- Pronouns
- he/him
- TNP Nation
- Arcanstotska
The Aurel Palace was a relatively large collection of buildings on Cyrn, covering about 270,000 square kilometers of the planet’s surface and stretched high up into the planet’s skies. Cyrn, the most holy throneworld of the Sekari Empire, was by now a full-blown ecumenopolis—a planet-wide city; a city that not only covered the planet’s surface but also extended down, down below as well. As the Empire spent centuries rapidly expanding across neighboring star systems it seized control of an ever growing ocean of raw materials across what space it now controlled. Many of those raw materials were hauled back to Cyrn where they were dedicated to the planet’s ever-increasing development, among other things. Rough though optimistic estimates projected that Sekari space wouldn’t start becoming resource-starved for one-and-a-half million years yet. The Empire was only about 660 years old.
The Aurel Palace was the residence of the imperial family; the Emperor, the Empress Consort, and their children as well as close relatives. Aides, servants, imperial officials, and others also lived within the labyrinthian complex of vast halls, glittering spires, and plazas elaborately decorated with all manner of beauties and fine things. There were even dedicated visitor quarters to facilitate dignitaries visiting the planet and meeting with the sovereign, be they Sekari or otherwise. The Palace’s design was considered the pinnacle merging of art and architecture; its exterior and interior were covered in colorful murals, expansive calligraphy, engravings of flowers and animals in gold or marble white.
Arulian Kochi a-Khosravi’s eyes groggily pulled themselves open, slowly at first but then wincing as a servant droid pulled open the blinds and gave the system’s dual stars a path straight to his quarters. The automaton moved over to Arulian’s bed, giving a slight bow as it addressed the prince.
“Good morning, Your Highness,” it spoke with a feminine but undeniably artificial voice. “It is the tenth hour of the day. The date is the eighth of Analas*, year 658al**. You have your imperial history studies with Professor Harin Keto at the eleventh hour. Then at the fifteenth hour, you have your political studies to attend to.”
Arulian yawned as he sat up in bed and brushed his bed-head hair with his hands so it’d stay down. The Prince turned and lazily pulled himself out of bed, sliding his feet into a pair of furred slippers before shambling his way over to the adjacent room where another droid would attend to his hair and facial care. He took his seat before a large mirror mounted on the wall and the droid got to work.
“Is mother busy today?” He asked the droid that woke him up, though he didn’t look behind him to face the automaton. The other droid attending to him requested that the prince open his mouth wide and then quickly and gently brushed his teeth and helped him flush the paste out of his mouth.
“Her Majesty the Empress Consort is scheduled to give a tour of the palace gardens in one hour and forty-two minutes from now. Beyond that, her schedule is unoccupied, Your Highness.”
Arulian preferred to spend his downtime with his mother, the Empress Consort. She and his sister Princess Asula were the only ones in his family whom he was particularly close with. His father was always busy and always away; he honestly couldn’t remember the last time the Emperor had spent any down time with his family with much clarity. Whatever time his father had off from his responsibilities as sovereign was spent in the palace gardens. Arulian's parents’ marriage was arranged long ago between their respective families and neither of them were very fond of the other.
At least he was close to his mother and sister, though. At least he had someone. His might not be a perfect upbringing, in spite of the immense luxury of being an imperial prince—but his mother made things easier.
“What is father doing today?” Arulian asked. The other droid attending to his face was combing his hair into a neat fashion before it applied a gel to keep its work from becoming undone later.
“His Majesty the Emperor is convening a session of the Imperial Parliament. Afterwards, he is going to Argeyus*** to congratulate the assembled senior class at the Imperial University of Argeyus on their graduation.”
Arulian frowned. As usual, he had no reason to expect that he might get to spend time with his father. He rose from his seat before the mirror and the stylist droid backed away, moving to a nearby clothing rack to fetch the prince’s attire for the day. He was dressed in fine clothes with trimmings of silken gold. A pearly white jacket was offered to him and he slid his arms into the sleeves. The droid dressing him moved in front of the prince to fasten the buttons, then lightly pat his clothes down to take care of any small wrinkles. Finally, Arulian was lightly sprayed with cologne.
Arulian turned back to look at himself in the mirror, clad in the usually abundant pomp and luxury. His attire was white from his neck and shoulders down to his toes. Along his shoulders were elaborate patterns of golden silk that twisted and turned like vines with small flower designs. He was like a young angel; dressed in magnificent beauty befitting an agent of God—he and his family had undoubtedly the most plentiful and luxurious existence in the Empire, perhaps the sector. Yet despite it all, deep down inside himself Arulian felt incomplete. Something always felt off, like there was something missing; that unknown key to what he thought might be full happiness and contentment, one he thought was out there, somewhere. But “out there, somewhere” lay an entire galaxy and that’s a big area to cover. But he could never shake the sense that despite its fanciness, his world felt so small and unfeeling. He could count on both fingers the number of times he’d gone beyond this gargantuan palace complex, into the outside city—much less beyond the planet.
The Prince moved back into his main bedroom as both droids bowed their heads. He gathered the materials he’d need for his studying throughout the day and departed from his quarters, headed for the room set aside for him and his tutors a few halls away. His servant droid followed him.
“What’s the news today?” Arulian asked.
“J’noru**** separatist agitators are continuing to stir up crowds on their race’s home planet of Orr in the Lihyazah system. The local j’noru rulers are attempting to maintain order. However, pro-independence rallies continue to grow in attendance.”
Arulian nodded. The j’noru once possessed a fledgling interstellar empire of their own before they were conquered by the Sekari and forced to join the Empire. He knew he was in no position to affect things but he worried about the prospect of a civil war in the future. God forbid it breaks out after father dies and Arulian is proclaimed emperor. Arulian’s father wouldn’t be cheery to hear this news from his advisors, though. Or perhaps he’d already heard.
Arulian wasn’t simply a Prince, but specifically the heir apparent to the Sekari throne. When his father, growing older year by year with wrinkled skin and whitening hair, eventually dies he will be proclaimed and crowned Emperor of the Sekari. Arulian always felt rather indifferent to the idea of his father’s death. What scared him about his father’s future passing was the knowledge that he would have to fill his father’s shoes—it wasn’t a job he was eager to get. Granted, the Sekari emperors weren’t as politically powerful as they had been in centuries past; the role of emperor had been increasingly relegated to a ceremonial figurehead over the past hundred-or-so years. Constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy allowed for Parliament to take the emperor’s place as the effective dominant political body in the Empire. Though, of course, the emperor still had duties and responsibilities that Arulian dreaded having to eventually address.
He was being trained to eventually take on the role of emperor. He was being taught imperial protocols, public speaking, political science, foreign relations and government, and more. But even then, the occasions when his mind was stuck on his future emperorship filled him with a sense of worry and unease. Then again, he assumed that plenty of people worried about the future as he did.
Arulian turned the corner in the hallway, immediately bumping into a servant boy who looked to be around the same age as himself. The aide was carrying a tray of items in his hands—glasses of red wine that stained the Prince’s now formerly white clothes. A look of surprise settled onto Aurlian’s face. Terror overtook the servant’s. The two stared at each other for a brief moment before the servant hastily took out a cloth and started patting the Prince down, trying to soak up the spilled alcohol.
“Y-Your Highness!” There was a tone of utter distress in his voice as he desperately tried removing the wine from Arulian’s jacket. “I’m so very sorry! Please forgive me, it was my fault! I should not have been walking so tightly around the corner—”
“Servant boy, how dare you!” Arulian’s droid scolded and lambasted the young servant. “You have ruined the attire of His Highness! I shall report this to palace staff immediately—”
“It’s alright, it’s alright!” Arulian cut the droid off in turn. He faced the servant who looked ashamed and terrified of what he had done, though also a little confused as to why the Prince too was not bashing him. Arulian put on a warm smile.
“It’s alright, I can just go back to my quarters and quickly change.”
The servant’s expression seemed to relax a bit before he bowed his head. “Thank you, Your Highness.” Arulian motioned for him to pass by so that he might attend to his other duties. The Prince faced his droid companion and commanded that it call for cleaning droids.
Arulian chuckled a bit. His clothes were ruined and he’d need to change, but that was okay. Professor Keto would probably talk to him about being late, but Arulian cared little for that.
*Analas = the seventh month of the Sekari Empire's standard imperial calendar based on Cyrn's orbit on its axis, the positions and phases of its moon, and its revolutions around the star Rhea. The standard imperial calendar is lunisolar and possesses fourteen months in total, averaging around twenty days each. Analas is considered a holy month in Sekari religion as it corresponds to the same time of year Cyrn was discovered and settled over six centuries ago.
**658al = this post takes place 658 years after the early Sekari found and settled Cyrn, forming their empire around 2280 ("al" stands for "after landing"). The roughly corresponding Tellusian calendar date is 2938.
***Argeyus = Cyrn's only natural satellite.
****J'noru = a non-human species within the Sekari Empire
The Aurel Palace was the residence of the imperial family; the Emperor, the Empress Consort, and their children as well as close relatives. Aides, servants, imperial officials, and others also lived within the labyrinthian complex of vast halls, glittering spires, and plazas elaborately decorated with all manner of beauties and fine things. There were even dedicated visitor quarters to facilitate dignitaries visiting the planet and meeting with the sovereign, be they Sekari or otherwise. The Palace’s design was considered the pinnacle merging of art and architecture; its exterior and interior were covered in colorful murals, expansive calligraphy, engravings of flowers and animals in gold or marble white.
Arulian Kochi a-Khosravi’s eyes groggily pulled themselves open, slowly at first but then wincing as a servant droid pulled open the blinds and gave the system’s dual stars a path straight to his quarters. The automaton moved over to Arulian’s bed, giving a slight bow as it addressed the prince.
“Good morning, Your Highness,” it spoke with a feminine but undeniably artificial voice. “It is the tenth hour of the day. The date is the eighth of Analas*, year 658al**. You have your imperial history studies with Professor Harin Keto at the eleventh hour. Then at the fifteenth hour, you have your political studies to attend to.”
Arulian yawned as he sat up in bed and brushed his bed-head hair with his hands so it’d stay down. The Prince turned and lazily pulled himself out of bed, sliding his feet into a pair of furred slippers before shambling his way over to the adjacent room where another droid would attend to his hair and facial care. He took his seat before a large mirror mounted on the wall and the droid got to work.
“Is mother busy today?” He asked the droid that woke him up, though he didn’t look behind him to face the automaton. The other droid attending to him requested that the prince open his mouth wide and then quickly and gently brushed his teeth and helped him flush the paste out of his mouth.
“Her Majesty the Empress Consort is scheduled to give a tour of the palace gardens in one hour and forty-two minutes from now. Beyond that, her schedule is unoccupied, Your Highness.”
Arulian preferred to spend his downtime with his mother, the Empress Consort. She and his sister Princess Asula were the only ones in his family whom he was particularly close with. His father was always busy and always away; he honestly couldn’t remember the last time the Emperor had spent any down time with his family with much clarity. Whatever time his father had off from his responsibilities as sovereign was spent in the palace gardens. Arulian's parents’ marriage was arranged long ago between their respective families and neither of them were very fond of the other.
At least he was close to his mother and sister, though. At least he had someone. His might not be a perfect upbringing, in spite of the immense luxury of being an imperial prince—but his mother made things easier.
“What is father doing today?” Arulian asked. The other droid attending to his face was combing his hair into a neat fashion before it applied a gel to keep its work from becoming undone later.
“His Majesty the Emperor is convening a session of the Imperial Parliament. Afterwards, he is going to Argeyus*** to congratulate the assembled senior class at the Imperial University of Argeyus on their graduation.”
Arulian frowned. As usual, he had no reason to expect that he might get to spend time with his father. He rose from his seat before the mirror and the stylist droid backed away, moving to a nearby clothing rack to fetch the prince’s attire for the day. He was dressed in fine clothes with trimmings of silken gold. A pearly white jacket was offered to him and he slid his arms into the sleeves. The droid dressing him moved in front of the prince to fasten the buttons, then lightly pat his clothes down to take care of any small wrinkles. Finally, Arulian was lightly sprayed with cologne.
Arulian turned back to look at himself in the mirror, clad in the usually abundant pomp and luxury. His attire was white from his neck and shoulders down to his toes. Along his shoulders were elaborate patterns of golden silk that twisted and turned like vines with small flower designs. He was like a young angel; dressed in magnificent beauty befitting an agent of God—he and his family had undoubtedly the most plentiful and luxurious existence in the Empire, perhaps the sector. Yet despite it all, deep down inside himself Arulian felt incomplete. Something always felt off, like there was something missing; that unknown key to what he thought might be full happiness and contentment, one he thought was out there, somewhere. But “out there, somewhere” lay an entire galaxy and that’s a big area to cover. But he could never shake the sense that despite its fanciness, his world felt so small and unfeeling. He could count on both fingers the number of times he’d gone beyond this gargantuan palace complex, into the outside city—much less beyond the planet.
The Prince moved back into his main bedroom as both droids bowed their heads. He gathered the materials he’d need for his studying throughout the day and departed from his quarters, headed for the room set aside for him and his tutors a few halls away. His servant droid followed him.
“What’s the news today?” Arulian asked.
“J’noru**** separatist agitators are continuing to stir up crowds on their race’s home planet of Orr in the Lihyazah system. The local j’noru rulers are attempting to maintain order. However, pro-independence rallies continue to grow in attendance.”
Arulian nodded. The j’noru once possessed a fledgling interstellar empire of their own before they were conquered by the Sekari and forced to join the Empire. He knew he was in no position to affect things but he worried about the prospect of a civil war in the future. God forbid it breaks out after father dies and Arulian is proclaimed emperor. Arulian’s father wouldn’t be cheery to hear this news from his advisors, though. Or perhaps he’d already heard.
Arulian wasn’t simply a Prince, but specifically the heir apparent to the Sekari throne. When his father, growing older year by year with wrinkled skin and whitening hair, eventually dies he will be proclaimed and crowned Emperor of the Sekari. Arulian always felt rather indifferent to the idea of his father’s death. What scared him about his father’s future passing was the knowledge that he would have to fill his father’s shoes—it wasn’t a job he was eager to get. Granted, the Sekari emperors weren’t as politically powerful as they had been in centuries past; the role of emperor had been increasingly relegated to a ceremonial figurehead over the past hundred-or-so years. Constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy allowed for Parliament to take the emperor’s place as the effective dominant political body in the Empire. Though, of course, the emperor still had duties and responsibilities that Arulian dreaded having to eventually address.
He was being trained to eventually take on the role of emperor. He was being taught imperial protocols, public speaking, political science, foreign relations and government, and more. But even then, the occasions when his mind was stuck on his future emperorship filled him with a sense of worry and unease. Then again, he assumed that plenty of people worried about the future as he did.
Arulian turned the corner in the hallway, immediately bumping into a servant boy who looked to be around the same age as himself. The aide was carrying a tray of items in his hands—glasses of red wine that stained the Prince’s now formerly white clothes. A look of surprise settled onto Aurlian’s face. Terror overtook the servant’s. The two stared at each other for a brief moment before the servant hastily took out a cloth and started patting the Prince down, trying to soak up the spilled alcohol.
“Y-Your Highness!” There was a tone of utter distress in his voice as he desperately tried removing the wine from Arulian’s jacket. “I’m so very sorry! Please forgive me, it was my fault! I should not have been walking so tightly around the corner—”
“Servant boy, how dare you!” Arulian’s droid scolded and lambasted the young servant. “You have ruined the attire of His Highness! I shall report this to palace staff immediately—”
“It’s alright, it’s alright!” Arulian cut the droid off in turn. He faced the servant who looked ashamed and terrified of what he had done, though also a little confused as to why the Prince too was not bashing him. Arulian put on a warm smile.
“It’s alright, I can just go back to my quarters and quickly change.”
The servant’s expression seemed to relax a bit before he bowed his head. “Thank you, Your Highness.” Arulian motioned for him to pass by so that he might attend to his other duties. The Prince faced his droid companion and commanded that it call for cleaning droids.
Arulian chuckled a bit. His clothes were ruined and he’d need to change, but that was okay. Professor Keto would probably talk to him about being late, but Arulian cared little for that.
*Analas = the seventh month of the Sekari Empire's standard imperial calendar based on Cyrn's orbit on its axis, the positions and phases of its moon, and its revolutions around the star Rhea. The standard imperial calendar is lunisolar and possesses fourteen months in total, averaging around twenty days each. Analas is considered a holy month in Sekari religion as it corresponds to the same time of year Cyrn was discovered and settled over six centuries ago.
**658al = this post takes place 658 years after the early Sekari found and settled Cyrn, forming their empire around 2280 ("al" stands for "after landing"). The roughly corresponding Tellusian calendar date is 2938.
***Argeyus = Cyrn's only natural satellite.
****J'noru = a non-human species within the Sekari Empire
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