The Hall of Speakers
Contents
Overview
Marked by a towering ivory spire of Elvish design, nestled between a pair of even wealthier clubhouses, lies the Hall of Speakers. If the pompous spire ain’t a give away that this is the home of Signers, the large statue out front called “The Power of One” will do the trick. Depicting a Signer carrying an entire planet on their back with ease, every berk in the Cage knows this grandiose display is meant to depict the previous Factol.
No matter where you are throughout the Hall, you’ll almost certainly hear a loud debate raging of some description. Sound often spills from the meeting rooms, and even the Factol’s room is home to a fierce debate every couple of hours.
Visiting the Hall of Speakers
"A covered arcade surrounds the entire phosphorescent blue-veined marble building, the silhouette broken only by the two main entrances. Each leads into a bright and airy foyer, speckled with light from the countless high windows and skylights."
Key Areas
Speaker’s Podium
The main draw of the Hall of Speakers is the Speaker’s Podium. This huge auditorium is built with both form and purpose in mind. Rows of seating are offset from one another and go out in semi circles of increasing elevation. A large, stained-glass skylight casts a rainbow cascade over the room at peak debating times. Not to mention the acoustics are incredible - easily able to rival the most grandiose of temples.
It is here that debates rage over everything from planning permission to setting Civic law. Trying to get a matter to the floor here is a chore however, as most discussions happen in other, smaller auditoriums and are either concluded or abandoned before they arrive at the Speaker’s Podium. Fact is, this place is the final point of escalation, reached only when regular debates cannot end satisfactorily.
Sessions here *always* overrun, and consist of two stages. The first is an all-out verbal bloodbath open to the public; a free-for-all for any berk to sit in on and have their say. Once the public debate is finally over, a select council of delegates from each faction - trusted Factors or even the Factol themselves - retire to the Council Chambers for private deliberation and a final round of voting. This usually happens once the delegate gets sufficiently bored of hearing the public's opinions - there’s just too many of them, and not enough time.
It’s said that contemporary Faction Wars are carried out here. No-one wants another large-scale massacre, so Factions take to screwing each other over on the debating floor, trying to show each other up, block each others’ plans and generally be a nuisance to their enemies.
Further In
The far side of the Hall is faction territory - though a poorly guarded one at that. Besides a handful of guards at the Signers portal, the building is relatively undefended. A particularly daring basher could walk right up to the Factol’s headquarters… though why you’d want to is a different matter. Most of what goes on back here is just a bunch of Signers sitting around thinking, trying to will something into existence.
The upper floor is accessed by two abstract spiralling staircases at either entrance. Here a berk'll find a huge hall, spotted with doors leading to various faction members’ kips and rented accommodation of whatever dignitaries don’t mind a landlord who thinks that they’re the centre of the multiverse.
Back downstairs, the central portion of the Hall is home to an enormous open-air garden, filled with a large number of magically-sustained trees and benches. One of the latest Signer fads is to do their thinking in a sufficiently moody environment, ‘neath a backdrop of cherry blossoms and sycamores. Some Signers will conjure gusts of wind into being to give themselves a nice scattering of petals and samaras to ‘get them in the mood’.
The Tomb of Rilith
The most mysterious chamber in the hall is the tomb of the faction founder Rilith - an enormous oval vault with a peculiarly organic interior. The walls are slick with cave slime, and stalactites and stalagmites threaten to impale any berk who steps wrong. If that weren't enough to put you off, know that anywhere you look you'll almost certainly see the shadow of a large spider scurrying out of sight, ever vigilant over the tomb of their mistress…
At the centre of this room, lit by dramatic magical lighting, is a single colossal urn. This urn is carved from a singular celestial pearl, fished from the depths of the River Oceanus. This urn is said to contain the ashes of Rilith, and is guarded round-the-clock by a contingent of Signers who, at all times, remain thinking about their deceased factol. See, if they stop thinking about her… she might cease to exist! Then where would the Signers be?