Fantasy The Queen's Ball {Lore}

[snowstormspawn]

____________________All of you world-building fanatics are welcome to post your lore in this thread. Whether it be history of the nation you made up, language & medieval tidbits and facts etc., post it and I will eventually distill it and categorize it in this main post.____________________

Map of the Kingdoms & Cities (Pending Future Additions)



Kingdom History & Cultures

-Coming Soon-

Religions

-Coming Soon-


Language Advice

Spoiler: Writing in "Old English"

I found this online and thought it was helpful, because I always struggle with this while writing a medieval character.
Quick tip for all you language wizzes in the comments: "thy" is for words that start with a consonant sound, kinda like "a" is, and "thine" is for words
that start with a vowel sound, kinda like "an" is. Example: thine bow = wrong; thy bow = right; thy apple = wrong; thine apple = right.

​

 

[RayneIlStorm]

The Kingdom of Calcavia

The kingdom of Calcavia is ruled by King Manatori and Queen Ivari. King Manatori had come into power a few years into the plague after staging a coup for the king before him while everyone was irrational and upset about the countless deaths. Being the leader of the coup, Manatori took over.

For a while, as the plague continued, he worked tirelessly to improve the kingdom and her people. Though you can only do so much with a ravaging plague, the people noticed his work and they favored him over other past kings as the kingdom slowly returned back to normal a couple of years before the plague ended completely.

Now that his people aren’t of high note, King Manatori now focuses on conquering land in order to expand the kingdom. The kingdom raised their army known as the Storm and uses them in carefully strategized battles within the peninsula of the continent.

While the King focuses on the battles raging in his name, the Queen is also important. Unlike some other countries, she was actually given power to use in the kingdom. She is well-known as the Guiding Star, because she aids the people in their plights, though not soft is she. In fact, some say that she is much scarier than her husband.

Then there are the two princes of the King and Queen: Ante Ivera and Rile Ivera. The two brothers are like mirror opposites when it comes to personality; one stoic and serious until you break his shell, and the other wearing a smiling mask. Both are being trained as the next leaders, one more than the other, though not much has been heard of the former prince for a while.

Calcavia herself is a rather sunny and warm place with several rivers running through it and plentiful rains, providing good fertile soil for farming delicate and flavorful produce. However they have the short-coming of lacking much meat in their diet as livestock are used more for producing milk and other byproducts rather than using them for meat.

(Will update as time goes on)

 

[GrieveWriter]

The Holy Lands of Whilden
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Once untamed land ruled by aggressive tribes that warred amongst each other constantly, Whilden was stricken by a cataclysmic series of natural disasters that turned its inhabitants into Nomads just to survive. Among them was the Prophet Whilder, who was gifted clarity by the God of Knowledge and curiosity: Lokh. The Prophet's ventures would spread the truth of Lokh's will across all of the lands, and soon the Lokhen Church rose to power in the center of the land, which was soon named Whilden in honor of the Prophet once they had passed away into sainthood. Leading the Lokhen Church in his stead was the first of a long line of High Ladies, who began a conquest against ignorance which led the Lokhen Church to war with the remaining tribals. The Church's territories grew as the numbers of tribes conquered rose, the conquest against ignorance lasting throughout the entirety of the first High Lady's lifetime.

It was the Second High Lady who finished filling in Whilden's boarders, who built upon what was left to her and guided the Church and all those under it to follow Lokh's Will. The Church's unending drive to seek knowledge and discover led to an age of discovery for the burgeoning nation, the old tribal style of life was quickly washed away under a renaissance of discovery that would've led Whilden to outpace many of its neighbors if not for the Church's adamant willingness to share their knowledge with all who seek it. So became the cycle of Whilden for some years, their large structures and specific attire leading them to become recognized even beyond their reverence for Lokh.

Beyond the discoveries and advancements they made, the Lokhen Church began forming the first assembly of Lokhen Knights. Adopting the Face of Lokh that so many other members of the Church wore, the Holy Lands of Whilden found the standard city guards replaced by warriors bearing the Church's name. At first the Lokhen Knights were merely there to fulfill the roles of defenders, warding off beasts and criminals whilst enforcing Lokh's Will. As it was written, the withholding of Knowledge went against all that Lokh's blessing had stood for. To hide advancements of technology and sciences from the masses would be a grievous sin, and so would draw the Lokhen Knights to them like moths to a flame.

Many of the Lokhen Knights have varied skillsets, as even they are encouraged to learn and improve to become as well-rounded as possible. As such, swordplay between two Knights could be entirely different from one another. Those among the Knights who prove themselves to exemplify the will of Lokh can even move on to become Paladins of the Church. Known for their utilization of Alchemy along with their proficiency with broadswords, Lokhen Paladins stand above even their fellow Knights in the eyes of the Church.

The Face of Lokh is worn by many followers of the church, the style of the mask denoting the ranks of the individual wearing them. It was a practice started by the First High Lady of the Lokhen Church, symbolizing who and what exactly they devote themselves to. Another symbol commonly associated with the church is that of both keys and Locks. Sometimes worn on clothing or minted onto weaponry, the lock and key comes from a verse from the Word of Whilder in which Lokh explains his name to Saint Whilder.

As a key to a lock, my will is the same.
For it shall grant access to the great fields of knowledge which man may prosper from.
​

The Word of Whilder is a detailed account of both Whilden's ancient times and the Lokhen Church's history, along with numerous other tales concerning Lokh's Will. The first issue was allegedly started by Whilder themselves and continued by the first High Lady after their passing. Its split into three Sections: Age of Ignorance, Morkheart and the Ballad of the First High Lady. The Age of Ignorance primarily concerns the times of Whilden's ancient history. First it spoke of the battles the old tribes wages against one another, then the ensuing disasters that ruined the early tribal life they had. Morkheart was more centered around the Saint's journeys after the disasters, and the numerous experiences with Lokh they had during those days. The Ballad of the First High Lady is more of an epic tale that details the Conquest against Ignorance, the battles wages between the early Followers of Lokh and the remaining Tribals. The First High Lady speaks in depth about the dangers of leaving them to the whims of Ignis.

Though the Lokhen Church does not have an expansive pantheon of higher powers, they definitely have a counter to motivational demands of Lokh. Since the early pages of the Age of Ignorance, Whilder makes numerous allusions to an internal feeling that much of the violence and carnage between the tribes and even many of the following nomads was due to ignorance. It was only during the middle of Morkheart that the Saint reveals that it was due to a demon known as Ignis. Whereas Lokh grants mankind the curiosity and drive to uncover the world around them, Ignis actively seeks to blind humanity through ignorance. It delights in the blood they spill, the violence they cause under its control. As such, when children were born with a horrifying similarity to mindless beasts, the Lokhen Church was quick to label them as the Children of Ignis. These poor souls lack blessing of Lokh which grants mankind the ability to learn beyond the other creatures of the world, little more than feral creatures who may ever know Lokh's Will.

It falls upon the Lokhen Knights to slay the Children of Ignis, to grant them freedom from the lifetime of violent ignorance Ignis has trapped them within.

The people of Whilden speak in Whildenese, a dialect that many of their neighbors recognize as harsh and unpleasant to the ears. Due to the particular tones, Whildenese sounds as though the speaker is far angrier than they could be. There is reason for this, as Whildenese is essentially a hodgepodge of more simplistic languages that belonged to the numerous tribes and nomads that made up early Whilden. It formed when the first Followers of Lokh came together under the First High Lady, their varied dialects essentially merging into one under the Church's guidance. Believe it or not, Whildenese is actually far softer than its original variant.

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To the northern borders of Whilden lie the Forsworn Mountains, where the first assembly of the followers of Lokh came together. Having fled from tribals up the slopes, Whilden brought together a collection of Nomads under the will of Lokh. Some would say that its the true birthplace of the Lokhen Church, even though the first cathedral had been constructed several years later in the heart of where modern day Whilden is. But the High Ladies certainly seem to think it is, as the Forsworn mountains are where the crown jewel of the Lokhen Church's faith is: the Citadel. The seat of power for the High Lady herself, the Citadel was constructed among the mountainous terrain in spite of the dangers it posed. Utilizing the knowledge of engineering gained through Lokh's Will, the Church assembled quite an impressive fortress from which the High Ladies have ruled ever since. Used more as a cathedral in most cases, its nonetheless the very place where the most recent High Lady sealed herself and the most high-ranking members of the Church during the Plague.

While the Lokhen Knights kept order during the tragedy by keeping the afflicted confined to plagued districts of towns and cities, the Lokhen Church worked tirelessly from within their keeps and cathedrals to find the cure. Only recently have they begun emerging from the Citadel's walls, though it seems unlikely that the High Lady herself will be making any rounds across the Holy Lands. Never one to venture beyond the kingdom's borders, the High Ladies were always prone to dispatching representatives of the Church or Lokhen Knights wherever she needed something done.