Museum of the Empire, Eveari, Ananto

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The Opium Throne and the Formal Audience Hall


The Opium Throne, exemplary of The Glittering Empire

Collection

Part of the Glittering Empire

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Origin

Empress Mary I Ananto, revealed in 5651

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Summary

No project was more ambitious than Empress Mary I Ananto's Opium Throne, which has served as the Imperial Seat since 5651. The Throne itself contains two pieces: The Opium Throne and the Pavilion. It is built into the Formal Audience Hall at the Imperial Seat in Downtown Kaliburg-Port Davon, off the Mall perpendicular from the National Assembly. Like nearly all instruments of Imperial Authority in Kalistan, House Ananto actually owns the Opium Throne and formally provides it to the State for the Monarch's use. All the materials for its construction were provided directly by House Ananto.

The Opium Throne's Pavilion is made of 19.5 metric tons of polished silver, and contains more than 10 thousand gemstones supplied the Imperial Gem Vault, as well as gold, jade and jasper. Most gems are displayed as mosaics set into the Silver and framed with diamonds. A team of more than 4500 individuals worked, including laborers, silversmiths and jewelers from across the nation, for a year to cast the silver, do the scroll work on it, and lay the gems, with Reed Jeweler supplying the master artisanship of the final presentation. In terms of raw materials, nearly 25 million Imperial Pesos worth of silver alone were needed for the construction, while the value of the entire Opium Throne, with craftsmanship and presentation included, has been widely held to be incalculable. It is a truly masterful work of artistic wonder.

The Silver on the Opium Throne is cleaned quarterly to prevent tarnish and it is inspected annually to evaluate any damage to the piece or wear and tear, which will be repaired upon discovery.

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Origin of the Name

The Opium Throne is called this because of the large ruby and gold mosaics on the main platform before the Throne. The mosaics are in the form of red Opium Poppies. Smaller mosaic friezes also adorn the outside of the platform as well. As people look to the Monarch on the throne, before them they see these mosaics, as if the Monarch is sitting upon the throne in a field of poppies. And as the Monarch looks out to the petitioner before them, they see the individuals arranged outside the field of poppies. The mosaics are designed to always frame the interactions between the Monarch and their subjects, to serve as a physical demarkation, but not an immutable one, between Ruler and Subject.

The poppy was selected because it is the national flower of The Empire of Ananto and Kalistan. Poppy motifs are included on the imperial robes of every crowned monarch since Fredrick II Ananto, and the flower has become closely associated with the 5th Dynasty, where monarchs, beginning with The Black Empress Pavlina I Ananto are known to include powdered, standardized opium into the tea they serve during informal audiences. From this, the Opium Throne gets its name.

The Formal Audience Hall
This is the formal Throne Room of the Empire of Ananto and Kalistan, and is used exclusively for civil ceremonies and Formal Audiences, such as meetings with petitioners, Petitions for Imperial Adjudication, and formal greetings of foreign dignitaries. It is a large room paneled entirely in redwood paneling. It is split in half with the half nearest to the door being filled with seats for guests. The audience chamber can seat up to 100 comfortably. A half wall separates the seating area from the Imperial Seat, which has a lacquer and parquet floor, with rods of 24K gold inlaid between the parquet tiles. The parquet is made of redwood. It is laid across the entire floor beneath the Opium Throne.

The Formal Audience Hall is part of the Tour of the Imperial Seat, which focuses on the institution of the Monarchy in Kalistan. During most times of the year, the Formal Audience Hall is left open to the public, but loitering is not permitted. Visitors are not allowed out of the seating area in the Formal Audience Hall. Formal Audiences are closed to the public, and the only people allowed in the Formal Audience Hall during the Formal Audience are those seeking the audience, the Monarch and the Chancellor, who is required to be present at all formal audiences.

The entire Formal Audience Chamber is lit overhead by a skylight, through which natural light filters. Small windows along the South Wall also bring in some illumination, but the skylight above the dome often provides ample light for the Pavilion, and on sunny days provide a stark contrasting scene as the polished silver scatters light across the other wise dark paneled room.

The Opium Throne, Imperial Seat
The Opium Throne itself is made of solid silver with the seatback made of a cross lattice of rubies and diamonds all individually linked to one another by gold links so it forms a pliable bendable fabric almost. It is reportedly very comfortable, according to House Ananto spokespeople, but the Monarch only sits on the Throne during formal ceremonies and formal audiences. Most of the time, it is part of the tour of the Imperial Seat complex which focuses on the Institution of the Monarchy in Kalistan. Most versions have countless gemstones set into it, but a new throne is constructed for each new Monarch, while the previous throne is deconstructed and recast for a new Monarch, therefore, no monarch sits upon the same physical throne.

The Opium Throne is set onto a platform into an alcove in the wall, which contains a hidden passageway allowing the Monarch to enter and exit through an back room for audiences without having to walk through the Formal Audience Hall. The only time the Monarch will travel through the Audience Hall for an official purpose is during the Coronation ceremony where the Monarch is expected to approach the Throne wearing only a white cotton robe. For all other purposes, the monarch will enter from the back room through the hidden door in the alcove.

The Pavilion
Before the Alcove, where the Opium Throne sits, stands the Pavilion. The Pavilion for the Opium Throne is made of tons of pure silver, cast in Kaliburg and assembled directly in the Formal Audience Hall. It contains a number of pieces which have their own special characteristics, and borrows heavily from Aldegarian decorative motifs, to symbolize a connection with the original Proto-Aldegarian Kemokians who first supplied the name and the royal bloodline of the original Anantan Emperors. Though the Modern Anantos bear no direct relationship to the ancient Ananto rulers, Empress Mary I Ananto sought to offer a nod to the wealth, power and awe-inspiring essence of ancient Anantan heritage in her Opium Throne.

The Roof and Dome
The roof contains thousands of pieces of jade in a mosaic along with the largest ruby, emerald, sapphire and amethyst crystals from the Ananto Gem Vault. Inside the dome, there is extensive gold work, while the dome itself is lined with a mosaic of red-orange jasper. Only the Monarch, Chancellor, the Coronation Helper and the craftsmen and women who built it have ever seen the mosaic on the inside of the dome of the Pavilion, and while there are rumors about what the design could be, all have been sworn to secrecy to never reveal the true design inside the dome. The inside of the dome is kept dark.

The Pillars and the Balustrade
The 8 upright pillars that hold up the dome are composed of quatrefoil mosaics made of white pearl and sapphire in a pattern that is meant to evoke the sky and clouds, and the silver balustrade divider that supports the pillars contains mosaics of emerald, ruby and sapphire made to look like one large flat crystal, and outlined with diamonds, as well as more amethyst.

Set into the back of the pillars are links to attach ceremonial curtains for use during coronations as the new Monarch changes from their simple white robes to their coronation robes. Coronations are the only time another person besides the Monarch and the Chancellor may step onto the Opium Throne--The soon-to-be-crowned Monarch bring along a personal helper, usually a commoner who is specially selected for the task, who helps them get dressed and assists with a ritual bath during the ceremony. Serving as the helper during a coronation bestows instant nobility at the rank of Baronet upon the commoner once the ceremony is complete, and usually the role is offered to someone who is currently enlisted in their first year of National Service and would not otherwise be in line for peerage.

The Platform
In a construction meant to awe and intimated, the most impressive feature of the Opium Throne is the ruby mosaics on the floor of the pavilion before the Throne. These mosaics are of the red opium poppy, and are made of thousands of very fine rubies set into gold and also outlined by ribbons of gold.

The only people allowed to step foot onto the poppies are the Monarch and the Chancellor of the Empire, and since the construction of the Opium Throne, they have both been traditionally, and finally ritually barefoot before rising the short step to the Opium Throne and beginning formal audience. The Chancellor may choose to wear simple linen socks, but the monarch still hears all formal audiences in bare feet. Mary also began the tradition of having her feet washed before stepping upon the poppies on her throne, a tradition which is maintained to this day. Finally the base of the Platform, made of more than a ton of pure silver, is adorned with 40 small poppy mosaics, made of rubies and gold as well.

The red against the white of the Poppies set into the brushed silver is said to represent the Grand Duchy of Kalistan, while the Amethyst in the Pavilion and the jasper in the inside of the Dome is said to represent Ananto, and the House Ananto specifically. Over all, the symbolism itself is as esoteric as it is grand, and it is said that the construction is priceless.