THE CHAMBERS BUILDINGTwenty-eight floors of old-fashioned glamour on the outside, and twenty-eight floors of extravagant refurbishment within. The Crest was once a retirement home in the guise of a hotel, a convenient and lavish place for the elderly and preposterously wealthy to wile away the rest of their scientifically-prolonged days.
The Crest was eventually claimed by the Luminary, who bulldozed the surrounding edifices – deemed ‘hostile’ – and erected runic wards around its perimeter to keep other kinds of hostiles out. Existing guests were encouraged to leave quietly; those that didn\'t vanished mysteriously.
Currently, the building is locked tighter than a drum; one-way glass, cameras, tapped lines, the works. Security guards are nowhere in sight, but they’re there. The runic wards are from old dragon magic, and even though the dragon is slain, the runes are powerful enough to continue protecting the building from hostile forces.
FOYER, KITCHENS, SERVICES : GROUND FLOORExpensive and stately are the first impressions upon entering this spacious hall. Open-ceilinged and mostly empty, its white marbled tiles streaked with light blues and grays, are imported from Italy. Needless to say, heels click most satisfyingly.
At the foyer’s centre stands a grand stone statue approximately nine foot high, its red curving modern flair gleaming in the bright spotlights that seem to shine upon it from nowhere obvious. A bank of six elevators can be found in the back portion of the foyer and slightly off to the right. They are by far the more preferred method of travel. Close by on the left are several black leather armchairs and two-seater sofas, arranged haphazardly around a vast, round glass coffee table.
To the right stands the reception, left over from The Crest’s hotel days and spanning the entire length of the hall. Atop the dark green marble counter lie three silver bells at various intervals, and behind it hangs a lengthy abstract painting of angry reds streaked with golds and tans, looking like fire in the desert.
CONFERENCE ROOMS & FUNCTION ROOMS : FIRST & SECOND FLOORSThe first floor is comprised of a dozen different good-sized conference rooms. A couple are set up for grander presentations with a short stepped platform at front of the room, with a giant wall-sized screen acting as a media tool. Others are set up as boardrooms, while others are laid out in a 'team planning' style, complete with blackboard/whiteboard, computers and flatscreen televisions for displays.
The second floor houses a number of cosy conference rooms that would fit half a dozen people without leaving too much room for anything else, though these are fitted out with the same media tools as those conference rooms in the floor below. The real gem for the second floor are the two side by side function rooms that can open up into one very large function room. There is a wooden panelled service elevator that travels to its highest point at this floor, which is used for wait staff to deliver hors d'ouvres or trolleys of hot meals from the kitchens. The room is panelled in light wood and carpeted in light gray. It can be decorated either starkly or lavishly, depending on the quality and style of the function held.
OLIGARCH OFFICES : THIRD FLOOR
This is the floor where all the
real work gets done. It is sectioned off into plush offices, complete with brass names on doors and desks in front of them for attractive and efficient assistants to be posted at. Entry to the floor is by invitation only, though two public elevators access the floor without excessive security procedures (the same can\'t be said of the two private elevators that stop on every level of the building, which the residents almost exclusively use).
Signing in at the foyer will generally send the visitor downwards to a waiting room for a general appointment, but known supernaturals that wish a private audience with their Oligarch will be ushered upward, to the first or second floor if a conference is required, or to the third floor if it is a private matter. All offices are empty and designed according to the resident Oligarch\'s specific tastes/requirements, as seen below:
Offices(Description)
Offices(Description)
Offices(Description)
Offices(Description)
Offices(Description)
Offices(Description)
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GUEST ROOMS : FOURTH TO TENTH AND THIRTEENTH TO TWENTY-FIRST FLOOR(blah blah)
GYM, OUTDOOR SWIMMING POOL, SAUNAS, DANCE STUDIO : ELEVENTH FLOOR
A place to work off the stresses of the day or simply keep fit (for those whose lives might depend on their ability to outwit, outlast and outrun), the Oligarchy provides free access to a thoroughly modern exercise facility for all residents.
Due to the limitations of the building, the pool area is actually annexed to the side of the building, lushly landscaped and privately screened so that those enjoying laps by day or night can\'t be seen by helicopter nor telescope-toting neighbour, but they do get an excellent view through the two-way tinted glass themselves.
This floor is placed nearest the mortal residents of the Chambers, for not only will they enjoy the conveniences most often, but they won\'t be as disturbed by clearly hearing clanging weights or people throwing themselves about on slick wooden floors at all hours of the day and night.
DONOR ROOMS : TWELFTH FLOOR
The suites on this floor are all designed for single occupants and are about the size of the usual one-person apartments found in the city. Upon entry into the room, one finds themselves beside the roomy kitchen - which has every modern appliance, including a stove - and facing the spacious lounge room. A balcony is accessible through sliding glass doors opposite the front door. Turning towards the rest of the suite (it could be left or right, for the apartments mirror each other), you walk down a short hallway that has a large pair of bi-folding doors on one side. Behind these doors is the washer, tub, dryer and ironing facilities.
Each large bedroom has a second television, bureau, built-in wardrobe and bedside drawers either side of the queen or king-sized bed. Another balcony is accessible through the bedroom; it doesn\'t always connect to the lounge balcony (though some do) and lattice-like barriers protect the privacy of the resident on either end of the balconies, so that it is difficult to see what the neighbours have out there without some dedicated spying (usually it\'s just a clothes airer with underwear flapping in the sunlit breeze). Each balcony is furnished with a glass table, four outdoor chairs and two outdoor sunlounges (the chairs and table are through the lounge glass door and the loungers through the bedroom door).
The bathroom is situated beside the bedroom and beyond the laundry, though it is not an ensuite setup. When the hotel was last modernised, the decorator created a rather unique bathroom, furnishing it with a toilet, average-sized shower beside, vanity unit with minimal storage below and in the medicine cabinet above and a bathtub opposite the toilet and shower. The unique part about the bathroom is that the tub is always on the bedroom side of the bathroom but is not divided from it by a wall. Instead, four panels of wooden blinds - generally painted white - go from the bath edge to the ceiling, meaning that the bather may sit in the tub and open the slats to see into the bedroom, or even open them right up - folding shutter style - so that they may recline in the full comfort of a hot bath and watch the television attached to the wall above the dressing table/bureau. Oftentimes, they stay fully open and many occupants have been known to line this half wall with candles.
GENERAL OLIGARCHY EMPLOYEE RESIDENCES : TWENTY-SECOND TO TWENTY-FIFTH FLOORThese four floors are dedicated to modern, luxurious apartment-style housing.
Current occupants:
22ND FLOOR*
23RD FLOOR*
24TH FLOOR*
25TH FLOOR*
OLIGARCH RESIDENCES : TWENTY-SIXTH FLOOR
Many fully-furnished luxurious apartments styled in various ways are found here.
*(Description)
MIMIC DEMON QUARTERS : TWENTY SEVENTH FLOOR(blah blah)
THE LUMINARY’S QUARTERS : TWENTY-EIGHTH FLOORThe topmost floor of The Crest requires a particular key-card, of which there is no copy. The rooms here are empty but the space is divine.
Click here for more. LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES : LEVEL B1 (UNDERGROUND)
(blah blah)
OFFICES: LEVEL B2 (UNDERGROUND)Level B2 consists of a field of corrals and offices where all the minions get their boss\' work done. This is the place to find all the spies, assistants and researchers compiling their findings, consulting with colleagues and getting all the necessary paperwork/computer-based jobs done.
HOLDING ROOMS : LEVELS B3 AND B4 (UNDERGROUND)
Level B3 is specifically for the holding of Lycanthropes before the full moon changes them into uncontrollable beasts. Many werewolves report in, because they don\'t wish to hurt people during their change, and they are punished if they don\'t report in anyway.
The holding rooms are quite cushy, though everything that is breakable (such as the television set and radio) are protected behind plexiglass boxes and the sheets on the bed as well as the mattress and other furniture are not very expensive (though they are comfortable to last a night) in case the werewolf destroys the room. Surprisingly, room vandalism doesn\'t happen all that often, as the werewolves are often fed a huge meaty meal (via the feeding chute) which makes the savage beast full and mellow, enough to sleep the change away and wake up human the next morning.
All werewolves are released at six in the morning. There is a buffet style breakfast available to them in one of the conference rooms upstairs if they wish to fork out $15 for it. A lot take up the offer, because changing back to human makes them hungry, and it\'s a way to meet others of their kind, who understand what they\'re going through.
Level B4 holds a few extra-special holding rooms (cells), as well as a surgery-cum-doctor\'s office, where a very special doctor holds court - one not always in attendance if you go looking for them, for the ley lines here are strong, and can spirit a spirit away quite easily...
The holding rooms on this level are varied and far less user-friendly than those above; these are reserved for those judged to be enemies of the Oligarchy and generally only hold their captors for a short amount of time, until their sentence is decided upon (or judgment is passed and their punishment is delivered accordingly). They resemble medieval torture chambers in many senses, except the blood and fire stains are evident on smooth cement floors, instead of old stone ones.
LOWER CONFERENCE ROOM : LEVEL B5 (UNDERGROUND)The Lower Conference Room is located five floors underground and directly beneath the foyer, so that any of the elevators can access the conference room. It is the only basement level button that can be visited without a security key-card of some kind.
From the elevators, the visitor is greeted with plush mauve carpeting, and has to turn right in order to get to the waiting room. There are always guards in this area, making sure that those waiting don\'t get rowdy or impatient.
A host with a podium, much like at a restaurant, will greet the visitor and have them sign in if they have an appointment, or if the visitor has walked in on the off-chance of seeing someone, then they will be told what the waiting period is, so they can decide whether to sign in and wait or make an appointment for another time instead.
The waiting room has an assortment of different furniture placed throughout - from very hard to extremely soft, plain leather sofas to swirling patterned fabric armchairs, and a coffee machine in the far corner available for anyone to dispense themselves a coffee from - with a water cooller right beside. A magazine rack attached to one of the walls, filled with a huge variety of magazines that are refreshed monthly; publications range from
Better Homes and Gardens, to the fashionable
High Street and
Vogue magazines, all kinds of sport magazines, to the lesser-known and circulated but still highly read
Demonic Weekly.
The Lower Conference Room is peculiarly bare. The floor is of the same blue and grey streaked white marble as per the foyer above. A horseshoe shaped table holds eleven chairs (all of them swivelling but not rolling), though they are never absolutely full and the one in the centre is grander than the rest, where the Luminary sits.
The Luminary’s authority is absolute.
PARKING : LEVEL B6 (UNDERGROUND)With only one level of parking, assigned for those who hold positions (whether they have cars or not), the Luminary, Oligarchs and Personal Assistants/Aides to the Oligarchs or Luminary, are the only ones who have a parking slot. There are a dozen more spaces available to those invited to drive in, with GUEST painted on the ground in the appropriate space.
