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Atlantis
With the exception of very close Royal and Political circles, the nature of the death of Amejisu III was kept a secret and Tourma’s ascension to the throne was a return to old traditions. She decided to celebrate by ordering two building projects her mother would have despised, the Circulus de Venatus in Mara (an arena solely for games and theatre) and a new Palace. She destroyed Aulis’ Roman creation in the capital and replaced it with a spectacular piece of architecture, which almost bankrupted her treasury. The castle Atlantis was a grand castle and the largest Palace to yet stand. It endured for the rest of the planet’s life and was constructed from an ivory coloured marble. The turrets and domes had roofs formed of a brilliant green glass and the walls elaborately decorated with sculptures and inset amethysts, blue topaz and onyx gems. The decoration also included pillars around the walls and the balconies in a nod to the Roman Society. The most impressive piece was the Great Hall, a room made entirely of green glass with a long broken oval domed roof so that light filtered in in patches making the hall glitter. Columns of glass ran up either side of the hall from which banners hung and led to the magnificent throne carved entirely out of one block of emerald that had been imported from Jupiter. The state apartments of the Queen and Princess had this green glass in columns as designs and in intricate patterned glass floors. The castle curved around a lake renamed the Lake of Atlantis and the entire complex covered a giant area nearing one square mile. The castle was incredibly costly but Tourma managed to re-gather some funds from the profits of a network of Circulus’ in the major cities and also from an ingenious idea to allow her people to share in her creation by offering visits to certain parts of the castle at certain times of the year – tourism. However despite this popular change, Tourma was overindulgent after the deprival of her youth and wasted money on various vices and personal pleasures. She died in BC 211/AS 1789 leaving Aquarius much poorer with taxes increased in her later years to cover the losses. ~*The Queen of Excess, Tourma IV*~
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