The Great Hall (also known as the Karufr Great Hall) is the headquarter of Taldryan, a Dark Jedi Clan of the Dark Brotherhood. The hall is not the original base of the Clan, but replaced the headquarters lost due to the events of the Exodus and the need to escape from the Hammer-controlled system of Karana that Taldryan formerly occupied.
Ever since its completion, the Great Hall has served as the main seat of power for the Clan, holding its major training, bureaucratic and dormitory facilities. Jointly operated by the Dark Jedi of Taldryan and troops of the Taldryan Expansionary Force, the Great Hall is restricted to only the Dark Jedi and their allies, with very few public areas.
History
The Great Hall's origins date back to the year 20 ABY, when the former Consul, Kir Taldrya Katarn, commissioned its construction on the continent of Teramon. The site was originally a small settlement obtained from the Planetary Governor, Archibald Busch, under the condition that the Dark Jedi support his rule of Karufr. In this way, the Dark Jedi were granted a secure location to recuperate from their losses.
However, by exploiting the weak-minded governor, Katarn was able to procure a large mass of unmolested land far from civilization. The location was chosen for its strategic value, isolated some thousands of kilometers away from the nearest settlement and nestled deeply in the Chrystakk Mountains range covering the eastern coast line of Teramon. Following the completion of the Hall, the Dark Jedi of the Clan moved from their temporary base aboard their flagship, the Dark Prophet, and permanently relocated the newly constructed Hall on Karufr.
Expansion: CON Duga? Developing and expanding facilities to fit the growing Clan Taldryan.
Restructuring: QUA Rian? TalEx/closer unity between military and the unembiggened Clan. (House).
Layout and Architecture
Located in a strategically isolated area some hundred kilometers away from the closest settlement and rested against the Chrystakk Mountains range covering the eastern coast line of Teramon and built upon an ancient Force Nexus. The Taldryan Great Hall on Karufr is best described as a series of four stacked distinctive precincts connected through elevators and staircases; the Taldrya Plaza, the Ziggurat, the Vault and the Spira Taldryae. The Plaza and Ziggurat are mostly accessible to the entire Taldryan population, while parts of the Vault and the Spira Taldryae require special permission.
Main Entrance
The main entrance to the Great Hall of Taldryan, located on the western side of the edifice, was a small hall open to a Processional Approach and guarded by elitist members of Taldryan’s Derriphan battalion. Inside the hall there is the insignia of Taldryan carved into the floor and the walls were lined by artfully cropped trees. There were four doorways (each one at the northern and southern and two to the eastern side), as well as two Turbolifts leading deeper into the Great Hall’s Ziggurat. From the Hall, one reaches the Great Hall’s Plaza Court from where one could access every unearthly building or take an entrance leading back down into the Ziggurat.
At the base of the Processional way rests a small landing pad, allowing people to traverse between the capital and other cities of Teramon and the Great Hall via hovercabs or speeders.
Ziggurat
The massive structure that made out the most unearthly part of the Great Hall, which soared about forty-five meters above the surrounding branches, features most of the dormitories and facilities needed to ensure a smoothly operation of the complete stronghold. Similar to other important complexes the Ziggurat could be divided into wings or quarters for administrative purposes. Each wing was crowned by a building complex on the Ziggurats roof which held authority over the specified chambers in the section. The western wing of the Great Hall was overseen by the Taldryan Dark Jedi and their Summit, this area housed many training and other facilities, the Arcanum, meditative areas and the dormitories for the Dark Jedi. Due to the fact that most of the Great Hall was restricted to the Clan’s members only the eastern area under administration of Taldryans Expansionary Forces is dedicated to the non Dark Jedi personal such as the Service Corps and Military Forces.
The two wings too could be dissected into several sections. At the western wing the lower subterranean levels with the training rooms, meditative areas and laboratories as well as the state of the art library and refectories and warehouses as well as the underground hangar and repair bays on the eastern wing and the unearthly levels that hold the several accommodations and barracks.
Spira Taldryae
Spira Taldryae in 37ABYResting atop the center of the Ziggurat’s Plaza Court and surrounded by small basins, Spira Taldrya had the appearance of a fortress but is highly influenced by the new Rebirth architecture style that relied heavily on the usage of tinted glasses and serves not only as meeting point for the Taldryan Summit and Elders as well as a place of contemplation and gentle reflection.
Spira Taldryae contains the Hall of Trials near its summit and meditation chambers farther below lined with memorial Holos of the most revered Taldrya suspended in the tower by repulsorlifts pads. Upon their transfer, Journeymen were brought here by servant droids for their first introduction into the Taldryan knowledge. From this point the meditation chambers and the Hall of Trials were accessible via stone bridges and repulsorlifts pads. Located on the highest level is the Summit Chamber, the place where the Taldryan Summit and Elder Council discuss on important events or projects.
Vault
Deeply within and beneath the Ziggurat rests the Taldryan Vault. The Vault includes parts of the Arcanum, the gigantic Works and Storerooms as well as the ancient caverns that lead to the Force Nexus, on which the Great Hall has been erected.
Points of Interest
Dormitories
Standard Dormitory for members of TaldryanLining the northern, western and southern borders of the Ziggurat, the accommodation sector occupied the floors from directly below the rooftop to the edges of the mountain range. Separated into several different levels, the sector was made up of Journeymen dormitories and private rooms for the senior members of the Clan and the members of Taldryan military, as well as visitors' quarters for diplomats and politicians visiting the Temple. While the barracks featured only little furniture, providing only that which was necessary, and were pillared, with access to the common recreation areas higher-ranking officers and Dark Jedi were placed in spacious accommodations of which every had a common room and a snack annex and a small balcony, while those who were even higher ranking or those who have passed their trials and became Dark Jedi Knights were rewarded with even more spacious quarters, with closets, bookcases, a workbench, and some more furniture like couches and a table with chairs in the common room.
Facilities
Located in the inner sections of the Ziggurat with direct access to the Storerooms the facilities were made up of extensive laboratories for medical, scientific and technological researches and the central Medcenter as well as the control rooms for the ventilation and air condition.
Aegis Hall
Aegis Hall - Home of the WardensCrowning the area above the north-western part of the Great Hall Ziggurat the Aegis Hall is a compound that serves the Wardens of Unity Battleteam as their home. Two armed guards stand at the hall’s entrance at all times and only members of the Wardens and their support personnel are ever granted permission to enter. In here the Wardens not only conduct their business, train and study along each other. That for the facility sports not only study rooms for its members but a fully equipped training compound with three different rooms ranging from a fully equipped gym to a fifty feet shooting range as well. While the Wardens were supposed to protect the members of Taldryan they also serve as the keepers of Taldryans knowledge and wisdom; that for the members of the Wardens were permitted to transfer ancient tombs and artifacts from the restricted area of the Arcanum that connects to the Aegis Hall to their personal library to study on the ancient knowledge of the Krath, Sith and Obelisk Orders. The most dangerous of these are kept in a secured Chamber, guarded by two of Taldryans Force Sentinels. Access to the restricted Chamber comes from the Clan Summit.
Arcanum
The Greenhouse at nightNext to and connected with the Aegis Hall rests the Arcanum, a multi-story high building that holds the Library of the Great Hall, the Storerooms for the various Artifacts in Taldryans possession and a large Greenhouse, containing waterfalls and huge amounts of flora, meditative areas, pottery, and stone walkways, where at day times the members of Taldryan can find a meditative retreat for their studies while staying in the Temple.
While closed to most of the members at night time, higher ranking Journeymen and members of Taldryan can visit the greenhouse and either test their mettle against each other or to meet in a hidden section called the "secret area" where all even the lower level Journeymen sneak to socialize or otherwise meet in private after curfew to avoid being caught by the Great Hall's securities.
The Works
One of the countless Power-generators in the Works
Built upon the last intact remaining chambers of the Navigators temple the Works were the section that holds the Great Hall's main Power Sources. While the upper levels of the Works were of a modern make with walls of Perma- and Duracrete, the lower levels featured wooden timbers and stones that required extended reinforcing with modern materials like Durasteel to support the weight of the higher levels. The only exception to this is the small Guardstation erected on the lowest level of the Works to protect the entrance to the Ancient Caverns of the Navigators Temple.
The Ancient Caverns and the Force Nexus
A small entrance hall with a high ceiling and ornate walls led to a flight of descending stairs, and the stairs split into two at the upper landing before leading into the Temple's mezzanine, or balcony-floor. From there several passages branch off around the outer walls, though only the middle and the one on the opposite side of the mezzanine lead to a spiral staircase that descends further down into the main chamber. The chamber was lined by two hallways. Further passages branched off of each side of the hallways that lined the main chamber, and the center of the room features stone-bridges connecting a small platform in the very center with the rest of the chamber. Buttresses that might have once supported the bridges from the second level of the Temple out, and the buttresses themselves were supported by the two sets of outer pillars. Upon this centered platform rests a highly ornamented stone altar with a trapezoidal shaped crate made of dull gray stone and bears small symbols in an ancient language, those meanings still need to be transposed. However rumors among the Taldrya say that crate resembles some form of an Ancient Holocron, as it emanates in a pale radiance within the Force similar to other, newer Holocrons.