GAULis one of the largest communities of Elves in the so called "Blue Country" by many in the Realm. It is one of the "Blue Cities", the five largest elven cities in the Grimvald-Umberllin-Blue area (named so for the presence of the beginning of the Blue Divide in Waveland Delta, the edge of the Grimwald forest, and the edge of the Umberllin plains).
Thirty thousand elves call Gaul "Home".
It is on the banks of the Wyrd River, named such for the presence of the Faerie lands, an area through which most of the Wyrd River passes through. Because of this, Gaul is home to the Fae-Dovi, a group of Fae-kin (aka Pixie-kin, Nymph-children, Faerie-kin, Tree Folk, Wyrd-Children, Children of the Magik Folk, Ent-Friends, Delafae, Ardajallay, Wyrd-kin, Fatidoux, Barjax-kin, Children of the Forest, Children of the East, Darth-neferi, Bridgers, Bala and many more names in other parts of the world), who broker with the Land of Faerie just how far West their land can extend, lead Forest-Burners into battle, and act as diplomats to the Land of Faerie as well as many other subtle purposes throughout Gaul's culture and society.
The Gates of Faerie, marking the inland water boundary on the Wyrd River between the Land of Faerie and the Lands of the West, are also in Gaul.
Wandlore, an obscure and oft-times underestimated branch of magic involving, not only the focusing of magic, but also the organization of magic, allowing the user more complex spells without the hour long preparation at the beginning of the day, and allowing the user to cast more spells per day and higher level spells without the need of a spell book or a spell scroll, but only one's memory (a similar effect can be achieved with a staff, but most wand-makers consider the extra material needed to make a staff unnecessary and even cumbersome to the magic-enhancing properties of wand-lore crafts), was created in Gaul.
Gaul is a trade center between the North and South, acting as a major marketplace for Dwarven Products (because of the close proximity of Oakgren in the Hills only fifty-nine miles from Gaul), Destier Products, (aka the "Sixth Blue City", existing on both sides of the Horngraft River near the throat of the Delta, being only 137 miles from Gaul), Umberllin Products (being only 101 miles from the edge of the Umberllin Plains), and North Grimvald products (being only 97 miles from the Horngraft River, beyond the North banks of which exists the North Grimvald forest), and all products from lands further north including Northland Elfs, Varden Mountains, the Kingdom of Bard, the Gnomelome (the "g" is hard, and the "e" is pronounced "uh"), and Shiredawn.
The Council of Twenty-One govern Gaul, they act as the legislative body. Five members per citadel represent the populace of the citadael. Two members represent the Fae-Dovi. Two members represent the military. And two members represent the police force of Gaul. (Understand that the Council is a representative organization, it does not control those institutions which fall under its jurisdiction). The Grand Court of Gaul, with its seven supreme judges, are a separate entity, and uphold the ancient laws and traditions of Gaul. Each member of the Grand Court is elected for a fifty year term. Non-Elven members are able to be elected onto the council.
Special Landmarks in Gaul:
-North Gaul, on the north side of the Wyrd and Zuit Rivers, and on the east side of the confluence
-West Gaul on the west side of the Wyrd and Zuit confluence
-South Gaul on the south side of the Wyrd and Zuit Confluence
-The three Gauls are connected by two bridges made of arcing trees, these bridges are alive and protected by a Fire Immunity Enchantment because of a fire which broke out during the 1678 sacking of Gaul by the Firedrake Pirates.
-The North Gaul Piers, #s 1-45
-The West Gaul Piers #s 1-90, these piers are in the shape of a V
-The South Gaul Piers #s 1-40
-Zuit Street, runs parallel to all North Gaul piers, five roads go off into the Elven Citadel of Gaul on the north-east side
-Wyrd Street, runs parallel to all piers in South Gaul, five roads go off and disappear into the Elven Citadel of Gaul on the South side of the street
-Pier Street follows the confluence, and runs parallel to both the north and south piers of West Gaul. Seven roads run into and disappear in the Elven Citadel of Gaul
-The Water Gate marks the water border of Faerie. It is guarded by the Fae-Dovi, whose headquarters are in West Gaul.
Once you pass the roads, Gaul becomes innavigable by normal means, this is called the Elven Citadel of Gaul, or more commonly Inner Gaul. Elves live within tree trunks which are 30 feet wide and the trees reach easily 450 feet in height. A central staircase usually winds up the tree trunk to higher homes or second, third or more floors to houses. The Elven Citadel of Gaul are built so that only an Elf can navigate them for defense purposes.
There are no purposeful racial dividers in Gaul. However most of the non-elven inhabitants of Gaul do tend to live along Zuit, Wyrd and Pier Streets as they are easier to navigate than Inner Gaul.
The Council Building, Militia Headquarters, Judicial Building, City Prison, Sakara the Healer Hospital, Citizen Registry, Youngling Services Headquarters and Fae-Dovi Headquarters are stationed inside West Gaul, the furthest Citadel from the Water Gate, so that in case of attack the most important areas of Gaul are not hit. There are smaller headquarters of each in North and South Gaul.
Outside the city are fields where farmers grow crops
Normally, the outer ranks of the city house government institutions and workers
Normally the rank outside the Streets house pier workers, merchants and other people of similar note and purpose
Religious institutions exist on the streets as well as in various areas of the city. However, the Elven Religion of the Senaric Tradition is the most common in Gaul. Holidays of the Senaric Tradition are observed by most institutions, companies and households and there is a festival held at such times for the celestial alignment events associated with the Senaric Tradition.
The Land of Faerie is that land in the Great Continent of Excelsior allotted to the Faeries since the beginning of the First Age of Grey. It is believed the Grey Ones are the nameless precursors to all civilized races.
Legend has it that a war erupted between the Grey Ones and the Fae over Excelsior. The war was too great, the magic too awful, the death toll to terrible to continue, and so it was agreed to split the continent in two. Four-fifths of the continent was allotted to the Grey Ones and their successors (for the Grey Ones knew they would die one day). While the other portion was allotted to the Fae, who would do whatever they wished with their land.
The Grey Ones tamed their four-fifths, and eventually they died out, succeeding their land to the Elimnar, who in turn handed it to the races into whom their blood passed: Elves, Humans, Gnomes, Hobbits, Goblins, Dwarves, Trolls and Orcs. It was then these eight who allowed other races to live within their lands, either through inability to do otherwise or because they were kind enough to do so.
The Fae are among the only ones who remember this time, but once they realized the other races had forgotten of the Grey One's War, they decided it was high time to expand. Since then, a select group of cities, peoples and even faeries near the edge of the Land of Faerie have deigned it their job to stop the spread of the Land of Faerie, sometimes succeeding, and sometimes failing, leading to the destruction of many great kingdoms and peoples. Through the millennia the Land of Faerie has grown and withered, but it has mostly grown.
Among such groups, orders and organizations attempting to stop the spread of the Land of Faerie (and sometimes to stop the spread of the Lands of the West into the Land of Faerie) are the Fae-Dovi of Gaul, the Barjax-alaxi of Oakgren, the Entaira-fay of Desteir, the Fae-Dovi of Desteir, the Grey Elves of the Siddartha Mountains, the Kingdom of Sybill, the Gnomegun (hard "g" and e pronounced "uh"), the Republic of Southland Hobbits, the Knights of Sharma, the Order of the Hoodless Monks, the Dwarves of Versara, the Ocean-Going Cities of Jubilah, Jubilee and Anathraxoos, the Loneman, the Followers of the Loneman, the Children of the Forest, the Kindred of the West, the Order of the East, the Ents of the Vangard, the Mer-people of the Blue, the Sea-Creatures of the Shallow Blue, the Rogues of Chefly, the City of Dober, the Sister Cities of Oberan and Arnor, the Last of the Elimnar (containing 42 Elimnar of the last hundred or so remaining on the continent of Excelsior), the Ghosts of Shoban Castle (containing an Army of Elves and Men who can defend the land despite being Ghosts), Shoban Reborn, McShoban Castle, the Knights of Tomorrow, the Knights of Yesterday, the Knights of Time, the Split Mantel of the Trans-Cosmic Order and the Anunake, Sasquatch, and Anasazi Peoples.
The Fae-Dovi are an Order of Fae-kin who agree to act as diplomats between the Grimvald-Umberllin-Blue Area and the Land of Faerie. The Fae-Dovi can also act as a militia-like group in times of need because of their special abilities with the magic of objects of the Faeries. This militia-aspect of the Fae-Dovi are seen when they guard the Gates of Wyrd, the water-gates between the Land of Faerie and the Wyrd River within the domain of the West. The Fae-Dovi also settle disputes between Faeries outside of the Land of Faerie. They are also trained in ways to encourage their special Fae-abilities. Nearly all Fae-Dovi are Wand-Mages, owning a wand.
To those who do not know, Fae-kin are the children and descendants of Faeries regardless of species of Faerie or non-Faerie. As a result of this, Fae-kin usually suffer a multitude of physical weaknesses of both their heritages, but also attain several strengths of their kindred. Their strengths are most commonly the speed and agility of faeries, enhanced or extra Faerie senses, immunity to some poisons, diseases, spells, magical glances, and sometimes electricity, fire, drowning, asphyxiation, hot, cold , the ability to speak one or many Faerie languages often without being taught, control over some branch of Faerie magic and many Faerie abilities not yet understood by even the best Sages and Mages. Their weaknesses are oftentimes an anathema to iron, even extending to the blood. As result of this, any Fae-kin fetus which contains blood of the non-faerie kindred dies in the womb from Iron-poisoning. Most Fae-kin who survive the womb possess Faerie-ichor instead of red-blood, which can be translucent or transparent and take the color of green, blue, purple, yellow, white, silver, gold or some other color depending on heritage. And, in fact, sometimes even exposure to blood can be fatal or cause something akin to an allergic reaction. Other weaknesses can sometimes be the inability to sleep even though they need sleep (this can be rectified with a potion), paranoia, the hearing of voices possibly real or unreal, madness and certain poisons, spells, glances, diseases and magic especially unhealthy to faeries. It has been known for Fae-kin to be able to "connect with the life force of the forest" sometimes this can extend to "becoming a plant, both moving and non-moving" or "form an umbilical-like connection with a plant" sometimes at birth, sometimes during childhood and rarely during adulthood and sometimes the Faekin may be unable to live on land.
The life of a Fae-Dovi is difficult. As a result, it is an option to join. Any Fae-kin can settle a dispute with a Pixie Grove, but you must be a Fae-Dovi to even enter the Land of Faerie, and even then the Faeries might not take kindly to you. The Faeries are not tolerant of trespassers. It is known to the wise and the learned that Faeries who catch trespassers on their lands will sometimes allow their victims to scream to scare off others from entering their lands.
One must be adept at two or three Elven Martial Arts, be an expert archer and, especially in the case of the diplomats, be "as wise as the Elders". A Fae-Dovi understands that they have signed up for a job that can lead to death, they understand that they swore to do what is best for the greater good of the East, and at times, of the Land of Faerie. Before one becomes a Fae-Dovi, they must speak an oath which roughly translates to:
"I, (insert name), swear to protect the Lands of the West from the Land of Faerie and the Land of Faerie from the Lands of the West to the best of my ability. Taking this oath, I give up all bindings between liege and servant, master and slave, royal and subject, country and citizen, race and individual, society and man secret or otherwise and god and man. I will fight only when necessary. I will speak when it is my time. I will be wise in the ways of the enemy, be it Faerie or Non-Faerie, it does not matter. I am Fae-Dovi this day, and every other day of my life."
This oath ends all loyalties to other people except spouses, friends and children. One may also rescind the Oath, with a second Oath:
"I, (insert name), willingly break the Oath of the Fae-Dovi, understanding that this is only the result of my true unwillingness to continue as a Fae-Dovi to the end of my days. Ending my service, all allegiances prior to the beginning of my service begin again, including liege and servant, royal and subject, master and slave, country and citizen, race and individual, society and man secret or otherwise, god and man. I take upon myself the crimes of the days prior to my swearing into the Fae-Dovi, meaning that if I were down for execution, I will be executed; if I was a thief, a will be punished; if I was an outcast, I will be an outcast again; and will accept punishment for any crime I had done prior to my service, for this will be my last act as Fae-Dovi. With these words, I revoke myself as Fae-Dovi, Fae-Dovi I am no more."
Once one exits the Fae-Dovi, one cannot re-enter. If the Fae-Dovi does this in order to align with the enemy and fight the Lands of the West or the Land of Faerie, it is the job of his fellow Fae-Dovi to punish them for this crime. It is no walk in the wood to revoke membership to the Fae-Dovi, one must have excellent reasoning and moral justification to leave the Order.
Wand-Lore is that branch of magic which introduces the use of wands and staffs to organize magical energies in order to conduct more complex spells otherwise needing time to prepare or impossible to do even in preparation.
A Wand is composed of two pieces, the Wand Core, made of piece of a creature who has willingly given a piece of itself to become a Wand Core. A few examples of Wand Cores are Unicorn Hair, Phoenix Feathers, Dragon String, Nymph-Hair, Dryad-Hair, Faerie-Hair, Rockler Gill, Congealed Ourobouro Ichor, the Hair of a God, Demi-God, Celestial, Demon and even that of an especially powerful sorcerer or sorceress of any race. The second piece is made of wood. This wood is untreated except to the elements, and it must come from a naturally enchanted forest, and even then, it must be of wand-making quality. The area of Gaul is one of the best areas for this for its proximity to the Land of Faerie and the presence of countless Pixie Groves in the Grimwald Forests.
A wand does not increase the power of a spell, it only focuses and conserves the energy of the spell.
Wand-Lore can be used to create a Staff which organizes magical energy, but Wand-Makers consider this a waste of wood and even an encumberment to the flow of magic between castor and cosmos.
The Work of Mungo the Sage is among the largest contributions to the world over. Mungo the Sage was a Fae-kin of a special kind, experienced in both Fae-magic and Wand-lore, possessing skill, talent and exactness the likes of which have not been seen in many a century, created a mesh of magic and technology.
His techniques are used to create weapons of vast power, defenses of great protection, potions of awesome power, war machines of terrible destruction and machinery the likes of which the world has never seen.
There is also the legend of his workshop, where all his experimental and theoretical work is held in secret in or outside the City of Gaul. Many have searched, none known have succeeded.
The genetic variances in Gaul are far and wide. For example, it is common for any elf to possess infravision and/or low-light vision, however, within Gaul, due to the large presence of other races and the large Faekin population, there are those with darkvision and farsight. There are also more of those who are more durable, more silent afoot, more dextrous and also who have more strength or sorcerous magical abilities than in other regions of the world.
The same can be said in similar places such as Destier, Oakgren and many others across the continent. It is because of places like Gaul and Destier that places such as Aesilon forbid the intermingling of races in order to keep the blood pure and the abilities of the race untainted by lesser creatures.
The Realm is basically Medieval Europe. After the fall of the Trois Empirium to the bandits to the South and the Visidiks to the West, the Trois Empirium collapsed. Most of the supra-species kingdoms survived and fended for themselves after the fall. But mankind was left alone for the most part. After centuries and centuries kingdoms coalesced into larger kingdoms. The Quintus (equivalent to the Catholic Church) maintained cultural, economic and political order for eight centuries after the Trois Emperium fell. And when kingdoms began to consolidate, the Quintus became the organizing institution which re-organized everything under The Realm. A council of Kings, Princes, Dauphins, Chieftains, Juggers, Junkers, Diets and Lords met under the far seeing eye of the Quintus, and after years of attempts at consolidation, finally agreed on a singular, seventeen to twenty generation eugenics plan involving marriages of royal families to other royal families, eventually consolidating the power structure under one power. After three centuries and seven generations, infighting broke out and factions with half-baked emperors set up conflicting titles of The Realm. The Quintus, who saw six total Kings of the Realm come into existence in 1254, decided they would scrap the whole plan and seeing as they already controlled everything from road quality to marriage to how much control kings received over their kingdom, decided they would assassinate the six kings, take control of the kingdoms and unify them under three of four generations, after which they would present a well-picked, non-biased, honorable royal family to rule to The Realm.
This plan was awful. And in the end, Robadaire III went on a Napolian-esque conquering spree, became king, set up Lord Protectors to turn each conquered land into a colony, then into his country of the Realm and finally bring peace to the Realm in 1703. He planned to stick a hand into the Brodring Kingdom and the Borderlands, but decided against it, seeing as winter in the Brodring Mountains was a bad affair to be caught in and the Borderlands did not have the resources he wanted and it was an obscure, out of the way area of the world. Historians believe that had he conquered the Borderlands, he very well could have enter the Umberllin Realms, and then consolidated them for the first time since the Trois Emperium. But it is believed that had he attempted to Blue Region, his resources would have been spread too thin and he would fall from his high seat in Bruxels (alternatively spelled Brussels, Bushels, Brushels, Brashels, Boisels, Boixals and Brusels).Historians also agree that had he invaded the Brodring Kingdom he would have gained a foothold in the Northlands, but the brutal winter would have destroyed his armies and he would be unable to make his empire expand to the super-speciation expanse which the Trois Empirium was able to do with the Monta Varden (Varden Mountains), Nordalvasylvia (Northland Forests, Northern Forests) and part of the Visidalvir Planum (Western Plains, Elven Plains).
(The Trois Empire had never reached within a hundred miles of the Land of Faerie. Fae, Eldenalva Tribes, Dwarf Chieftains and Unruly Celtic bands never allowed them to expand into the Grimvald Forest. At best, the Trois Empire reached the doors of Elden, about two hundred miles from the Land of Faerie. Not even the Quintus, with their fast-spreading evangelical knowledge were able to supplant the Senaric, Druidic, Celtic and Gallianari Traditions of the Grimvald Peoples and Elven Peoples. Even now there are tribesmen in the woods of the Grimwald, the Elves have consolidated their power into Blue Cities, and the Dwarves have taken to the Hills. The Trois Empire is little more than a footnote in the history of these lands. In many ways it exists more in legend than in hard facts.)