80 Excelsior

Throughout history, many leaders have built great monuments. These magnificent structures served to exhibit the power of the state. Often, the rulers wanted to glorify themselves with these awe inspiring structures.

Now, Roland wanted to do the same. Of course, he thought up of other reasons to justify the expense of this project. While Hermes had the great cathedral, Neverwinter lacked a large, imposing landmark that could serve as a symbol of the city. The king's palace was not sufficient as it wasn't truly amazing. It wasn't very tall, not very large, not very opulent.

Clearly, the city was missing something. Also, having a great symbol of the strength of the nation will help raise the morale of the people. At least, that is what Roland told himself. It definitely wasn't for his own personal ego. Definitely not. Even if it was, well it would be to the benefit of the nation. After all, he was the state. Confidence in him meant more confidence in the nation.

The structure that he aimed to build would be a skyscraper. Neverwinter had plenty of tall buildings, but they were at most a dozen stories. While in the beginning they did seem amazingly tall to people, by now they were common. One tall building hardly stood out among the rest of them. So, it was necessary to build an even taller, more amazing structure.

The project would be a massive undertaking. The huge structure would require vast amounts of concrete and steel. It would also require a large construction crew. It would be quite the expensive endeavor.

The skyscraper was intended to become the new government building. All of the officials of the City Hall would work in this new building. It would house both the city government of Neverwinter as well as the national government. The situation was somewhat odd as there were actually more people involved in governing the city of Neverwinter than there were people involved in governing the rest of the kingdom. This was a result of the highly centralized nature of the kingdom and the uneven development that had occurred.

All of the paperwork involved in governing the kingdom would all flow to this central location. Within this tall tower of steel and glass would be reams upon reams of files and documents. Hordes of civil servants would process paperwork and send it out. Reports from all corners of the kingdom would come here.

Within this towering edifice would be the various departments of the government, all working hard to help the nation advance. The staff involved in government was quite large as much of the development of the nation was still driven by the state rather than private entities. Most of the technological development would be performed by the government. So, in addition to the multitude of bureaucrats, there would also be engineers, researchers, and architects.

It would be the heart of the nation, housing the most important organs of the state. Of course, Roland wouldn't be living in the skyscraper. He would much rather continue to live in the palace. There was a direct telephone line to the government building, so it wasn't like he would have go be there to give directions. The only times he would go there was for important meetings.

The skyscraper would have a solid foundation and would be supported by massive concrete pillars reinforced with steel. Steel beams would form the skeleton of the structure, holding it together and supporting the floors. The outside of the building would contain numerous windows. The entire building would like like it is shining when hit by sunlight from the right angle.

For such a tall structure, stairs would no longer be sufficient for people to move between floors. As a result, Roland designed an elevator. It would be able to lift a significant weight and allow people to move between floors quickly. It also had numerous safety mechanisms to stop it if the cable ever broke.

On the top of the building was a tall spire that pointed up into the sky. From the ground, it almost looked as if the sharp point would poke a hole into the blue ceiling above the world. Atop the spire was an antenna. The building would also house the first radio station. Recently, radio technology had been improved and Roland would now be able to address the entire city over a radio broadcast. The antenna atop this very tall building would allow him to do that.

The skyscraper would be the literal embodiment of the state and would serve as a symbol to show the power of the nation. It would stand strong, be unyielding, indestructible, just like the kingdom of Graycastle. It served perfectly to show off the power of the nation to the outside world.

On the other hand, it did cost quite a bit of resources. While one might be remiss in going so far as to describe it as a "white elephant", it would not be wholly inaccurate to call it a "vanity project". Of course, the building was functional and it had an important purpose.

When Steven heard about the opening of the new skyscraper, he laughed quite a lot.

"What's so funny?", Zero asked.

"It seems that Roland had just finished building his new skyscraper and he is having his opening ceremony soon", Steven replied.

"A skyscraper?", Zero questioned. "Isn't that one of those massive buildings you had told me about. Roland just built one of those things? Are we going to go there to attend the opening ceremony?"

"Of course not", said Steven. "Roland is just doing it to show off. The whole thing is basically a propaganda event for his kingdom. I'll just tell him we are too busy. Roland is basically like one of those new money folks, trying to show off his new wealth. He can't compete with us otherwise. He is trying to make up for the lack of important historical structures with size."

"So we aren't going to make one of those?", asked Zero.

Steven shrugged. "It would totally be a waste of resources for us. We already have enough prestige. Besides, Roland is lucky that there aren't any terrorists around. At least he has the good sense not to live in the building."

A few weeks later, the building officially opened. Roland stood in front of the skyscraper and gave a speech extolling the virtues of the people and how together they would be able to accomplish great feats like building such a magnificent structure. Then, he cut the ribbon to signify the opening of the building.

Many people had been quite nervous about the elevator, so Roland decided to alleviate their fears by demonstrating that it was safe. The king himself would take the elevator up to the top floor. Since the king didn't feel it was dangerous, then the common people shouldn't fear either.

What he didn't tell them was that Nightingale was hiding in the mist, ready to grab him in case anything went wrong. Although he had every confidence in the safety of the elevator, accidents did happen and he would rather not risk it.