Weekly Worldbuilding #2: A Dragon's Royal Palace

A dragon’s palace (alternatively called a “lair” among draconic species like lesser dragons and Kobolds) is where a great dragon monarch resides and reigns, standing as a testament to a dragon's power and stature while also serving as the seat of government in a dragon's realm, since a dragon’s court usually lives in or a short flight's away from it. For great dragon emperors, their palaces are an absolutely massive spectacle in the capital city, fit for a dragon some hundreds of feet long, while lesser dragon nobility have more humble lairs out in the countryside. For offspring of younger great dragons, their lairs are sizeable to a lesser dragon's but not as massive and spectacular as a fully mature great dragon's lair.

Inside a great dragon's palace, the center of the palace is the throneroom. This chamber is defined by a long and spacious nave spanning hundreds of feet tall from floor to ceiling, with both aisles flanked by massive columns, while a red carpet leads straight to the dragon's throne located at the end of the nave. Because dragons are massive, they sit on no throne as a human monarch would, and instead rest their bodies sitting or lying on a large, rectangular raised stone slab. In this chamber of the palace, it is where dragon monarchs receive tribute, oversee ceremonies, get groomed/pampered by their Kobold servants, and discuss political affairs with subjects/allies.

Besides the throneroom, there is the slumber chamber, which is located behind the throneroom. This chamber serves as a resting spot for dragons, either for brief naps, sleeping, or winter deep-sleep during brumalschlaf. Like the throneroom, this chamber is very massive, as it is meant to comfortably host a massive dragon inside of it, although it is more banal in design, made of slabs and stone and nothing more. Inside, this chamber is always dimly lit, only illuminated by torches on the wall or by pyres on the ground.

Taking another hallway would lead you to the most important chamber of a dragon's palace, the hoard chamber. This is the chamber where the dragon monarch's hoard is stored, consisting of the many treasures they have amassed over their existence. It is defined by a pit-like descent where a humongous pile of precious metals, jewels, magical items, war loot, tribute, and many more valuables are stored, both as a conglomerated mass or organized depending on the artifact. Because of the importance of this chamber, the doors are forged of iron so that only a creature as mighty as a dragon could open it.

There is then an exit through another hallway in the throneroom that leads to the courtyard of the palace. The palace courtyard has cobblestone paving and is walled off to give the dragon monarch some privacy. Dragon monarchs usually use the palace courtyard to bask in the sun for leisure or occasionally to get washed, which requires a team of a hundred or so Kobolds to complete.

While these are the primary chambers that a dragon monarch uses, there are also sections of the palace dedicated to housing for the dragon's Kobolds servants and courtiers, both elite and common caste. There are also minor sections of the palace dedicated as chapels for dragon-worship among Kobold priests and their followers, or for ancestor veneration of the dragon's past descendants.