The name Ta'a Chume'Dan indicated "Queen Mother's Residence" in Hapan, and the most remarkable sight in the city was the royal palace, a fairy-tale castle perched on the black basalt crag that dominated the settlement, which served as a key symbol of the monarchy's grandeur and power to the administrators and bureaucrats of the population—as Ta'a Chume'Dan itself served a symbolic and administrative role for the worlds of the Consortium.
Probably due to the isolationist policies of the Hapans, however, New Republic sources disagreed as to whether the palace overlooking the city was the Fountain Palace, or Star Home, a magnificent interstellar starship built as an exact duplicate of the royal seat. It is likely, however, that it was the original Fountain Palace which stood in Ta'a Chume'Dan, and it seems certain that the Lorell Hall was also set on the same bluffs.
Cracken's Threat Dossier, which introduced both Ta'a Chume'Dan and Star Home, implies that it is the royal spaceship which dominates the capital, but the Fountain Palace has been indicated in The New Jedi Order: Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse, The New Jedi Order: Dark Journey, and most recently and explicitly, Hapes: Ladies First.
Similarly, the sources disagree as to the actual meaning of the capital's name. Cracken's Threat Dossier took Ta'a Chume to be the hereditary Hapan title of all the Hapan Queen Mothers, whereas more recent sources have treated it as though it were the royal style of a specific Queen Mother reigning during the Galactic Civil War. If so, then the name of the capital would change with every reign, probably becoming Teneniel Chume'Dan and then Tenel Ka Chume'Dan in the subsequent reigns of Teneniel Djo and Tenel Ka Djo.
It may be for this reason that Dark Journey describes the capital only as "the royal city", which could be viewed as a loose translation of Chume'Dan.
Cracken's Threat Dossier, which introduced both Ta'a Chume'Dan and Star Home, implies that it is the royal spaceship which dominates the capital, but the Fountain Palace has been indicated in The New Jedi Order: Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse, The New Jedi Order: Dark Journey, and most recently and explicitly, Hapes: Ladies First.
Similarly, the sources disagree as to the actual meaning of the capital's name. Cracken's Threat Dossier took Ta'a Chume to be the hereditary Hapan title of all the Hapan Queen Mothers, whereas more recent sources have treated it as though it were the royal style of a specific Queen Mother reigning during the Galactic Civil War. If so, then the name of the capital would change with every reign, probably becoming Teneniel Chume'Dan and then Tenel Ka Chume'Dan in the subsequent reigns of Teneniel Djo and Tenel Ka Djo.
It may be for this reason that Dark Journey describes the capital only as "the royal city", which could be viewed as a loose translation of Chume'Dan.