Borosevo Castle

Borosevo Castle is the seat of Count Balian Mataro's rule over Emesh, built atop a concrete and steel ziggurat a thousand feet above the city and sea. It is fashioned from raw sandstone with rounded arches under red tile roofs, colonnades decorated with crawling vines, and terraced gardens that stud the south face of the ziggurat. The Spear Tower rises from the ziggurat like a column of smoke into the sky, narrow as a reed. The castle features a mosaic quadrangle with tinkling fountains and green copper statues, sailcloth awnings decorated with patterns of dragons and manticores, a vaulted balcony overlooking the parade ground, and an entrance hall with a tiled floor, high pillars, and a vaulted ceiling bearing a fresco of the Mataro conquest of Emesh — including an image of an Umandh struggling against two Imperial legionnaires. Incline lifts rise through dozens of stories from the barbican level to the castle mezzanine, and foederati mercenaries in brown shirts await orders in the barbican.

The north wing contains the diplomatic apartments where Valka Onderra maintains her lodgings during storm season. Hadrian's own quarters are in the Sunglass Hall, one of the newer and less opulent buildings on the grounds. The castle grounds include training courtyards with clipped grass and overgrown arbors. The great hall features a long banquet table under static-field arches that give the appearance of open space, with live string and harp music; formal state banquets are held here attended by the most senior figures in Emesh's civil, military, and religious hierarchies. Gaslights in the yards serve as backup against frequent brownouts. Palace security monitors all communications made by residents; all outgoing messages and movements are subject to scrutiny by the count's inquisitors. Servants, logothetes, Umandh work crews, and peltasts in Mataro green and gold are a constant presence throughout, and the castle is described as having ten thousand surveillance eyes monitoring every room. The grounds include an elliptical grotto garden for formal duels, sheltered under raw sandstone carved with figures of Blind Justice, Wide-Eyed Fortitude, and Death; hedged by terranic yew with deep green leaves; carpeted with bone-white 'bone-grass'; and filled with large copper-colored native flowers on golden vines.

The council chamber features a broad arc of alumglass making up one wall, giving a view of the city and sea below, with a council table of speckled rose-green petrified wood. Garden terraces on the ziggurat's southern face are planted with terranic palms, include an ornithon, and are lit by safety lamps set into the stone wall; they are accessible via a winding interior stair. The castle experiences frequent brownouts affecting its power and surveillance systems. Hadrian's suite has cameras embedded in the environmental control panel and is watched by hoplites in the hall.