The Shuttered Palace

The Shuttered Palace

"The Traitor Empress and her consort live safely in the Shuttered Palace, in the protective custody of the Bazaar. No-one is permitted to use her name anymore."

"Why is the Empress' Palace shuttered? Apparently the Empress doesn't like light. Or sudden movements, loud noises, foreigners, treason, peaches. When you're Empress, you can do this kind of thing."

The Shuttered Palace, at the very west end of London, likely used to be called Kensington Palace but was renamed after the Fall. The Empress and her family, with the scandalous exception of the ahistorical Captivating Princess, are confined to the palace... and for good reason. (See below, if you dare.)

It is a magnet for London's up-and-coming entertainers, even though they have to stay quiet.

The Empress's Court

The Court is the inner sanctum of the Shuttered Palace; it is where the Empress and most of her family (the Consort, and eight of their ten children) live and the most famed artists in London work. It is most interesting to London's more Persuasive, but these are inevitably banished after staging an overly loud and scandalous work.

What lies beneath the Palace? (Open if you dare. Shocking/fate-locked secrets ahead.)

While solving a murder mystery at the University, one learns that the Duchess's husband (The Cantigaster) resides in the palace cellars, along with huge collections of objects - living, dead, and inanimate alike. Well, that's better-known than the following piece of "mind explosive." Those who used Fate (which costs real-life money) to unlock a storylet called "The Gift" on Christmas 2014 found out the fate of the children of the Empress and the Consort: after an unfortunate episode involving either gaoler's honey or badly crossbred prisoner's honey, all of them are monsters, save for the Captivating Princess, who already is said to have fiery red eyes. One may see the siblings as they were before, but only in a mirror. Some intrepid players decided to link each epithet mentioned in the story to one of the Empress/Queen Victoria's children: Empress's Shadow - Victoria, Princess Royal, who stayed on the Surface since she was married to a Surface prince Redundant Heir - Prince Albert Edward, later Edward VII, who stayed on the Surface to rule Britain, but attended the dinner with his monster siblings Dutiful Daughter - Princess Alice, who has become "the Serpentine Coils" Brooding Captain - Prince Alfred Ernest, formerly captain of the Galatea, who has become "the Shadow with Teeth" Heartbroken Bibliophile - Princess Helena, who has become "an abhorrence of rusting quills" Recalcitrant Sculptress - Princess Louise, who has become "the gaunt thing with a coat of glass feathers" Bellicose Prince - Prince Arthur, who has become "the weeping horse-sized grub" Delicate Duke - Prince Leopold, who seems to have become a puce, veiny blob Playful Prodigy - Princess Beatrice, who has become "the spider-thing with face-hands and needle-fingers"