The canonical architecture is a deliberate fusion of three real historical periods:
- The Renaissance (the real 15th-16th centuries) — classical proportion, symmetry, Doric and Ionic orders, serene monumentality.
- The Baroque (the real 17th-18th centuries) — rich ornamentation, dynamism, drama, gold, light-dark contrasts.
- The Victorian (the real 19th century) — neo-Gothic, cast iron, glass, industrialisation, monumental railway stations, brick cities.
The mixture is NOT chronological (it is not "a Renaissance era becomes Baroque becomes Victorian"). It is a simultaneous superposition across the whole continent in 1890. A new building may have a Baroque base + Victorian ornamentation + a Renaissance colonnade.
I. Canonical principles
Stylistic hybridism
- A canonical building is rarely "pure" in one style. A Baroque church may have Victorian stained glass (industrial colours) + a Renaissance portal (a classical pediment).
- Old cities (Aurum Roma, Velinia, Stromakra) preserve historical layers: a Roman ruin + a medieval church + a Renaissance palace + a Baroque addition + a Victorian renovation on the same block.
The sacral function dominates
- After the Cataclysm, every significant construction carries liturgical elements: a Choir-Cross on the façade, angel-gargoyles, stained glass of Lumen, a consecrated bell, a mosaic of Hashmalite.
- Even civil buildings (a bank, a theatre, a station) have a visible Christian reference (a statue of a saint in a niche, an inscription in Latin, an inset icon).
Visible industrialisation
- Cast iron + glass + industrial brick have entered into an open mixture with traditional stone and marble.
- The canonical railway station = an industrial neo-Gothic cathedral. The canonical cathedral = Italian Baroque + Victorian ornamentation.
II. Style by bloc
The Clerical Order — Liturgical Baroque + Industrial Victorian
Characteristics
- Churches + cathedrals: an intense Italian-Baroque-analogue. Domes, sculpted pediments, a façade in pale stone, an interior in marble + beaten gold + mosaics.
- Pontifical palaces: monumental Renaissance with a Baroque addition. Inner courtyards with fountains.
- Civil buildings (in Aurum Roma): an Italianate Victorian. A five-storey block in pale stone, high windows, balconies with balustrades.
- Industry (Ferrum Alpina): industrial sheds in iron + brick, but with a Choir-Cross on the façade + a statue of Mikahel at the entrance.
The paradigmatic example: the Cathedral of the Choir in Aurum Roma
- Begun 1820, completed 1888.
- A gigantic dome (analogous to the real Saint Peter's, but larger).
- The façade: an Aureline Baroque with double columns, a triangular pediment, sculptures of the 7 Archangels at the top.
- Seven lateral pinnacles — one per Archangel. Each pinnacle with a consecrated lantern of Lumen at the top (lit every night since 1888).
- The interior: white marble + gold + mosaics with the Choir-Cross. A central altar of inlaid gilded Hashmalite.
- The Chapel of the Seven Candles in a lateral wing — a restricted chamber.
Dominant colours and materials
- Pale stone (the travertine-marble-analogue).
- Beaten gold.
- Blood red (velvets, tapestries).
- Lumen glass (stained glass).
- Dark iron in the portals.
Velinia the Most Serene — Venetian + Maritime Industrial
Characteristics
- Palazzos: 4-5 storeys, a façade in pale stone with Gothic ogee-arched windows + a Venetian balustrade. Feet under water on a foundation of submarine piling.
- Bridges ornamented (412 official bridges, a canonical number): pale stone, sculptures on the keystone, lanterns of Hashmalite on the pillars.
- The Cathedral of San Velino: a Byzantine-Venetian style (multiple domes + golden mosaics) + a Renaissance portal + Baroque ornamentation.
- The Arsenal of San Velino: a heavy industrial building, a shell in dark stone + iron + structural Choir-Iron.
Colours and materials
- Pale stone + verdigris copper (the domes) + golden mosaics + Venetian-analogue red marble + industrial brick (the Arsenal).
Brytonia — Full Victorian + Industrial Neo-Gothic
Characteristics
- Cities: industrial red brick dominant. Terraced houses with a central chimney, a sloped roof of slate tile.
- Cathedrals and churches: pure Victorian neo-Gothic. Ogival arches, elaborate stained glass, high towers with pinnacles.
- Monumental civil buildings: cast iron + glass + brick. The railway station = an inverted Victorian cathedral.
- Aristocratic country houses: a Georgian-neoclassical-analogue style + a Victorian addition.
- The Highlands of Caer'n: castles in grey stone + an old insular school.
The paradigmatic example: the Solar Cathedral of Brithon
- Victorian neo-Gothic. Built 1840-1875.
- A central tower of 120 metres (the tallest civil tower on the continent).
- The Solar Cross (the Brytonian symbol) on the façade — different from the Roman Choir-Cross (the Solar has a sun at the centre).
- Stained glass with the Solar Hashmal represented in a local manifestation.
Colours and materials
- Red brick + grey Highlands stone + cast iron + glass + slate (the roof).
Königsmark — Severe Germanic + Barbarian
Characteristics
- Junker castles: heavy grey stone, crenellated towers, thick walls. A very steep roof for the snow.
- Cities: Germanic-Prussian architecture. Low buildings in dark brick + stone. A central square with an ornamented fountain.
- The Royal Church of the North: a simplified Nordic Gothic. High pointed towers. An interior simple in comparison with the Aureline Baroque — a Nordic austerity.
- Königsburg: a fortress-city. The Royal Castle at the heart, walls + old cannon preserved.
Colours and materials
- Dark grey stone + dark brick + dark carved wood + green copper (the old roofs).
Vykhradia — Slavic + Oriental Baroque
Characteristics
- Magnate castles: immense. A central courtyard, an Orthodox-analogue chapel, stables, the great house. Built in a Slavic Baroque style with vivid colours (red, yellow, sky blue).
- Villages: houses of painted wood (blue, green, red), windows decorated with carved wood, a thatched roof in poor zones or slate in rich ones.
- Orthodox-analogue churches: domes in the form of a bulb (the canonical onion dome), painted in gold, sky blue, wine red. A rich internal iconostasis.
- Vykhrad: a mixture of Oriental Baroque + Victorian civil buildings.
Colours and materials
- Vibrant painted wood + golden domes + sky blue + wine red + brick + stone in the city.
Brytonia + the Kantonal Confederation — Alpine + Banking
Characteristics (Kantonal)
- Alpine chalets: wood + stone. Sculpted balconies. Wide roofs covered with snow.
- Cities (Bernkanton): meticulous Germanic-Alpine buildings. Clean. Functional. Squares with fountains.
- Cantonal banks: monumental buildings in pale stone, austere, with a neoclassical colonnade. A symbol of security.
- Churches: architectural pluralism — Baroque Catholic + severe Protestant + rare Orthodox + non-confessional cantonal chapels.
Colours and materials
- Pale carved wood + Alpine stone + limewash white + roof red.
Meridia — Mediterranean Renaissance + Volcanic Baroque
Characteristics
- Coastal houses: whitewashed + blue windows + a roof of red tile. Inner courtyards with a fountain.
- Stromakra: southern-Italian architecture + an Arab-analogue influence (blue tiles in geometric patterns on the façades; analogue-mosques in ruins).
- Churches: a rich southern Baroque — sculpted façades + an interior with volutes, angels, cherubs, gold.
- Ardentine refineries: heavy industrial buildings in dark stone + tall chimneys. Functional.
- Vineyards: farmhouses in rustic stone with a balcony + an underground cellar.
Colours and materials
- Whitewash + Mediterranean blue + terracotta + gold + cinnabar red (a reference to the Volkar).
The Pacted — Architectural Grotesque
Characteristics
- Cities imitating Christian grandeur: pactuary cathedrals parodying the cathedrals of the Order, with geometric inversions (towers at wrong angles, rooms that do not close, bridges over nothing).
- Karzhar (the capital): a central tower in Black Mineral, a shining orange-green, visible for kilometres.
- Sathkar (the forge-city): enormous chimneys, permanent black smoke, infernal industrial buildings.
- Pactuary temples: a grotesque Baroque architecture — demonic sculptures, corrupted gold, ornamentation that moves slightly when looked at.
- Black Mineral as a structural material in pactuary sacred places.
Colours and materials
- Black + iridescent green (Black Mineral) + blood red + corrupted gold + dark stone.
The Limbo — Impossible Architecture
Characteristics
- It does not obey human physics.
- Towers at angles that do not close but stand up.
- Bridges over non-translucent voids.
- Rooms that seem to close but open under a fixed gaze.
- Built in stone that slowly changes colour + Black Mineral + an unknown material.
Colours and materials
- Cinnabar + grey + black + wrong iridescences.
III. Types of canonical building
The cathedral
- Always the largest construction of each canonical city.
- Style: Aureline Baroque (the Order), neo-Gothic (Brytonia), Slavic Baroque (Vykhradia), Byzantine-Venetian (Velinia), Nordic Gothic (Königsmark), southern Baroque (Meridia), grotesque (the Pacted).
- A liturgical + military + civil + symbolic function. Under siege, the cathedral becomes a fortress. On campaign, it becomes a hospital.
The palace
- The seat of local government.
- Aurum Roma: the Pontifical Palace (Domus Aurelia).
- Brithon: the Westminster-analogue (the Palace of Brithon).
- Königsburg: the Royal Castle.
- Vykhrad: the Palace of the Hospodar.
- Stromakra: the Palace of the King of the South.
- Velinia: the Ducal Palace.
- Bernkanton: the Council House.
The railway station
- It arose in the Era of the Forge (1837-1860). An industrial cathedral in an iron-and-glass neo-Gothic style.
- Aurum Roma: the Central Station (the Solar District). The largest on the continent.
- Brithon: the King's Cross-analogue.
- Bernkanton: the Hauptbahnhof Bernkanton.
The university
- Classical scholastic buildings + a modern addition.
- The Schola Maior: a campus with 11 buildings (each named for a learned saint).
The hospital
- The Greater Hospital of the Hashmal (Aurum Roma): five buildings in a quadrangle. An austere Baroque style. Stained glass with medical motifs.
- Cantonal hospitals: clean, functional, modern architecture.
The exchange
- The Most Serene Exchange (Velinia): a monumental neoclassical building.
- The Exchange of the Aurum (Aurum Roma): more discreet, in a Renaissance townhouse.
- The Exchange of Brithon: monumental industrial neo-Gothic.
The barracks + the fortress
- In the Limes Orientalis: heavy military architecture — dark stone + iron + structural Choir-Iron + the Choir-Cross everywhere.
- Smaller border cities: small forts of concrete-stone with a machine-gun turret.
The asylum / madhouse
- Heavy buildings in dark stone, generally isolated on the urban outskirts. Narrow windows with bars.
- Undetected possessed people sometimes end up here (the Inquisition investigates occasionally).
The residential house
- By class:
- The aristocracy: a townhouse in the regional style.
- The bourgeoisie: a building on an urban block, 3-4 storeys, a well-kept façade.
- The working class: the urban tenement + the factory house + the miner's house in an industrial village.
- The peasant: a village house, simple, regional.
IV. Canonical building materials
Traditional materials
- Stone: pale travertine (Aurum Roma), grey granite (the Solar Range), Alpine stone (Kantonal), red sandstone (Brytonia), volcanic tuff (Meridia).
- Brick: industrial red (Brytonia), pale brick (Velinia), dark brick (Königsmark).
- Wood: pine (the north), oak (the centre), chestnut (the south), birch (Vykhradia, decoration).
- Tile: red (the centre, the south), black slate (Brytonia, Königsmark).
Industrial materials
- Cast iron: structure, decoration, railings, canopies.
- Steel: structure.
- Glass: stained glass, the large window, the canopy.
Consecrated materials (canonical to the universe)
- Structural Choir-Iron: heavy military buildings + cathedral naves.
- Ornamental Hashmalite: lanterns, stained glass, icons, candelabra, monstrances.
- Lumen in stained glass: an expensive application but common in the greater cathedrals.
- Holy Ash in mortar: churches, fortresses, cemeteries. An anti-pact material of floor and wall.
- Liturgical Gold: monstrances, chalices, icons, crosses, a bishop's pectorals.
Corrupted materials (canonical to the infernal)
- Black Mineral: pactuary structure + ornamentation. An iridescent green shine when activated.
- Changing stone: used in the Limbo. An unknown material.
V. The aesthetic in particular cities
Aurum Roma
- Aureline Baroque + Italianate Victorian + Roman-analogue ruins preserved in some districts. Historical layers.
Velinia
- The Venetian-analogue + a mixed Byzantine. Pale stone + green copper + mosaics.
Brithon
- Pure industrial Victorian. Red brick + neo-Gothic + fog.
Königsburg
- The Prussian-analogue. Grey stone + iron + a fortress-city.
Vykhrad
- Coloured Slavic Baroque + a golden bulb + painted wood in the outer zones.
Stromakra
- Mediterranean + the Arab-analogue + an industrial influence.
Bernkanton
- Swiss-Alpine. Wood + stone + a meticulous cleanliness.
Sathkar (the Pacted)
- Infernal industrial. An enormous chimney + black smoke + Black Mineral on the façade.
Karzhar (the Pacted)
- Architectural grotesque. A central tower of Black Mineral. Inverted temples.
Links
- Aurum Roma
- People — Velinia
- Everyday life
- Eras do Cataclismo
- The state of the world
- The consecrated minerals