My story takes place in a kingdom that's been invaded by another. My problem is that the enemies have taken up residence in the palace of the defeated kingdom, and I'm unclear on how to make that work. Would the enemies be rebels from within the kingdom or would they be from another kingdom? If the latter, why move to a different palace? If anyone could offer insight I'd be grateful.
Castles typically are built with defense in mind more than comfort, even to their placement. Unless either side had completely sabotaged the foundations, walls, and escape routes the main palace is typically the best place to hold out unless another location is specifically designated for evacuation.
Invading soldiers would be quick to turn any resources into their own so as a means to restock and resupply regardless of victory or the expectation of a return attack by the home forces.
If rebels, most of the day to day shift would be subtle because the people actually making transactions with the kingdom would largely be the same, but politically there could be drastic shifts which may in turn spark another rebellion.
I hope this helps.
@Duksisdarker This helps some, thank you. My best bet for the story plot-wise is to have the enemies be invaders from another kingdom, but I'm looking for a situation in which the invaders would choose to relocate their capital to that of the defeated country. Do you think you can help?
if the invaders are from another kingdom, maybe they leave some soldiers in the fallen kingdom's castle as a show of strength and to keep rebels from rising up against them, while the rest of them return to their kingdom and figure out the logistics of maintaining two kingdoms (or absorbing the defeated kingdom into theirs, geographical distances aside). (maybe if you want to add some drama, the people who are left could start making their own rules, especially if the other kingdom is so far away that they don't hear of their treason for a while.)