Imperial Rheinland Berlin Forum - The Palace of Ascendant Stars (open to all)

[Claussen]

Hope.

Rheinland was a burgeoning house. Fourteen billion lives, souls, careers, goals. On a clear, ice-fresh new berlin morning, the light of the distant, stark, white giant rose over the glistening frost that capped the stratoscrapers in the dense urban conurbations. Over the wind forges and manufacturies of rural Berlin, the first rugged animals had jolted fritteringly awake amongst the pines, scurrying and howling as the shadows that hid their burrows fell away from them.. There was hope on the wind. The old Bundestag, draped in new flags, had been abdicated in the throws of Federalist violence, and futile, self-effacing last stands that had burned the shadows of the innocent into the concrete. There was no hope to be found there - in the shadows of old, sordid crime.

On Hamburg, as on Berlin, there rose, from the mausoleum of history, the ossuary of the old empire. Vast, white spires and domes, designed to shrug aside the glacial cycles of their home-worlds, whilst matching seamlessly into the terrain. It was an architecture of a sensitivity the Republic had abandoned in the fires of greed. Rather than the bones of a dead creature, these structures - the Imperial courts of the Empire, rose from the planes and slopes and riverbeds that criss-crossed Rheinland's sister worlds. Damage from an aeon spent neglected, or adjustments made by corporate masters as the huge domes that had formed the Imperial Forums were put to idle storage, or re-branded as commercial districts, had been swept back. An unlimited glut of nano-manufacturing robots from Daumann and Kruger had restored the stonework to its monolithic glory, as the banners of the restored Empire drifted in the heady light.

On Berlin, the great quorum of the Königsturm was abuzz with ground traffic, drones, and airshuttles, ferrying people in and out from the great hall of power where the public met with Imperial dignitaries of all rank and station. By the 18th of April, 827, Drones had only finished replacing two of the great sheathes of Polyarylate-graphine canvasses that hid the transit hubs, and the industrial spokes of the structure's walls. There would still be more work to be done, but the spirit of the site was very much restored. The Empire would live and breathe upon its promises to the People of Rheinland, in transparency, in open action - where the Republic had stagnated and withered in in subterfuge, a new era would be drawn up in the brightness of the Berlin starlight.

The Airshuttles screamed in, on final approach, bringing in passengers direct from spaceports and private hangars around the planet. For local distances, the long gorges of the magnetic train lines brought passengers, genteel and otherwise, into the great dock of the People's Forum. The crown prince himself would have a residency here, once he had become King - should the king so choose to move beyond the security of the Emperor's Palace in upland Berlin. Nobles, business leaders, captains of industry, research magnates, members of the imperial party, the well-to-do, and even well-selected and heavily vetted Union representatives would mingle with the society of the Forum. A hyperbolic, if sensible wariness of Federal insurgency had bumped up the waiting times at entry security, and a number of clean-suited, black-and-gold jacketed guards would assist patrons in locking up any personal weaponry in stowage, before entry into the Forum's many floors. Heat pipes drove energy and fusion products from the industrial generators across town, keeping the Forum at a pleasant ambience that stayed comfortably familiar in day or night.

"Guten Morgen mein Herr, please place any weaponry or restricted items in the racks provided. All personal effects are registered to you by our responsibility system, and can be collected on departure from the Forum, or ordered to your local spaceport. Dankeschön, Dōmo arigatōgozaimashita, and Thank you for attending the Imperial Forum. Long live the Empire, and have a wonderful day." A green and gold clad officer addresses all new arrivals with a familiar warmth. Despite the obvious security, demarcated by the dress uniforms of the Imperial Police, the lines flow smoothly, the constant televator traffic conveying patrons by the hundreds into the depths of the people's forum.

Once inside, the Ambience is noticeably open, the industrial monolithic structure disapearing into a hive of commerce, as Rheinish corporations, from the big three of Imperial Shipping, Daumann Heavy Constructions and Kruger Minerals displayed prominently in advertisements and proprietary expos. Every Rheinland developed product available to the civilian market can be found here, beyond the limits of the reserve zone held for civilian traffic only. Proprietary hotels - subsidised by the state for those who cannot afford the overnight stays, yet who still want the opportunity to see their representatives, tower towards the sky. Yet the Forum is noticeably absent of offices, apart from the those dedicated to promotion or offering services to clients. Spas, bars, and nightclubs can be found here, but the signs of monolithic corporatocracy are gone. Over head, a holographic sign advertising the contact details of discounted Union representation for workers caught in industrial accidents, fills the negative space of the foyer. White marble water fountains and sculptures fill the throng of the concourse - yet no feature is internationalised - every element of the social contract has a distinctly Rheinlandic bent, down to the local outlet of the Colonial News Service that takes up two entire floors of the Forum. Displays providing directions, context, and guidance, in Rheinish, Kusarian, Bretonian and Gallic. Holographic tours offer factoids on the history of the Rheinland Empire, both in its first and present incarnations.

The structure had become more than an expo for the Imperial ideal. Traders intermingled with society figures around the vast statues and water features that gave the negative space an ethereal resonance, as if the patron was walking in a dream, and not a megastructure. Hothouse plants from the islands of Holstein, and wildlife saved from Nuremburg and Stuttgart in its years before Bioengineering, freshen the atmosphere of a million chattering conversations.

"The Next train will depart to... Hans Bockler memorial deck. Stopping at... Kaiserin Leicht Spaceport. Imperial Victory Memorial. Yanagi Remembrance Hall. Ringbuilders Prospect. Hans Bockler Memorial Deck. " soft-speaks the mass transit system, in a hum of magnetic coils and relativistic gravity projectors. "Achtung, bitte stehen Sie frei von den Türen. Unauthorised personnel may not depart at the royal residences."

To the surprise of some, almost as many foreigners as Rheinlanders could be found here. The Empire had done all it could to bring an attractive vision of imperial life to not only its own people, but to the wider cosmos. From Freelancers to foreign investors looking to secure statements from Imperial aids, personnel, nobles and retinues, politicians and patricians looking to change local law, as to where they should best place their security. The bright, compelling future that the Empire hoped to provide was substantiated here, icononised in interactive neural displays that indicated the wealth generated by Rheinland as a whole, compared to average domestic income under the old Republic. The Displays showed how much more wealthy the average citizen would be if the investments placed in Rheinland were taxed according to their means, and redistributed amongst the citizenry. Policy goals detailing the next steps the Kaiserliches Kabinett of the Imperial Parliament would make, and how the public could make their opinions known, were scrawled out in Neuralnet addresses and missives. Great glass screens covered the alcoves of meeting rooms between those picked through sortition for direct address with their senatorial representatives in the Reichstag and the Imperial Part, filled the inner perimeter, rising over the treeline, the stores, the bars, the spas, the saunas, the statues. One particular establishment, 'The Oak and the Gimeni' has become a particular favour with spacers, both from the Imperial Navy and elsewhere, to socialise in peace.

Another perimeter, secluded within side chambers and corridors, takes those who have the access deep into the bowels of the Imperial statehouses. The open-plan ambience moves into Contours of gold splendour, inspired by the twisting thule architecture of xenoarcheological ruins throughout Rheinland, towering into Romanesque spires. The bulk of the imperial library - carrying untold treasures from the times before, has a full copy here, in the storied inner chambers that form the oldest nucleus of the structure. It is here that key members of the Rheinlandic aristocracy meet to attend to matters of governance, responsibility, and power, surrounded by their obligations.

Only you know why you have come to the Berlin Forum. Perhaps you're seeking pleasure -or an audience with the Imperial state. Perhaps you're looking for a particular service, or a particular someone. All are welcome at the forum. All are cherished.

[Claussen]

--reserved--

[Enkidu]

Corin was not looking for redemption. No. If he was looking for redemption, Frei decided, he would have completely lost the beard.

As it was, he would be recognised. The Guards at the entrance gave him a number of searching looks as they quadruple-checked the Charter Security Pass that only Corin needed to get into the outer layers of the Forum. Anything less than public would be inaccessible to him. Corin didn't trouble himself over the finer details - he was still slightly shell-shocked that he was able to walk here at all.

Ah. At least he would have the privilege of being one of the first few Unioners in the The Oak and the Gimeni. Corin, who had been attempting to live life as conventionally as his experience could allow, grappled with the delicacy of a non-Unioner bar. For one, nobody was carrying a firearm. For two, nobody was fighting, or arguing, or singing.

Oh, but there would be penalties to going straight - Corin knew that. Although he had no idea what they would be - Corin was imaginative enough to realise that there wasn't any way in hell he could guess what would come charging down the tradelane to disrupt the process first. Shinier bars - now, that was going to be interesting. Trying to avoid barking at the bar staffin Tomrum - well, that was going to be interesting too.

He chuckled to himself. Corin, you broken old cog. You are the first Arbeitsdirektor in nearly two centuries to be, if only by the thinnest of hairs, back on the side of the law. A labour director that had a job description of directing organised labour. It was funny to him that he should live in times of change without fully understanding them, or being able to live to see them through. The curse of the old - enough knowledge of how the world is broken to want change, but too late to unbreak themselves.

Well, he could raise a glass to that. The whiskey was good enough.

---

THE SYNDIC LEAGUES
(A co-operative of Rheinland's outlawed trade unions, determined to take the underworld for themselves.)

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