the courtyard toward the library or temple entrance.