Terran Imperial Palace

The Imperial Palace of the Terran Imperium is a vast complex of buildings covering 14 square kilometers, and includes the entirety of the ancient city of Constantinople. Construction would begin in 2159 when the site was purchased by Emperor Alexander I for a sum estimated to be twenty percent of the entire Imperial Treasury. Little of the city would be left untouched, with many historic buildings either being demolished or relocated elsewhere. Work would continue until the succession of Traian to the throne in 2214, when he ordered a pause on all construction within the palace. Emperor Maximian would resume construction in 2218 and it would not end until Rauschning II made the complex a museum in 2314, though parts of it remain in government use.    

Districts

The complex is divided roughly into districts relating to their use. The ancient hippodrome has been extended into a vast plaza centered on the Hagia Sophia. This plaza would go by many names until it was officially named the Forum of Terra by Maximian II.    

Constantine District

The eastern side of the Forum of Terra includes the Hagia Sophia, parkland, and the major foreign embassies. Most of the surviving Byzantine and Ottoman structures can be found in this district, the most significant being the Sultan Ahmed Mosque which has been converted into the Foreign Ministry.    

Augustus District

The Augustus district extends from the Forum of Terra to the northwest to the Constantinian Wall, bordered on the north by the Golden Horn and the south by Mese. This district contains the Imperial Throne Room with the attached Old Palace, the Alexander Palaces, Imperial Gardens, and the Theater of Euripides.    

Palatine District

Covering most of the southern half of the complex, the Palatine District includes the Convention of Houses on the Forum of Terra. Most of the district is covered with the small palaces and villas belonging to the Imperial Houses, each required to be built at their own expense. The largest palaces belong to the three Royal Houses, with House Carruthers being located on the Forum of Constantine, House Thomason on the Forum of Theodosius, and House Gerard at the Forum of Arcadius.    

Gaia District

Bordered by the Mese, Constantinian Wall, the Golden Horn, and the Theodosian Wall, the Gaia District is the most densely built area of the palace complex. Centered around the 200,000 seat hall built for meetings of the Convention of Worlds, the district also contains housing for the delegates and their families.    

Exakionion

This last district comprises the rest of the palace complex between the Constantinian and Theodosian Walls, and is a largely suburban area set aside as housing for the tens of thousands of staff needed to keep the palace complex functioning.