[][] Shinda Manor [][]
May 7, 2014 0:15:41 GMT -7
Post by Draven on May 7, 2014 0:15:41 GMT -7
Description:
The Shinda manor is a maze of artful design and craftsmanship – wondrous, confusing, and oddly pleasing, to say the least. The outside of the mansion had nearly as much attention as the inside. The cast external facade is bursting with Victorian features like towers, curved walls, archways, hidden stairs, and balconies, all accompanied with finely detailed woodwork. When viewed from different angles, the towers, some topped by ornamental spires, give the house a castle like motif.
There are some weird architectural anomalies which may have practical explanations. For example, the Staircase, which has seven levels with forty two steps, rises only about nine and a half feet, since each step is just three inches high. The twisting hallways are made even more interesting by secret passageways.
History:
Mrs. Shinda conducted a seance every night to help with her building plans and for protection against spirits. While she sometimes drew drafts of the building ideas, there were never any blueprints….or building inspectors! Ever mid week, a meeting would be set up with S’ven Tsubasa, her faithful foreman, and go over new draft changes.
The Shinda Manor, to this day is now known as “The mansion of confused souls.” S’ven Tsubasa stayed with Mrs. Shinda for many years, redoing scores of rooms, remodeling them one week and tearing them apart the next.
The Shinda clan in its early birth where an immigrant wealthy family that moved from far off lands of unknown regions. Their primary roll within the village was that of spirit interpreters. Though due to this becoming a popularity, the roles they played diminished due to over saturation within the community. The family started to loose its money and wealth and soon started to dwindle. Some say due to their name sake, the Shinda’s always had unfortunate deaths, and their grave markers where inscribed by such odd and sometimes horrifying deaths. Mrs. Shinda herself has her gravestone marked with an depiction of her and a chandelier which had fallen and crushed her.
The manor itself had then passed from family member to family member, down the generations. Due to the dwindle of the families money reserves the house itself fell into disrepair. At a certain point in its own history the family had to lease out the land to the neighboring graveyard next door, and thus the gardens itself is littered with headstones, and grave markers. The current state of the manor and its yards is what one would describe as a haunted house and only stands as a monument to such claims and legends.
Because of these factors and the decrease in the Shinda family, the property had been in question for many years. With no Shinda alive to speak of the Otokage council had deemed it to be in the care of the grave keepers and the graveyard itself. Though a will had been present ever since the conception of the house from Mrs. Shinda herself. The deed stated that the house will remain with a primary heir of the family. This of course posed a problem since there was none known since the last one passed away some 20 years ago. But due to some odd events the manor and its deed had been recovered and oddly enough the last known surviving member wasn’t actually dead. Thus, the dead to the property and the house currently falls into the hands of Draven no Shinda.
Furnishings
The rooms were laid with many beauties, gold and silver plated chandeliers, art glass windows, silver and bronze trimmed doors, stand alone bathtubs, and countless other items. Through the manor’s history many of these items had been sold off. The unfortunate history of the families members, and its dwindling population had forced many auction just to keep the manor itself in repair. Though this eventually ran its course and the rooms are now scarcely littered with broken down or even decrepid furnishings.
Unique wood laid Floors
One of the many wonders of the house are the wood laid floors. One craftsman a quarter of his life trying to complete the laying of the floors. They are made of an assortment of colored wood, arranged in artful motif. Mrs. Shinda’s favorite bedroom, the one in which she died, has a particularly unique flooring. The sunlight and its rays coming through the windows would appear to shift to the dark strips to light as they bounced off the floor.
Art Glass
The windows of this mansion was something to behold as well. They were laid with the most precious of metal and the sand came strait from the Land of Wind. One must understand that at the time this was actually a great undertaking. During its time of construction there had been strife and war amongst the two nations. Sand was viewed as an omen and also at the same time a luxury to work with. Thus the windows themselves had been created using the utmost care.
Cabinets
Though at their time of beautification, the cabinets were of the best craft money could buy at the time. Each having been made of oak, or perhaps of some other finely vintage wood. The design of some of the cabinets could be seen as unique. Some of them would have strange markings upon them, though that was because of the wood themselves. The grain of the wood had unique enough designs to trick the eye into thinking there was something there. There was once instance of Mrs. Shinda praying to a door because she believed it held the eyes of god.