The Forgotten Palace
(Site; Mt. Celestia, Lunia)
written by Heiner de Wendt
Description. At first glance not more than a ruined castle of average size, a deeper investigation reveals
that the Forgotten
Palace is made from only the finest materials, and must have
been of utmost beauty once.
It is covered with countless plants, vines mainly, and bears
unknown runes on its still intact stone doors. Anyone who enters
the ruined castle comes into a great fest hall, also covered in
vines, streamed with wonderful statues of knights and ladies.
Two great staircases made from white pearls lead up to a balcony,
and beyond lie a few sleeping rooms.
It seems the Forgotten Palace has once been a site of great
festivities, and wasn't really used for living. Nowadays, the
only thing that could be of any real interest are the vines, which
are of the finest quality found in Lunia.
Special Features. The Forgotten Palace holds more secrets than
anyone dares to guess at. Aasimon and most greater archons avoid
the palace completely, while the lesser archons don't seem to
know much about it.
No priestly spells work within the temple, yet any servant of a
deity of Mt. Celestia feels a stronger link to his god here.
Interestingly, the special abilities of paladins also don't work
here, yet those of other classes (druids, rangers) do.
All members of the Athar feel completely repelled from this place, and any individuals of evil alignment feel a burning pain in their
hearts. Only those evil beings of greatest willpower can remain here for long (wisdom check each round, or flee in pain and
collapse for 1d4 rounds afterwards). Whenever this place is in danger, the petitioners and proxies of
Mt. Celestia do their best to defend this place, even risking
their own lives if needed.
The Chant. Legends which are forgotten by all except the wisest
archons and aasimon explain that the Forgotten Palace was once
part of Arborea, before the god residing within was converted
to lawful goodness. Just as he moved his realm to Mt. Celestia,
an evil deity attacked this plane. The new convert, seeing
his new home in terrible danger, gave his own existence to beat
the evil god: He blew himself up in a wave of purity, unleashing
the very essence of his nature. He infused the whole land around
him with it, and the evil power had only two choices - either
to flee, or to become infused with goodness itself. Thus, it
left Mt. Celestia, utterly frightened and never to return again. Most of the land infused with the good power's essence soon
faded into higher layers of the Seven Heavens. The Forgotten
Palace, though, stayed for some reason. It still keeps the essence
of the martyr god, which is the reason for all the strange
twists one can experience here. The feeling of a divinity of
Mt. Celestia brings one the feeling to be nearer to "his" deity
(even if, in truth, it's "only" near to divinity in general),
while the direct presence of this essence somehow blocks all
contact with other deities, involuntarily interfering with the
praying of worshippers.
The servants of Mt. Celestia do not believe that the power
who died here can be resurrected; it did not appear in the
Astral, but instead really seemed to merge with the plane,
giving all of its existence for the greater good of Mt. Celestia.
Yet, Mt. Celestia's planeborn (actually, not even the other
powers) aren't sure what of the power truly remains. There still
is that essence in the Forgotten Palace, yet it seems more like
blood on a carpet which just doesn't leave anymore.