#Irish American born and raised on the Missouri countryside

[nigh-temptation]

An in depth look at the capital of Gulfeńn, Valkor! (Buckle up, this is a long one)

Before I start I should probably clear something up: For inspiration for coming up with Elven culture, I looked at Slavic, Balkan, Hindu, and Middle Eastern influences. The easiest way to think about it is this (if anything that comes up in this post is offensive to any of these cultures, please let me know and I will try my best to fix it. I am only human, and I am an American at that, so I can only go by my research 😅):

Clothing, Music, Language, and Patterning = Balkan

Language, Music, and Clothing = Slavic

Food, Architecture, and Religion = Hindu

Architecture, Desert Culture, Food, Clothing, and Music = Middle Eastern

Don’t worry, I will give examples and visual aid to help convey what I mean!

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Valkor: The Capital

Gulfeńn is split into four different provinces, or states. These provinces have their own biomes, traditions, and leaders. Valkor is one of four, and is simply referred to “Western Gulfeńn” sometimes.

(Spellings will be changed throughout tho will be changed to fit what I have in mind for the elves)

Population- 4.1 million

Valkor is a unique city, in the nature of its height. Valkor is located in a part of the Ośtavlet desert that dips into a valley, where it can reaches 104 degrees on average in the summer. The elves would have baked to death. So they settled on a huge, naturally forming rock spire. These desert spikes provide great shade in the unforgiving heat, and were the prime spot for elves to carve out their cities. The Yvvińna Palace was carved directly into the rock, while the actual city was built around the outside.

After hundreds of years, the rock on the spire started to crumble and erode. Scientists have been researching a way to regrow the rocks. So far, more and more houses have to be partially or entirely held up by sturdy metal beams. It’s not too bad yet…

Around the base of Valkor is a wall, and behind the wall is the rest of the city. 

These neighborhoods are safe from heatstroke because of the shade that both the Wall and the Palace provide. Air conditioning is also free for those who live on the base (and for those who want it. Usually it’s only the human citizens who actually turn it on. Elves are adequately adapted to deal with the heat)

For those who live “On the Sky” as they say, it can get well near freezing during the night and during the winter months. The ecosystem up near the sky is more humid. More trees and plants can be found growing up there. Sometimes it even snows. Children who live on the base usually go near the top to play on the rare occasion it does. The journey from the base to the very top takes approximately 4 hours of twisty, windy roads. 

Safety rails have been installed after many instances of people falling off the sharp cliff sides. 

The Valkorian Throne is the highest throne of Gulfeńn, since the city was founded by The Oj Dolo (in the books, known as The Great Erlking). The Oj Dolo was seen as a sort of god in his own right, the equivalent to the Christian prophet Jesus, or the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Like both, he was a real life figure but ascended to legend.

(Quick note on Oj Dolo: imagine my surprise when I found out that “Dolo” is not only an actual Polish name, but also Oj Dolo is a song! I swear I had no knowledge of this until a month after I chose the name. I chose Oj as the prefix because I knew it meant “Oh”)

Thus, any Czar that followed in his footsteps, and took the throne, was seen as a mortal god (kind of like Egyptian pharaohs). Most elves will refer to the Czar with the prefix “Oj” (said like “oi”), as it is seen as respectful to do so for “god mortals”. This includes the royal family, and the Dzikaję (child of the Czar).

As for the elven goddesses, I will talk more in depth about them later (I don’t wanna overwhelm anyone with info lol), but for now just know that they have two: Seińn of the Sun, and Favšta of the Moon.

BONUS: in my version of the story, The Elf King, or Oj Czar Ykoda, was of the royal bloodline and was in an arranged marriage with the daughter of the Duchess of Stęńgard, Epopyja.

Also, just to get it out of the way real fast, here Lugźer (Luger), and Tręlis (Trellis) are cousins not brothers. And I have big plans for both of them >:)c

Here are some reference images of what I think Valkorians might dress like (all taken from Pinterest):

Don’t worry about their ears! They poke out of their head coverings with ease, and still have plenty of room to move

Last note, I was thinking that for the Oj Czar, he could wear a kokoshnik along with his mask:

(Credit to Alena Abramova for these amazingly intricate dolls!)

So his silhouette is still long and flowy, but distinct and intimidating

Next up will probably be a look at our main characters, and then I’ll probably do a breakdown of the timeline <3