Gellis

**Overview**

Culture

**Gellis** is the territory of King Vilhelm, and occupies the northwestern peninsula of Semayi. It borders the north ocean, Alrasid, Eldfall, and Evury. It was originally founded by The Late Queen Thada.

## Description

Gellis is well known for its sub-zero temperatures and freezing winds. It is beautiful, cool, snowy, and crystalline. There are carefully tended to and maintained snowy forests surrounding Elurra Palace, as well as dark green oceans studded with drifting pieces of ice or glaciers. Distant splashes of whales and seals carry across the cool, quiet ice, and the smallest changes can be detected in the frozen world. It had been described as a landscape dotted with snowy, sheer cliffs and pure blue lakes. It is rare to find complete darkness, even at night; the gift of light is spread throughout the kingdom, and the buildings constructed of ice constantly give off a cool, subtle glow. There is a lot of open space, and the moon and sun alike glitter on everything: the snow, the palace, the frozen lakes, and the glaciers. Cities in Gellis are very carefully built. It is clear where the wealth and power are, who has it, and who can influence it.

The Ice Kingdom's land is mostly snowy, icy, cold tundra, with multiple glaciers and mountain ranges adding to the overall shape of the nation. It is cold enough that almost everywhere is covered with snow. Evasis said that for any species besides those native to Gellis, the nation would be horrible to conquer.

Elurra Palace is located in the far north, on the peninsula.

## Notable Features

### Elurra Palace

Elurra Palace is the residence of the council and royal family as well as a few workers of note. It stands proudly in Gellis' far north and is the centerpiece of their capital city.

### The Barrier

**The Barrier** is a korol enchanted wall that runs along the entire border of Gellis. The cliff shoots icicle spears at any non-native if they attempt to climb over the wall into Gellis. It was a gift from Conven Scuro and was named the Gift of Protection. The only way for a visitor of another species to cross without getting killed is to put on one of three korol enchanted bracelets that prevent The Barrier's effects.

### Vairam Trail

The **Vairam Trail** is both a popular tourist location and a location for trials. It presents itself as a simple, winding path leading through a forest of leafless dark trees. The trail is littered with buried skeletons and corpses of those who were unfortunate enough to fail their trials during severe weather conditions, such as blizzards and avalanches.

## Flora/Fauna

* Birds
	+ Hawks
	+ Penguins
	+ Snowy Owls
* Deer
	+ Caribou
	+ Reindeer
* Fish
* Foxes
* Arctic Hares
* Polar bears
* Pinnipeds
	+ Seals
	+ Elephant seals
	+ Walruses
* Whales
	+ Belugas
	+ Narwhals

**Plants**
* Evergreens
* Pine trees

## History

Prior to the current events of Lore, Thada founded Gellis and rescued the three native species from various poachers who believed that killing and hunting them would give them "magical" benefits. She settled on the coldest part of Semayi in hopes of keeping those killings at a minimum. This succeeded, and kitsunes swiftly adapted to the cold. Caladriuses were the last species to settle in Gellis and were welcomed after retreating north, away from Eldfall. Thada ruled individually for thousands of years before she decided to marry Svjetlo Scuro, making him legally the King of Gellis. Though despite the title he never acted on his power, and the nation was continuously run by only Thada.

Eventually, the two had two children, Conven and Kebero Scuro. Kebero wished to separate himself from divine life after growing scared of the pressure he was faced with after being continuously compared to his older brother. So, Svjetlo granted him a kitsune body. The hopes of succeeding the throne passed solely to Conven. After learning about the huntings and the threat that other species possibly posed to Gellis, Conven discovered Korol magic. He and his parents experimented with it before deeming it to be far too dangerous to use, as it drained vitality and sanity when used. Thus, both the gift of conservation and the gift of protection were created.

Not long after, The Great War began. Conven was caught and killed in the crossfire between magic folk and melekian. Due to this, Thada grew harsher with her rule and became more of a dictator than a monarch. She closed Gellis' borders and aligned herself with Idris and the Mandate. She created a new breed of direwolf to hunt down and kill magic folk and dispatched them throughout the worlds. Gellis heavily supported Idris during the war, and came out victorious.

Following the final battle, Nishoku found herself stranded outside Gellis. Thanks to Pyry, she was able to enter and hide from the mandate in plain sight. The two began plotting to kill Thada after Pyry revealed how dissatisfied he was with her rule and how she handled Conven's death.

Shortly after the war concluded, Josie was born. Gellis remained a closed off nation during most of her life, though Pyry and Nishoku attempted to assassinate Thada. This attempt failed due to Pyry's illusions being seen through by the gift of revelation, and they swiftly pinned the blame on the Rokas. The Rokas were then chased out of the nation by Thada's guards, Aila and Riya were killed, and Kebero and Vyn wre imprisoned. Vyn was placed under a false persona - Auxillium - and forced to serve the very god responsible for his family's demise. Under the mask of Aux, he challenged the kitsune representative of the council at the time, Kulku, and emerged from the duel victorious. He then became in charge of commanding the direwolves and ensuring that they were doing their job correctly.

The next significant event in Gellis was the assassination of Thada. Unlike their previous attempt, Nishoku and Pyry were able to assassinate her and escape without any witnesses. They then fled Gellis, leaving the nation in panic and political limbo. Kebero took over the throne, though he was clearly incompetent to rule. He tried to follow his mother's footsteps, though was killed shortly after in a duel by his second eldest daughter, Josie.

Vyn then ascended to the throne and opened Gellis' borders. He was the first ruler with a mortal spouse and worked to improve inclusivity in Gellis. He partially succeeded, and withdrew Gellis from the mandate that the nation had been supporting for tens of thousands of years. Gellis become slightly reclusive again when rumors about Vyn began circulating around Semayi and Ciel, and ties were swiftly cut. Fortunately, due to the nation acting largely on its own in the past, it coped well with the sudden and slight economic depression. Vyn was able to pull the nation out of it and ensure that stable connections were made between some of the neighboring nations.

Around a year later, Vyn brought the nation to war with Alrasid, starting The Second Great War.

## Trivia

* Gellis is loosely based on the word "gelid" which means "extreme cold"
* It was based on The Ice Kingdom