Neutral Palace

Neutral Palace. 6th AC mural by Twardin Kopn.

Neutral Palace was a palace built in the 6th century TR specifically for the Peace Congress and was meant to be the venue for future Congresses and formal events for leaders of countries of Continent. However, the first Peace Congress also turned out to be the last, resulting in the beginning of War.

It was completely destroyed in 560 TR, just 50 years after its construction by the Loodon Empire forces. No ruins remain.

The palace was jointly commissioned by the combined efforts of Loodon Empire and Leykarya in 501 and completed nine years later in 510.

6th AC painting by Ghaleo Karbn

Long Corridor was the corridor that lead from the main hall to the main entrance. It is in this corridor that the Emperor of Loodon had been killed by Rhadr, one of the kings of Astauand.

The painting was made before the Peace Congress by Ghaleo Karbn. Ghaleo stayed at the premises during the Congress and allegedly made a second version of the painting that depicted the body of Loodon emperor, with blood oozing from under him, and Rhadr moving away with a sword in his hand, having left bloody footprints on the floor.

According to Ghaleo's memoirs, which were published 40 years later under the title of “The landscapes I've drawn”, the painting impressed the royal staff and was purchased by one of the noblemen for such a huge sum of money that Ghaleo felt free to retire. While he actually continued to work and claimed to produce many more important paintings, it is documented that he was indeed propelled into wealth after the Peace Congress.

Twardin Kopn was hired to create a mural, which he had drawn on a large 4×6 meters canvas which was then attached to a wall. It was obvious and, thus, widely known at the time that the depiction of Neutral Palace on the mural was highly inaccurate, and the Loodon Emperor was disappointed with the result. So much so, that on his orders Twardin was imprisoned in the Neutral Palace during the Peace Congress, so that the emperor could deal with him later. It is difficult to know exactly what fate would have come upon Twardin if the emperor had survived the event, but as he hadn't, his courtiers didn't know what to do with the painter, and Twardin was let go.

Real shape of the Palace, as reconstructed by historians

The mural depicts a very ordinary, “flat” looking palace, while Neutral Palace was known to be enormous, with two large towers on the sides and an even bigger and higher central tower.

The colors are also completely wrong: while Twardin's mural is comprised of orange, yellow and red, the Neutral Palace was painted light blue, with dark blue ornaments.

Unfortunately, due to the political situation, no one else was ever commissioned to paint the Palace and in spite of the Palace's notoriety as the site of the Peace Congress, its surviving depictions are in text form only, usually from multiple memoirs of the Peace Congress participants. The depictions are very much inline with each other and describe an enormous light blue structure with three towers, which on a sunny day would look like a portal into the heavens.

However, even at the time the mural was still considered a masterpiece, and was kept in the Neutral Palace up to the time of its destruction, when it was stolen out of the Palace by someone from the Loodon army several days before the destruction of the building.

Currently, the mural is exhibited in the museum of art at Leykaron.