Sketch by Toren Atkinson from the Campaign Setting depicting the Radisha Drah, the Prahbrindrah Drah, and possibly Cordy Mather in the Palace
The Palace of Taglios is a sprawling, ancient structure in the storied city of Taglios in the southern continent. Located within Trogo, the oldest and wealthiest neighborhood in the entire city, the Palace is the ancestral home of the Prahbrindrah Drah (the Prince), his sister the Radisha Drah (the Princess), their court wizard Smoke, and was later occupied by the "Protector" (tyrant) Soulcatcher. It was also the meeting place of the Privy Council and the headquarters of the Royal Guards. The Palace was the setting for many of the events of both Books of the South and all four Books of Glittering Stone.
Each new Prince throughout Taglios's long history has added to the building, making it a tortuous hodgepodge of uneven levels, confusing hallways, and abandoned sections. Only a single man in the city's entire history, the court wizard Smoke, was ever known to have memorized every room, hall, stairway, and entryway of the place.
Dreams of Steel[]
In one of the Palace's secured rooms, the court wizard Smoke was savagely mauled by Soulcatcher's Palace demon. It had tore its way through a pinhole in his sorcery protection. Simultaneously, the Royal Guards, escorting the Prahbrindrah Drah and the Radisha Drah personally, battered down Smoke's door. The demon had been ripping at Smoke in a corner, but was stunned to see the royals in the doorway. The Prahbrindrah threw a sharp stake of wood at it, and the demon shrank away.
For several years afterward, Smoke's comatose body was kept fed and well-hidden in the Palace, where top members of the Black Company would "ride" his un-anchored ghost through time and space to conduct surveillance and gather intelligence. Beginning around this time, One-Eye and Goblin started weaving complex spells throughout certain spots in the Palace, hiding certain rooms and passageways for Company usage only. (Their work was so impressive that the unrivaled sorceress Soulcatcher only discovered the deception after a concerted search roughly 15 years after their departure, in Water Sleeps.)
Bleak Seasons[]
The Black Company was garrisoned in the Palace during Bleak Seasons. There, they conducted the logistics for the huge campaign to prosecute the closure of the Shadowmaster wars.
During the Company's time in garrison, a group of experienced Stranglers infiltrated the Palace and targeted the room where Croaker (the Liberator and Black Company Captain) was known to reside. Two of them, disguised as holy prostitutes of Bashra, initiated the attack by getting close enough to the Royal Guards for the kill. Because their intelligence was out-of-date by several days, Croaker was not present during their strike. Instead, the Stranglers murdered the toddler To Tan and attempted to kill other residents like Uncle Doj, Ky Sahra, and Thai Dei. The Stranglers were defeated by the seasoned Path of the Sword experts. Uncle Doj and Ky Gota opportunistically used this event to trick Murgen into believing that his wife Sahra had been strangled. In reality, she was safe, but they smuggled her out to give birth to her biracial son Tobo in secrecy and shame at the Vinh Gao Ghang Temple of Ghanghesha.
Water Sleeps[]
The Palace naturally became the seat of the Protectorate when Soulcatcher established her despotic regime over both Taglios and the former Shadowlands. She dismissed most of the permanent staff, so maintenance tasks were delegated to day laborers overseen by Jaul Barundandi, the "subassistant housekeeper" of the Palace. Barundandi regularly abused this position to demand sexual favors or kickbacks from the lower classes; the kickbacks were often collected by his subordinate Del Mukharjee. Barundandi's wife Narita also worked in the Palace.
After the Kiaulune wars, Ky Sahra and sometimes Sleepy infiltrated the Palace, disguised as low-caste cleaners serving Jaul Barundandi. Sahra conducted valuable intelligence about the day-to-day activities and movements of the Black Company's eventual targets: Soulcatcher and the Privy Council.
During Water Sleeps, one area of the Palace's thick walls were literally perforated with rounds from fireball projectors, when Sleepy's Black Company operatives kidnapped Willow Swan. Later, with the help of Goblin in disguise, the Company abducted the Radisha Drah herself.
Soldiers Live[]
At the very beginning of the Siege of Taglios in Soldiers Live, at least an entire acre of the Palace was utterly flattened. This occurred when two rheitgeistiden (magic flying posts) flown by Mihlos Sedona and General Chu were blown up by fireballs launched by Mogaba's shooters atop the roof of the Palace. The immense shock wave smashed "in an acre of Palace like an invisible giant's foot stomping on eggshells". Most of the structure was in ruins at the end of the battle. Croaker would record:
| “ | The popular consensus was that an all-new palace should be erected, once the old structures had been cleared away. I could not imagine what treasures and surprises might surface if they did demolish and remove the whole rambling monster. | ” |