~story: the world palaces~

High Hold:
Ruling throne of the Dragon Country.

The sprawling, dark, misty, mountain castle. Its towers and keeps cover the whole face of one of the larger mountains, in that country, and part of the valley below. They're connected, and protected, by long walls that have hallways and stairs inside them. There's cave and tunnel systems all over. It's built of huge, now almost rounded, solid gray stones and has fire resistant orange tiles on the roofs. They've been stained gray with age though. A pine forest surrounds it and the sun often gives the sky and land in this region a red color.

The Winter Palace:
Ruling throne of the Unicorn Country

Backs up to The Horn, highest mountain in the world, and its glaciers. The palace is always covered in ice. The grounds, the gardens, appear to be enchanted because of this. It's a compact castle with immense gardens, verandas, and huge (maintained) forests. The elevation drops dramatically to the capitol city. The city is less cold, the wind blows East, into the mountain, not West, into the town. This is pretty much the perfect fairy tale castle. Tall spires, whimsical sculptures, art everywhere.

Uluru:
Ruling throne of the Lion Country

Wikipedia: "Uluru is notable for appearing to change color as the different light strikes it at different times of the day and year, with sunset a particularly remarkable sight. The rock is made of sandstone infused with minerals like feldspar (Arkosic sandstone) that reflect the red light of sunrise and sunset, making it appear to glow. The rock gets its rust color from oxidation. Rainfall is uncommon in the area around Uluru , but during wet periods, the rock acquires a silvery-grey color, with streaks of black algae on the areas serving as channels for water flow... Aborigine legends tell of serpent beings who waged many wars around Uluru. The wars scarred the rock creating the vertical gutters we see today."

The fighting with the "demons"... Korin mentions to Indra when they see the Ack.

Istcayleia:
Lost under the ocean: Once the ruling seat of world.

The top of it's spires are now the seat of the earth for the dragon isle. A barren land that all the worlds winds originate from. When my little group defeats the dark it raises up and Melora and Korin's twins end up ruling from there. Urack and Keireia are laid in the tombs under it's main spire and millenniums later, in BlackBird, it's one of the last monuments standing- even though it's rubble.