#aysgarth

Moss, bones, and mushrooms

They ground me

Thank you!

The Countries of Valkrya

The first side is Valkrya, ofc, which isn’t a huge country (probably about the size of France or similar). They’re in the central continent of this fantasy world (which is sort of connected to the eastern continent, but only by unlivable tundra), which is known as a pretty cool mix of cultures from all the surrounding places. Valkrya is the most powerful country on that continent, mostly because of resources and historically they were the first established country. They have alliances with the other country on the continent Papillia, a smaller country (there is another “country” on that continent - Aysgarth - but it’s sort of similar to the idea of the Vatican City, it’s just a very small religious territory). They also have an alliance with Terra (that’s the Palpryan (Papillian-Valkryan) name, locals there call it something different) which is the largest country on the western continent. By the beginning of the novel though, Valkrya has begun to lose much of its power due to poor economic decisions and is much weaker than it was before.

The other country, the one who actually started the war, is Impes. Impes is generally viewed as “the bad country” by a lot of the world’s population after a history of violence and has no alliances because of it. Nearly 200 years before the events of Valkrya, Impes invaded Terra (from the western side, travelling across the mostly empty sea there and avoiding the Valkrya/Papillia continent). This was nothing but a territory and power grab, done so at that time because Terra had a newly formed parliament and was still getting its footing. Luckily they were able to beat back their invaders, with some help ultimately for the (then) Palpryan Allied Forces who were able to make it across the ocean in time for the final fighting. After returning home the losers, Impes was hit with severe political repercussions such as the ending on trade and so on. For nearly 200 years they struggled on, with some efforts made by other countries to help the lower classes there (who were generally screwed over for the sake of the nobility) that rarely succeeded. At the beginning of Valkrya, the king of Impes recognises the political strife Valkrya is in and decides that after years of spending nearly all the government’s money on military they are ready to try invasion again. Most of Impes’ nobility are greedy opportunists and supported this move. Impes does not actually enforce conscription in most areas but there is a lot of anger among the public who don’t really realise that their own government is the cause of their problems due to propaganda. When Impes declares war on Valkrya, Terra, now thriving, agrees to help them fight. They are met with some resistance from Papillia however, as they are recovering from disease and are indecisive about entering a war. I should mention that Impes’ government is just the king and the nobles, whereas the other countries all have parliaments and sometimes monarchs.

Sorrelsykes, near Aysgarth, North Yorkshire

One of the most curious collections of structures in Britain can be found on a ridge behind the house called Sorrelsykes*, near Aysgarth in North Yorkshire. Often cited as fine examples of follies because of their strange form, and apparent lack of function, the eccentric edifices seem to have lost their history. What are they? Who built them? When? And above all why?  (more…)

Need help finding a campsite suitable for your motorhome? Or a caravan or a tent?! Look no further. These are my personal reviews of sites that we have stayed on with useful information for your stay. Happy camping :)

A brief review of all campsites that we have stayed on in the UK (please bear with me, this is a work in progress! I’m starting with the most recent and working backwards. Eventually I will cover all campsites that we have stayed on over the years 🙂 ) We often use Camping & Caravanning Club certificated sites and occasionally Caravan Club. We also use PitchUp and UKCampsites online to help us find…