The Palace of the Undying Emperor

This is a community lot designed for Takemizu Village. Its modeled after Osaka Castle in Japan, which was built in 1583 and today is recognized as a historic site. (For more details, see: Official Website of Osaka Castle (English)). I designed this lot some time ago and always meant to upload it to MTS eventually. In the meantime, it has gotten a lot of playtesting. My sims never go to Takemizu Village without stopping here at least once.

The Palace of the Undying Emperor comes with its own backstory, hinting at a terrible vampire emperor which you could create to go with this, if you so choose. "Local legends tell of the ruthless and bloodthirsty Emperor Ryuk Shinigami who ruled from this palace for a thousand years. His reign was finally brought to an end when the people rose up in civil war. But when the rebels seized the castle, they broke into his private chambers only to find an empty crypt! The fate of Emperor Shinigami remains unknown to this day." (Yes, I love Death Note ). Today, the Palace of the Undying Emperor is a tourist attraction.



The grand staircase at the entrance to the palace is a fantastic place for your vacationers to pose for photos. The gardens around the palace include a zen garden, a lucky shrine, a fountain and a fishing spot, as well as several lovely places to sit on a park bench or take a picture.



On the first floor of the palace is a full wraparound porch, a restaurant (with fish tanks so you can choose your own sushi!... but not really) and a stairwell. At the stairwell, sims can head down into the Emperor's tomb or up to the rest of the palace.



The basement level museum has a variety of artifacts on display, including the empty caskets of the Emperor and Empress. A functional basement window hidden under the front stairs allows light into the museum.



On the second floor, sims will find the bathrooms, a bar, a dance floor, and lounge areas (complete with fans in case of global warming).



The third floor is a quiet parlor where sims can play mahjong or have a cup of tea.



The fourth floor houses the gift shop, where sims can buy souvenirs, clothes, and jewelry.



The fifth and sixth floors are more or less decorative. The fifth floor has comfy couches in case the climb was too hard, and the sixth floor is the viewing platform.



Fair Warning
Now, a fair word of warning about this lot. First of all, it is huge. It has fully painted ceilings and terrain. Its chock full of decorations and gardening and lighting and all the good stuff. I also used the "boolprop sethighestallowedlevel" cheat in order to build higher. If you have a slow PC, this is not the lot for you! And because this lot is huge and its sitting on a stepped mountain, this is a terrible place to catch the ninja. He always teleports someplace impossible like a big ol' ninja jerk. On the other hand, it'll give you some really awesome pictures, and virtually all the Takemizu vacation stuff is here. And its almost CC free. Almost.



So About the Trees...
I'm including two versions of this lot -- one with cherry blossom trees, and one without. The cherry blossoms are a recolor of the Japanese Autumn Maple done by Sakura_Chan: Cherry Blossom Trees by Sakura_Chan. Unfortunately, these trees are not seasons friendly, and I could neither figure out how to fix it nor bear to give them up. In the Fall and Winter, the trees just flash blue instead of switching to falling leaves and bare twigs. If you want the version with the cherry blossoms, you can fix it the way I did: by changing Takemizu Village's seasons from Spring/Fall to Spring/Summer. (In case you've never done that, there's a button in neighborhood view at the top of the screen. Its blue and has a picture of flowers). The version with the cherry blossoms is called Palace of the Undying Emperor -- Sakura Version. If you'd prefer to stick to the Maxis colors and not bother with that, you can download the seasons friendly version. Its called Palace of the Undying Emperor -- Seasons Version. Other than the coloring of the trees, the two versions are identical.



I hope you enjoy this addition to Takemizu Village. Happy Simming!

Lot Size: 6x5
Lot Price (furnished): $518,680

Custom Content by Me:
- "Running the Rapids" Rocks (I pulled the textures from Maxis's "Running the Rapids" Rock Wall" and made it into a terrain paint.)

Custom Content Included:
- Rocks Fence by TheJim07 @ mts2 (A gorgeous low fence that uses the rocks from Maxis's "Serenity Squared" asian fountain).