Thrones of the Lords

Two high-backed stone chairs carved with spiked motifs dominate the center of the State Room. Carved from black basalt and raised on a low dais, the thrones face inward toward the room’s central aisle, forcing supplicants like Habris to approach at an angle that emphasizes their inferior posture. The chairs’ surfaces bear indentations from centuries of nails and hooks driven into the stone—once used for wreaths and insignia, now forgotten. The room’s dim light, filtered through narrow vertical windows, catches the thrones’ rough textures unevenly, casting fragmented shadows across Zargo and Camilla’s polished boots. The seats themselves are plain and unadorned, the power they embody resting not in decoration but in the silence of obedience they demand. Cold drafts sweep through the hall, carrying the faint metallic tang of old blood from the dais’s hidden grooves.