Emperor Devon-Lars I caused many palaces to be built during his eighty-year reign, so better to manage the affairs of a relentlessly expanding Uzdumalian Empire. The Air-Palace of Leontalos was one of the first, built when the nickname of "The Boy Emperor" which he carried through his entire career was still somewhat appropriate. The Air-Palace gets its name from General Leontalos, the advisor and mentor of the Emperor who helped him to set aside his mother's regency council and assume Imperial power in his own name at the age of 12. After Leontalos' untimely and somewhat suspicious death two years later, Emperor Devon-Lars decided to honor him in the naming his new Imperial seat.

Built on one of the highest peaks of the Tarhanian Mountain range, the Air-Palace is almost completely inaccessible by land: the winding path from base to the palace site is impassible from snows nine months out of the year, and treacherous even during the summer months. Thus, most visitors and supplies, arrive by airship. A massive set of ports for receiving, loading, unloading, and refueling such vehicles was the first part of the Air-Palace to be built, enabling the rest of the construction to be supplied while the road was snowed over.

Even during the High Imperial era, airship travel and airship-delivered goods were expensive enough to restrict the residency of the Air-Palace and it's supporting town to the wealthiest of courtiers seeking closeness to the Emperor. Devon-Lars himself did not reside in the Air-Palace much after the novelty had worn off, using it as a central management center for his Aerial Messenger Service, and a training base for his airborne "Fifth Army". However, several of his High- and Middle-Imperial successors grew to fear the poor so much that they reigned almost entirely from the Air-Palace.

During the Low and Later Imperial periods, with air travel increasingly unfashionable and continuous Imperial residence in the capital necessary to avoid riot and rebellion, the Air-Palace fell into disuse. It was reopened during the Jacini Dynasty, not as a palace but as a prison, to hold dangerous persons who could not conveniently be executed, such as the members of the Drakna Conspiracy. After the end of the Jacini Emperors, the Air-Palace was almost completely abandoned, with only a small garrison of soldiers who had earned the disfavor of their superiors charged with tours of unpleasant duty mainly ensuring that the Air-Palace did not become the base of operations for any groups of bandits or rebels.

See Also:

Fifth Army

Drakna Conspiracy